Making Better Decisions Faster

In his annual letter to shareholders, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos noted that most businesses make high-quality decisions, but they make them too slowly.  In order to succeed and stay ahead of the completion, Bezos claims that you need to somehow make "high quality, high velocity decisions."  This is easier for new organizations but more difficult for larger and more established companies.  Speed does matter.  But how do you decide quickly and avoid results that don't get to the root of a problem or circumstance?  According to Jesse Sostrin in an HBR blog, high velocity decisions require reflective urgency or the ability to align your best thinking with swift action.

 

Sostrin offers three strategies to practice reflective urgency.  One is to identify the distractions that take away from quality thinking time.  These may include trying to multitask when an important decision requires your undivided attention, agreeing to projects that will gobble up oodles of time with little reward and rushing from one meeting to another with unfinished business left on the table.  Identifying the actions that prevent you from focusing exclusively and selectively on the most important decisions you need to make can help eliminate or mitigate distractions.  Ask yourself this question - when you are stressed or feel there's not enough time in the day to perform effectively, what is the biggest drain on your time?

 

Another impediment to making high velocity decisions is working on tasks and projects that are either easy or likeable.  We all have pet projects that bring us joy.  There's a reason the play is the opposite of work.  We all have responsibilities that are difficult and challenging.  To avoid putting off the difficult tasks, answer this question, "I would like to spend my day working on ____, but I know I should focus on ____."

 

If you are like most company leaders, you can't reduce the demands on your time or attention easily. The bottom line is that there is not one right way to make decisions.  Depending on the nature of the issue involved, you can determine how much thought needs to go into making the decision.  Bezos recommended never using a one-size-fits all decision-making approach. Some decisions are easily reversed.  He also claims that most decisions should be made with somewhere around 70% of the information you wish you had.  If you wait for 90%, in most cases, you won't be acting quickly enough.  Finally, you need to be able to recognize and react quickly when you make the wrong decision such as a bad hire.  If you know how to change course quickly, it most likely will be less costly than you think, and certainly less expensive then being slow.

How to Create Compelling Customer Experiences

Most retailers that attempt to create compelling customer experiences fail, claims Doug Stephens, owner of the Retail Prophet consultancy. The reason is that most retailers, including decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms, don't understand what the customer experience really is and how to make it more compelling. They mistakenly believe that the customer experience will be enhanced by rebranding, updating displays, bringing in new lines, re-configuring the showroom and transitioning from catalogs to tablets. Other misconceptions, says Stephens, are retraining sales professionals and improving customer service.

 

Most showrooms and other retailers who make these investments are likely to be disappointed with the results. Most of the time these improvements will not increase sales or generate additional positive reviews on Yelp or Houzz.com. Stephens claims that updating displays, retraining staff and enhancing service is comparable to putting "fresh icing on the same stale cake."

 

Creating a compelling customer experience at Nordstrom, Nieman Marcus or your showroom requires mapping the customer journey, breaking it down into its smallest component parts and then re-engineering each component to look, feel and operate differently from the competition. You need to dig below the surface within each moment to understand customer needs and design the combination of people, place, product and process that delivers delight in "that micro-moment." You need to weave your brand story into every customer interaction. You have to use different approaches, nomenclature, rituals, methods and processes from your competition. You have to offer an experience that can't be found anywhere else.

 

Stephens claims that the remarkable customer experience is comprised of the following five distinct elements:

 

• Engaging: Connect sight, sound, smell, touch and taste that strike an emotional chord with your customers.

• Unique: The method, language and customs used are unusual, surprising or proprietary thereby giving customers the impression that they not only have entered a different type of showroom but they are actually in a different world.

• Personalized: Customers believe that the experience they received was crafted exclusively for their needs. Showrooms can take advantage of customization opportunities to personalize the experience in unique and meaningful ways.

• Surprising: Customers are surprised and delighted by the interaction with the showroom.

• Repeatable: Experiences are consistent and so well practiced that they appear to be spontaneous while leaving nothing to chance, but offer the team enough leeway to let their personalities shine through.

Stephens points out that when Steve Jobs talked about design, he was not referring to how things looked and felt. Instead he was referring to how things really work. The opportunity for decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms is to deconstruct their customer journeys and then develop a strategy that completely differentiates the experiences you offer from the competition. It's about understanding all of the jobs your perform for your customers.

