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Capturing The Hearts And Wallets Of Millennials

Tue, 27 Sep 2022 16:36:00 GMT

The oldest of the Millennial Generation has just turned 41. This group, contrary to popular belief, is not debt ridden, unemployed and feeling entitled. The Wall Street Journal found that Millennials have fewer credit cards than the national average and the debt on cards that Millennials do have is 40% less than the national average. Another Millennial misnomer is that they don't want to own a home. According to the National Association of Realtors, Millennials now account for 43% of all homebuyers.

By 2025 Millennials will represent 75% of working–age Americans. Millennials are the future market kitchen and bath showrooms, and their definition of luxury has less to do with conspicuous consumption than the quality of experience a product delivers. Millennials are redefining dining by championing farm-to-table restaurants and would rather take an experiential vacation than buy a car.

The reason why Millennials are such as attractive market to kitchen and bath showrooms is the ability of showrooms to deliver customer and usage experiences that are not available from other sources. Millennials don't care about brand names. They are not going to be influenced by brands dictating what they should buy. They want and expect brands to be part of the life, to engage is meaningful conversations and to be involved in numerous touch points.

Millennials view value different than their parents. They want brands to understand their needs and desires. To capture the hearts and wallets of the largest generation in U.S. history, showrooms need to focus on the health benefits of steam ovens, touchless faucets, microbial resistant countertops and other products that contribute to a healthier lifestyle. Showrooms can emphasize the physiological and psychological benefits of create a refuge in their own home where they can take time just for themselves to rejuvenate and relax in their dream kitchen or spa-inspired master bath.

There is an untapped opportunity for showrooms to craft messages that tug at Millennial heartstrings. Not only will this enable kitchen and bath showrooms to stay relevant, but it will also enable them to thrive.

Show That You Care More

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 19:32:00 GMT

Don’t you love companies that claim their customer service is better than the competitions? If you asked a sales professional in your showroom to explain how your customer service differs from the competitor down the street, what would he or she say? Competing on statements of just having better customer service usually is difficult to substantiate. Besides, who says their customer service stinks?

You can set your showroom apart, however, by demonstrating that you care more about the customer, their project and achieving their goals. Start at the starting point, which is your web site. Every page should provide a place for customers to leave comments or ask questions. The key to demonstrating that you care more is to answer almost immediately and post the answers on the website. It’s not that difficult to do. On pages where you offer cabinets, offer to explain the difference between stock, semi-custom and customer. Better yet, offer a link to download a smart cabinet buying guide that BKBG will customize for you at no charge.

Think about the multibranch competitor that you battle daily. Does that company customize its sales approaches for each individual customer, or do they employ generic approaches that fit corporate mandates? David Meerman Scott writes in The New Rules of Sales and Service that “Understanding the individual buyer based on the content the buyer has viewed is a revolutionary concept…If you know how the process works, your salespeople can close more business by being less aggressive.”

Scott explains that OPEN cycle, which sells bikes from $5,000 to $12,000 features on each of its web pages buttons where customers can email the two founders and ask questions. Only about 10% of the site visitors take them up on the offer, which makes the workload bearable and responses easier. Almost everyone who asks a question ends up buying a bike. Why can’t you make the same offer on your web site? This is how instant engagement can produce results. It’s a lot more effective than monitoring Twitter, Instagram, Yelp or Facebook for mentions.

OPEN also encourages its customers to interact with the company after the sale. They have places on their web site where customers can share the custom specifications used to build their bikes and a public showcase where customers have uploaded photos of them using their bikes. Why not provide a gallery for your customers to post pictures of the new kitchens baths you helped to create. The gallery may ask the question, need guidance on caring for your new kitchen or bath?

How do you really demonstrate that you care more and that your customer service is a true differentiator?

Remodeling a Kitchen: Increase Home Value and Sell Your Home for More

Thu, 03 Feb 2022 19:19:00 GMT

February 3, 2022 by Julia Weaver

The kitchen is the heart of the home, a place for entertaining, making memories, and cooking meals for you and your loved ones. As one of the most used rooms in a home, the kitchen plays a crucial role in day-to-day life – from the first cup of coffee in the morning to creating a dish that brings everyone together at the end of the day. It’s no wonder why a modernized kitchen is a must-have for millions of homeowners all across the housing market . No matter where you live, perhaps Minneapolis, MN or Boise, ID , remodeling a kitchen will not only improve lifestyle and convenience for current homeowners, it will also add value and appeal to homebuyers if you’re looking to sell in the near future.

We asked kitchen experts to share their best tips and tricks for a kitchen remodel. From better design and appearance, to additional space, improved technology, and increased functionality – check out what they had to say.

Update cabinetry to improve overall appearance

The kitchen is a great room to target in order to increase the overall value of your home. There are a few simple and inexpensive ways of remodeling a kitchen, including repainting the cabinets with a high-quality finish, replacing the drawer and cabinet handles with larger, sleeker designs, and converting your drawers to soft-close cabinet hardware.

– S&R Development , serving Dallas, TX and surrounding areas

Consider frameless cabinets to maximize storage space

Small kitchens benefit from frameless cabinet remodel by adding precious storage access. The absence of a frame opens up a visual four feet of space to a typical base cabinet, and the clean lines of the door front provide a contemporary aesthetic for the modern home.

– Prodigy Cabinetry , serving Greenville, SC and surrounding areas

If new cabinets exceeds your budget, consider getting them professionally painted

When it comes to remodeling a kitchen, you can change your cabinets, your backsplash, your floor and your fixtures. As you prepare your budget, many homeowners find that one easy way to save money is to have your cabinets professionally painted. If you like the style of your cabinets and their structure is still solid, this option will save you thousands compared to purchasing and installing new cabinets. When you hire a professional who does the right prep, they will leave your cabinets cured to a hard, chip-free, factory-quality fresh finish. They will be modern, durable, washable, and can be painted in any new color that you like.

– Cabinet Painting Guru , serving Princeton, NJ and surrounding areas

Go clean and classic to increase home value

In my kitchen remodels, I like to use a clean and classic look and accessorize nicely with hardware and splashes of color. For me, nothing is more important than good ‘wood’ drawers with nice under-mounted hardware.

