As our calendars flip from 2019 to 2020, we bid farewell to the iPhone decade. Yes, the iPhone was announced on stage by the late Steve Jobs in 2007, but its monumental effect changed the way we lived, worked and played in the last decade. That tool has enabled Facebook, Twitter and numerous other apps to help, hurt and advise us through our days and it is always by our sides. For many people, their smartphone is their first interaction of the day and the last thing they touch before going to sleep. It has truly changed the way we live and is poised to remain a large part of our lives in the 2020’s
So, where do we and our phones go from here? Will the 20’s be the decade of iGlass? Everything from our toothbrushes to our homes seamlessly connect to the internet, or automated vehicles taking us wherever at the tap of an app? My guess is that by December 2029, artificial intelligence (AI) will be the glue in all of these deliverables. It will be our constant companion at work helping us create better products and deliver exemplary service. While we are brushing our teeth, the toothbrush will communicate our vitals to our AI in the cloud and it will make sure all is good-to-go for the day. AI will be up there, with us everywhere we go.
Where all this amazing tech will take us, I have not a clue. But just like each decade before, it will be the most amazing decade ever.
Okay that is where the world around us wants to take us. But where do we want to go in the 2020’s?
How about more FUN in the 2020’s? I challenge all this tech and AI to add more joy to our lives.. We have always worked to make life easier and more fulfilling, but what about FUN? Let’s contemplate that. Yes, fun, you know those amazing moments when you laugh so hard tears stream from your eyes and you think you are going to have a heart attack. FUN. When you ride a wave and it spins you like a top and your nose is full of the ocean and your shorts are full of sand, and you just take a moment and laugh at what just made you feel alive. That is it! I want more alive, fun time in the 2020’s. How about it, AI, are you listening?
What do you do to build relationships with your repeat clients? Jennifer Gilmer Kitchens & Bath in Bethesda, MD and Ashburn, VA is an award-winning kitchen and bath showroom that has been honored for its design expertise dozens of times, including a 2009 Pinnacle Award from NKBA. Owner Jennifer Gilmer is also a savvy marketer. Every week her existing and former clients, and others on her mailing list, receive a profile of a project that her showroom has recently completed. The profile identifies the type of project, style, designer and several pictures with a brief description of the goals the client wanted to achieve with their project and how the design helps to accomplish them. A recent update featured a new bath with the following description:
Two growing teenage siblings shared a cramped bathroom with a separate tub/shower space before we renovated to create a fun and dramatic bathroom that would grow with them as they got older. Dark graphic tile helps create a sophisticated space for even the most mundane daily routines. Eliminating the tub allowed us to increase the floor space. Keeping the same floor tile helps elongate and open the space. 2 separate sinks provide personal space for each.
There is also a link for more photos.
We would suspect a relatively high open rate based on a principle that customers who recently renovated a room in their home will want to see what others have done with their new renovations. Sending project summaries is an easy, cost-effective and laser focused tactic to keep your showroom in front of a group of individuals who should be your best source of referrals; your existing customers.
Affordable luxury is an oxymoron. At least according to Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, arguably the world’s most prestigious luxury brand whose empire includes Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, Dom Perignon, Hennessy, most recently Tiffany, plus 70 others. Arnault does not believe that LVMH’s brands should ever be discounted, ascribing to the notion that luxury brands need to have total control of distribution, pricing and how the brand is portrayed.
American luxury brands take a different approach evidenced by the abundance of factory outlet stores that companies such as Coach, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren and others use to deplete inventory. And therein lies the contradiction or question. Can Coach and others be considered luxury brands when you can buy their products at 50% off at an outlet? That’s the question Pam Danziger, author and retail business consultant, asked in a recent blog which delved into the definition of what luxury is.
Danziger noted that European and American definitions of luxury differ. Dr. Martina Olbertova, founder of Meaning.Global, a brand strategy company, says American luxury is suffering because it has forgotten its roots, evidenced by luxury brands willingness to discount and focus too much on generating short-term profits over long-term value creation.
Olbertova notes cultural differences between Europeans and Americans that serve to define different takes on luxury. Olbertova claims when a luxury brand is discounted, it trades the immediate gratification of outlet sales for the long-term legacy of the brand. “Luxury is about the transcendence of time and space. While Americans are all about form, Europeans are all about the essence…True luxury retains value in time. It goes far beyond the present moment.”