Stop Thinking You Sell Toilets, What You Really Sell Is Happiness

There have been voluminous works published on the changing luxury paradigm. Today's luxury consumers, (e.g. decorative plumbing and hardware showroom clients), are not renovating their bathrooms or building new homes to necessarily impress neighbors or to make a status statement. The primary emotional driver of the decision to redo a bath or kitchen or build a new one is to become happier. Happiness is not the byproduct of what someone buys. Instead it stems from experiences or what people do, and converting a master bath into a personal retreat or providing a facelift to a powder room is an attempt to live a happier and more rewarding lifestyle.

Cornell professor Brian Wansink has conducted numerous experiments that illustrate if you can change a consumer's perception of a product, you can change the consumer's behavior, e.g. they will purchase more expensive products and increase the happiness quotient from the purchase. In a recent experiment, Wansink invited two groups of diners to a eat meal. Group 1 was given a menu that listed the ingredients such as fish, green beans, scalloped potatoes, salad and chocolate cake and then were served the meal at institutional-type tables on paper plates. When asked to rate the quality of the meal on a scale of 1-10, the diners in Group 1 rated the experience on an average of 3.4 points.

Group 2 though ate at tables set with linens, candles and floral centerpieces. The lighting was dimmed and the menu provided detailed and fancy food descriptions. The meal was served on real plates with restaurant-styled table and stemware. Group 2 received the exact same meal as Group 1, however, the average rating from this group was 8.0 points on a 10-point scale.

The difference had everything to do with perception. And therein lies the lesson for decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms. If you believe and act like your role is to "sell toilets", you are most likely to receive the same rating that Group 1 gave their meal served on paper plates. However, if you tell compelling stories to clients - that your role is to make their lives easier, more enjoyable and happier by specifying the perfect products that will benefit their lifestyle daily - you are positioning your showroom to receive ratings similar to those provided by Group 2 or even higher.

Consumers with the means to purchase luxury products don't buy because they want to make a status and prestige statement.  That's the old world of luxury that no longer applies.  Consumers with resources to purchase new baths and kitchens from your showroom want compelling stories and experiences that will make them happier.

DPHA Rep Info, by Traci D'Antoni of D'Antoni Sales Group

Being an independent rep in the decorative plumbing and hardware business is both one of the greatest pleasures and frustrations of my life. I started as a rep working for an agency where there was no training program or a "how to" manual available. When I eventually started my own agency, I learned mostly by the trial-and-error method and subsequently, I was asked to share some of the insights I gained through this process.

In the DPH industry, there are great reps, and there are ineffective reps. That can also be said for each of our association's member segments. I have always tried to learn from others what makes a great rep and some of that information has come from the ineffective reps as well. A rep is in a unique position - being the liaison between the manufacturer and the showroom. A large part of a rep's job is to build relationships with the showroom staff and management and bring to them the correct product/product mix to make the showroom more profitable and successful. Building relationships requires a great deal of listening to the showroom staff and understanding what their needs and issues are. You need to be able to hear the words that are being spoken and then understand the underlying meaning behind them. A showroom sales consultant may be bashing a product that they have had an issue with when the real problem was actually the way the issue was handled by the manufacturer's customer service department or that the homeowner was difficult to deal with. I try to put consultants at ease by getting them to agree to the fact that this is the exception rather than the rule. And sometimes, you just have to let them vent. In our very "immediate gratification" world, the expectations and the realities of our business tend to move a little slower than others.

Training is another large part of a rep's job. Training can be as involved as setting up a lunch-and-learn CEU or simply taking 10 minutes with a sales consultant to show them new products. Training is not a one-size-fits-all program. Meeting each dealer and its staff has unique needs, and abilities are required for training success.  If a rep can tailor training to meet these needs, then he or she will have a customer that will trust them and work with them. Training is an ongoing process, yet is the one task that seems to get the least respect and attention of all of the rep's duties. A well-trained consultant can sell more product in a shorter amount of time and for a higher profit margin. The fact is that homeowners are looking for that knowledgeable person to help them through their project. Correct training can also make you the "go-to" rep when a dealer needs information about a product and knows that you will get them the correct answer.

Do you have rep "best practices" you'd like to share? Please email me at dantonisales@gmail.com and I'll add them to next month's article.

Leverage the Planning Fallacy Into a Showroom Asset

We've all heard horror stories from friends and neighbors of bath renovations gone awry. Their nightmares involved shoddy work, cost overruns, incomplete projects, time delays and unmet expectations. Why do projects fail? One reason may be a concept that Noble prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman calls "the planning fallacy". In his book, Thinking Fast and Slow, Kahneman explains that the planning fallacy occurs when there are unrealistic expectations that do not account for the unexpected.

