Apple is the most valuable company on the planet. It operates more than 500 retail locations worldwide that are considered the gold standard for retail operations, generating higher sales per square foot than any other store anywhere. Why is Apple so much more successful than anyone else? You could argue that Apple makes really cool products that people want to buy. Their stores are fun to visit. You can play with Apple products and no one will bother year. Architecturally, the open, well-lit environments create the right tone. Those are big reasons, but store design and merchandise are not the only reasons. The other critical component behind Apple’s retail success is its customer service and the lessons that Apple teaches are applicable to kitchen and bath showrooms.
Last year, Cosentino undertook a sweeping rebranding and repositioning of its benchmark brand Silestone, targeting a new consumer base and a younger demographic, claims Elizabeth Ramos, Marketing Director for the American market at Cosentino. Silestone’s target demographic are younger consumers that value more humane companies and focus on experiences and value. Ramos claimed that this consumer wants to buy from companies that inspire them.
Scott McKain believes that there are three types of customers. At the base level, there are those who are transaction oriented. These are individuals who are completely price oriented. Give them the lowest price and you will win their business. McKain claims in The Ultimate Customer Experience that most businesses overestimate the number of people who are concerned exclusively with price. He makes an important distinction when defining price-oriented purchasers. Price is always a factor but only with a small percentage of the buying public is price the only factor.
We were tasked with finding a speaker who could open a conference. The goal was to fire everyone up at the start of the conference and then provide a hearty meal of compelling content that could be taken from the Conference room on Thursday and applied to our members’ businesses the following Monday.
The reasons we make bad decisions include not investing the sufficient amount of time required to make a good decision, believing that as rational human beings we can thoughtfully solve complex problems in our heads and that you don’t need anyone else’s help to decide, writes Cheryl Strauss Einhorn, CEO of Decisive, a consultancy that helps businesses solve complex problems.
What's bad, boring and barely read at all? Most business writing. If you could taste words, most corporate websites, brochures, and sales materials would remind you of stale, soggy rice cakes: nearly calorie free, devoid of nutrition, taste and completely unsatisfying.
During times of economic uncertainly such as the start of a pandemic when no one had a working crystal ball, people reverted to instinct. They let the left side of the brain take over. They forgot about goods and simply focused on saving what they had and surviving the unknown. That’s it. They rarely took time to do something extravagant or purchase a special item.
Jeff Haden in an Inc. magazine blog articulated commonalities among remarkably successful people. Here’s what they have in common.
No Backup Plans
There are no rearview mirrors. They have no backup plan, because a backup plan represents an easy out if things get tough or don’t go the way they were expected to go. Remarkably successful people focus on making their plans work and will do whatever it takes to succeed. Haden states, “Total commitment – without a safety net – will spur you to work harder than you ever imagined possible.” And if you do not succeed, learn from your mistakes, but keep working hard.
Can you work less and accomplish more? An article in Scientific American, Why Your Brain Needs More Downtime finds that “mental breaks increase productivity, replenish attention, solidify memories and encourage creativity.” How can you work less, when there is so much more to do?
Stories are powerful. Good stories engage us. Great stories win Oscars. As parents, we read stories to our children and for the most part most kids sit attentively and use the stories we tell to make up stories of their own. Storytelling and story listening are part of our DNA. We don’t lose our thirst for story telling or listening as we get older. We do, however, lose the ability to relate compelling content.
