How Your Clients Research Their Bath Projects

The Research Institute for Cooking & Kitchen Intelligence (RICKI) recently surveyed how consumers who were planning to renovate their kitchen researched their project before making a showroom or product purchasing decision. (We also suspect that there is not much difference between how consumers research potential kitchen projects and potential bathroom projects.) RICKI found that consumers surf the web most often to obtain product information, find ideas and inspiration, read reviews and watch videos.  The results are as follows:

• 62% of the consumers surf the web to obtain product information.
• 61% of the consumers surf the web to obtain ideas or inspiration (up 20% from 2016).
• 39% of the consumers read product reviews.
• 36% of the consumers watched product videos.
• 26% of the consumers watch installation videos.
• 26% of the consumers download apps.
• 26% of the consumers read blogs.
• 23% of the consumers read news articles.

Lessons for DPHA members:

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Welcomed Thoughts from a Fellow (Jeff Valles): Stop! Do Not Do That. Go Get Bored

While enjoying this Labor Day Holiday weekend, give this a try.

 

That moment, that very moment when you are between completing something and starting something else new, stop. Are you there? Well, maybe not yet, because you are reading this, I hope.  

 

The next time you are in that moment, do not facetime with your cell phone, do not look for a book or a magazine or anything else to occupy your mighty brain. Instead, hit FULL STOP. Feel the slow creep of boredom setting in. Let the blahness overcome you.

 

Perhaps you will now begin to hear the slight, persistent whisper of “what do I do now, what do I do now?” Let the weird feeling of anxiety slip in and out, in and out and then you are there, you have achieved utter boredom. The state of being when your mind starts looking at everything inside and anything outside. It’s called creativity.  

 

Fun ain’t it?

For more interesting reading about boredom, click here.

Welcomed Thoughts from a Fellow (Jeff Valles): It's Your Business!

It’s Friday afternoon, the sun is out and your business is strong. In fact, you are ticking a bit ahead of your budget. Then a representative from a good vendor walks in and informs you that your business is not keeping up with their other accounts. Boom! The clouds roll in, the rain is pouring down, and you have to find out what is wrong. Horse poop!  

Always listen and learn; there are always new opportunities to research, but remember to keep things in perspective – your perspective. Short- term thinking will only drive you and your team crackers.  

It is your business. You took the time to set your company’s goals and you make a focused strategy to reach them. Do not let others tell you what your business needs to do or be; it is not their company.

So, go back and enjoy your day.

Now, if you have not taken the time to set your game plan, maybe it is time to do so.

Use Constructive Criticism to Spur Creativity

Author Avish Parashar (Say Yes, And! and Improvise to Success) suggests that a shift from saying "yes, but" to saying, "yes, and" has the potential to enhance productivity, perpetuate positivity and unleash brilliance. Authors Roberto Verganti (Overcrowded. Designing Meaningful Products in a World Awash With Ideas) and Don Norman (The Design of Everyday Things and Emotional Design) disagree. They claim that creativity is enhanced not by deferring criticism, but through criticism.



The reasoning for not using "yes, and" exclusively is that truly exceptional ideas almost always have flaws because they explore new terrain. Norman and Verganti argue that without critical feedback, you can't understand the potential shortcomings and pitfalls of an original idea or concept, and this results in missed opportunities that would delve into an idea more deeply. They state, "It's moving forward without progress."

The authors suggest combining "yes, but" and "yes, and" constructively. When evaluating an idea, identify perceived flaws, provide constructive feedback and offer suggestions to either overcome or avoid the identified challenges. Each new version of the idea should receive the same critical review. “This kind of constructive interaction encourages a deep cycle of critical dialogues that can lead to a coherent breakthrough idea,” Norman and Verganti write. Using a combination of "yes, but" and "yes, and" create opportunities for progress, because the team can see both positive and negative aspects, thereby continually improving on the idea with each iteration.

