We got the Incentives!

More than 30 manufacturers that are exhibiting at the 2019 DPHA Product Showcase November 7-9 at the Hyatt Regency Seattle are offering head-turning incentives ranging from free displays to “you must be crazy to ignore,” limited time pricing.  DPHA has compiled the incentives into a 20-page booklet that is being emailed to all dealers who have registered for the conference.  Conference attendees are the only dealers that can take advantage of these margin-enhancing opportunities.  Do you need another reason to reserve for Conference?  

Click here to reserve now!

Welcomed Thoughts from a Fellow (Jeff Valles): AI is Coming to Help Soon. Let’s Start Getting Ready Now.

“This is a race. It’s a race to be relevant. The big difference between today and yesterday is speed. You need to be much faster on the execution.”  Arthur Sadoun, CEO of Publicis told the Financial Times in June 2017.

 

Today’s available Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not HAL-like, but instead is a way to take data and churn it so that when you ask your AI a question and it returns your answer correctly at lightning speeds.  See how quickly Alexa or Siri can tell you the longitude of Timbuktu.  How can AI be used in your business?  Your questions can cover all facets of your business and help you effectively peek into the future. However, to achieve this goal, your data must be clean, consistent and well-integrated. Remember the phrase, “garbage in and garbage out”?  That has not changed.  

 

Many luxury DPH showrooms take the time to inspect each received product.  Each piece is carefully removed from its shipping container and painstakingly inspected then returned to its box to wait for the customer to arrive.  This attention to detail separates your showroom from the competition and makes your clients happy. 

 

Do you take the same care when you collect your customer data?  Do you check the information to make sure it is correct and siloed in the correct slot in your computer program?  Do you enter notes on each visit, carefully recording the points discussed and any information that might help you and your team better know each customer’s unique style and needs?  

 

If you are thinking it takes too much time, think again.  If you have time to meticulously inspect each order to delight good customers, why not work to get to know those same customers better and exceed their expectations. Your data is a prime foundation of your business and, as the world slowly adopts Artificial Intelligence, good data will become your key to delivering great customer service.

Vendors, your data is also key to the growth of market reach.  You, too, take the time to design and handcraft each beautiful product.  Then your team inspects every item and carefully packages them so all arrive in perfect shape.  Yet your data systems are not in line with today’s customer’s demands.  Delivery changes, before and during the manufacturing process, are hidden from view.  When a product misses its acknowledged delivery date, no one knows until the date passes and the reactive “I am sorry call” begins to upset good vendor and showroom customers.  When vendors leverage their good data proactively, they will make life less painful for all involved.

 

This journey starts with your teams.  Quality, comprehensive data entry must become part of your company’s culture.  If you can educate your team members on how recording data accurately and consistently will save them time and strengthen their customer relationships, then it will allow them more time to do what they do best...Sell!

 

I believe that AI will be a part of successful showrooms in the next five years and foundational in no more than 10.  How smart will your AI be?

The Art of Upselling

Upselling gets a bad rap.  When a decorative plumbing and hardware sales professional suggests either more expensive products and/or additional products that will deliver years of pleasure to clients, that should be viewed as a positive and differentiator to deliver compelling customer experiences.  There’s nothing wrong with suggesting a complete line of bath accessories, bathroom lighting, steam systems, towel warmers, mirrors, storage solutions, or a host of other products beyond basic plumbing fixtures.  Every bathroom needs lighting.  Every bathroom benefits from a toilet paper holder, towel bars and robe hooks.  If your showroom does not provide them, the client will be forced to source them elsewhere and that other place may be a competing decorative plumbing and hardware showroom, or even worse, online or a home center.

Upselling often has a negative connotation that a sales professional wants to pad a bill by suggesting additional purchases.  Too often sales professionals predetermine what a client is willing to pay, or place values on products based on their preferences and biases.  They sell through their wallets instead of the client’s.  When someone makes an effort to visit a decorative plumbing and hardware showroom, there’s a reason.  They know they are not at a home center or wholesale distributor.  Consumers come to showrooms for advice, for affirmation and for peace of mind. The come to showrooms to satisfy wants, not needs. 

