The saying "Ignorance is bliss" comes from Thomas Gray's 1742 poem “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College.” The phrase has both positive and negative connotations. On the one hand, if you don’t know something, don’t worry about it. Conversely, ignoring a situation that you might not be aware of or should understand can have damaging consequences. The phrase takes on a different meaning when you interact with people and team members who pretend to have knowledge and skills that don’t exist. You can’t help someone who does not admit that they don’t have a clue.
Make Customers Feel Smart Instead of Demonstrating How Smart You Are
You make your customers feel smarter by explaining technical performance in simple terms. “The cabinet I am recommending mounts the doors and drawers directly to the sides of the cabinet because it fits the contemporary style of your home.”
One of the great misnomers in business today is to call your personnel department Human Resources. Humans are not resources. They are people who provide services for their clients that make a positive difference in their lives and provide opportunities for professional and personal growth. If your team is your most important asset, don’t refer to them or view them as resources. Team members need to be viewed a people who can use their unique talents and experience to exceed their and their clients’ expectations. At a time when attracting and retaining best-in-class talent is a top priority for most kitchen and bath showrooms, creating a culture that builds relationships and recognizes and rewards performance is paramount.
If you are like me, you probably believe that creativity is a genetic quality. You either have it or you don’t. Guess what? We are wrong. Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen and Clayton M. Christensen write in The Innovator’s DNA that creativity skills are not simply genetic traits “endowed at birth, but that they can be developed.” The authors cite scientific studies that prove nearly 67% of innovative skills and the ability to look at the same things differently come through learning – “from first understanding the skill, then practicing it, and ultimately gaining confidence in our capacity to create.”
The Buzz has featured numerous articles describing the need to provide your customers with compelling showroom and online experiences. There’s no room for average or even simply satisfied customers anymore. You need to surprise and delight. Wow. Exceed expectations. That’s easier said than done. How can you create consistent moments of magic in your showroom and consistently exceed expectations?
Will Guidara built Eleven Madison Park in New York City into the number one rated restaurant in the world. Eleven Madison Park not only served innovative, out-of-this-world, delicious, multicourse tasting menus that tickled the tastebuds of foodies across the globe, the restaurant was also stunningly beautiful. Eleven Madison Park was always ranked in the top 50 world restaurants, however it did not reach number one until it served a hotdog.
Would you like to be happier? Who would answer no? Happiness makes you perform better, feel better and to better enjoy life. Some people may believe others are predisposed to look at the glass overflowing rather than half full or half empty. It’s not realistic to believe you should be happy all of the time, writes University of Texas professor of Psychology, Human Dimensions of Organizations and Marketing Art Markman. However, Markman offers guidance on how you can lift your spirits and raise your happiness quotient.
Charlie Brown said, “Potential is man’s greatest burden.” Charles Shultz’ insight also is applicable to kitchen and bath showroom owners whose fundamental roles include putting their team members in the best position to succeed. Top performers are not necessarily those with the most experience or highest credentials. The rainmakers in organizations are those team members with the ability to learn and grow faster than their peers, writes Robert Glazer in his new book, Elevate Your Team: Empower Your Team To Reach Their Full Potential and Build a Business That Builds Leaders.
Buzz readers who are a bit more senior or fans of older movies may remember the famous line in Cool Hand Luke where a prison guard tells a rebellious, sarcastic inmate played by Paul Newman, “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” The inability to get a message across is not confined to movies. It occurs every day in showrooms and other businesses.
How many times have you thought, if only I had more time? As John Doerr points out in his best-selling book, Measure What Matters, every time you elect to do one thing, you are simultaneously choosing not to do something else. For kitchen and bath showroom owners there may not be anything more important than choosing where you spend your time. How can you make the best decisions? Take five minutes every morning and write down everything that you are thinking about, advises Donna McGeorge author of The 1-Day Refund: Take Back Time, Spend it Wisely. Documenting what you are thinking about adds clarity to your day and lets you focus on the ideas and tasks that are most important.