– Cabinet Refresh , serving Los Angeles, CA and surrounding areas

Upgrade your countertops to quartz or granite

A kitchen remodel is a chance to not only modernize your space, but a chance to add beauty and functionality to your home. We take pride in helping our customers upgrade their kitchens with beautiful quartz and granite countertops.

– Kitchen & Bath by Design , serving Denver, CO and surrounding areas

Custom cabinets can improve convenience

Custom cabinets are a great way to improve functionality, reduce clutter, and create more counter space. Appliance garages, blind corner clouds, utensil pull-outs, and roll-out shelves are all popular upgrades. The options are endless when going custom.

– Eastside Kitchen & Bath , serving Kirkland, WA and surrounding areas

Improve functionality with a proper kitchen layout

An important item to keep in mind when remodeling a kitchen is the layout. A properly done layout will improve the flow and functionality of the kitchen. These details can include things ranging from where the spice rack goes to a built-in trash can. Planning the layout will help your enjoyment of the kitchen.

– Utah Home Remodel Experts , serving Salt Lake City, UT and surrounding areas

Define what’s driving your kitchen remodel

While designing the kitchen island, its function should be considered first. If you want to cook and eat on kitchen islands, allow ample space to separate the cooktop from the dining area.

Consider installing a swing-out tap, also known as a pot filler, near the cooktop. Avoid heavy blocks of doors and drawers by adding interesting details such as glass doors, windows, wine storage, a refreshment refrigerator, or display shelving.

– Gary Remodeling Professionals , serving Grapevine, TX and surrounding areas

Customize your kitchen island

One of my favorite features of remodeling a kitchen is a customized kitchen island. Here in Florida, we thrive in our “Great Rooms” where we basically combine at least three spaces into one: kitchen, family room, and dining area. So, wrapping the island with decorative moldings or adding an accent tile inset to the front can make it feel more like a unique piece of functional furniture, rather than just a cold, sterile food prep space. Choosing a calming, neutral countertop will allow you the option to paint the base with a pop of contrasting color (I suggest black or navy) then finish it off with fun light fixtures and counter stools, and you have a showstopper on your hands.

– Abide Design Interiors , serving Lakewood Ranch, FL and surrounding areas

Create an open layout

Let’s face it, we all love to eat, it relieves stress and generally puts us in a good mood. Open up your kitchen to the living room, add a bar top for extra seating and get the family involved. If cooking is a hassle, make it easier on yourself by adding more storage to reduce cluttered countertops and consider installing features for convenience.

– Reliance Cabinetry , serving Richmond Hill, GA and surrounding areas

Utilize vertical space to add function and beauty to your kitchen

There was a time when upper cabinets were built short and boxy, making kitchens feel stunted and ultimately less functional. Upper cabinets that extend all the way to the ceiling are not only practical (providing so much storage for the rarely used kitchen gadgets, etc), but also create a cleaner, more cohesive look.

– Traditional Cabinetry , serving Brainerd, MN and surrounding areas

Avoid splatters and stains with full-height backsplash

Are you done spending precious time scrubbing grease stains and food splatters from the grout of your tile backsplash? If you’re planning on installing new quartz, granite, or porcelain countertops – consider a full-height backsplash. A full-height backsplash not only adds a striking statement to your kitchen but provides a smooth surface with minimal grout, saving you plenty of elbow grease when post-dinner cleanup rolls around.

– Lakeside Surfaces , serving Kentwood, MI and surrounding areas

Consider working with a professional to avoid unnecessary spending

Remodeling a kitchen is a great time to make changes to the space. Adding a new sink and replacing old appliances will make the space feel bigger and more functional, but it can be a costly project if you don’t know what to look for. To avoid unnecessary spending, consider hiring a professional to do the work for you. While this option is a good choice for a large kitchen, it can also be expensive

– KRLA Remodeling , serving Los Angeles, CA and surrounding areas

The ceiling is not the limit

When considering a kitchen remodel, most of us see the ceiling as the limit of our vertical space. But, that’s not necessarily true. In many bungalows, there is an opportunity to remove the ceiling, open up your kitchen, benefit from new cathedral ceilings, and get more vertical space for your custom kitchen cabinets. It can be surprising how opening up a space opens up the possibilities.

– May Huang, CEO of Dodi Home , serving Fremont, CA and surrounding areas

Paint your walls in a light white or grey color

Our favorite suggestion for any house style is Balboa Myst by Benjamin Moore. It works with all tones and styles regardless of age. I would also suggest adding white quartz countertops and a fun tile backsplash. It’s a fast and relatively affordable way ($5k-$10k depending on the vendor) to make your kitchen stunning on a budget. – Rise Seattle Group serving Seattle, WA

Leave plenty of room to work

Before remodeling a kitchen, think carefully about your own traffic patterns, ergonomics, and habits—do you need room for one cook or two, where are you swinging your elbows, and how much counter space do you need? We recommend leaving at least 42″-48″ of clearance in work aisles, 12″ by the stove, and 18″ by the sink, or else you might find yourself with a bad case of remodel regret.

– Magnet Remodeling , serving Orlando, FL and surrounding areas

Maximize storage with organization

Through the clever use of accessories like roll-out trays and pull-out pantries, you can make the most of the available space. No room for an island? Add a rolling cart with locking casters to your kitchen to add storage that can be moved out of the way when needed. Floating shelves can add extra storage space, as well as style to your kitchen without taking up any floor space.

– Virginia Maid Kitchens , serving the Newport News, VA and surrounding areas

Add a large skylight well over the island

When remodeling a kitchen, one of my favorite features to add is a skylight over the island. A diffuse skylight fills the space with abundant natural light, and can also provide the means for natural ventilation. To simulate daylight in the evening, a cornice up-light along the skylight well perimeter continues to flood the space with useful, indirect light.

