Writing More Effective Emails

You are prospecting a new high-end builder to make your showroom the "go-to" resource for all decorative plumbing and hardware. You realize that cold calling won't work, but crafting a compelling and creative e-mail may help get your foot in the door.  To grab their attention and persuade your prospect to open your email, you must begin with a strong subject line.   A couple of examples, "Interested in selling your homes faster?"  Another might be, "Are margins important?"  "Need to capture the attention of a fickle market?"  Determine what causes your existing builder clients the most pain associated with decorative plumbing and hardware, and offer a solution in your subject line.

 

Follow the subject line with a powerful opening sentence.  "Working with XYZ builders has enabled the company to reduce anticipated sell times by X number of weeks, days, months?  What would that do for your bottom line?"

 

The next step is your call to action.  If your goal is to arrange a meeting, an effective CTA (call to action) might be, "We work with several custom builders that are our best source of new business.  Let me prove that there is such a thing as a free lunch.  What's a good day to get together?"

 

Your closing salutation should be simple and to the point, such as thank you for your attention to this request.  We look forward to creating value to your future projects.

Returns and the Pit of Despair, by Darryl Jones (QuickDrain USA), an Education Committee Member

No one, and I mean no one, like's the process of returning product, be it the manufacturer, end user or decorative showroom. It happens occasionally, or more then we would like to admit, for any number of reasons. Below are the most common:

1. Ordering mistake - If you are just one digit off, the product can be ordered wrong. Make sure you triple check your model numbers or get a fresh set of eyes on the quote.
2. Customer changes their mind - This happens when customers are unclear on what they are actually receiving. Have the customer focus on one room at a time and then review the order with your customer at least three times. Mark in bold any areas of concern so that they are not forgotten. Be sure to point out finishes being ordered that won't match (Oil Rubbed Bronze) or other products of concern (your customer has a full body "car wash" and needs to up-size their water heater).
3. The manufacturer ships the wrong product - This is a difficult situation to be in. On large orders, I have the warehouse contact me, so I can help check in the order. Murphy's law states that mistakes are guaranteed to happen on your large orders or with your most challenging customer. Trust me - it's worth the extra time to check the order in before it ships to the job site.

Rules of processing a return

• Check and see if you're in the manufacturer's time frame to handle the return (most have a 90-day stipulation).
• Never credit the customer before the return has been processed. (Products can only be returned if they are in saleable condition). Remember, the customer bears the responsibility of getting the merchandise back to you in one piece.
• Inform the warehouse that products being shipped back have to be received in a shipping box. (Some manufacturers won't except a return with mailing labels attached to the product box, or they will charge you a re-boxing fee.)
• Go over the restocking fees with your customer and let them know that a credit will be issued once the manufacture excepts the return. (Think transparency).

Returns happen - it's a known fact, however, you can safeguard yourself by having a review process before the products are ordered. Consider a sign-off on large ticket items (hydrotherapy tubs, vanities, mirrors, steam generators and any special ordered products). After all, people take things seriously once they have to sign a piece of paper. Stick to your guns and hold the order until you have a signature. As a manufacturer and past showroom manager, I've handled a lot of returns. Process returns as quickly as possible and move on to your next project. Treat a return like a child - if your customers need an answer today on a return, then the answer should be "no", otherwise they can wait until you contact the manufacturer. Returns are part of the business - all you can do is minimize your chances of having to deal with one.

 

The Downside of Optimism

There have been numerous studies that show being an optimist is good for your physical and mental well-being. However, does the benefits of being an optimist translate to the showroom? Not necessarily. According to Liz Wiseman, author of Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, there are generally two types of people: multipliers and diminishers. 

Multipliers, as the name implies, highlight the intelligence and skill sets of their co-workers. Conversely, diminishers do exactly the opposite. Even the best managers and leaders can have elements of a diminisher in them, because their personalities are so large they tend to inhibit or intimidate their fellow team members.

Optimism is one of the characteristics of a diminisher. The potential downside of an eternal optimist is that they are so positive that almost anything can be accomplished they tend to turn a blind eye to the difficulty in achieving the goal. The way to avoid optimistic diminishing is to acknowledge how difficult a task or project will be. Wiseman also suggests asking lots of questions that help identify potential challenges such as - "What obstacles are we going to have to overcome that we have not yet considered? Are there good reasons that we are heading down the wrong path? What questions have we not asked that we should have?"

Unbridled optimism can be a negative simply due to the fact that fellow team members, subcontractors and others involved with a kitchen and bath remodel need to have their experiences validated. Even if you see the glass half full all of the time, understand that many on your team are involved with difficult projects, taxing deadlines and outside service and product providers that sometimes disappoint. When you acknowledge the difficulty in achieving goals, deadlines and/or budgets, you validate feelings that most of your team are reticent to vocalize.

What To Do When the Market Shrinks

Guess what?  As a society, Americans are not going forth and multiplying.  The number of Americans, which translates to the number of potential future customers, is growing at less than one percent annually.  In fact, the U.S. is at the lowest population levels since 1937. There are several reasons for our population stagnation, among which are fewer births as a result of Millennials marrying later in life and having fewer children when they do marry, fewer immigrants as a result of national policy and fewer deaths.  

