Numerous marketing experts claim that kitchen and bath showrooms must deliver compelling, engaging and memorable customer experiences to stand out and become a destination of choice. If your skill set is limited to taking orders, how do you differentiate on anything other than price?
How much time, energy and intellectual capital do you spend on things that are not worth the effort? Most likely the answer is too much. Similar to other finite resources, how you allocate your energy level and focus impacts productivity, health and emotional wellbeing. For most people, energy levels increase if they get a good night’s sleep, eat healthier and exercise regularly. Energy also increases if you connect to something that is bigger than yourself, such as a charitable cause. You know what needs to be done to recharge your batteries, but what many people do not consider is how to strategically use the energy they have.
How many times have you found yourself wanting to emulate a competitor or a benchmarking business that has a good idea? Do you kick yourself for not thinking of something that should have been so obvious? Do you really have to have the same lines as the competitor down the street? Is imitation really the sincerest form of flattery? What we don’t typically ask about a new line, new product or service that you want to acquire and/or offer is how do you know if it will be successful?
A lesson many kitchen and bath showrooms learned from sheltering in place during COVID 19 is that coming to the showroom every day is not necessary for your team to be productive. At a time when attracting and retaining talent is paramount, many showrooms are re-evaluating their work processes and benefit packages. What can you do to attract and retain best-in-class talent?
You may believe that some people are more creative than others and wonder why you can’t be as cutting edge or your showroom be more innovative? The first step is to understand the traits teams must have to constantly innovate.
What’s the best way to pitch a builder to rely on your showroom for kitchens and baths or to convince customers that they should trust you to create the kitchen of their dreams? Is there a secret sauce for successfully pitching ideas? Best-selling author Simon Sinek (Start With Why and The Infinite Game), believes the best way to pitch an idea is to explain the why – what’s the purpose of what you are proposing. Sinek believes when you start with why it is easier for people to understand the motives and goals behind your pitch or idea.
There are tons of tools, apps and articles that offer guidance for managing email. Part of the problem is that email is so pervasive in our daily lives that it consumes too much of almost everyone’s day. For too long, emails are perceived as urgent and important communications. Most are not, but that does not dismiss the fact that if you don’t respond immediately to whatever query has been posed, you are considered nonresponsive. That’s part of the problem, but there are solutions.
Almost every BKBG Shareholder and Preferred Vendor Partner could use additional help. The ability to grow their business, improve margins and make operations easier and more rewarding are directly linked to their ability to attract and retain talent. The Great Resignation is real. Nineteen million workers quit their jobs between March and July 2021 and job openings surged to an all-time high of more than 10 million. What can be done to attract and retain talent? Promote your brand to attract employees in the same fashion that you promote your brand to attract new business.
What most BKBK members lack the most is connection and time. We don’t have enough time to do the things we want and often are pressured by deadlines to hit send before we want to or should. Harvard University’s Director of the Writing Center Jane Rosenweig offers the following guidelines to improve your communication capabilities.
The talent wars are for real, placing a premium on proactive measure that you can use to retain your current team members. A major reason why top performers may seek or be recruited to greener pastures is the lack of connection with their existing company. This has become a more difficult challenge during COVID when so many team members are spending all or most of their time working remotely. What’s the answer? Conduct a “stay” interview, advises Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic writing in Fast Company.