– ENR Design Architecture , serving Dallas, TX and surrounding areas

Find small upgrades that have a big impact

Some of the smallest changes to your kitchen can add so much versatility and convenience to your lifestyle. A free-standing island replacing the ordinary peninsula many kitchens have can give you the room to walk around the kitchen freely. Many new cabinet styles are built to store almost every kitchen appliance you own. You can take those appliances off your beautiful countertops and they can find a place of their own. Simple ideas for more space and enjoyment in your kitchen.

– Kitchens of Woodbury , serving Woodbury, MN and surrounding areas

Transform your kitchen with new appliances

Kitchens sell houses. If you’re in the market to sell your home quickly, I would upgrade your kitchen appliances, as they will instantly transform and add value to your home. However, if you have a limited budget for remodeling a kitchen, I would start small and upgrade things like the sink, faucet, hardware, and lighting first.

– Salt and Sprinkles

Putting Customers At The Center Of Your Universe

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 19:09:00 GMT

Ritz Carlton co-founder Horst Schulz estimated the lifetime value of a Ritz customer at $300,000. How did he determine that figure is anyone’s guess. However, the fact that he did estimate the value of a customer was meaningful to Schulz’ and Ritz’ success because it signaled that one of the company’s most important assets was customer loyalty.

Rob Markey, a principal at Bain & Company, argued in a HBR article that customer value should be a key metric in determining a company’s worth. He offers four broad strategies for building customer loyalty that when properly implemented increases profits, employee satisfaction, sales and company value.

Determining the Lifetime Value Of Customers

This involves determining the following:

This information can be used by capitalizing on analytics and tracking consumer response to different company initiatives.

Use Design Thinking to Build Loyal Customers

Design thinking is defined at looking through the lens of customers to better serve their needs and actually observing how customers interact with your business. The goal of a product or service is not simply to generate revenue through sales, but to improve the lives of customers that the company earns their trust and loyalty. Using design thinking to create raving fans among your customer base involves making it easier to do business with you, eliminate obstacles that take time and increase stress and tracking customer interactions with the customer. Amazon does this by recommending similar products to ones that customers have purchased and by identifying additional products that other customers have purchased when they bought a particular product.

Organize Around a Customer’s Needs

That’s why asking customers questions at the start of the design process is critical. Who is going to use the kitchen, how often and for what purposes? How much storage space is required and what is likely to be stored? How long do you plan to stay in your home? What are the ages of different users? What works now in your kitchen and what would you like to improve? Asking the right questions and actively and intently listening to the answers will help you organize your proposal to meet the customer’s needs.

Develop systems for measuring customer value and invest in technology to do so.
Use design thinking to build loyal customers
Organize a business around customer needs
Engage all stakeholders (leadership, investors, team members, suppliers, et al.) in the transformation.

How much did it cost to acquire the customer?
How much does it cost to currently service the customer?
What percentage of customers buy occasionally, frequently or not at all?
What is the revenue per customers?
How do changes in pricing, product offerings, service offerings, customer tastes, and promotions affect each customer’s purchasing?

Effective Responses to Angry Customers

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 19:56:00 GMT

Despite widespread media coverage of supply chain challenges, there are more than a few customers that don’t like to hear that you can’t deliver cabinets or other materials within their preferred timeframe. Many showrooms have received calls from angry customers who are not pleased with continual product shipping delays that have put their dreams of a new kitchen or bath on hold. What’s the best way to respond to these angry customers?

First acknowledge the reasons for their anger and empathize with their situation. Starting a conversation with an apology is an effective tool to lower the heat. There are lots of options available to you and your customer service teams. “We understand why you are upset. Given the same circumstances, we also would be angry.” This type of empathetic response illustrates that you are relating to the customer’s predicament.

Another effective tool utilized by Richard Campbell (Bath Kitchen and Tile Centers) in responding to his builder clients is to acknowledge the situation and offer to work through this predicament together. In doing so, Richard recruited his builder clients to be part of the solution.

Once you have created calm in the conversation, make sure that any commitment made is followed up. If you promise to provide weekly updates on the status of an order, make sure you do so even if the update is nothing has changed. Also, remember to thank customers for their support and understanding.

The supply chain issues and challenges are not going to be resolved in the immediate future. Developing effective responses to your customers who are affected by delays will help to maintain good relationships and ease the pain of not being able to service your customers in a manner that that they expect and deserve.

Don't Assume

Tue, 21 Sep 2021 18:21:00 GMT

Most everyone has heard the time when you assume you make an ass out of you and me. Yet, in our day-to-day activities, do we take things for granted and assume the reasons why you have won a bid or a contract? Rick Reynolds, writing in Sales & Marketing Management identifies six assumptions that can be disastrous.

1. Likeability

Relationships in sales are essential, but they are not the be-all and end-all. Similarly, writes Reynolds, don’t assume that your customers like you just because you have won their business. Was your showroom the lowest bidder or are you the tallest pygmy? Do you really know why your customers do business with you? Obviously having won a new customer or account gives you a leg up on the competition. Take advantage of the opportunity to show how you create value to multiple layers of your customer’s organizations. That requires an effective communication plan filled with compelling content.

2. We have a solid sales representative-customer relationship.

If the reason you won a company’s business is because of relationships with certain staff members, what happens if those staff members seek employment elsewhere? The same holds true if the person who hired leaves their company, what does that do to the status of your ability to maintain that relationship? Make sure that your relationships with your customers involve your entire company instead of primarily based on individual to individual.

3. Resolved problems may still be problems.

Problems create opportunities to show your worth and commitment to a client. Simply because a problem has been resolved does not mean that you are out of the woods. The impact of a mistake or poor performance may mask how a customer feels about you and their willingness to provide honest feedback. Make sure when you resolve problems, that you communicate what you have done to all parties involved and do whatever it takes to prevent recurrences.

4. Don’t believe that there is an open line of communications.

The stronger the relationship you have with a customer, the less likely they are to provide critical feedback. Be proactive in requesting performance critiques. If you don’t hear bad news or room for improvement, ask for guidance from your customers. “What do you see our biggest weaknesses to be? If you could change one thing about our company, what would it be? Reach out for the good and the opportunities to get better.

