KBzine: the original kitchen and bathroom industry e-news - since 2002
28th January 2021

We strongly recommend viewing KBzine full size in your web browser. Click our masthead above to visit our website version.

Laufen and Ripples join forces for training days

Last week Laufen and Ripples joined forces for two Laufen training days. The idea came from Jamie Welch - regional sales manager for Laufen and Nicola Crow - sales manager of Ripples.

The idea? To inspire the designers at Ripples and teach them more about the Laufen brand so that this level of understanding and appreciation could be passed to the Ripples customer.

What was the purpose of the two training days?

"Following our renewed relationship with Ripples and a visit by the franchisees to our flagship London Gallery late last year, it was important to carry on the momentum, with the natural next step being to carry out intensive training for the key designers within the group," explains Jamie Welch of Laufen.

"We value the designers' input, ideas and creativity in bringing our brand to life in a Ripples bathroom and we also appreciate that without their support we will struggle to move forward. What better way to inspire them than to invite them to our dedicated training centre in Evesham, Worcestershire where they spent the day with myself and our national training manager Richard Court, who between us have nearly 25 years' experience working for Laufen?

Jamie reveals that one of the challenges in putting together the content of the day was to cater for all levels of experience ranging from designers who have spent three month in the industry to those boasting 15 years' service, saying: "We started as expected with Laufen's heritage, history and values and explained how our 120 years of manufacturing have brought us to a very exciting time for the brand with the invention of our new material Saphir Keramik, which will reshape what is possible with product design.

"We spent time 'hands on', taking the products apart and getting to grips with the extensive product range and the inspiration behind each collection from the world renowned designers we work with. Kartell by Laufen is the most recent collaboration and the designers loved this range!

"The endless features and benefits of Laufen are what make it a brand that is easy to sell so we spent time on each of these, including Laufen Clean Coat (LCC), rimless pans and cuttable basins to name but a few.

"We finished the day with a detailed look at our supporting literature and sales tools, both printed and online. I am sure you will agree that this kind of information is crucial when promoting a luxury brand."

Jamie explains that the aim of the exercise was for the designers to come away from the sessions with a renewed confidence that Laufen can cater for 90% of their design briefs and that they are confident enough in the product itself to put it forward to clients and discuss in detail during their client presentation.

For the franchisees and Ripples in general, they have in Laufen a brand with values aligned to their own; one that is consistently evolving, improving and innovating across different sectors of the bathroom.

Maria Magro - showroom manager of Ripples Tunbridge Wells comments on the training:

"I left the course feeling excited and enthusiastic about Laufen products, not only for their wonderful designs but for their ingenuity, enabling us as designers to specify a product with piece of mind, knowing that the quality is where it should be for our market of clients and that the client would be happy for many years to come. We had a fabulous team that made us welcome, looked after us and trained us. They are a real asset to the brand they work for.

T: 01225 335 111
E: [email protected]
W: www.ripples.ltd.uk

31st July 2015