Throughout our lives, we continuously reflect on our most memorable personal experiences. In most cases, we enjoy reliving positive memories.

On another level, we do the same for good marketing and branding.

I can think of many memorable marketing ideas related to luxury products: “He went to Jared,” luxury car ads, Swarovski crystal kiosks at every high-end shopping mall and airport, etc. The list of positive memories pertaining to luxury items is long.

As purveyors of luxury plumbing and hardware, we must create the same positive memories for our clients.

As a national sales manager, I travel the country with esteemed representatives. We visit showrooms – some good, some not so good.

Every once in a while, I am taken back and hit with the wow factor as I walk into a showroom. It makes that showroom truly memorable.

Working with a dynamic rep or truly exceptional manufacturer can have the same effect.

How to be Memorable

So, what makes a business or industry professional memorable?

For showrooms, it might be a unique location or facade, creative display merchandising or a staff’s sales technique. For a rep, it might be the way they work with staff, the sales approach, unique product knowledge or that special little something he or she is known for. For the manufacturer, it’s about creating cutting-edge products, hiring memorable employees and providing outstanding customer service.

Our industry has been built on the development of memorable relationships and, in this new economy, it’s more important than ever to be memorable. We are selling luxury and selling luxury means being memorable.

Since a picture is worth a 1,000 words, I would like to share with you several pictures of some of my more memorable experiences while traveling to showrooms.

At Designers Plumbing in the Design Center of the Americas (DCOTA) in Dania, FL, you just cannot miss the “vignette of gold faucets” – the most luxurious gold faucets ever assembled in one place.

At Union Hardware, Bethesda, MD, the staff is always creating memorable experiences, ranging from a free-flowing (disappearing water) Alape basin front and center in the showroom to more seasonal experiences such as a Hansgrohe exposed shower unit watering the tulips in the spring and toilets and tubs crafted from snow in the winter (see photo right).