Let’s agree to eliminate the term upselling and change it to making a complete sale.  The additional items that may be desired to make a complete sale are easily identified by asking the right questions and actively and intently listening

Making a complete sale provides additional benefits and enjoyment possibilities for showroom clients.  It will help clients live a healthier, happier and less stressful lifestyle.  Making a complete sale helps showroom clients get everything they may want or need for their bathroom renovation.  When you can provide a complete service by leveraging your knowledge, expertise and experience, you provide a service that can’t be matched online or by competitors whose skill sets are limited to taking orders.  And when you provide a complete service, your average sales, margins and commissions increase, and so do customer loyalty and referrals.

Don't Miss Your Opportunity to SAVE!

Early bird registration for the 2019 DPHA Annual Conference in beautiful Seattle ends next week. The rate will increase from $825 to $925. The special room rate of $199 also ends next week, so make sure you book your room now! Register and book your rooms by clicking here.

And as if you needed another reason to attend...we are having a CASINO NIGHT! Send Jim off in style with a Saturday night gala like none other! Enjoy great food, dancing and casino games such as craps, roulette, blackjack and poker. Top three winners for the evening will win Visa gift cards!

Welcomed Thoughts from a Fellow (Jeff Valles): Are you Ready for the DPH Holiday “Get-It-Done” Season?

It's October and the DPH Holiday shopping season starts now.  During the next eight weeks people will be laser-focused on preparing their homes to impress all who enter. Builders will be diligently working to finish their projects.  Homeowners will be hunting for products that will make their home more stylish and function flawlessly.  Aging kitchen faucets will be upgraded.  Guest bathrooms will see new fab faucets accented with just the right accessories. Attractive new cabinet hardware will be selected to make the kitchen look like it was recently installed.  So many improvement projects to make their holidays shine...and disrupt even the best prepared DPH businesses. 

  

Here are my suggestions to make this profitable season a bit more manageable:

 

For Vendors:

• Email distributors a timeline, noting when certain products need to be ordered to ship by November 20^th and by December 11^th.  I have found these two dates allow sufficient time for the products to arrive and trade professionals have them installed by Thanksgiving and the prime Christmas - New Year’s Eve party season.
• Kitchen faucet and cabinet hardware vendors: Set up a “holiday inventory program” for your distributors.  It should be structured to allow the distributor to increase inventory levels to supply the increased holiday needs and return the unsold after January 1^st with no restocking charges.  This will allow the late or must-have-it-now shoppers a larger selection of your products to buy now. 

For Showrooms:

• Make sure your teams are on top of their clients’ projects and when they need to be completed.  Being proactive now will save all from possible pain later.
•  Share all holiday order/shipment deadlines with your salespeople and customer service teams and review your expedited freight policy.
• Review your kitchen faucet inventory.  We sold roughly 50% of our inventoried kitchen faucets in the 4th quarter.
• Review your cabinet hardware inventory.  Some kitchens require up to 70 cabinet hardware pieces to complete a refresh.  It would be a shame to lose these jobs due to lack of inventory. 

For Representatives:

• Your task is simple.  Do the best you can to make sure both your vendors and showrooms know how they can work together to make this a very profitable Holiday season.

The Holidays are hectic in so many ways and people are stressed.  If you prepare properly, it will be a profitable season and you will earn great brand word-of-mouth.

Buffet's Keys to Success

There are only a handful of people who are more successful than Warren Buffet.  At the last Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting, Buffet and his right-hand man Charlie Munger identified their keys to success.  Munger advised to go through life with a simple philosophy.  Figure out what works and do it. To figure out what works, Buffet and Munger do three things:

1. They read everything they can.  Buffet spends 80% of his day reading, which he claims allows him to make more rational and less impulsive decisions.  Reading, he believes, helps determine what other successful people do.
2. Understand human nature.  When the stock market swoons, Buffet sees opportunity.  His mantra is to be proactive when others are afraid, and when others are proactive, be afraid.  Be greedy when others are fearful, and fearful when others are greedy.  
3. Associate with people who are smarter and better than you are.  They lift you higher, Buffet said.   

