Jim Geddes, joint md of Kitchens International who has showrooms in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock

What does the award mean to you?

The PR side of it is fantastic. It gives the staff and directors a reward for what we're trying to achieve. It's fantastic that we're the best in the UK. You can argue  that not everyone entered, but I believe the ones that did are the best in the  industry. They're proactive and know what it means to win an award. What do you think makes you stand out from other retailers?

The procedures that we have. Once a job is sold it passes over to our surveying department for a full survey. Then it goes to our order department, then passes to installation. Every area of the business is closely controlled time-wise and in terms of procedure. Not a lot of companies do it the way we do, to architectural standard. Another way we're different is we have 'Design Sales Technicians' as well as sales people. Our sales people purely do the sales work and the DST does the design work. We train them but they've often come from design colleges. They also go out for training in Germany. It's two or three years before they're fully trained.

How can smaller retail teams improve their  businesses without having to spend too much money?

Anybody can market their company for next to no cost. People think marketing and advertising are the same but marketing costs very little and there's lots of things you can do. We have case studies in the up-market Scottish magazines almost every month. We keep them updated on our new products and they'll include them and say they're available from Kitchens International. Even if it's a one or two man business, anyone can get involved with that. Turn up with a clean van - it's basic but its amazing the business you can get from  it. Our people also wear KI branded clothes, and have clean dust sheets.

We also send letters out thanking customers for coming into the showroom, even if they don't do any business with us. It only costs the price of a stamp. In the showrooms, don't have things missing from displays like an oven space. We have fresh fl owers as well, it's a small touch but it's nice. Everyone will be offered coffee or tea made from the coffee machines we sell. It encourages customers to buy one themselves. Almost all the appliances are working and we do a lot of cookery demos. Again there's very little cost involved. We also do different types of event, we try to tie up themes. We did one when Scotland were playing Italy in a European qualifi er. We had pasta and pizzas cooking and had a great turn out. We did one for Valentine's Day too, and one with a summer cooking theme.

How important is staff training?

It's huge - we've got a programme for every department. Every person gets an induction, they then go to the relevant department and work on our various sites for a couple of weeks. We also do a lot of internal staff training. It's surprising that other showrooms don't put an emphasis on it. It would be easy not to if you could employ a trained surveyor in the kitchen industry but because there aren't any you have to train people yourself. You're badly organised if you don't.

Will more retailers look to cater for whole house concepts in the future?

That will definitely be more influential in the future. The kitchen has to coordinate with the living and dining area and right through to the bedroom. People now are very conscious of having the whole house designed rather than just a room. But we bring in experts for other areas and focus on what we do best.

Do you have dedicated presentation areas?

We present on screen for all our clients at the salesperson's workstation. We use Winner software from Compusoft. If you print them out they'll take the drawings away. But if it's on screen we're not asked. It solves a problem.

Do you prefer CAD or the drawing board approach?

From a time perspective, CAD is definitely better. The drawing board does give artistic impressions but what the computer does is far better and there's less possibility of errors. The drawing board is great if you have the time, but we don't.

What are your most popular products?

Mixing wood with lacquers is popular and the appliance market is becoming more exciting. We now have appliances that are completely hidden and they're fantastic as people want a whole house concept - they don't want them on show.

How easy is it to offer something different?

You have to offer a whole service aspect that's different. Look after the client properly. That's what sets us apart, not just the selling. It's getting the knowledge of a Siemens product and how you can cook with it, that's what clients like. Some retailers don't know their products and don't communicate properly.

How much of a downturn is there in the kitchen market and how is business faring?

The retail part of the business is up on target. The contract side has slowed down but we're still well on target for the end of 2009. The slowdown isn't affecting our turnover but within six to nine months lots of companies will struggle if they're not proactive. It will have more of an effect on the mid to bottom of the market, but the mid to top will get it as well. We looked at this two months ago, how we were going to approach the expected downturn in business and how we'd deal with it. We've planned our marketing and advertising, we've put some customer offers in place which we've attained from our suppliers. For example, we're doing a deal with Siemens which will allow us to offer products to clients at half cost which we can pass on. We attack the market whereas some stores just panic.

What do you make of Tesco and Next entering the kitchen business?

It will generate people's interest in kitchens. They're upping their game but I don't believe that anyone can put in the same procedures and systems for training that we have. It would take years for companies to start from scratch.