5. Don’t assume your sales staff will tell you of problems.

Your sales teams are the hood ornament of your organization in the field. That does not guarantee your staff will tell you give you an accurate picture of the relationship or problems that need to be addressed. Maintain open dialogues with your customers and actively seek guidance for improvement. It sends a message that the account is truly important to your firm and that you are interested in helping your client get better by you improving the quality of service that you provide.

6. Just because you have the business does not mean you keep the business.

Don’t assume you have customers for life. In today’s competitive world, everyone is looking to create more value and gain an edge. Complacency can be costly. Do you really deserve to keep the account? If not, act immediately. Nothing is a certainty.

Why Change Is So Difficult

Thu, 15 Jul 2021 17:43:00 GMT

Think about what has happened to our industry and to a larger extent our society as we emerge from a global pandemic. Could you have imagined that we would live in a world where more individuals have a mobile telephone subscription than access to electricity or safe drinking water? As Dan Pink describes in his book To Sell Is Human, we have moved from Caveat Emptor to Caveat Venditor (buyer beware to seller beware).

Today, homeowners come to our showrooms armed with idea books, reviews by prior clients and budget impressions adversely influenced by HGTV. They likely have visited your web site or talked to neighbors whose kitchens you have designed. In many cases, they know more about kitchen design than your average bear. The way prospective clients find us, the way they evaluate us, and the way they make decisions to retain our services have changed significantly. And we need to change to keep pace. That’s easier said than done.v

And when you have a quiet moment, what changes have you really made in the 19 months to respond to current market conditions? Most likely your adoption of technology solutions has changed the way you operate and interact with your clients, prospects and team members. What changes to you have to make to help ensure a personal connection with clients, team members, subs and prospects?

The pandemic has changed the way kitchens function. With so many people working from home and will continue to work from home, you and your designers need to determine new functionality your clients want and need from their new kitchen. What have you changed to help your clients make it easier to do business with you or to demonstrate that you understand what they truly want from their new kitchen? What’s changed and what has been the result of that change?

If the answer to most of the questions is not much, you most likely are not alone. Most people are resistant to change. The psychologists and HR folks tell us that people resist change, because they believe they lose control. They fear the unknown and gravitate to what is most comfortable and what works. That’s why it’s difficult to change lines.

Can you blame your fellow team members for sticking with the status quo? Yes, you can because our world changed so rapidly. Can you imagine when you were happy when a manufacturer told you that their lead time was 16 or 20 weeks? How have supply chain shortcomings changed the way you market, provide service, schedule and manage your projects? Are the same tried and true processes used prepandemic work in a post COVID-19 world? Are you giving your team the tools they need to be successful? Confucius wrote, “Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.”

Dan Pink writes in his seminal work Drive that one effective way to facilitate change in behavior is to phrase the goals you want to achieve as business problems and ask your staff to be active participants in the resolution of those problems. Pink claims that this technique will do more to overcome resistance and motivate change than any other strategy. A couple of suggestions:

Gather your team that may resist showing a particular line and ask them about what they would do to make the line more attractive to recommend.

Ask your site staff to identify the two or three greatest challenges that they face daily.

Then ask them if they were the owner of the showroom what would they do to make the work environment and business better? Reward the team member with the best answer.

Telling someone who has been doing X for a long time to suddenly do Y is a recipe for disaster. Making your team members the facilitators of change makes it easier and more rewarding.

What Your Customers Want From Your Social Media

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 19:19:00 GMT

It’s official. Social media has become the primary medium for customer engagement, according to a recent Harris Poll. More than 70% of businesses use social media to connect with customers and prospects. Email is used 61% of the time. TV/radio advertisement is used by 27% of businesses and 24% of businesses attempt to connect with customers through print ads.

There’s a good reason why social media has climbed to the top of the marketing mountain. 35% of consumers surveyed by Harris reported that social media is the primary medium they use to learn about new products, services and brands. The survey found an overwhelming majority of business owners believe that having a strong social media presence is essentially for success.

Having a strong presence, however, does not necessarily guarantee success. There’s a gap between presence and engagement, notes Luxury Marketing’s Pam Danzinger. Unity Marketing’s most recent “State of Luxury” study found that only 34% of luxury company executives believe Instagram is very effective and that was the highest rated social media platform. Only 23% of businesses believe they get an adequate return from Facebook,

The limited effectiveness of social media to promote brands and prompt engagement is reflected in other similar surveys regardless of business size or budget. Why the disconnect between customers use of social media to learn about brands and products and return businesses receive from their social media efforts? The answer is expectations.

Most companies expect their social media activities to result in consumers visiting their websites, purchasing online or visiting brick and mortar stores. They use the same techniques to measure ROI for social media as they do for other advertising mediums. The shortcoming of this approach is that consumers don’t view social media as advertising or marketing messages. They don’t want to be sold. Instead they want to be engaged. They want a social experience similar to interactions with family and friends. Consumers view Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, et. al. as communication and information platforms.

Consider a television, radio or print magazine ad. They take consumers’ attention away from what they are viewing to capture attention and try to make sales. They interrupt consumers without asking for permission. Social media users don’t want to be interrupted or if they do, they want to make sure that the brand has asked for their permission to do so. The main difference is that consumers control the conversation and the brand, not the other way around that is commonplace with traditional advertising.

Social media is a long-term strategy, not one where you can measure an immediate or even short-term ROI. Successful social media efforts attempt to create friendships with consumers with the return coming later. Effective social media provides content in the way consumers want to receive it. That’s why video has become an increasingly effective tool for engagement.

Social media is not static. It’s dynamic. It requires immediate responses to consumer questions and service requests. It’s personal. You need to deliver the same type of experience on Instagram or Facebook that you deliver when a customer walks into your showroom. And that requirement is likely to become more important in the future. Nearly 60% of consumers surveyed stated that they prefer to interact with brands on social media instead of in a brick and mortar store. The reason is control. Consumers believe they are more in control of a conversation and message on social media than in a store.

Delivering the Ultimate Customer Experience

Thu, 27 May 2021 19:46:00 GMT

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.