The Evils of Compromise

How many times have you been in a negotiation where the first offer is patently absurd? You know the offer is unreasonable and so does the party you are negotiating with. The goal is to reach common ground, to find a middle that will make both parties happy. But reaching a compromise based on an initial offer that is ridiculous is never really fair, reports Black Swan Group in a recent blog post.

The shortcomings of compromise are illuminated in the book, Never Split the Difference, Negotiate As If Your Life Depended on It. If your spouse believes that you should wear black shoes with your suit and you think you should wear brown shoes, a compromise would be for you to wear a brown shoe on one foot and a black one on the other. Seriously though, how does that work for you? The point is that when you compromise, you often make unfortunate trade-offs.

“Having the spirit of compromise often means you are willing to listen and explore options. This is a good thing: If you are actually listening and considering the merits of the options, then it is part of a great negotiation," the Black Swan Group writes. A great negotiation is a collaboration. When you opt not to compromise, you abandon the opportunity to achieve a great outcome.

When you consider your options in a negotiation, make sure that each party's trade-offs are of equal value, and recognize that subconsciously you will have a tendency to compromise on issues when you know that you are getting the short end of the stick on some issues and taking advantage of your counterpart on others.

Welcomed Thoughts from a Fellow (Jeff Valles): Your Customer Needs To Remember You So They Come Back. How About a Postcard?

Everyday your showroom sends out products to finish a job. They range from the final three cabinet knobs on a simple kitchen upgrade to delivering the wall accessories on a wonderfully large home. But once those products are installed, your showrooms starts to fade from your client’s memory. They will not be visiting your showroom next week or next month. In fact, the homeowner might not need your expertise for a year or two or even longer. Your challenge is to make sure you remain front and center in their mind for years to come when it comes to all things decorative plumbing and hardware. They may remember your business, but if some “shiny new” company pops up or a friend works with a competitor, your brand will likely slip their mind.

Sixty days after the job has been completed, mail the homeowners a thank-you postcard from the point sales person. Nothing elaborate, just your brand on the front and a handwritten thank you on the back with an image of the salesperson. Then every quarter, send a postcard with four images of new products recently added to your showroom along with your logo to their home address. On the back, add a handwritten commentary on those new products, an image of the point salesperson and an invitation to stop by any time. That’s it. Don’t over think it. The recipient will probably quickly look at one side, flip to the other side and then spin it into the trash, but they will see a familiar face and a brand they know.

“Snail-mail” is not what it used to be, but it still offers communication opportunities that the digital world cannot match.

P.S. Only send postcards, since thank you cards in envelopes have to opened and read. That might not happen. Keep it simple!

How to Squeeze 10 Hours Into an 8 Hour Day

It's not enough to have a to-do list. In fact, to-do lists are highly inefficient or next to useless if you do not assign times to the tasks that you have to perform. Scheduling to-do list items "forces you to confirm the reality of how much time you actually have and how long things will take. Now that you look at the whole picture, you're able to get something productive out of every free hour you have in your workday. You not only squeeze more work in, but you're able to put work into places where you can do it best," claims Georgetown University Professor Cal Newport. 

 

When you schedule work, you avoid the temptation to procrastinate. Newport not only believes in scheduling work to be more productive, but also in scheduling free time to enhance the quality of life. 

 

Plan to leave work every day at 5:30 p.m., and work backward. Telling yourself that you will leave work every day at 5:30 p.m. forces you to be more efficient and makes you prioritize your showroom time. When you have better control of your time, you have less stress.

 

Prepare weekly plans. Similar to scheduling your to-do lists, prepare a weekly plan of things that you want to accomplish. Newport also emails his weekly plan to himself to remind him of the priorities he has established for each week. 

 

Less is more. Almost everyone has too much to do. When you limit the amount of time you have to get through your scheduled to-do list, how can you get everything done? Newport advises focussing on what you do best. "You're always better off doing fewer things, but doing those things better. People say yes too much. I say no to most things. I'm ruthless about avoiding or purging tasks if I realize they're not just providing much value," he writes.