Helen Scott, marketing director of The Yard, based in Belfast, Northern Ireland

What does the award mean to you?

It gives us kudos, presence and credibility. It also gives a customer assurance that someone has investigated our business and considered it worthy of an award. We also do a bit of marketing on the back of it.

What do you think makes you stand out from other retailers?

Customer service. We've manipulated our business to what our customers have asked for. We answer our customers' objections, we fit wet rooms, we visit them in Dublin, we go that extra mile over and above what a normal showroom will do. We all share the same philosophy.

How can smaller retail teams improve their businesses without having to spend much money?

Our team are trained to provide a light-hearted environment, there's a banter. It puts people at their ease so they don't feel they're being sold to. It's been very successful and depends on the personalities of your staff. We don't do opening evenings. Our client base is architectural and designer led and they wouldn't turn up for that kind of thing. It would be considered to be naff. Independent retailers should talk about design; their stores appeal to women who, whether men know it or not, are the decision makers in a bathroom showroom.

How important is staff training?

We have very intensive procedures. All our manufacturers train our people independently. We insist they all have a cross examination at the end of the session and a follow up. We challenge our showroom staff if they're found to be selling the same range.

Will more retailers look to cater for whole house concepts in the future?

It's on the customer's wish list but I'm not the only retailer who will resist. You would need another business alongside. Smaller independents who have a workshop attached are more successful because they can manipulate the product to suit the project, but most independents don't and I've seen a lot get into trouble who've tried. Consumers go to what they perceive are experts. Our expertise is bathrooms and tiling so unless we bought a brand and the industry knowledge with it, it would be difficult to bolt on.

Do you have dedicated presentation areas?

We have a conference facility for large groups of people, then each designer has a desk area in their offi ce. We also have an upstairs showroom with a coffee bar area with stools and plasma screens with work surfaces for plans. Architects tend to come along with six or seven people so they want a dedicated area with the doors closed and their plans out, whereas if people are negotiating with a saleperson they want to be in an offi ce where there's a feel of a private transaction.

Do you prefer CAD or the drawing board approach?

We have both; we use Virtual Worlds, but also have two people who are skilled in hand drawings. The drawing board is much better because it gives the designer total freedom rather than having to lift a standard item from Virtual World. The software is restrictive, it can't add the correct fi nishes or whatever. My customers react very well to hand drawn, they feel it's been personally created for them.

What are your most popular products?

Storage is big in our industry, and well-engineered cabinets like the ones from Keuco. A recessed cabinet is high on the customer's wish list, they see the added value straight away. New developments in showers are also a big talking point, but I have to say changing the water colour doesn't tick my box. It goes from blue to red and costs you about a grand; it's just a gimmick and extortionately expensive. The Dornbracht RainSky is fabulous but it's a bloke's product. It's for the guy with the ego. More sophisticated environments want electrical controls but the industry doesn't cater for it well. People like Aqualisa can do something but you still don't have one control to operate your entire bathroom.

How easy is it to offer something different?

It's about taking the components from various manufacturers and linking them together in a different format that works. Too many showrooms are looking at a catalogue and saying I want the manufacturer to give me something different instead of demanding their sales team do something creative with what's out there. A bad showroom is the one that's just lifted a catalogue in and decided to put theirs in like that.

How much of a dowturn is there in the bathroom market and how is business faring?

Property prices are in decline for the ninth month in a row so showrooms who supply residential sites have been hit. The luxury market is still holding its own because the credit crunch hasn't affected the majority of people in that sector. Our commercial market is hotel specifi cations and we haven't noticed anything dramatically different there. We don't have the growth we would have liked but we're in line with last year. Footfall is defi nitely down but we convert a large majority of our sales. Quite a lot of work is repetitive; an  architect will take us to several different jobs so there's ongoing business through referrals.

What do you make of Tesco and Next entering the bathroom business?

It's mostly accessories and the bathroom retailer is guilty of not promoting that product. It's down to the fact that when a showroom guy has done several bathrooms he's exhausted. The last thing he wants to do is start looking at accessories. Bathroom retailers have only themselves to blame for never attacking that market properly. The sheds have also upped their game but whether they staff their premises with knowledgeable people is questionable. Sometimes they're being asked to be a jack of all trades and master of none. They're not perceived to be experts.