To make criticism a positive instead of a negative, don’t attack or insult. Instead, acknowledge the talent and abilities of those who proposed the idea. Any critical feedback needs to be accompanied by recommendations for improvement. If you are not sure of the goal or intent, be specific in the details that you don't understand instead of just saying, "I don't' get it." Don’t blindly accept ideas that you like either - search for ways to improve the original.

When receiving a critique, view the feedback as a learning opportunity, and take advantage of the chance to see your idea through a different lens and with a new perspective. The bottom line is that when offering criticism, frame your suggestions as positive and helpful. When your ideas are critiqued, use the feedback as opportunities to learn and improve. “When conducted with curiosity and respect, criticism becomes the most advanced form of creativity,” the authors conclude.

Welcomed Thoughts from a Fellow (Jeff Valles): It Is Time To Change The RGA Process

The marketing math is compelling. It’s obvious that the most highly-leveraged moment in every brand’s relationship with a customer is the moment when something goes wrong. Seth Godin

 

A customer is upset because the product does not work as advertised. They call the showroom that they know and trust. Their salesperson now has been transformed from trusted advisor to inquisitor. The sales professional needs to ask their loyal customer the exact nature of the problem, determine if the problem can it be fixed on site and how much time it will take for a resolution? What an incredible waste time for both the customer and showroom salesperson, and this is only the beginning. Looming on the horizon is the oftentimes argument with the manufacturer as to whether or not they will credit the part, cover the labor, who is responsible, and of course, is the product indeed defective? 

 

Here's a better idea. Empower sales professionals to simply ask the customer what the customer wants and then do what they think is best? That applies even if the salesperson offers that the manufacturer will send the part or replace the fixture at no charge, and will pick up the freight and any additional labor costs. WHY NOT? Is it not better to have a happy customer and a content salesperson who will want to continue to specify the manufacturer's products? And the time involved ... the time savings are huge.

 

Let’s review today’s return process. It involves time from the showroom salespeople, manufacturer's customer service and warehouse people, cost for materials, accounting, and occasionally, management. How much time is wasted here, not to mention the frustration while at the same time taking people from productive tasks? No company has time for this. Let’s develop a new process that better promotes winning people’s trust and saving precious time.  

 

We need to move to one of these two models: 

 

1.    The Trust Model is when the manufacturer trusts its distributor/showroom to do what is best and reimburses them. No debate.

2.    The Additional Percentage Discount Model in which the manufacturer adds a few extra points to the purchasing discount to cover all return costs, product and labor, as agreed to by the distributor/showroom and its client. No debate.  

Let's take this model to the extreme. What if custom products all go bad and then a hurricane hits and …? True, there will be times when one side loses. But, over the years the law of averages will balance out. Strange and unique situations will always happen, but we cannot manage by those rare occurrences that might possibly occur. The benefits of time saved, customer meltdowns avoided, angered showroom staff, the chasing of product and the issuing of credit memos will all disappear.  

 

Doesn’t it make more sense to move from a time- consuming, issue-to-issue return process to a simple annual agreement? That would make all of our lives easier and would also give our customers another reason to trust us.

Lessons Learned From the Bankruptcies of Dean and DeLuca and Barneys

Two iconic retail brands declared bankruptcy last week, and the reported downfall of Barneys and Dean & DeLuca point to the ongoing paradigm shift in luxury retail. In a recent article in The New York Times, Ginia Bellafante notes that, "during the 1970s and 1980s, the sophisticated shopping experience was not branded in efficiency or self-denial or schemes devised in investment banks. Dean & DeLuca was itself a work of art. This was also true of Barneys, another institution born of the ethos that shopping was an act of self-actualization. Now both institutions find themselves in a financial free-fall." 

 

What happened? Bellafante suggests that both retailers lost their focus, expanding in a way that made them less necessary. They were both victims of New York's annihilating real-estate market, and both have found it increasingly difficult to be profitable due to debt loads.

2018 DPHA Conference workshop leader Bob Phibbs (The Retail Doctor) attributed Barneys' downfall to poor customer service in a recent blog. Phibbs noted that 63% of their online reviews were negative, and testimonials from customers said Barneys had a culture of arrogance and an our-way-or-the-highway attitude.