 

Concurrently, there are population shifts. Did you know that Utah is the fastest growing state in the U.S.? Whoda thunk it?  And major metropolitan areas are not increasing their population. Combine fewer potential customers with the increased use of online retail, and you can see why brick-and-mortar stores in traditional retail hotbeds will have to respond to this changing societal dynamic.  

 

One of the points may be, according to L2 Founder and New York University Stern School of Business Professor Scott Gallaway, that the reason many mid-market to premium retailers are suffering is the ongoing erosion of the middle class. That helps explain the challenges faced by J.C. Penny, Sears and Macys (among others).  Pew Research reveals that those considered "middle class" have plummeted 11 percentage points from 1971 to 2015 and Pam Danzinger of Unity Marketing notes that the middle class' share of the nation's aggregate income has declined from 62 percent in 1970 to 43 percent in 2014.

 

While the middle class is eroding, the upper tier of the revenue producers is increasing.  There are 35 million affluent American households, of which 5 million have an annual household income exceeding $250,000. Another demographic trend affecting decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms is multi-generational households. An estimated 40 percent of Millennials are still living at home or with other family members.  That's the largest percentage of child-parent households since 1940.  The number of households with elderly parents living with their children is also increasing, signifying market opportunities for showrooms that can help homeowners modify their houses for aging in place.  This market opportunity becomes even more illuminated by the fact that only 10 percent of Americans are expected to move in a year.  That is half the number that moved in the 1960s and the lowest percentage of household turnover since 1948.

 

Baby boomers are the second largest generation in history and currently the generation with the most money. As boomers want to stay in their homes longer, targeted marketing campaigns to this demographic should generate positive returns.  Meet with your staff and brainstorm ideas of how to better serve this critical market segment.  

 

Women still control or influence the purchase of 80% of everything.  However, the number of women in the workforce has actually declined since 2000.  The Labor Department estimates that women in the workforce in 2020 will be at a lower level than it was in 1990.  The fact that fewer women are earning paychecks is not a positive trend for premium and luxury brands or brick-and-mortar retail in general.  

 

Lessons for decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms:

• Because more baby boomers are aging in place and moving less often, there are opportunities for upgrades of existing homes to develop an expertise for aging in place.
• Millennials gravitate toward experiences rather than brands or conspicuous consumption. Craft messages that tout the health and experiential benefits of a new bath.
• Women, while declining in the workforce, still make the vast majority of purchasing decisions. Make sure that your market efforts and sales approaches are female orientated.  
• There are 30 million Americans who are considered wealthy, and 5 million who are considered ultra-wealthy, e.g. household incomes in excess of $250,000.  Develop marketing campaigns that appeal to this demographic.  

The State of American Luxury

Not so fast to ring the death bell for brick-and-mortar retail.  Yes, there are a rash of closings from Toys R Us to Sears and many others whose model, merchandising and go-to-market strategies are cemented in the 20th century.  They depended upon providing consumers with a panorama of products that could be purchased at one location.  The Internet changed the game, making it easier for consumers to purchase online than to make a trip to a brick-and-mortar retailer whose main claim to fame was their breadth of product selection.  

 

Then there is Bonobos, Warby Parker, Amazon Books and a host of other online etailers who are rapidly expanding into the brick-and-mortar arena.  Target and Walmart recently reported their best quarterly performance in a decade. Other brick-and-mortar retailers that are thriving include Nordstrom, Home Depot, TJ Maxx and Urban Outfitters.  

 

What about luxury brands? Tapestry, the parent company that owns Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman, reported increased top line sales of 31% in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year. Michael Kors had almost equally impressive results, up 26.3% in its latest quarterly report.  However, the top line sales don't paint the entire picture.  Michael Kors' same store sales were relatively flat.  Coach's same store sales, including ecommerce, increased by a paltry 2%. 

 

The definition and perception of luxury are also changing.  When you think of luxury handbags, is Coach the first name that pops into your head?  Probably not.   The first thoughts may be Hermes or Louis Vitton.  And that distinction is at the heart of "American Luxury."  There's a strong case to say that American Luxury no longer exists. Tapestry and Michael Kors produce premium products.  They can't be considered luxury simply by definition if luxury is defined as "an inessential, desirable item which is expensive or difficult to obtain or a pleasure obtained only rarely," per the Oxford English Dictionary.  Is anything that Michael Kors or Tapestry offer difficult to obtain or do they usually deliver a "pleasure"?

 

The same parallel holds true for decorative plumbing and hardware products.  There are certaiunly brands that can be defined as luxury, however many showroom products can be found heavily discounted either on the showroom floor or on the Internet.  The continued success of DPH premium brands and products requires combining newness with value.  Evidence of the combination in the DPH showroom is exemplified by technological advances in thermostatic valves, which today are almost priced the same as pressure balanced valves.  Another key to the continued success of the decorative plumbing and hardware showroom is to understand what your customers truly want and the motivation behind their desire to equip their home with premium products that not only deliver better experiences, but also make the customers feel good about their purchases.  What doesn't work is the "spaghetti against the wall" approaches exemplified by having multiple brands and products whose design and performance are not distinguishable and then hoping that something sticks.  And as sales guru Gerry Layo told DPHA members at a previous conference, "Hope is not a good strategy." 

Does Luxury Mean Anything Anymore?