The second customer type is the one who is kind of loyal. These customers do not distinguish you from your competitors. McKain believes that sort of loyal customer is disappearing for three distinct reasons. One is that there are lots of good options. Second, many showroom customers and prospects are misinformed or under-informed of the distinctive competencies one showroom may have over its competitors. Therefore they see no definable difference and tend to commoditize showrooms that cannot set themselves apart. The third reason is a number of showrooms have not adapted effectively to technological changes and shifts in consumer behavior.

The third type of customer is a raving fan. These are customers whose loyalty has been secured by delivering ultimate customer experiences. Raving fans not only would not consider another option for their next remodel or new construction project, but also recommend you to others.

How do you create raving fans by delivering an ultimate customer experience? McKain states there are five steps necessary to achieve those goals:

Make a first great impression

Don’t Make it Right…Get it Right

Serve with Empathy

Connect with Emotion

Take Personal Responsibility

In order to make a first great impression, you need to recognize that everything matters, be focused on customer needs and use your superior knowledge and expertise to make emotional connections.

Everything matters requires taking a holistic view of your entire operation. What messages and signals do you send when someone first logs onto the web site, drives into your parking lot or walks into your showroom? Everything matters is just that. Everything does matter from the appearance of your entrance sign to welcome they receive when they call on the phone or arrive in person. When someone enters your showroom, are they being prepared for a positive customer experience or do they approach signs that say something to the effect, staff parking only?

McKain believes you need to put yourself in your customers’ shoes in order to make a positive first impression. What do your clients want, desire, need and expect? It’s not about you. It’s about what your customers want.

The final element in making a positive first impression is to “be your best self,” McKain writes. It is about treating customers the way you want to be treated when you are a customer.

Don’t Make It Right…Get It Right requires mastering the basics. If the food at a restaurant is great, but the service stinks, are you likely to go back? If you have the nicest, newest showroom in the region, it won’t matter if you can’t deliver products in a timely fashion. In order to get it right, you need to be flawless in the blocking and tackling of what you do every day. You need to deliver service that makes the processing of a transaction seamless and you must be able to connect emotionally with customers and prospects. Emotional connections occur when your clients believe that you put their self-interest ahead of your own. McKain challenges showrooms to ask two questions, “How can I improve my product or service that I sell, so our clients receive more than they expect? How can I deliver the product or service that we sell, so the transaction does not appear to be so processed?

The third component is serving with empathy. McKain claims that empathy is the act of identifying with the feelings of another person. In today’s customer-centric environment, more homeowners and builders want empathy than they want customer service. Consider the client who has signed a contract to have their kitchen remodeled and no on shows up on the first day of demolition. They have emptied everything from cabinets and drawers, yet nothing happens. The questions McKain asks are “What can you do more that sets you apart and, other than compensation, why do you work?

McKain believes making emotional connections with customers requires you to align, engage and commit. Alignment results when you determine why residents lease at your business. Relationships are established when you identify common areas of interest, values and desires with customers that pull you together. You become engaged with customers when you make the effort to create and sustain interactions.

Personal responsibility requires being accountable for your actions.

When you make great first impressions, get it right, serve with empathy, connect with emotion and take personal responsibility, your showroom can deliver ultimate customer experiences that create raving fans.

Mastering the Obvious: It's Not So Easy

Wed, 28 Apr 2021 20:59:00 GMT

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.

We were looking for a presenter who could describe how to create and maintain remarkable customer experiences. If you turn on your Google machine and type customer service expert, you get more than 500 million responses. We know several. I have read nearly a dozen books on customer service and am familiar from blogs and magazines with others. We also posted a query on the American Society of Association Executives’ key executive and meeting planner list serves looking for recommendations with detailed explanations of the criteria and demographic profile of the target audience. Our fellow association executive peers provided a couple of leads to track down. We also found several potential prospects.

Based on our research, we narrowed our choices to three possible presenters. On Sunday, October 31, we sent each an email. Within five minutes, one of the prospective candidates responded. We hooked up by phone the following day and arranged for a conference call to review the requirements and to feel each other out to see if there was a fit. In the interim, the speaker overnighted a copy of his book and a video of a presentation he had made. While his content was excellent and willingness to learn the industry apparent, prospect 1 was not the right fit. His presentation skills were not dynamic. Knowing the audience, we realized we had to do better. It was back to the drawing board.

Speaker 2 responded to the email the next day and we arranged the same conference call. We viewed several of his presentations on YouTube and called a couple of references. He agreed to visit face-to-face with several of our members during his travels and all but guaranteed that his program would knock our members socks off. This was the right fit, the right message for our audience and we reached an agreement.

On November 17, we received the following email from speaker 3:

Hi Tom,

We received a request to contact you regarding your need for a speaker. I've attempted to call the number I was given but have been unsuccessful connecting with anyone.

I'm hoping that we may be able to schedule a call asap if your need is yet unfulfilled. Please send me the best number and time/date to reach you so that we can discuss the opportunity.

I look forward to hearing from you

Yours in service,

XXXX, managing partner

Typically, we would respond with a thank you but our needs have been met. Not this time. We wrote back

I’m sorry, but I can’t help myself. I issued the request to you October 31. I heard from you November 17. I tried to call three different times. It was impossible to speak to a human being or leave a message. Not really good form for someone claiming to be a customer service expert. Thought that you would like to know.

Within a few minutes of issuing that email, we received a call from the speaker and we explained the source of frustration and encouraged the caller to experience the quality of customer experience that occurs when calling the company’s office.

She took our advice and sent the following:

Tom,

Thanks for taking my call this afternoon.

You were right; in fact, I think it was even worse than you stated. I called our line after we hung up and ended up in "voice mail hell," unable to leave a message and transferred to the wrong line unable to get where I wanted to go. I am embarrassed that this is what our callers have experienced and ashamed that it took a potential client to point it out to us!

My next call was to our new telephone system provider which left me feeling the way I'm sure you did with ours, very frustrated with no live person to reach. In hindsight, I see that this call should have been made months ago.

Thank you again for taking the time to provide this feedback, you have saved us from potentially frustrating many other people and further embarrassment!

I find myself indebted to you.

Here are the points. When someone asks you for information, walks into your showroom or visits your website, you better be able to excel at the basics, the simple blocking and tackling of what you do on a daily basis. If you can’t do that, then your credibility is compromised permanently.