Poor financial management and inconsistent customer service did not bring about their downfall alone though. Something else happened. The Times notes, "The city that produced a retail culture focused on discovery and experimentation has become a place with Amazon boxes on the stoop of every brownstone. We have allowed our habits to become so effectively manipulated toward convenience that is hard to imagine appreciating idiosyncrasy if it returned." 

Bellafante also suggests, "The Internet has reshaped desire; influencer culture has diminished the hunger for the exceptional. Those who can afford nearly anything so often are moved not by what no one else has but what Instagram suggests everybody else wants."

As she reminisces of Barneys garnering mainstream attention by way of the HBO series Sex and the City, Bellafante states, "During the period the show became iconic, we could still make sense of the idea, originating in the 19th-century conception of the department store, that shopping was a social experience. You went shopping with friends, you went shopping to look at people, because in the right contexts, those people were bound to seem interesting."

Bellafante asks, has the purpose of shopping, especially luxury retail, been transformed from satisfying aspirations to simply filling voids?

Lessons for decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms are:

• Convenience is king. If you make it difficult to purchase from your showroom or buy from a manufacturer, customers will find a more convenient alternative.
• Products are no longer paramount. Lifestyle is. It's not what products do; it's how they make your customers feel and how they can make their lives easier, more satisfying, healthier and less stressful.
• If you don't train your sales staff to acquire skills beyond taking orders, your future is "iffy" at best.
• Have your sales teams write reviews of their favorite products on Instagram, your website and Houzz, among others.
• Ask your designer and trade clients to write reviews of your showroom and describe why they source product from you.  
• Ensure that every person on your team can answer this question, "Why should someone buy from you instead of online or from the competitor down the street?"

Welcomed Thoughts from a Fellow (Jeff Valles): Do Your Sales People Really Have All The Story?

A showroom salesperson is finishing up a great meeting, their client is nodding like a bobble head doll and a HUGE order is now in play. Then, the salesperson says goodbye and walks straight to their terminal to check their email and text messages. What? With all that knowledge and information flowing fresh in their mind, they shift gears and go to email?

 

And yes, many outside salespeople do the same thing. They give a killer presentation at a top design firm’s office, then wander back to their car, checking email and text messages. Once done with that task, they simply start their car and drive to the next appointment. AGGHHH! Maybe, just maybe, they will review their notes and meeting memories before they go to bed tonight.

 

As both persons described above fiddle with their email and text messages, all that profitable information from their sales calls begins to diminish. Honestly, we really have to save all those wonderful stories, action items and product notes ASAP in order to be completely accurate. Sure, they took “detailed” meeting notes, but no one can write everything completely and correctly. Good salespeople are listening, thinking and talking. With all that going on, even the best salespeople will miss valuable pieces of information. 

 

Our short-term memory is designed to help us survive life-or-death circumstances - it is not programmed to recall that the designer we talked to is starting a large job in November. That has no short-term value and your brain knows that, so the memory can very well slip away. Everyone needs to make it a habit to stop and review their notes, both written and remembered, and if remembered, that important information should be recorded as quickly as possible.

 

At your next sales meeting, take a moment to work with your associates to try and create the habit of immediate note taking and review following a meeting. Many may most likely fire back that they have to make sure their other customers have not been trying to reach them with a monumental catastrophe, so they need to constantly check messages and emails. The simple response is that the just-concluded meeting may have taken a few hours, so another 30 minutes shouldn’t make a difference. However, if the meeting notes are incorrect or incomplete, they might indeed be creating a monumental catastrophe for the future.

 

Endeavor to make it a habit that your sales team always takes the time after a meeting, call or training session to review and edit their notes. Then give it one more go-over. Now, they are set up to slam dunk this opportunity.

The Power of Positive Online Reviews

American consumers who buy online trust their family, friends and colleagues on purchasing recommendations more than a showroom sales consultant, online consumer or influencer, according to a recent study from Oracle.  