Does your showroom sell luxury products?  If you believe it does, you may have another "think" coming.  Sebastien van Laere of the Future Laboratory recently wrote that the term luxury has been so overused that it no longer has meaning.  Luxury is defined as "an inessential, desirable item which is expensive or difficult to obtain or a pleasure obtained only rarely," by the Oxford English Dictionary.  If that definition is accurate, then any product in your showroom that is offered at a substantial discount by an online etailer or competitor cannot be considered luxurious.

 

Millennials create another challenge to using luxury nomenclature.  The largest generation in US history is generally not attracted to products just to show them off.  For Millennials, conspicuous consumption is a negative.  Throughout the luxury world, manufacturers and retailers are changing the narrative to align with new consumer expectations and desires.  Van Laere notes that cultural changes have spawned anti-luxury approaches.  Tiffany employed a rapper to promote its new Paper Flower products and its new London concept store features fragrance vending machines, neon lights and sneaker-wearing sales professionals.

 

Using the word "luxury" to describe a product or a showroom no longer has cache.  But it is more than nomenclature that needs to change.  The entire customer experience needs to follow suit as well by delivering high-quality, sustainable and memorable moments that are remarkable. What do you offer to customers that will make them want to talk about their experience to neighbors, peers and friends?

 

Email or Call? That Is the Question

When you want to establish a relationship with a prospective client, be it a builder, multi-family developer or single-family homeowner, what's better for an initial contact - email or phone call? After all, you have only one opportunity to make a first impression, so you want to make sure that it is a positive one.  Robert Graham, author of Cold Calling Early Customers, recommends sending an email because it does not require the recipient to respond immediately.  Plus, you can use an email as a reason to make a follow-up phone call.  

 

Another reason to email first instead of calling is it provides the opportunity for your showroom to explain your value proposition and convince the prospect that you are a better solution than the one they may currently be using or are considering.  Realistically, few of your prospects are going to take a call from a showroom they may never have heard of before or may not be interested in.

 

Google trends is a great tool to gauge how well your brand is recognized in your market territory.  Log on to Google Trends to determine how many times your company's name has been searched versus the searches of your top competitors.  If you are blogging at least weekly, chances are your showroom is getting significantly more visibility because there is a strong possibility you are appearing on the first page of Google searches.

 

You can skip the email or phone debate altogether though if you can use a contact to introduce you.  If you don't have a contact, check out the prospect's LinkedIn profile, Twitter or Instagram accounts and start to engage them by using social media to demonstrate how you can add value to their project.

 

Regardless of your strategy, make sure you know who you are contacting and what their needs are.  Researching a project's prospect enables you to craft personalized messages that address their needs.

Leadership + Innovation > Entrepreneurship, by Phil Hotarek (Lutz Bath & Kitchen), an Education Committee Member

For decades, companies have been pitched the concept of entrepreneurship as a method for harboring innovation.  You may have heard of several inspiring stories spawned from "rebels" such as: the Sony Playstation, Skunk Works, the Gmail search feature and the post-it note.  While one great idea may be born from a brilliant mind, the real key to a "post-it note" idea being born is developing a culture that embraces innovation with strong, open-minded leadership.  Innovation must be a company-wide venture with 100% buy-in from top to bottom.  It is a permanent function within an organization that is constantly seeking ways to improve operating processes, market strategies, and company growth.

A potential side effect of the entrepreneurship sales pitch is the development of an "anti-corporate" mindset that could inspire an employee to swim against the tide resulting in a potential company divide.  While the idea of being a company renegade is enticing to some, the reality is it ends up adversely affecting cyclical innovation and employee retention.  Companies also want to avoid depending on one "superhero" mind to fly in and save the day.  Instead, organizations need to be committed to a system that continuously innovates.  Most importantly, innovation within a company can not be disconnected from the larger operations, but holistically embraced throughout the organization.

• Leadership committed to an inclusive and innovative culture
• The ability to provide necessary resources
• The requirement of clear articulation of a proposed idea with data driven results
• Implementation process and planning
• Tracking data and incentives of innovation cycles
• Recruiting top industry skill and talent for business development

By embedding the above elements, you create a strong company identity that embraces a culture of consistent innovation.  The benefits of this strategy?  You end up with highly motivated employees who remain challenged, engaged, team oriented, and drive company growth with creative thinking skills. 

A Brilliant Marketing Idea

What's the goal of your marketing efforts?  The traditional marketing path relied on advertising to make a business more visible, but visibility and memorability are not one and the same and one does not necessarily beget the other.  Today's marketing for decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms, which must account for the fact that consumers control a businesses' brand, should focus on creating memorable customer experiences.

 

Bernadette Jiwy, in another brilliant blog post, related the story of a new bakery that decided to eschew traditional advertising, opting instead to promote its brand by offering a weekly bread basket to one lucky customer, who received a week's supply of different breads and goodies to share with their family.  But that's not all and the "not all" is a stroke of genius. Each customer who won the bread basket then got to nominate the next person to receive the free bread and to document the reasons why they chose their friend, colleague or neighbor in a notebook at the bakery.  The free weekly giveaway, Jiwy points out, did not simply promote the bakery's brand, it connected friends and neighbors and made them feel like they mattered.  

 

The lesson for decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms? Why not offer a weekly gift to a potential or former customer?  Why not partner with a faucet, cabinet knob, shower head or other manufacturer and provide a bath improvement basket?  Why not have your customers nominate a colleague, friend or neighbor to win the next basket and have them write the reasons they should win the basket on a notebook in the showroom, and on your web site?  Why not?