Lesson 2: When was the last time you put yourself in your customer’s shoes? Why did it take a lost prospective client for a customer service expert to realize how horrible its customer service is? Why did principals not call their own number to see how things work? When was the last time you cold called your showroom or your office? Is the brand projected the one that you worked so hard to establish?

Lesson 3: Missed opportunity. Clearly, the customer service expert was embarrassed or completely intellectually dishonest. We give the benefit of the doubt to the former. Nonetheless, there was an opportunity to regain credibility and turn lemons into lemonade. Why didn’t the speaker make an offer we could not refuse? Why did the speaker not ask, “what can we do to make it up to you?” Jack Mitchell in Hug Your Customers explains, “Mistakes are challenges and opportunities, not problems – out of mistakes, heroics can occur. Customers always remember when you foul up, but what they remember best of all is what you did to fix or correct it.” What procedures to you have in place to turn mistakes into heroics?

Lesson 4: It’s not about you. The customer service company did not get it. It’s not about the need to fix their voice mail system. It’s about the recognition that their systems were designed more for their convenience than their customers or prospective customers. Look at your operations. Are they geared to make your life easier at the expense of your customer’s convenience? Do your branding materials focus on how great you are? Customers don’t care. They want to know how your greatness can help them. Every touchpoint needs to address what benefit you are offering to your customers.

Feeling Overwhelmed? Taking a Vacation from Your Desk Can Make You More Productive

Mon, 05 Apr 2021 17:17:00 GMT

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?

COVID-19 forced many of your clients to work and school from home. While being held in captivity, they discovered that their homes do not function, look or feel how they want them to be, especially if they are spending almost all of their time under one roof. On BKBG’s recent Peer-to-Peer calls, many Shareholders expressed a world class problem – having too much work and not enough personnel or materials to service all of the demand.

Consider what your team does every day. How much time is spent processing information as opposed to taking care of existing clients and prospecting for new ones? Everyone suffers from information overload. A Lexis Nexis survey found that more than 50% of white-collar workers spend more than half their workday receiving and managing information rather than using that information to be more productive and effective. If this applies to your team, there is no better time than the present to look at BKBG Affinity Partner Breakfront Software. The program automates showroom quoting, managing leads, ordering, scheduling, controlling project costs and running showroom operations. www.breakfrontsoftware.com.

How can you avoid having your brain say no more and not get caught in the avalanche of information overload? David Brendel offers five suggestions in a HBG blog.

Daydreaming is good! Do it often. Neuroscience research finds that the brain remains active when the mind wanders resulting in enhanced perception, attention and cognition. Additionally, research found that daydreaming is essential to learn, solve problems and set goals. “This may help to explain why some of our best ideas come when we are in the shower, not sitting at a computer, ” writes Brendel. This is a great claim to use to help sell complex shower systems!

Overpreparing for meetings and presentations is not productive. Obsessing about what you are going to say at a prospective client meeting or the minute details of your PowerPoint

presentation can be counterproductive. Instead, consider thinking about almost anything else as the presentation approaches to help reduce the stress. Don’t obsess over key decisions. Depending on the issue, it may be more effective to spend less time making key

decisions provided you are focusing on bigger picture issues. When you get bogged down in the minutia, you tend to lose sight of the forest.

Learn how to breathe. Many BKBG Shareholders and Preferred Vendor Partners don’t have time to take a yoga class in the middle of the day. Consider instead taking some of the benefits yoga and meditation offer to help you to think more clearly during the day. You may benefit from periods of rhythmic, controlled breathing for a minute or two while at work and trying to slow your breathing to take deeper and longer breaths.

Work less. Research finds that even the most accomplished individuals cannot work longer than 5 hours at a time.

Consider taking several short breaks during the day to recharge your batteries. Also take a day off once in a while to give your brain a rest.

Give these suggestions a try and let us know how they work for you by sharing your experiences on the BKBG Teams chat platform.

Creating Remarkable Customer Experiences

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 17:46:00 GMT

COVID-19 has permanently changed the retail landscape. Being average, boring or unremarkable won’t cut it any more. Just look at the number of retail bankruptcies that occurred in the last year and that are expected to occur this year. They include stalwarts such as J.C. Penny, Nieman Marcus, Men’s Warehouse, Ann Taylor, J. Crew, GNC, Brooks Brothers and others.

Steve Dennis, author of Remarkable Retail: How to Win and Keep Customers in the Age of Digital Disruption claims that “physical retail isn’t dead. Boring retail is.” There are many brick and mortar operations, such as Walmart, Best Buy and Target that are exceeding expectations while online powerhouses such as Amazon, Warby Parker, and Peleton are opening brick and mortar stores.

Dennis believes that a showroom must demonstrate the following qualities to deliver extraordinary customer experiences.

Your showroom needs to be digitally enabled. Having a strong digital presence is not always a first customer option or a better option, but your onsite presence needs to augment and assist your clients to interact with your showroom. That’s why BKBG developed its 10 ebooks for Shareholders to use on their web sites.They help your customers to interact with your showroom by providing information that makes purchasing decisions easier and better informed.

The showroom experience needs to be human-centered. You and your team need to crawl inside the brains of your customers and look through their lenses. The experience must be intensely personal. When life returns to whatever a new normal looks like post COVID-19, there will be a renewed emphasis on humanity.

Your showroom needs to show up for the right customers, at the right time where it really matters in remarkable ways.

Make your showroom the fourth place, playing off of Starbuck’s “third place.” Dennis claims the first place is home, second is work, third is a community-gathering store, e.g. Starbucks, and the fourth place is a showroom that focuses on relationships and connecting customers to your unique brand.

Make your customer experiences memorable and remarkable by doing the unexpected that surprise and delight your clientele. Dennis explains that people buy the story before they purchase the product. What story do you want to tell that others want to repeat?

Additionally, be willing to take risks. The riskiest thing that you can do is not take risks.