The study found that if a product or showroom has a low rating or not enough reviews, it can be quickly ignored.  Another study found that nearly 70% of all US online shoppers focus on the number of stars a showroom receives when evaluating a decorative plumbing and hardware showroom and other retailers.  Another 61% reported that the quantity of reviews also influences purchasing decisions. 

Most savvy consumers understand that online reviews can be manipulated - that’s why they gravitate toward showrooms with lots of reviews and that’s why decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms should ask each of their clients to post an online review about their experience.  Not only will it help to grow referral business from your clients’ neighbors, work colleagues and friends, it will build credibility with those who find you online and want to know more about you.

Welcomed Thoughts from a Fellow (Jeff Valles) - Let Your People Sell

Consistent follow-up habits are one of the most important talents of great sales people. Here's a giant fallacy – your sales team must be available for the customers at all times. Take a moment and think about that. Your top salesperson is on the phone with a homeowner discussing the differences of two satin nickel finishes from different manufacturers being installed in the same room. Talk about a waste of time, not to mention that this conversation has no “right” answer. So, while your top producer listens patiently to this conversation, potential sales wander around the showroom unattended. Frustrating?

 

When showroom owners are asked what they need, better and more sales people top the list. So what does one do? Search, hire and pray that all the planets align and this person becomes the "Tom Brady of toilets." Alternatively, you can make more time for your salespeople to sell. Yes, sell – don’t chase orders or play psychologist - simply sell.

 

It usually takes 24 months to prepare a salesperson to obtain the knowledge where they are capable of working with a talented trade person, specifying plumbing and hardware for a luxury home. At this point, they are ready to make money for your operation, but you now need to protect your investment from burning out. The question you should be asking yourself now is “How can I find them more time to sell and at the same time, remove the annoying stuff?” Hire a full-time customer service person.

 

The main arguments against taking after-sales follow-up away from the salesperson people is that the salesperson wants to always service their customers and it strengthens the relationship. The client may also demand that they deal with their salesperson; this is the person they trust. So what to do?

 

The salesperson has to learn to trust that the company (and your brand) will them back them up and coddle their customers - their customers, your customers. Your sales professionals need to know that the company will service their customers no matter what the situation. The move to add a customer service person will help your brand expand its reach while allowing your best people to do what they do best. This process may take a bit of time, roughly 6 to 9 months, but when it is in place you will have a better company while probably adding even more to your bottom line.

 

If anyone - vendor, showroom or representative - is interested in chatting about this, please email me at jwvals@gmail.com.

Empathy Is Underrated

Bernadette Jiwy had another powerful blog post (The Story of Telling) this week evaluating the three most common selling techniques.

 

Describing features and benefits is the first and most commonly used sales approach.  "This cabinet box is made of plywood with an MDF door that comes in 125 different finishes and is guaranteed never to crack."  Focusing on features and benefits helps assure that customers understand what they are buying, how it works, what it does and how much it will cost.

 

Storytelling is a second common sales technique. Using case histories, testimonials and empirical examples help customers imagine what a new kitchen or bath might look and feel like in their home and how it will make them feel every time they cross the threshold.  Storytelling is an art and a powerful sales technique. The challenge for many showroom professionals in using storytelling is their approach.  Too often the focus is the mechanics of storytelling instead of the actual reasons for storytelling, Jiwy notes.  "Tell to sell" worked in the age when advertising was the primary means to get the word out.  Today, however, the primary reason you tell stories is to build trust with your customers.  If prospective customers are going to invest with you and your team, they need to believe that you are the best resource to deliver the kitchen or bath of their dreams.  You can earn trust through effective storytelling.

 

The third and "by far the most overlooked and under-utilized sales technique is to listen before pitching." Jiwy points out that it is far easier to sell something that customers want than it is to make customers want to buy something.   Savvy sales professionals know they can only sell something that customers want if they know what those wants are.  To understand and assess what your customers want, you need to actively listen and understand "the stories, frustrations, challenges and goals of your prospective customers."