What Business Are You Really In?

In the 1960s, Harvard University marketing professor Theodore Levitt wrote that most companies focused almost exclusively on producing goods and services that they don't try to understand what customers really want.  In other words, companies had their sights set on making a quarter-inch drill when customers only wanted a ¼ inch hole.  Levitt's point to decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms is to move from the obsession with different products to what your showroom customers truly want and sometimes, they don't know what they want.

Levitt pointed out that one reason railroads failed was that they believed they were in the railroad business when in fact they were in the transportation business.  If railroads had understood the job they performed for their customers was getting them from point A to point B, they might have evolved into manufacturers of cars, planes or even drones. 

When a customer comes to your showroom, what do they really want from you?  It's not simply to select a tub, shower system, vanity, cabinet hardware, faucets, mirrors and lighting. What do your customers really need?  Peace of mind?  A place that they can call their own?  An oasis they can use to wash away the stresses of the day?  A statement of their personal style?  The opportunity to avoid undue stress and save time? 

Brainstorm with your team, representatives, manufacturers, trade allies, designers and other stakeholders to determine not only what customers say they want from your showroom, but to also deliver on needs they don't even know they have.