Parents work tremendously hard all their lives. They put money in the bank preparing for the costs of college for their children. They encourage their children to work towards higher education, whether that means steering them towards college or a trade school.

And children study hard to make good grades so that they may be eligible to attend the school of their choice, whether that is university or vocational learning.

Why do parents go to these lengths? Why do their children do all this?

The answer to both of these questions — they are planning for future success. As a business owner, doesn’t this sound familiar?

This is what business owners do as well. Every day, kitchen and bath business owners are making important decisions — some are big decisions while others are not as large in scope. However, make no mistake, every decision you make as a business owner affects the progress, growth, and profitability of your company. By extension, it is a domino effect and touches many people — your employees, your family, your customers, and you. Your professional and personal development and that of your staff will make a difference in the trajectory of your careers and company and the growth, success, and profitability of your business.

Steps to Making Your Kitchen & Bath Business Successful

You made a conscious decision to become a member of SEN Design Group. You made this decision with a clear purpose — forward progress, success, and profitability for your business.

Much like a higher education degree, the SEN advantage is like an MBA for the kitchen & bath industry (as Cutco Katie so aptly describes SEN Design Group), where you crave to learn more than you know today, improving yourself and your business with continuous education and life-long learning. Striving to be a leader — you have made a conscious decision to be like an “MBA graduate in the kitchen and bath industry”. You made the decision to find a way to give yourself, your team, and your business a competitive edge in your industry.

At quick glance, what is that competitive edge you get as a SEN member?

• Industry buying group  SEN Design is an industry buying group, giving you a competitive advantage through exclusive relationships with 50+ vendors who offer their products/services to SEN membership at preferred group rates.
• Business education  More than a buying group, SEN offers a wealth of business education resources to help kitchen and bath showroom owners and design/build firms improve their business and sales skills, and sharpen employees sharpen their design capabilities.
• Innovative, cutting-edge technology  DesignAlign™ is an industry-specific, interactive kitchen design software focused on the Good-Better-Best selling system technology, a benefit included in every SEN Design Group membership at no additional charge.
• Strategic community  Surround yourself with successful, like-minded people. This is what a kitchen and bath industry strategic community is all about and it is one of the most intelligent decisions you can make for your business and individual growth, both personally and professionally.
• SEN University  This is a new benefit of SEN membership and it is now live. In addition to the many long-established business and sales education resources offered by SEN, a new education subscription service is available for your whole team with two education tracks — the Business/Owner Track and Sales/Designer Track at special member-only pricing.
• SEN Member Portal  This is another new benefit of SEN membership and it is now available. The portal includes all the resources previously housed in GoogleDrive, event information and registration, vendor profile details, SENtelligence resource library material, and the ability to interact with your SEN peers.

Learn about the SEN Member Portal and SEN University

It is our mission to continue to provide the best resources to our members and to always improve membership benefits. We do not want to rest on our laurels! This is the reason we have launched two new SEN membership benefits.

SEN Member Portal

In 2021, after one of the most challenging years any of us can remember, SEN wanted to make it even easier for members to access all the resources available to them. We want to help you work ON your business vs. work IN your business in order to help you grow revenue, thrive in both good times or in challenging times, and achieve exceptional profitability.

With the new SEN Member Portal, all your resources are within reach in one easily accessible location:

• Rebate information  With 50+ vendors and multiple rebates to track, this is your competitive industry advantage and an important member benefit.
• Member and vendor profiles  All the information you need for fellow members and SEN vendors is easily available and accessible.
• Peer communication  Our community is special, and with COVID-19 related cancellations of in-person events, the SEN Member Portal is an even more important tool to keep our special community connections within reach.
• Yearly event calendar  Mark your calendars and take advantage of SEN membership benefits and the many business education events and SEN University webinars, workshops and roundtables throughout the year. Plan for your success with life-long learning!
• Sample documents  Resources to help your business succeed is one of the many benefits of membership. Now they are even more easily accessible to you.
• SENtelligence library  This library of business resources is a clear competitive advantage in the kitchen and bath industry, and it is now easier to access than ever before.

Everything you need is here in the portal and you will love how this simplifies your daily life in the office! With 2020 behind us, the SEN Member Portal will help you move your business forward and help 2021 bring positive progress to your company.

SEN University

In addition to SEN’s already deep lineup of business education resources, we knew we needed to take life-long learning and continuous education a step further. SEN University is a dynamic education subscription resource for business owners and the whole team offered at special, member-only pricing.

The most successful people in business believe in lifelong learning. They strive to learn something new every day. They do not believe there is nothing new to be learned, even in light of their own tremendous success. Continuous learning is something successful businessmen and women practice every day. And you should too!

Take the opportunity to discover the education resources included in a subscription:

Business/Owner Track

• 90-Minute Live Workshops  Covering a wide variety of topics, you will enjoy expert speakers talking about important business subjects including Social Selling, Digital Marketing, Communication Strategies, and Leadership, to name a few.
• SEN Exclusive Executive Courses   Choose between the 3-Day Profit Plan School and 2-Day Project Management Course, available only to SEN members who subscribe to SEN University.
• Online Sales Roundtable (2 per year in addition to conferences)  Interactive discussion of common issues impeding full sales potential, best-practice solutions, and success strategies.
• Add-On Option  Premier 4-Day Executive Business School (In-Person or Online). For kitchen and bath business owners who want to make great strides in their growth and progress as a company in 2021, the Premier 4-Day Executive Business School is the foundation of all owner education and is a cornerstone of SEN’s unique education offering. (Available at 50% savings with purchase of Subscription Package)

Sales/Designer Track

• 60-Minute Live Workshops  Covering a wide variety of topics, there are 8 workshops per year.
• Full Day Classes (2 of each offered per year)  Kitchen Design & Sales, Level One Class and Level Two Class
• Online Sales Roundtable (2 per year in addition to conferences)  Interactive discussion of common issues impeding full sales potential, best-practice solutions, and success strategies.

The title in this post is a catchy, well-known phrase in a song from a famous rock band (for those of us old enough to remember). When you hear this song, think about the many ways you can plan for business success with every step you take and every move you make.