Winning the Zero Moment of Truth

In 2011, Google coined the term, Zero Moment of Truth, that refers to the point in the buying cycle when consumers research products or companies, often before the seller even knows that they exist.  If you don't believe that the customer buying journey has undergone a complete transformation in the last several years, consider this: on average consumers review 22 sources of information before making a purchase, and that number is more than 40 sources in categories such as travel and hospitality.  

 

Winning the zero moment of truth involves implementing the guidance Marcus Sheridan provided at the 2013 DPHA Annual Conference.  Your web site and social media posts need to answer the questions that customers ask most often, and provide helpful content that makes the buying journey easier and also builds trust with potential customers.  This may include the following:

• Solicit performance and product reviews from customers and distribute those among third-party review sites, e.g. Yelp, Google, Angie's List and Houzz.com.
• Have your showroom sales staff be brand ambassadors, reviewing products on your web site and offering guidance to make purchasing and renovation processes easier.
• Be constantly present and relevant by blogging about issues that address customer concerns and issues.
• Daily publish social media posts.
• Develop an email marketing newsletter.
• Implement email drip and trigger campaigns.
• Participate in paid social media search ad campaigns.

Effective content marketing helps build communities and create brand advocates that result in more sales and higher profitability.

Millennials: Forget About Em?

Millennials get a lot of press and for good reason. They represent the largest generation in U.S. history and will eventually be a major market for decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms.  However, at the moment, they are not as important as two other market demographics who are:

• Women
• Baby Boomers

Women are the primary purchasers of most everything.  In her groundbreaking book, Why She Buys, Bridget Brennan claims that women make the buy, or are the key influencers, in about 80% of all consumer purchases in the United States. However, few businesses and marketing messages are crafted to appeal to the unique needs of women.  What are you doing to specifically craft messages, services, designs, merchandising and displays that appeal to women?

 

In crafting messages, women for the most part prefer narratives that cohere and stir their imagination.  Women are more concerned with, and will be attracted to, products and sales approaches that explain what a product will do for them instead of its technical capabilities. Typically, women are not going to connect with features and benefits such as gallons per minute or PVD finishes. Focus instead on the health, relaxation and emotional benefits that showroom products offer. Explain how products will make her life and the lives of those that she cares most about easier, more enjoyable or more relaxing.  Men, on the other hand, relate better to tables and rankings.  Brennan observes that "Women are females first and consumers second." The importance of this to the decorative plumbing and hardware universe is that when women buy products, they are not only buying for themselves, they also are purchasing for everyone else - spouses, kids, friends, family and often their older parents, which multiplies their buying power and influences.

 

Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were aided in their Watergate investigation by a source whom the reporters dubbed, "Deep Throat."  The informant turned out to be FBI Associate Director Mark Felt, who advised the Post reporters to "follow the money."  That sage advice rings true for decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms in 2018.  While Millennials are getting most of the press from marketing gurus because they are the largest generation in history, DPH showrooms are urged to follow the money.  

 

Consumers 50 years and older have 47 times more money than consumers under the age of 50.  Those turning 50 in 2018 are expected to live another 50 years. They are just getting started. What compelling messages are you crafting to appeal to this demographic?

Lessons from Brookstone

Brookstone recently announced that it is closing its 100+ mall stores to focus its energies on the 30 brick-and-mortar airport locations and ecommerce.  It's another sign of a niche brick-and-mortar retailer throwing in the towel.  For more than 40 years, Brookstone offered quirky, niche products ranging from drones and all types of remote controls to 3D printed pens.  Similar to Shaper Image and Radio Shack, Brookstone did not adapt to the changing retail paradigm that has resulted in a significant decline in shopping mall traffic.  But it would be a disservice to Brookstone to blame online competitors and Amazon as the primary reason for its restructuring and substantially smaller footprint.

 

Brookstone did not sell many things that people needed, points out DPHA Conference Workshop Leader, the Retail Doctor Bob Phibbs.  Instead, they sold products that people wanted.  There are few items sold in a decorative plumbing and hardware showroom that consumers need.  Almost everything featured in a showroom falls into the category of wants.  A key to continued success is to determine the motivation for a "want".  Doing so will enable you and your sales team to overcome objections such as "it costs too much".  When price is questioned, determine why a customer considers the price to be too high. Determine if they want to make unique design statements in their home and the goals they want to achieve.   When you can change the dialogue, you can transition the conversation from price to how the products you recommend will make your customer feel and how much enjoyment they would derive from those purchases.  When you can determine goals, motivations and reasons for objections, you can easily overcome price and other reasons not to buy.  

 

Phibbs points out that anyone standing in front of a decorative plumbing and hardware sales professional made an effort to travel to the showroom.  There is a reason they made the trip.  Most objections come at the end of a conversation, which most of the time reflect that the sales professional did not bond with the customer or transition from someone trying to sell stuff to a trusted advisor. There's a good chance that many of the sales professionals at Brookstone mall stores did not transition to trusted advisor.  They were simply order takers.  

 

To help your team better connect with your customers, have them write down what customers object to and brainstorm how you and your team can respond to them.  More skill and savvy are required to convince consumers to purchase products that they want instead of need.  