 

Newport notes that most Americans believe they are working harder than they ever have. That's not true. The amount of time people actually work in the U.S., as well as around the world, remains steady or is decreasing in the last 40 years, but people feel they are working harder because they are burdened with annoying tasks that sap their energy and enthusiasm.

 

Recognize the difference between deep and shallow work. People often have to put in extra hours and believe they are working harder simply because they spend too much time on shallow tasks such as responding to email, attending meetings, and paper and data shuffling. 

 

Avoid the temptations of shallow work. Discipline yourself to check your email at only certain times of the day. Set aside prescribed time for the deep work that you need to do - designs, proposals, marketing strategies, team member productivity, etc. Newport relates that "Knowledge work is really just craftsmanship. It's just that what you're crafting is information and not carved wood. You're crafting ideas. You're crafting knowledge out of raw material, and the more you think about it like a craftsman, the happier and more satisfied you'll be, not to mention more successful." Here! Here!

Welcomed Thoughts from a Fellow (Jeff Valles): Our Customers Are Nuts And It’s Our Fault

Today, people grab their smartphones and ask it (not her or him), to fulfill their next need, demand or desire. An answer appears in seconds with no discussion or debate, just a list.  We do not take the time to ask our partner or best friend anymore; instead, we ask our very own pocket computer. And you are not skeptical of Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Hmmm … more on that later.

Let’s be sure to understand then - your customer’s instinct is to look at you as if you were an actual iPhone. When they ask something, you are supposed to reply with all the information they want to hear, NOW. 

Needless to say, our customers need an attitude adjustment. Not a mafia-style baseball-bat beating, but insights into the world that will help them craft their dreams.

As you are getting to know the customer and understand the scope of their job, take a moment to explain that this is not a sprint, but a long distance run and you are their coach.  Let them know the generic timeline for their job.  If it is a master bathroom remodel, 8 weeks is normal – if a complete custom home remodel, 18 months is more realistic.  NOTE: Try to avoid the “6 to 8 weeks” phrases - the customer will always hear the 6. 

Then, make sure they know that you are their source for all plumbing and hardware information. You have studied and worked for years and you know your stuff.  This is not the time to be reserved. Instead, state the obvious and it will make this job go a bit smoother while possibly ensuring they will go to you from then on with their questions versus their digital best friend.

This is important on two fronts. First, once they understand that they are not in a black-and-white situation, they will slow down and allow you to present beautiful products that they never would have previously considered.  Secondly, they will be less likely to “lose it” if they receive bad news. This adjustment will allow you more time to create the best possible solution and subsequently, the customer will be the winner.

Welcomed Thoughts from a Fellow (Jeff Valles): Do You Have Anything New to Show Me?

“Zippy” faucet company just added a great new series - its unique design is perfect for today’s popular minimal, transitional, punky look. The displays arrive and you set them in Zippy’s branded display and educate your sales team. All is going to be great!  

 

But hold on a minute? Do your key customers know that you just added this magnificent product to your showroom?  When AB Killer Interior Designer enters your showroom, will they notice this new amazing fixture nested among your other faucets? I think not.

 

The purpose of your never-ending journey to discover, sell and support the latest and greatest is to separate your business from your fast-following competition and keep your customers keenly aware that you are the primary DPH source in their design world. You have to enlighten your market as to what is new in your showrooms.

 

The design world feeds on new products and, if you position your showroom as the leader, they will be looking to you to keep them in the DPH know.

 

Getting the word out is not complicated. I suggest doing the following:

 

1. Designate an area in your showroom for new products. It should be close to the main entry or the area where most customers conjugate. The new products should be displayed on a table or a simple retail-tiered display. If an individual product is too large for the space, frame a vendor glory image and add a note on the bottom noting the product’s showroom location. Do not over think this. It is about getting the product noticed, not about the display itself.
2. Use your email list. Send out a monthly email with new product images complemented by a quick brand note. Email service providers such as Constant Contact and Mail Chimp offer minimal templates that are simple to use.