Anyone who claims they will deliver a perfect project should be viewed with extreme caution. There are always surprises. This is why buying an entire bath online greatly increases the consumer's risk. The key for salespeople is to anticipate potential "what ifs" as part of the planning process. Unfortunately, your client may be unaware of some businesses that offer bath renovation services but thrive on the unexpected. They make their most profit on change orders or additions to the original plan. Kahneman claims that "the failures of forecasting in these cases reflects the customers' inability to imagine how much their wishes will escalate over time. They end up paying much more than they would if they had a realistic plan and stuck to it."

Kahneman's advice underscores the benefits a professional decorative plumbing and hardware showroom provides to help turn customer dreams into realities without having to incur undue stress, unrealistic cost overruns and less than desirable time frames. The bottom line is to explain to clients the benefits they receive from you walking them through every stage of a renovation. A detailed plan saves time, money and headaches.

Avoiding the planning fallacy begins by recognizing that bath renovations involve making decisions on everything from faucets and fixtures to flooring and wall coverings and cabinet hardware. The devil is truly in the details, and that's where you can differentiate your showroom from one that is limited to taking orders or an online etailer. Take the time to explain the benefit of ensuring that all of the i's have been dotted and the t's crossed before demolition begins. Changes are difficult, time-consuming and expensive when they occur in the middle of a project. When your clients spend the time upfront, they minimize the likelihood of changing course midstream.

You should also review the existing infrastructure of your client's homes to help determine if it will be able to support any new additions that you choose. The age of a home can affect costs. Older homes may need to be rewired, re-plumbed, re-ventilated and re-engineered to meet present-day codes. Because it's almost impossible to see behind walls, recommend a contingency plan to deal with the unexpected.

Ten Half-Truths About Sales

Anthony Iannarino had a great blog on April 3 identifying ten half-truths about sales. 

 

There are a lot of "truths" about sales bandied about on social media by people who have a something to gain if your believe their half-truths. Here are some to watch for:

1. Buyers are spending their time researching: I am sure there are some people in purchasing departments somewhere researching something they need to purchase for their company. My experience tells me that most decision-makers are not. If there is information parity between you and your prospective client, you are doing sales wrong.
2. Buyers are well-educated and well-informed: About many things, yes. About you and your industry and the choices that are available to them when it comes to producing better results, not so much. Buyers have experience when they re-purchase, and most of their education is gained through the experience of having bought and used a service.
3. Buyers are spending their time on social sites: There are surely some people in business with buying roles that are engaged on social sites. What you'll find to be true is that the higher up the organizational charts you climb, the fewer people you will find spending their time on social sites.
4. Buyers now control the process: If buyers knew how to get the results they needed, they'd already be getting those results. When a buyer has a process, it's called an RFP. What you sell is surely being commoditized, this process will never serve you, and it rarely serves the company well. You can still control the process if you initiate it.
5. Marketing is going to generate your leads: Marketing creates awareness. When things go well, they generate leads. The other half of this truth is that those leads will not be enough for you to grow your business. Sales is about opportunity creation as much as it is about opportunity capture.
6. Marketing automation can nurture your relationships: Marketing can automate messages. Nurturing is something different. You don't nurture a lead. You nurture a relationship. Your prospects don't have any relationships with anyone in your marketing department. When they have a need, they are not calling marketing. People nurture relationships with other people.
7. Inbound is better than outbound: Inbound can be enormously helpful. But it isn't better than targeting your dream clients, building relationships over time, developing a case for change, and winning your dream client. Outbound still rules the roost.
8. Salespeople are only necessary to close opportunities: Why, sir, so few opportunities then? If inbound isn't working, and marketing doesn't generate leads, where are the opportunities you need going to come from? Salespeople are necessary to create opportunities. That commitment comes way before the commitment to buy.
9. The best salespeople should not prospect: Closers. Sure. Whatever. The person with the greatest ability to create value for their dream client should prospect and they should be engaged early in the process, where deals are won and lost. Saving the best salesperson for the end of the process and allowing them not to prospect is a bad idea.
10. There will be fewer salespeople in the future: This is a half truth. If your model is transactional, this is almost certainly true. Where your model is high trust, high value, and high caring, this is not true. In fact, there is already a shortage of salespeople with the necessary skill sets to sell in businesses with these models.

Mitigating Stress in the Showroom

Everyone has too much to do, challenging deadlines to meet and performance metrics to satisfy.  Let's face it, work can be stressful.  However, we know that a stressful environment can zap productivity and make it more difficult for everyone on the team to be as effective as they really can be.