 

Smarter Is as Smarter Does

In his new book, The Excellence Dividend:  Meeting the Tech Tide with Work That Wows and Jobs that Last, acclaimed business management guru Tom Peters references an Oxford University study that found in the next 20 years, nearly 50% of American white collar jobs are at risk of going away due to automation or artificial intelligence. To many, that's a frightening thought, but one that also points to the need for constant learning and reinvention.  

 

Creating new opportunities for your team and yourself have become a necessity to attract and retain top-tier talent.   What skills and training would help team members to become more effective?  Reach out to your peer network to determine the sales skills and technologies that are becoming more important.  Talk to others in luxury businesses as well.  They are competing for the same disposable income dollars as decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms.  What trends do they see emerging?  How are they responding to new paradigms? 

 

Put into practice (as soon as possible) the new skill sets and knowledge that you and your team members have obtained from online learning or other training that has a direct relationship to effectiveness.  That's why DPHA structures its educational programs at the Annual Conference to provide information that can be learned on Friday and Saturday and implemented in the showroom on Monday.

What Drives Showroom Growth?

We all know the impact ecommerce has had, and will continue to have, on brick-and-mortar retailing. The consensus of ecommerce leaders such as Amazon and brick-and-mortar stalwarts such as Nordstrom and Best Buy is that retail is not an "either or" proposition.  Why else would Amazon purchase Wholefoods and open brick-and-mortar grocery stores and book stores?

 

Retail research and metrics firm Custoria recently surveyed more than 100 of its retail customers, 500 million end user customers and $150 billion of retail transactions.  The survey looked at the following key performance indicators:

• Customer acquisition
• Average order value
• Order frequency
• Retention rate
• Reactivation rate

Custoria found that revenue increased on average 17. 2 percent.  The retailers surveyed were most successful at increasing their number of new customers and least successful at selling to lost customers.  Custoria discovered that order frequency was the most efficient driver of growth.  For every one percent increase in order frequency, there is a corresponding 2.8 point increase in revenue.  Existing customers that repeatedly order is the key performance metric that yields the biggest bang.  

 

Retaining existing customers and luring customers who had left the nest had no effect on revenue growth. This means offering discounts is not enough to move the needle to attract prior customers.  Instead, retailers need to promote their value propositions with former customers and rebuild relationships.

 

Lessons for decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms - your repeat customers are your best source of sustained revenue.  Focus your marketing efforts on this clientele, because we have all learned it is easier to sell an existing customer than trying to acquire a new customer.

Increase Productivity

How many times after working a full day do you believe that you did not accomplish as much as you wanted to? Have you ever wanted to add an additional day to the week or a few extra hours to a day in order to get through your "to do" list? A challenge in improving your and your team's productivity is to determine how you currently spend your time. There are a number of apps that can assist such as Be Focused Timer, which is free, and which enables you to track blocks of work and track past work history. Another app, Focus Booster ($2.99/month individual, $4.99 month professional) tracks where your time goes and can link revenue, projects and meetings to your to-do list tasks. There are literally dozens of other applications and of course, there is always the option of tracking your time the old-fashioned way - by recording it on a spread sheet in hour or half hour increments.

Strategic multitasking can help improve productivity. And recognize there have been numerous studies that claim you can't effectively do more than one thing at a time. That may be the case of certain activities such as preparing a proposal for a new multifamily project, but you can multitask other activities easily. You can listen to a podcast while walking a dog, exercising or preparing meals.

Learn to combine business and personal relationships. We all have business relationships that have turned into personal relationships as well. Networking at industry events is an opportunity to combine the amount of time spent with both friends and business acquaintances.

Don't be a slave to email. Feeling the need to have to respond to every email you receive immediately can place a huge damper on your productivity. A tactics to consider is to allocate a certain time of the day that you focus on your business' highest priorities or your most urgent deadlines, and consider that time email free. If you have regular client communications, let your clients know that you won't respond to emails during these times. Once you get in the habit of avoiding emails at certain times of the day, it can be liberating.

 

Identifying which activities generate the most stress will enable you to delegate more tasks or reshuffle priorities so you can focus on assignments where you can exercise your strengths and capitalize on distinctive competencies.

The old expression "you can't improve what you can't measure" certainly holds true for individual productivity. The first step is to record what you do in a given day over several weeks. You'll see patterns emerge that will enable you to more effectively allocate and schedule time that results in increased productivity.

Neat Idea of the Issue

Here's a great way to improve the quality of your customer service. Task every member of your team to document the best and worst customer experiences they encounter in a two or three-week period. Have them present their positive and negative experiences at a staff meeting and discuss how you can take advantage of the best examples of customer service and how you can avoid emulating the worst examples.  

 

Talking Less = Selling More

Looking through the lens of a first-time visitor to a decorative plumbing and hardware showroom, what would you see?  Imagine the reaction of potential customers who are building a new home and were sent to your showroom to pick out products for a master bath, child's bath, powder room, guest bath, kitchen and laundry room.  What would be the customer's first impression.  How many similar products would they see?  And what would their reaction be to a first-time greeting by one of your sales professionals?  

 

The answer to the last question, according to 2018 DPHA Conference workshop leader Bob Phibbs (The Retail Doctor), is that many brick and mortar retail customers view first-time meetings with sales associates negatively.  Customers believe that sales associates will undervalue, misunderstand or railroad customers when they walk through the door, Phibbs wrote.  And the reason why?  Because most retailers, decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms included, focus conversations on features and benefits because that's what they have been trained on.  What most sales professional don't now is that before you can sell most anything successfully you need to learn how to establish a rapport that leads to trust. The key, Phibbs writes, is to "present just the right amount of information at just the right time."