The converse argument is that when American brands rely on outlets, they bring luxury to those who are not in the top 1%. Using their branded outlets lets American luxury brands control pricing and how the brand is portrayed.
What does this debate have to do with decorative plumbing and hardware? It has everything to do with perception. As Amazon continues to drive the commoditization of everything, American consumers desire and believe they are entitled to discounted pricing, free freight and the ability to return anything purchased without cost.
The Amazon effect, and to a lesser extent luxury brand discount outlets, makes selling luxury products in decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms more difficult. And true luxury products and the ability to tell their stories are what will differentiate decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms now and in the future. Otherwise showrooms will find themselves in retail’s version of hell, racing to the bottom by having to compete almost exclusively on price. The question is: can a decorative plumbing and hardware showroom be considered a luxury destination if the first consideration is how much of a discount needs to be offered to make the sale? Please share your thoughts on the DPHA Facebook or LinkedIn pages.
I hope everybody had a lovely Thanksgiving. A wonderful holiday allowing American families to pause for one day to celebrate the passing year’s blessings. Then consume mass quantities of delicious food.
As Thanksgiving fades into memory, Christmas Day is on its way. The massive barrage of advertisements for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday have passed and they have been replaced by a consistent torrent of emails, ads and banners telling me that I can only have XX% off if I buy now! It is all so annoying.
Outside of that noise, I do enjoy holiday shopping. I love to discover just the right gift for my family and friends. Each gift I select has deep logic behind it, and I know it is something they never would purchase for themselves and will treasure for years. I hope to watch them peel back the shiny paper and see a bit of delight on their faces when they discover what it is. I love that look! Then sometimes they unwrap the gift and look at me, what the….? Off to the return counter.
The important thing is that my time searching, not dealing or discounting, is time that I spend thinking about the wonderful people in my life and in small, very small, way give them a bit of Christmas joy.
Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah.
Ohh, P.S. As Christmas 2019 passes, all will turn to talking about 2020. Before that happens, find a moment and congratulate yourself, yes you, for all the hard work you did in 2019. Every once in a while, it is good to look in the mirror and say, great job, well done! Cheers
Delegation is one of the more difficult tasks for showroom owners and managers. However, when you don’t delegate effectively you send negative messages to your team that you don’t trust them to perform to your expectation. You also limit your ability to grow because there is only one of you. To delegate more effectively, change the paradigm of how you interact with the team members who report directly to you. Flip the switch. Instead of you checking on the status of a project or deadline, have your team check in with you. Create a regular meeting schedule to discuss the status of current projects. Regularly scheduled meetings tell the team what you expect from them and when. It also sends the message that you are concerned with outcomes rather than process.
Trust your team’s ability to perform to expectation. After all, you hired and trained your team members. You don’t have to play a role in every decision that they make. Perhaps a better approach is to communicate what is needed and provide the support and resources necessary for your team members to be successful.
To delegate more effectively, get out of your comfort zone by delegating tasks that challenge individual team members and requires them to get out of their comfort zones to learn new tasks and take on new projects. However, don’t simply throw a team member into the deep end and hope he or she will swim instead of sink. Give feedback after a task has been performed and identify both successes and opportunities for improvement. Real-world experience is the best teacher and will help your team members grow personally and professionally.
When you delegate more effectively, you can spend more time growing your business.
“I like that handle, but could I see it in hand-relieved satin brass?” How often have you heard this on your showroom floor? Every day, without a doubt! It could be available in all the colors of the hardware rainbow, and the internet shows so many more images than you could ever show in your showroom.
This is a question that has been haunting showroom salespeople for decades and, I think, we just might have the answer. At the 2019 Lightovation show at the Dallas Market Center, a leading luxury lighting manufacturer had strategically placed 4’ x 3’ interactive touch screens amongst its spectacular products. The screens were programed so the user could simply swipe right to easily move from image to image. Even amongst hundreds of beautiful lighting fixtures, these screens, with their larger-than-life images, were the draw.
An EXPERIENCE garnered more interest than the actual product. People would stand and swipe to their heart's content as the images were quickly delivered from its huge database. Yes, it was a large screen that was the star of a show attended by the purchasing agents from the top lighting showrooms in the United States and Canada. Not a specific fixture, product series or brand, but a SCREEN. Are we focused on our screens or what?