Bringing More Passion to the Showroom

Tue, 26 Jan 2021 19:27:00 GMT

Many BKBG Shareholders are passionate about design and creating dream kitchens for their clients. Imagine your showroom's performance if every team member possessed the same passion? The Deloitte Center for the Edge has identified three attributes of passionate people. The first is the passion of an explorer who is constantly looking to improve his or her performance. The characteristics of the explorer include:

A long-term commitment to increasing one’s impact in a specific area such as kitchen design.

Seeking connections with others who can assist with challenges.

Deloitte found more than half of all workers have at least one of the attributes. Showrooms can help their team members increase their passion for work by providing opportunities to connect with coworkers and creating systems for experimenting. This is accomplished by promoting more teamwork, prototypes and feedback.

Showrooms can create more powerful connections among team members by making it easier for them to collaborate and connect with peers outside of the showroom. That’s one of the goals of BKBG’s newly established Designer Connection Program that will enable your designers to connect with peers in other BKBG shareholder showrooms.

Another technique to bring more passion to the showroom is to encourage creative thinking by asking team members open-ended questions that provide a sense of higher purpose, such as why should customers select our showroom over the competitor or home center down the street? Finally, set and track milestones and goals. Encouraging team members to think about the long-term can improve their performance, commitment and passion.

Putting Off Until Tomorrow Things That You Should Do Today

Thu, 07 Jan 2021 17:44:00 GMT

When you put off something until tomorrow or the next day or the day after that, your decision comes at a cost. Procrastination is present daily in your showroom and most likely in your home. How can you avoid having to pay the piper? University of Pennsylvania professor and best-selling author Adam Grant offers guidance. He points out that research into the causes of procrastinating finds that putting something off has little to do with work and everything to do with negative emotions. We put off a task if we are uncomfortable, confused or bored. While kicking the can down the street may make you feel better at the time, the long-term effect is feeling worse because the task remains undone.

Grant says to avoid procrastinating you don't have to work more or improve your time management skills. Instead, you have to change your mindset. Often we are our own worst enemy and critic. We strive for perfection, yet knowing that perfection is never an achievable goal. Think about how many times you have started a project and trashed your work because it was not good enough. Grant advises to remind yourself that you are human and make plans to close the gap between your work and your expectations.

A second tactic is timing. Research finds that chronic procrastinators are night owls. Your brain cannot function at peak performance without sufficient sleep or not alert. If you tend to stay up late, schedule your most important tasks later in the day when you are more alert.

Additionally, surround yourself with highly productive team members. Grant cited one study that found individuals improved their productivity by 10% when they sat next to someone who was twice as productive as the average person.

Avoiding procrastinating is not easy. Recognize that there are always tasks that we don't want to do or that emit negative feelings. Managing and, if possible, eliminating negativity will help you and your team stay focused and ensure deadlines are met.

Overcoming Negativity

Thu, 10 Dec 2020 20:28:00 GMT

One of the many challenges of responding to COVID-19 has been keeping team members, customers, subcontractors and others upbeat when there are few answers and an apparent no end to the challenges created by the global pandemic. On top of numerous uncertainties, we seem to be living in a time of toxicity. Just look at the recent presidential election and other political campaigns. Negativity can have toxic effects, claims the Mighty, an organization that provides health information and brings people together to discuss specific health issues. The company recently surveyed 70,000 individuals who reported that their top three emotions were frustration, worry and anger. The number of individuals choosing anger as one of their top emotions doubled from March to September 2020.

We all know the challenges of dealing with angry and rude customers. Research shows that rudeness decreases performance and hampers memory. When you encounter a rude individual, it is challenging to offer helpful solutions and communicate effectively. How can you and your team members effectively respond to rude and angry people?

Step One: Avoid negativity. Consider the media that you watch and read. Negative messages can be especially harmful. Account for your language. No one has more control over your thoughts and messages than you. Advise your team that they do have control and encourage them to see the glass as half full as often as they can. Instead of saying, "This is the worst supply fulfillment environment we have ever seen," rephrase to "Supply chains are particularly challenging right now, but if we can work together, we can overcome the challenges and ensure projects proceed as planned."

Step Two: Be neutral. Negative people tend to blame others for their problems and circumstances. Encouraging and adopting a positive approach and mindset puts the focus on what you can control and gives you a path to develop an action plan. Avoid judgments and negative reactions when confronting problems and challenges. Keep the focus on what you can do and what you can control instead of what you can't.

Step Three: Be grateful. You cannot overestimate the power and value of recognizing team members for what they do daily. Front-line workers are unsung heroes. Even if the situation looks dire, look for the positives and consider what you are grateful for. Expressing gratitude helps to reduce stress and offset negativity. If your team appears down, encourage individual team members to identify some of the positives that have resulted from the pandemic, such as your ability to leverage technology, improve processes and enhance communication.

Step Four: Manage your energy. Exercise. Eat healthier. Get at least eight hours of sleep a night. Exercise, health and sleep become more important during challenging times. Lack of sleep erodes self-control, and that can produce more negativity. Research has found lack of sleep increases frustration, impatience, hostility and anxiety. Lack of sleep damages relationships and reduces trust.

Step Five: Look for the silver lining at home and work. According to the Mighty's research, when you or a team member is negative, it has a four to seven times greater impact on a fellow team member's ability to be positive and energized. Offset negativity by surrounding yourself and your team with positive people and messages.

Even though there may not be a light at the end of the tunnel just yet, you can offset the adverse effects of negativity on your team and yourself by surrounding yourself with positive influences and people, being mindful of the content and media that you consume and aware of the mindset that you adapt.

The Future of Office Technology

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 16:34:00 GMT

Who would have thought 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. Initial and other virtual meetings help to save time, improve efficiency and eliminate tire kickers.

Advances in virtual technology will continue to redefine the future of work and, in many cases, improve productivity and professional accomplishment. New platforms such as Remesh enable showrooms and manufacturers to research markets and collect and summarize anonymized views of up to 1,000 people on a topic or new product. This platform and others allow marketing specialists and showroom owners to react to focus group comments in real-time.

Digital tools such as sticky notes, shared digital whiteboards and co-editing tools help bring team members together if they are working from home.

