Retailers should get in touch with a customer’s emotions and create bespoke kitchen designs rather than just boxes, says Keith Myers, director of The Myers Touch.
Myers believes that kitchen designers who focus on building generic boxes or think that the kitchen industry is just about sales are missing an opportunity.
Speaking on The kbbreview Podcast, Myers said: “I do think sometimes that kitchen designers are missing a massive opportunity if they just focus on boxes. When you look at architects and interior designers, that’s a design industry. When you generally look at the kitchen sector, it’s a sales industry.”
Myers explains his process of designing kitchens for his customers and believes that he is ‘creating a feeling’ and he engages his clients to create a bespoke solution for them. He said: “What we sometimes forget in our industry is that in certain situations, we’re creating very emotive, very spiritual, very other-worldly places for people. We’re creating a feeling with our designs, and that’s not really common in our industry.”
The Myers Touch won the Kitchen Retailer of the Year at the kbbreview Retail & Design Awards 2021, and the judges were impressed by Keith Myers and his wife and director Helena Myers on their personal touch and impressive business.
Myers believes that events like the kbbreview awards highlight the design aspect of the KBB industry, he said: “One of the things that the kbbreview Retail & Design Awards are doing is raising the profile of great designers in this industry, and I think it’d be lovely to see people coming out of university and wanting to go into kitchens and living spaces because they’re phenomenally interesting and challenging.
“Obviously, I’m not saying we don’t sell, but we just need to move on from that ‘double-glazing’ feel about it. We can learn from each other, and we can develop a profession where we become a design industry and make a phenomenal impact on the way people live in their homes.”
The process of focusing on design and emotions can be rewarding for the customer, too, as Myers recalls on the podcast the time when a customer was jumping up and down because she was so excited about the new kitchen.
He said: “We rattle off phrases like ‘the kitchen is the heart of the home’ so often, but most people really don’t know what it means or how to get there. You’ve got to have a really focused, bespoke way of dealing with clients that draws them to you and have an engagement that stretches them into that place.
“We had one project where the client actually jumped up and down on the spot because she was so excited to be in a transformational space. So how far can design go, and how far can it influence people’s lives for the better?”
The Myers Touch has created its own niche, yet some clients find this approach ‘too touchy-feely’, Myers explained: “A lot of our marketing is targeted around choosing our clients. When a client walks in the door, we don’t have to work with them; we have a choice. We’re not right for everybody. We need to carve our own niche out of the market.
“Some people find it kind of too touchy-feely for them, and I do understand that, and we have to help them through the process. It is tricky – because it does require a certain type of individual that is willing to be open to you. I call it being a ‘trusted advisor’.
“At our level of the market, we’re really trying to find something unique that stands out and match them personally. When a client allows that connection, they step over a line and start to reveal their innermost thoughts, ideas and passions and how that can then be expressed in the design and through the kitchen. When you get there, you can create the most amazing things because you’ve almost accessed the spiritual aspect of them.”
- Listen to the full interview below