Brick and mortar showrooms are not going away, but if a physical luxury showroom does not incorporate a 21st century experience, that will hurt its image. Imagine a customer walking into your showroom and heading straight for the interactive screen. In a matter of minutes, they are flipping through faucets as fast as they can swipe. Customers travel to your showroom to interact with the actual product and still want to be able to see everything imaginable. They want to experience the best of both the physical and digital worlds in your showroom.
When a customer asks what this faucet looks like in another finish, no problem. You can show it to them on your 4’ x 3’ screen We cannot physically show it all, but we can show a large image of their dream look by simply accessing our mighty, mighty database.
The answer is to bring the internet power into your showroom. Slap a screen on the wall and voila, millions of cabinet knobs are alive! Unfortunately, it is not simply plug and play. It will take some programming, and access to properly configured vendor databases to make this dream a reality.
When I returned home, I did a little digging and discovered these two “Kiosk” companies. It seems kiosk is the preferred terminology in the self-serve retail world, as opposed to large touch screens.
I hope some vendors and showrooms can work together to make this happen in the DPH world. I believe kiosks will be a big showroom draw and expand showroom offerings to infinity and beyond...
At a time when attracting and retaining best-in-class talent is essential and at a premium, showrooms need to do everything in their power to help ensure that their team members feel welcomed, appreciated and connected to one another. According to the Center for Talent Innovation, employees who feel that they belong in their place of work are 350% more likely to contribute to their fullest potential, yet 4 in 10 employees believe they are physically and emotionally isolated in their workplaces.
There’s an easy button to achieve a sense of belonging among your team. Researchers at the Center for Talent Innovation found that simply providing more opportunities for team members to interact and check in with one another boosts the sense of belonging. In fact, 39% of survey respondents reported the greatest sense of belonging when they can connect with coworkers. What does not work as well is face time with senior executives or being copied on senior executive emails. The researchers found, “by reaching out and acknowledging their employees on a personal level, companies and leadership can significantly enhance employee experience and make their people feel valued and connected.”
There is not a one-size fits all methodology that encourages team members to connect with one another. Connecting does not have to be complicated. Taking the opportunity to ask how someone is doing and what you can do to make their day better can go a long way.
The researchers also recommend that leaders in an organization seek feedback from their team members. Doing so demonstrates trust and talking about the challenges you face humanizes your relationship with colleagues and coworkers. It is important to note that you must also do something with that feedback, so team members don’t feel like their feelings are falling on deaf ears.
When you continuously express concern for the welfare of your team, listen intently to the challenges they face and take the time simply to ask how they are doing, you will fuel engagement, improve relationships and enhance the bottom line.
It is the third Tuesday of the month and as usual, this outside salesperson will be visiting account ABC at 9am, DEF at noon for lunch, LMN at 2:30 and finish the day at XYZ at 4:00.
This looks great. During a full day of outside calls, you have the chance to tell your brand stories to your targeted customers. That’s a lot of ground to cover, so let’s hit the road. One question: are you prepared?
Some interesting questions to ask before you schedule any and all outside calls:
- Do they know you are coming?
- What do you want to accomplish at each call?
- Do you have plenty of samples to share?
- Have you checked the companies’ websites and social media posts to know what they are working on and promoting?
- What happened on your last call there? Did you review your notes?
- What have been your company’s interactions with each customer since that last call? Do you need to bring any parts or soothe any ruffled feathers?
- DO THEY KNOW YOU ARE COMING?
This call routine was the first thing that was drilled into my head by my mentor, Al Dubin. If I couldn’t answer all of these questions, Al told me to get back in that chair! Unprepared salespeople were his number one pet peeve. R-E-S-P-E-C-T your customer and do your homework. You have to give to get.
I am still amazed at how often salespeople, sales managers and local representatives would stop by with no plan, no product samples and no idea of what was going on with our shared interests.
They would show up when staff was busy selling, purchasing agents purchasing, designers pitching, plumbers fighting inspectors and builders trying to find subcontractors. They would drop in at 11ish just to say hello and see if there were any issues or questions. People, time is incredibly valuable for all involved and must be used effectively. Put simply, no one should call on anyone if they do not have an appointment and a beneficial agenda for all parties involved.
Management has to be on top of this. Every sales call made should align with your company's focus and what your marketing team is promoting. It is amazing what a company can accomplish when all the teams have the same game plan.
Let’s stop unprepared calls; take that time and generate the quality and additional sales from your showroom visits that you and your clients expect and deserve.
