Pinterest just helped me close a customer

I knew I could put Pinterest to good use.  I've written about Pinterest twice.  First in Pinterest has piqued my interest  (I explain how to get started...from a newbie perspective and some ideas I had on how I could apply to my biz) and then again in Need some kitchen remodel ideas? where I shared an idea to help people with kitchen design ideas.  Yesterday, is when I realized the true power of Pinterest for my business.

So, I've been having fun with Pinterest and collecting pictures...both fun ones, and more importantly, ones that I knew would help me with my business.  Among my many boards, I have a kitchen board, a backsplash board, hardwood flooring, floors that score, patterned carpets, fancy wool carpets, eco-friendly flooring, molding and wainscoting...all with the idea that I can show these to customers so they can visualize their project (and also to cover me when I don't have the all the right samples in my car).  I've used it a few times, but yesterday showed me just how powerful this can be.

I had an appointment for tile for a kitchen floor.   When I got there, it was apparent that tile would be prohibitively expensive for them, especially given the their floors are on plywood and not flat.  As it turned out, the wife actually preferred hardwood but mistakenly thought this was more expensive.  So, I was better able to meet both their budget and their preferences.  But, the husband couldn't visualize what wood floors would look like in the kitchen.  So, they had an iPad and I showed them my Pinterest boards.  Very quickly, I was able to show them many kitchens with hardwood and help them pick a color for their hardwood and color for their cabinets (a friend of mine is doing their cabinets).  We also found some possibilities for granite.

We didn't stop there....once we figured out the big 3 for the kitchen (floors, countertop, cabinets), we started to look at backsplashes.  I directed them to my "Backsplashes that make a splash board" where we picked a pattern/style and a general look for the stone for the backsplash.  (I then showed them some backsplash tiles from my car...but advised them to hold off on picking which one until after the granite slab is selected since the color may look slightly different.

They were thrilled.  They went from overwhelmed and confused to wow, we are getting close on our kitchen.  I can't wait to see the end product (and hopefully it will be done by the end of the summer as they need to wait a bit).

Here's a link to my pinterest profile if you want to follow me and see what I'm doing.  I have lot more plans for Pinterest and I'm excited about the possibilities.