 

Presenting the right amount of information at the right time requires speaking less and listening more. Many sales associates, especially those newer to the industry, tend to want to show how much they know and talk too much.  Phibbs suggests that sales associates pause before speaking to make sure that a customer has finished his or her thoughts, which enables the sales professional to craft a response.

 

Another key is to determine the reasons why the customer has visited the showroom before making recommendations.  Why does someone want to renovate their master bath?  Why is someone building a home?  What do they want the rooms to look and feel like after construction ends? Before making product recommendations, ask clarifying questions, advises Phibbs, to determine what is most important.  When you determine the motivation for a customer's project, you can start to frame the next steps to create trust and get the sale.

 

Robb Best taught us at prior DPHA Conferences to limit choices. Offer no more than two product choices at one time.  If you describe the reasons why you believe a particular product will meet the client's needs, focus on the most important contribution that the product brings to your client's project.  Don't go through a litany of features such as it comes in 32 design finishes, you can adjust the length of the spout, it has a ceramic disk cartridge, the finish is guaranteed for life, etc.  Focus on what's most important to customers and then be quiet so you can gauge customer feedback.

 

Pay attention to how much you or your sales professionals speak during a customer interaction and how much customers say.  Customers should always talk more because when they do, you gain the information needed to craft the best solutions for their projects.  

 

Want more guidance from the Retail Doctor Bob Phibbs?  Click here to reserve for the DPHA Conference. 

Remodeling the Bath, by Traci D'Antoni (D'Antoni Sales Group), and Education Committee Member

We deal with people remodeling their homes everyday in the showroom. It could be for resale or it could be because they have made the decision to stay where they are while updating the home they love. I recently remodeled a bath in my own home and I'd like to share some things I learned and some tips to share with your customers to make their remodeling process as smooth as possible.

1. Take your time choosing a contractor. This is someone who is going to be spending quite a bit of time in your home, so interview your contractor with this in mind. You also should get 3 or 4 bids on your project and make sure to be very specific about what the scope of the work is. You want all your bids to be based on the same parameters. Get references from your potential contractor and ask the references about the entire process and the level of service they received.
2. Have a realistic budget. When you get back the bids from the contractors, review them thoroughly to see what is included in the quote. Remember, the quote could change depending on what happens when the walls get opened up. We've all seen the HGTV "we weren't expecting..."  I use 10% as the amount for the cushion in the budget.
3. Have a realistic timeline for both receiving product and completion of the construction. As business is picking up, it may take longer to receive product. I encourage having all product on hand before beginning the actual remodel. This will help prevent any stopage in work due to delays in receiving materials. Keep in mind that your contractor may have other projects going on and if they have to leave your project it could extend your timeline.
4. Be prepared - your life is going to be disrupted. At some point in time there will be dust, noise, power turned off, water turned off and someone else in your space. Make other arrangements for your pets if they have a tendency to run or be overly friendly.
5. Patience is a virtue and needed in abundance during your remodel. No matter how well you plan, there will be something that goes awry. Don't have a meltdown, just realize that it will pass and the results will be all worth it.

Being in the industry, I felt that I was well prepared for my remodel. I had all of my products on hand, my contractor came over the week before the project and looked at all of the products and I explained what I wanted done. That being said, I still had a few glitches during the construction, but now that it is all over, I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. I love my new bathroom and if you need a contractor in the Louisville area, I know a great one.

A Different World View by Tom Cohn, DPHA Executive Vice President

My son is moving to his first apartment in a few weeks and in anticipation of having his own crib, he is shopping for furniture. During his 48-hour research extravaganza, he concluded that the way we have purchased furniture and most other things for our home is "all wrong." We have relied on brick-and-mortar retailers and selected products that are well made and styled to last the test of time. And we have paid a premium for this approach. We always could have spent less.

 

A limited budget has required my son to look at popular priced offerings that will outfit his new 500 square foot abode. He is attracted to online companies (he's 22) and has convinced himself that the quality of lesser priced offerings that require self-assembly are of comparable quality to the furnishings he has grown up with. I questioned this claim. But his point got me to thinking, "Have we really been purchasing incorrectly for years. Did we spend too much for everything?" When we renovated the kitchen, our refrigerator cost more than my first car. 

 

Here's the lesson for decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms. We tend to focus on what we want our customers to believe. We spend hours upon hours trying to explain and justify our value proposition as to why our customers should pay a premium for products whose functionality can be obtained for considerably less. We often ignore the customer's lens and what customers believe is right for them. Do your sales professionals consider what story customers tell themselves?

Competing Against Amazon

At last year's DPHA Conference, the Retail Profit Doug Stephens astutely observed that purchasing products from Amazon is the quickest route from wanting to receiving. There is nothing special or emotionally engaging by acquiring goods with a few clicks of a mouse. Yet that being said, Amazon is expected to be responsible for 80 percent of online purchasing growth in 2018 and commands 49 percent of all Internet searches.

 

What makes Amazon the most dangerous for brick-and-mortar retailers is their technological superiority and understanding of data and innovation, which enables the company to enter new categories easily. Additionally, through the creation and promotion of its Prime Program that offers free shipping and other benefits, Amazon has amassed an estimated 65 to 85 million members.