 

The challenge is to make the time to set up the display, keep it current and build your new product monthly email. Heck, you might even find a vendor or two to share some co-op money.

The Productivity Benefits of Connection

We've never been more digitally connected than today, yet loneliness is at record levels. It's not just in the home where people are lonely; people are also lonely in the workplace. More than 40% of the respondents to a 2018 Global Culture survey conducted by O.C. Turner reported they didn't have a close friend at work. Most people do not believe that their colleagues know "the real me." The study found that 62% of the respondents took the time to get to know colleagues personally, and only 53% believed that their peers took the time to get to know them personally.

A study published in the Academy of Management Journal found that loneliness at work adversely affects someone's job performance. When a team member feels lonely, they are perceived by fellow team members to be less approachable and less committed to the business. The Center for Prevention and Health estimates that poor emotional well-being costs employers $79 to $95 billion annually in the form of lost productivity, absenteeism and increased healthcare costs. It's not that employees who feel lonely don't want to connect with other team members. In fact, research shows that lonely individuals almost always want to connect with their colleagues, but they can't connect because they view their workplace as threatening and they are overly sensitive to the others' responses. These feelings make lonely employees less approachable to other team members, which only perpetuates the problem. When that occurs, an entire organization can suffer, because the ability to communicate, collaborate and trust one another disintegrates. If your showroom depends on teamwork, lack of trust hurts everyone.

To combat loneliness, acknowledge that your showroom is not only a business, but it is a place for socializing. Secondly, recognize that there is a better than 50-50 chance you have team members who feel disconnected from their associates, the community and the company. Make an effort to understand your team members' needs for friendship. Learn how your team members spend their free time and gauge how connected they might be in their existing social networks.

Work with your staff to create friendship goals and then develop strategies to achieve them. An "easy button" to help lonely team members is encouraging their active participation in trade associations. Trade associations often provide opportunities for individuals to make a positive impact on their industry while also developing relationships.

Corporate culture also has a significant impact on loneliness. The study found that a culture that promotes affection, caring, compassion and tenderness among team members weakens the negative relationship between feelings of isolation at work and the subsequent commitment to the organization. A culture of anger, irritation, frustration and annoyance makes it less likely for lonely team members to connect with their colleagues and to the organization.

There are business, professional and personal reasons to address loneliness in the workplace. Most people spend more time with their colleagues than they do with their families. When team members connect, they are not only more productive, they are happier. Connection also creates a sense of belonging. Finally, when team members feel connected, they believe their efforts make a positive difference in the world.

Welcomed Thoughts from a Fellow (Jeff Valles): Good Salespeople Do Know More, Now Use That Power Carefully

This is a fact: the average luxury showroom salesperson knows more about their products than 99% of their clients do. A design or construction professional or internet-educated homeowner can come in flinging industry product terms around, but the simple truth is that a knowledgeable salesperson simply knows more. Do not forget this, but never flaunt it. You are the best in your world and a successful salesperson always works with their client on the client’s level. Never intimidate because it always is truly all about the client. A slip-up here with any client can lose not only the job, but a good client.

Never one-up your clients. If they make an error, let it go. There is no reason to correct them. Do note the error so you can correct it later, but your focus should remain on your client and their experience. If you consistently make them look good and feel confident, it will pay off handsomely.

Finally, and most importantly, when communicating via email and text regarding quotes, be over-descriptive. Now is the time to flaunt your knowledge. Write as much information as necessary so that all parties involved understand the product, its application and the timelines. That’s a lot of information, but it will help everyone stay on the same page and save you time.

Think like your customer. If they are reading your communication and it does not contain the specific information they want and need, they will first get frustrated, blame you and then email you with many long-winded questions. Having a frustrated client is not a good step in your effort to win the bid and build a long-term relationship. It’s better to have clients comment that there is too much information on your quote. Even your best, old-time clients need volumes of information. One never knows what questions their Internet research will create. If your quote has the answer, all is good. It never hurts to be thorough - the devil is in the details. You do know that.

Empathy is Underrated

Bernadette Jiwy had another powerful blog post (The Story of Telling) recently 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."

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:

Click here to read more.

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.