Whoda thunk it nine months ago that 42% of Americans would be working from home, which is not likely to change in the near term. The kitchen and bath showroom industry certainly has adapted. Virtual initial meetings are now par for the course for many BKBG Shareholders. Initial and other virtual meetings help to save time, improve efficiency and eliminate tire kickers.
Abraham Maslov developed a hierarchy of human needs. At the base are the need for basic necessities such as food, shelter and security. Those need to be satisfied before moving on to other human needs, such as relationships and self-actualization.
Marketing expert Mark Schaefer recently used Maslov’s hierarchy to help businesses best employ content.
American workers have begun a love-hate relationship with email. Communicating by email can enhance communications by quickly disseminating information and providing fast response to inquiries. It can also allow for quicker problem-solving and more streamlined business processes. That said, we've become so conditioned to the immediacy that the lack of a response can drain productivity and increase stress.
It seems daily that our sense of control continues to wane. There is no doubt that COVID-19 is having a lasting effect on just about everything – how we work, communicate, travel, purchase, relax, eat and live. We don't have a choice but to deal with the new abnormal, and we are not sure when or if the old normal will return.
Annually, the National Kitchen & Bath Association publishes an industry outlook. Like most everything else that has occurred in 2020, the optimistic prediction at the start of the year took a dramatic about-face when stay-at-home orders were issued in the middle of March. Recently, NKBA has updated its outlook to account for the impact of COVID-19. The updated study found the following according to a recent article in Kitchen & Bath Business.
There is no doubt that COVID-19 has already changed how consumers act and behave, and that requires showrooms to evaluate how they will connect with customers and prospects moving forward. COVID-19 has impacted how consumers obtain information and how and why they purchase.
Your showroom's brand is not what you say, advertise or feature on your website and social media outlets. It's what your customers experience in every interaction from an initial visit to your website to the completion of the post-construction punch list. In a world defined by 280 characters, trying to reign in the story you tell through a carefully crafted narrative misses the point and the opportunity.
The ability to inspire change is one of the hardest skills that showroom owners and managers need to master. It's not easy to get team members, suppliers and customers that you depend to change bad behavior. Team members who seem stuck in their ways present obstacles to achieving individual and corporate goals.
Morgan Housel, a venture capitalist and blogger, recently penned a new book to be published next month, The Psychology of Money. In it, he notes, "Money isn't primarily a store of value. Money is a conduit of emotion and ego, carrying hopes and fears, dreams and heartbreak, confidence and surprise, envy and regret.”
When your team is working remotely, there is no daily interaction and no opportunities for the exchanges and chance meetings that typically occur in an office. Keeping your team challenged, motivated and energized becomes more difficult when you are unable to meet face-to-face. One technique savvy managers use is to remind remote team members of the importance of their work. You and your team are responsible for making your enhancing clients' homes and making their lives more enjoyable. That is an awesome responsibility and one that should not be overlooked.