 

You can help reduce stress in your showroom by clearly stating what you want, your expectations and goals.  When team members receive vague messages, they are caught in no man's land.  What does a team member think if you send an email asking for a meeting without providing a hint of what the discussion will entail?  They may think, oh no, I have done something wrong or my performance is not satisfactory.  Be crystal clear in your communication so those you depend on, and who depend on you, won't have to spend time and energy fretting over what you may be thinking.

 

The average professional receives an estimated 122 emails a day.  If you are working on a project, it's easy to ignore emails so you can meet your deadline.  Most emails don't have to be responded to right away, but there are some that do.  When you ignore the time-sensitive and urgent messages, you send the message that you are not engaged or you don't care.  Regardless of how busy you are or how time sensitive an approaching deadline might be, spend at least 15 minutes a day culling emails to identify those that need an immediate response.

 

Avoid the temptation to micromanage.  Most of your team will thrive if given a little leeway.  If they feel someone is constantly looking over their shoulder though, it will compromise their performance and sap their confidence.  If you have a tendency to micromanage, work with your team members to establish performance metrics and timelines.  That way you can review performance at agreed-to intervals. Subsequently, your team won't feel as though you don't trust them.  This in turn sends a signal of confidence and trust, which are keys to high performance.

 

Being crystal clear in your communication, responding to urgent and pressing issues immediately and providing freedom for the team to perform will help reduce stress in your showroom and improve everyone's performance.

Do You Pass the "Back to the Past" Test?

New York University professor and principal of L2, a marketing and research firm, Scott Galloway brilliantly summed up the challenge facing successful brick-and-mortar retailers that have yet to change. He said,

 

"Another metric, in retail, is a "back to the past" test. Go to the middle of a store, close your eyes, clear your mind. Then open your eyes, slowly rotate 360 degrees, and absorb everything around you. How far, if at all, through the rotation would you realize you're not in 1985? I open my eyes in an Apple Store, and BOOM - before even starting to move, I know it's not the year Pat Morita was nominated (and robbed) for Best Supporting Actor in Karate Kid. At Sephora, you might get 90 degrees through your turn, and no doubt about it, you're not going to hear Tears for Fears playing. If you do the full rotation, and are not sure what decade you're in... then you are in the midst of fading greatness, ripe for disruption."

 

When you close your eyes and then look around your showroom, what do you see?

The Challenge in Marketing More Effectively

Bernadette Jiwa writes an excellent blog entitled, The Story of Telling. Her post on Sunday, April 2, hit the nail on the head, recognizing and defining the change necessary to market showrooms more effectively. Jiwa wrote,

"The easy part of marketing is working out what to say, when where and to whom, in order to sell what we make. We expend most of our energy on the easy part. The hard part is understanding why it's important to say what we're about to say and who will care enough to listen. We should start with the hard part."

 

That hard part entails understanding what the customer truly wants and that those wants are constantly changing, especially in the luxury sector. Luxury Marketing's Pam Danziger points out that making a luxury purchase used to center on aspirations. You bought a luxury item because acquiring that brand spoke to a special status or position. Aspirational purchasers though are now a dying breed. Danziger correctly notes that affluent customers who can afford to buy luxury items already have achieved plenty of status and position. They don't need to show off a Rolex watch or Hermes bag to prove it.

 

The future of luxury business requires moving from aspirations to inspirations. Showrooms that focus on demonstrating how their products and services, yes services, can add meaning to their customers' lives will win.   Features and benefits no longer have the impact they once did. When an affluent customer enters a showroom and is considering a new bath, they don't necessarily care about how many finishes faucets come in, thermostatic valve technology (which is now a quarter century old) or water flow rates. They want to know how their new bath will make their life better and what the showroom will do for them that an online etailer or order-taker cannot do. And showrooms can't depend on superior customer service to win the day, because superior customer service is now an expectation not an exception.

 

New fashion retailers such as Stitch Fix and Trunk Club are disrupting markets by providing better buying experiences. These companies provide customers with personal stylists to select complete outfits for consideration. There are other companies that allow women to design their own handbag or dresses. The key to their success is that they are personalizing the customer experience and more significantly, making it easier and more enjoyable to buy.

 

Even stodgy old Lincoln Motor Cars has changed its service paradigm to improve the customer experience. Need your Lincoln serviced? You no longer have to make a trip to the dealer.  The dealer will pick up your car, service it and then return it to you.  It makes you want to buy a Lincoln.

What can you do in your showroom to personalize customer experiences? What can you offer that makes it easier for your customers and trade representatives to buy from you? Why your showroom instead of Amazon?