 

Amazon's innovation enables the company to deliver purchases to the trunks of customers' cars and inside consumers' homes through the Amazon Key Program. Amazon's goal is to make the lives of its customers as easy as possible. Walmart, not to be outdone, also is testing delivery services, and in certain markets will stock your refrigerator with groceries purchased online, reports the Retail Doctor and 2018 DPHA Conference speaker Bob Phibbs. It's a safe bet to project that most decorative plumbing and hardware showroom customers are Prime members. That makes it extremely difficult to charge for freight or delivery in your market. How would you respond to clients that say, "Why should I pay freight? I could purchase the same things on Amazon freight-free."? Manufacturers and brick-and-mortar retailers need to partner more effectively to have freight included in the purchase price so that all products can ship free just like Amazon.

 

Another Amazon hallmark is that it accepts all returns with no questions asked. This is more challenging for brick-and-mortar kitchen and bath showrooms because so many orders are custom or semi-custom. Perform an analysis of returns in your showroom. How many requests do you actually get? If they are few and far between, perhaps it's possible to differentiate your operations from the competition by implementing a more generous return policy.

 

Make more complete sales by taking a page from Amazon's messaging that identifies products that the customer might be interested in, pointing out that customers who purchased product X also purchased Y. This is an easy transition during the sale process, "That's a great choice. We had a client last month who purchased the identical tub, and they also purchased a great looking vanity outfitted with an industrial chic faucet, steam system shower and smart mirrors. They rave as much about the mirrors now as they do about their tub. Would you be interested in looking at similar solutions for your new bath?" The key is to train your sales staff to be aware of the technique and use it regularly, if not on every sale.

 

A decorative plumbing and hardware showroom has advantages that can't be replicated online. If you have the luxury of working displays in your showroom, leverage that competitive advantage by offering customers the opportunity to trial test products.

 

Customization is trending and becoming a big business. Nike, Adidas, Coach and others allow customer to customize clothing, shoes and handbags. Decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms have been customizing products for their clients for years. Leverage your experience with custom faucets, fixtures, hardware, vanities and other products to enable your customers to make personal design statements in their home, and understand and appreciate the knowledge and expertise of showroom professionals.

Lessons from One of the World's Best Chef's to Avoid Complacency

Remember when you started your showroom?  Remember the enthusiasm, energy, fear and sense of accomplishment that permeated the fabric of daily undertakings?  It's only natural for successful entrepreneurial businesses that initially burst on the scene to make a splash, but then, over time, become complacent.  Complacency often is the prelude to failure and needs to be avoided at all costs.  How do you maintain your creative edge?  One of the world's greatest chefs provides the answer. 

 

Massimo Bottura's Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy is ranked number one on the list of the world's 50 best restaurants, according to Harvard Professor Francesca Gino in a HBR blog. Gino explains that innovative organizations should not worry about maintaining excellence. Instead they need to focus on finding new excellence. Chef Bottura believes that his recipes are never finished. They continue to evolve over time.  He also rewards novelty over predictability.   He often asks his team to create new recipes based on a song, painting or poem.  Recently, he asked his team members to create a dish based on Lou Reed's Take a Walk on the Wild Side.  His team responded with new recipes from the era when the song was written, based on the lyrics or the title of the song.  Would it be fun to challenge your team to design a bathroom based on the Rolling Stone's Can't Get No Satisfaction?

 

Professor Gino explains that many businesses take the wrong approach in trying to instill uniformity in the workplace when in fact, they should focus on promoting novelty because novelty increases job satisfaction, confidence, creativity and performance. Citing a study of new employees in multiple industries, Gino found that the more frequently new team members learned new skills, interacted with new colleagues or felt challenged by their responsibilities, the more fulfilled and energized they were in their place of work and the longer their tenure was with their employers. 

 

When you regularly ask your team to step out of their comfort zones, take different approaches and avoid the tried and true, everyone in your organization will develop new skills and obtain increased personal and professional satisfaction.

The Millionaire Next Door

According to different reports, the number of U.S. millionaires ranges from a low of 11.5 million to a high of 16 million.  Credit Suisse found that the number of millionaires grew nearly 8% from 2016 to 2017 and the bank  predicts that number will climb another 16% by 2022.  Another study claims that 7 percent of all Americans live a millionaire's lifestyle.  

With their number increasing, the traditional millionaire demographic is changing, making it more difficult for decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms to market to this key demographic. There are a number of wealthy Millennials who can afford a Lexus or Mercedes, but instead opt for ZIP car when they need an auto because many Millennials have no interest in owning a car or the type of car that they drive does not matter.  The Federal Reserve Board's 2017 Survey of Consumer Finance found that 18% of millionaires are under the age of 45.  With a broad range of ages and interests, it has become increasingly important to craft customized messages targeting consumers based on data.

 

However, big data is no longer the exclusive province of large companies. There are services that compile data based on wealth, age, spending habits, interests, causes, work history, number of children, homeownership and other factors for companies with marketing budgets as small as $5,000.  

 

The good news for decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms is that almost every millionaire owns a home and 46% of those have other real estate assets, according to the Federal Reserve survey.  Mobility also is changing traditional homeowners, with many millionaires moving their primary residence or second or third homes to out-of-the-mainstream venues. There is a strong possibility, in light of recent tax laws changes that cap local and state tax deductions at $10,000, that many millionaires will be looking for alternative properties in more tax friendly locals.  

