Company Profile:

Lefroy Brooks design and manufacture traditional British bathrooms. Their definitive range of historically referenced bathroom products spans a century of classics, from the late Victorian era to the present day.

Event(s) attended: BOND Five Star twice, 3rd next year

Industry: High-end decorative plumbing

Company size (by employee count): 18

Attendee Profile: 

Deborah Lee Pena - Business Development. Debbie joined Lefroy Brooks 18 years ago on the customer service side of the business but was more interested in sales so started to learn what Business Development meant and has been doing so ever since.  In 2,007/8, Warren and Crystal, owners of Lefroy Brooks decided that they wanted to enter the multifamily and high-end hospitality markets so Debbie has been charged with building relationships with interior designers, developers and the ‘hotel people’ ever since.

Personal fact: "I am a cancer survivor!"

Favourite quote: "There are no formulas when it comes to friendships."

The Problem

Warren and Debbie knew that they needed to somehow win the trust of the Principals from the big A&D firms so that they would be top-of mind when they were looking for a vendor they could trust.  But they would often end up going to their offices and doing a presentation to a librarian or ‘some stressed out beginner or intermediate interior designers who are thinking of a million things and just want to get back to their desks!’

The Solution:

“We started to put on our own evenings in Warren’s loft and met some incredible people but BOND gives you an opportunity to do that on this really large scale of getting everybody into a room and it keeps the ecosystem alive.

So, I did BOND Custom once, and then my colleague Christian went a second time and we realized that wasn't the best venue for us. But then I did BOND Five Star and I was like, wow! This is really great! And then at the second Five Star I said, Warren - this is on my to-do list every year!”

Results

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Has re-acquainted and moved back to front-of-mind with Principal-level architects directing big, historical projects

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Had lunch with the actual interior design team at Gensler, LA through connections made at BOND

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Came away with the opportunity to quote for an Auberge through Grace Escano, Director of Design

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BOND Five Star is now on Lefroy's to-do list  every year because of the amazing results they got from it

 

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Deborah's comments on:

ROI:

“We're a small company with a big ambition and we really have to very strategically invest and so, of course, we do ICFF because we need to be there but I knew very quickly after Five Star that this was worth investing in every year.”

Effectiveness:

“It takes time, which is why you have to keep on reinvesting and keep on attending these things but it works and that’s why I’m happy to do this case study. And your team is super elegant. I love them. They're fun. And they’re so on it!”

Audience quality:

“Really fantastic! I tell people it's the creme de la creme, because of the quality of the people and the amazing  results that I got from it! Gensler was there, and Hogan Chun is a great guy, and he does the architecture for hospitality projects and he helped us get into Gensler in L.A. and I had lunch with the actual interior design team for their hospitality department. It was, I think, 6 of them altogether."

Any advice to other manufacturers considering BOND?

“I would say that the products that you are selling are almost beside the point when participating in a BOND event. It is the planting of the seed of the business relationship and it’s cultivation thereafter. Trust in a vendor must be EARNED. The collaborations will come after.”

It starts here:

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