Today, there are thousands of design centers servicing the homebuilding industry. They are owned and operated by both builders and third-party contractors, and include everything from converted garages attached to the builder's model home to spectacular 20,000-square-foot destination centers that allow homebuyers to touch and feel most of the finish options that will go in and on their new home.

In many cases, the design center is an afterthought for builders, who prefer to concentrate on constructing attractive, marketable homes and model homes. Plus, contractors are primarily concerned with the efficient installation of finish options. Neither the builder nor the subcontractor is focusing its resources on the design center.

The result is that design center employees have been given little training, the internal systems that manage their business are antiquated at best, and the operational model they work within can often be frustrating and chaotic. The March issue of TecHome Builder presented five ways to incorporate technology into your design center. But all the technology will be ineffective if your non-technical process—like sales and operations—are not honed to accommodate that technology. Here are five suggestions from builders and consultants.

Use Training to Educate and Motivate Employees

It has been said that homebuyers don't just buy a home; they buy a dream. A dream that needs to be completely understood, then brought to reality.

Homebuyers seek guidance from the design consultant on design matters, financial issues and product knowledge, all in the hopes of being able to wisely select the right finishes for their dream within a matter of hours.

Design consultants must be equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed. Training not only educates designers to create a foundation of knowledge, but also helps motivate the staff. Working with homebuyers can be challenging, and in a changing marketplace motivation can dip. Joshua Freedman, director of the Institute for Organizational Performance, says, "There is a strong link between how people feel and how they perform."

Training is not a one-time event but an ongoing process that requires practice, reinforcement of positive behavior, relevant content and accountability. An ongoing training program is an essential tool for developing and maintaining a profitable design center and a proficient, engaged, self-motivating design staff.

Two of the most popular forms of training are face-to-face and online. Face-to-face training is arguably the most-desired system for design center training. This learning environment promotes the highest level of personal interaction with the instructor and provides the opportunity for feedback from peers and instructor.

Face-to-face training is one of the hallmarks of Trainingspace, a face-to-face and online training company. Debbie Abarca-Koch, design center manager at St. Louis-based Residential Design Services (RDS), calls the training "outstanding," adding that it offers "new resources and new concepts delivered in an honest, down-to-earth approach."

Meanwhile, technological innovations have moved builders from the classroom to the Internet to boost training effectiveness while reducing operating costs. With the focus on the participant, e-learning can ensure that employees master the training content.

According to Steve Santa Cruz, president of SC Design, a full-service design center based in San Diego, "An investment into a Web product is more fluid and scalable compared to conventional training means, not to mention shelf life. Personalization of the Web-training message can be customized to fit anyone's cultural bent and its utilization allows the flexibility of a larger deployment process with a more controlled and concise message delivered."

Improve Your Operational Processes

Design centers are as different and unique as the people who create, visit and work in them, but they all have the same goal: increase the builder's net margin while giving the buyer a way to personalize and understand their new home. Ultimately, this should be a simple process, however, getting your design center to be the productive, useful and well-oiled machine you hope for takes work.

Hope Marie Sneed of HMS—Design Operations Consulting in Colorado says that many common mistakes could be remedied with thoughtful consideration to processes. "Sadly, poorly designed and otherwise inefficient design centers are less profitable than they could be, mostly due to customer dissatisfaction and mistakes resulting from inefficient processes," says Sneed.

She suggests the following when creating or reviewing your processes:

• Ensure that your design center is well planned.
• Insist on well-placed workstations.
• Hire a diverse design center team.
• Develop efficient appointment scheduling.
• Streamline buyer selection processes.
• Guard against under promising and over delivering.
• Examine and improve your late change process.
• Implement accurate and timely communication procedures.
• Clarify the process of transferring buyer selections to construction.

"The keys to successful design center operations are making your processes simple and reliable for everyone involved," she concludes.

Identify and Sell More Option Categories

Everyone knows that, in almost all cases, the largest single purchase in a person's lifetime will be their new home. However, this investment only begins with the actual structure. Many builders have grown their business and their profits by offering interior and exterior options to their homebuyers through the design centers, yet there are still many design-center opportunities that are being missed.

Window coverings are a prime example of this opportunity. Hunter Douglas is the leading supplier of window coverings to the new home industry. Susan Pfingst, Hunter Douglas window fashions director of marketing—new home alliance, says, "Statistics show that 90 percent of all new homebuyers will have window coverings installed within 45 days of moving into their home." Yet, instead of developing a relationship with a manufacturer like Hunter Douglas, many builders allow the sales opportunity to be taken away by the local window covering company that dropped a flyer on the homebuyer's doorstep.

There are multiple other opportunities with similar rewards for builders, with area rugs being another prominent example. Jim Curtin of floor-covering supplier Shaw Living says that "80 percent of new homeowners will purchase area rugs within 30 days of moving in. And based on an average home of 2,000 square feet with half of the floors being hard surface, they will purchase four area rugs for that new home."

Finally, don't forget the other obvious opportunities that have been missed in the past, such as outdoor entertaining, led by barbeques and fireplaces. A new provider in this segment is sure to be Barbeques Galore, one of the leading retailers in the country of outdoor products. Recently it announced Jeffrey Sears, former president of Creative Touch Interiors in San Diego, as its new CEO. Creative Touch Interiors is an independent design center specializing in helping sell new and existing homes.

Incorporate Space Planning and Merchandising

"There are many things builders should consider when venturing into the design studio business," says Carolyn Peters, national sales and marketing manager at Masco Design Solutions in Carmel, Ind., which touts builders like Kimball Hill Homes as clients. "These include location, appropriate size, overhead, profitability, renovate versus build new, hiring an interior design/architectural firm, vendor partners, products to display, construction implementation, business hours and, of course, great people to staff the design center.

"In today's correcting economy, homebuilders are looking for ways to differentiate themselves from the competition and to effectively translate this into profitability," she continues. "Good design critically impacts your business. One of the most important elements in putting together a successful design center is proper space planning. The products need to be organized and displayed, the process (experience) defined, workstations strategically placed for staff to meet with customers, and selection entry made easy."

"Adding a casual area such as a café with wireless access is a great addition because customers will be spending quite a lot of time in the selection process. Products also need to be easy to find and in logical proximity to those needed to be selected for the same areas in the home, a kitchen resource area for example," explains Peters.

"Up to date merchandising is essential to a successful design studio. This is a retail environment selling upgraded products in a home. It's the ‘Would you like fries with that?' approach, or ‘How can products best be displayed to entice customers into having to have it?' To start, knowing your customer is critical, as is finding the right products to fit their lifestyle."

She says that today's homebuyers are looking to the builder to help:

• Create a more personal environment that impacts how buyers live: create stories/story selling.
• Suggest and inspire selling through compelling graphics and pleasing signage.
• Use technology as a tool to access additional products online, visualize merchandizing, and expedite processes.
• Define the meaning of "green" and eco-friendly. It might already be part of the products you sell. Why not integrate eco-friendly marketing into the selling experience?