 

Decorative plumbing and hardware can reach more millionaires by using big data to craft individual messages to targets that are considering improvements to their home and by better understanding how they have accumulated their wealth.  Most millionaires fit the profile in the book, The Millionaire Next Door.  These consumers, according to authors Thomas Stanley and William Danco, have common denominators that they have used to successfully build wealth:

 

1. They live well below their means
2. They purchase carefully, looking for quality and value
3. Financial independence is more important than social status
4. They have limited experience with luxury products and brands
5. They save aggressively
6. The target the right opportunities

What Is Your Unique Selling Proposition?

If you met a high end builder who asked what makes your showroom different, how would you respond? If you said, "We have great customer service", do you think the builder would believe you?  If the builder asked, "what makes your service so much different from the service I currently receive from the showroom down the street", how would you respond?   Is your service really that much different from anyone else's that is serving premium and luxury consumers? 

 

Great service is not a differentiator, it's an expectation.   Some showrooms believe that their product selection sets them apart.  If you fall into that category, what is different from what you offer than what someone could find at competing showrooms or on the Internet and what value does that differentiation provide to the builder or other clients?

 

Many DPHA members were first to market in their region, pioneering products and lines that set them apart 20, 30 or even 40 years ago.  Times have changed.  To deliver a unique selling proposition?  Answer the following questions:

• What do you do differently from your competitors that surprises and delights your customers?
• What do your customers think about when they interact with your sales staff and showroom?
• Make a list of every feature of your services and products.
• Identify why and how each feature is important to your customer.
• How do the products/services/staff create deep emotional connections with your customers and why should they care.

Lack of Accountability May Not Be Forgivable

One of the attributes that makes golf special and different is the commitment to the rules of the game. Players at all levels appreciate golf's gentile nature.  Professional golfers will call themselves out for rules violations that in some cases have cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars or tournament victories.  How many offensive linemen in the NFL would go to the referee and say please give me a 15-yard penalty, I held on the last play? 

 

At the recent 2018 US Open, iconic golfer Phil Mickelson blew a fuse. Frustrated by the conditions of the course and his performance, Mickelson hit a putt and charged after it as the ball passed the hole.  When Phil caught up to the ball, he hit it back towards the hole while the ball was still moving.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the rules of golf, what Mickelson did was comparable to breaking one of the 10 commandments. What makes his action even more horrific is that it was Mickelson who behaved as about as unprofessional as one can on a golf course.  Phil Mickelson is arguably among the top three most popular golfers in the world playing today and is one of the most accomplished professionals of his generation. He has won 43 tournaments, including five majors and currently ranks number 9 on the all-time list of professional golf winners.

 

Given Mickelson's stature and popularity it seemed totally inconceivable that he would hit a moving ball at any event, let alone his country's national championship.  The act itself to golf fans was unimaginable. What was worse was his initial explanation.  Mickelson said the reason he hit a moving ball was that it was better to take a two-stroke penalty than to try and hit the wayward putt back into the hole when the ball came to a complete stop.  In other words, Mickelson believed that it would have taken him more than two strokes to get the ball into the hole, so it was better for him to violate rules that to almost every golfer at his level (and many of us below that level as well) are sacrosanct.  Several days after the US Open ended, Phil issued a formal apology, but that occurred after the damage had been done and the back tracking seemed more to stem additional harm to his reputation than it was to show contrition.  

 

Mickelson's initial explanation was shocking and lowered Phil's reputation and esteem in the minds of not only his millions of fans, but also anyone who follows golf.  And therein lies the lesson.  We all make mistakes. We all lose our temper. Anyone who has ever attempted to play the game of golf, can understand Mickelson's frustration.  Most people are forgiving of errors.  What's not forgiving is a lack of accountability. If Mickelson would have initially stated "What I did today is inexcusable.  I lost my temper and let my frustration get the better of me. I want to apologize to my fellow professionals, to the United States Golf Association and to my many fans around the world who have supported me in my professional efforts.  I am truly sorry for what I did."  How would that have resonated as opposed to I cheated because it was less costly than playing by the rules? Instead, several days later he issued a formal apology and said,"It was not one of my finest moments."  

 

When you or your team makes a mistake, it's how you respond that is more telling than what you did.

Supreme Court Helps to Level the Playing Field

This week the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, voted that states can force online etailers to charge sales tax irrespective if that retailer has a physical presence in their jurisdiction.  This decision spells good news for every brick-and-mortar retailer that has been placed at an unfair competitive advantage compared to online sellers of products who previously were not required to charge or collect sales taxes.

 

Last year, Amazon reported $32 billion in third-party sales, up from $23 billion in 2016.  The company stated that in the first quarter of 2018, 52 percent of all sales were made by third-parties, many of which, up until the time of this week's Supreme Court decision, did not pay state sales tax to jurisdictions where the etailer did not have a physical location.   

 

The Supreme Court decision stemmed from a suit brought by the state of South Dakota that claimed it was denied millions of dollars in sales tax by etailers that were shipping products to its citizens.  As a result of the decision, every online etailer is going to fax sales tax requirements in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.  For many smaller businesses, the cost of compliance could be enormous, helping to further level competitive playing fields with brick-and-mortar stores.