Advances in technology will help make working and connecting with customers remotely more efficient and easier. Affordable home smart boards and large multi-monitor displays will make it possible for showrooms to project proposed designs from laptops or even smartphones. Advances in 3-D printing will allow showrooms to showcase products from around the world to their customers' home offices.

Ten years from now, the crackly Zoom calls will be a distant memory as remote work technology will be the next best thing to being there.

Helping Your Team Navigate Uncharted Waters

Fri, 02 Oct 2020 17:30:00 GMT

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.

Everyone has had to change work schedules and processes, and change is stressful. Nearly 70% of American workers report that COVID-19 is the most stressful time in their professional careers, writes Professor Eric Anicich of the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. The source of COVID-19 stress is a loss of autonomy or the ability to control actions and be yourself, claims Anicich. Loss of autonomy adversely affects team members' performance and well-being.

Team members are worried about the threat COVID-19 poses to their health, family, job, freedom of movement and more. Anicich researched employees from 41 different community colleges during the initial lockdown in March to determine how they felt about their control over their lives and whether they could be themselves. After an initial feeling of loss of control, the research found that employees recovered quickly and adapted to the new normal.

How to Regain Control

Anicich recommends that if you are working from home clearly define workspace from home space. If you don't have a home office, select a space with a door where you can work privately, and let family members know that you are at work when the door is closed. Take advantage of the benefits of working from home. Use the time that you would have otherwise spent commuting to be more productive, to get more sleep, exercise, connect with friends, increase quality time with family or anything else that makes you feel good. Take care of yourself. Eat healthier. Exercise. Spend some time just on you. Consider earmarking funds that you typically would have spent on going out, traveling or commuting on you and your family's well-being.

Helping Team Members Cope

Regularly check in with team members. Understand that typical schedules are anything but typical, especially among team members whose children are attending school from home. When possible, add flexibility to team members' schedules by not focusing on when or how much the team works, but rather emphasize what they accomplish. Also, set expectations for the team and standards for those who are working from home. You can boost team member morale by frequently recognizing and rewarding team members who are aligned with your corporate culture and values.

Anicich’s research found that neurotic employees recovered their autonomy fastest during the pandemic. They could prove to be the most reliable and effective team members.

Another lasting effect of COVID-19 will be the future of work. Many companies are questioning if team members have to be present from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., five days a week. Work from home will be a component of the future of work. The adoption of technology will continue to accelerate due to enhance efficiencies and ease of operation. Anicich believes now is the time to take as step back and ask the question, “What would an ideal world of work look like for this organization and what step can we take now to create this future?”

The Outlook For Kitchen And Bath

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 17:27:00 GMT

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.

11% of planned kitchen and bath remodeling projects as of mid-April were canceled or postponed because of the virus.

Spending on kitchens fell 25%, master bath dropped 18% and second baths dipped 14%.

Spending on medium and larger K&B renovation projects is expected to drop by 22%. Spending on smaller projects is expected to fall by 14%.

Projects that continued saw reliance on designers at 25% compared to 38% before COVID-19.

Homeowners who continued with their projects during the pandemic opted for lower-priced products and were more likely to use DYI labor.

Primary reasons why projects were scrapped or postponed were fewer resources, fear of strangers entering their homes, limited access to industry professionals, decline in income, fear of job loss and showroom closures. Financial concerns were cited by 25% of homeowners that delayed or canceled their projects.

Nearly 33% of Americans reported that they have changed the way they view their kitchens and baths due to COVID-19 focusing on health and safety, quality, function and design. For Americans working from home, 38% have changed how they think about their kitchens and baths, and 19% of those working from home reported wanting to renovate their kitchen or bath.

Helping Team Members Work Remotely

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 18:55:00 GMT

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.

Team members that understand how their efforts contribute to the well being, safety and enjoyment of families generally are more engaged, productive and healthier. When team members view their jobs as meaningful, they are more likely to grow professionally and thrive personally. That’s one reason why the most successful companies in the world rank as the best places to work.

Outstanding managers recognize that it is their responsibility to make their team members’ jobs more meaningful. According to psychologist Lewis Garrad and Professor Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic in an HBR blog, four personality characteristics enable managers to make team members' jobs more meaningful.

Curiosity and Inquisitiveness

Managers who are naturally curious and inquisitive ask lots of questions and encourage team members to try new concepts and approaches and let them do their jobs. They avoid micromanaging and expect team members to present new ideas and methodologies for performing their tasks.

Drive and Determination

Never settle for what currently exists even if what exists is succeeding. Successful managers push their teams always to believe they could have achieved a better outcome. This helps to instill a sense of purpose, which results in more meaningful and positive work experiences.

Cultural Fit and Values

Top performers’ values need to align and be in sync with your corporate culture. Stanford University Professor Robert Sutton, author of the book, The No A--Hole Rule, found that if you work for a jerk, you tend to become one. Team members that are not aligned with your culture, brand, and values jeopardize every other person's performance on your team. It's better to hire a less qualified individual who values your brand and what you represent than a loose cannon superstar.

Trust

When you provide space for team members to perform, your team can set their own path, and when they do, they generally feel more valued and important because they know that their manager trusts them.

Great leaders help their team find meaning in what they do which often results in more loyalty and better performance.

Was Chicken Little Correct?

Fri, 24 Jul 2020 19:44:00 GMT

Was Chicken Little Correct?

Whatever your situation might be, it’s not what you would have expected at the start of 2020. Covid-19, stay-at-home orders, shuttering and reopening your showroom and making tough decisions for your business have all been part of the new normal. Having to worry about family, whether or not schools will open in the fall, the threat of contracting COVID-19, the prospects of a long recovery from the recession and isolation from friends, family and regular routines can be stressful.

How can you better manage stress in a world of unknowns? One technique is to use your mind to conquer matter, claims psychologist Dr. Michael Gervais. Gervais specializes in counseling world-class athletes and Fortune 100 CEOs.

Gervais recommends starting each day with a mindfulness exercise. The moment you wake up, take a long deep breath. Inhale for at least 10 seconds, and then exhale for a longer period than you inhaled. Identify something that you are grateful for – good health, continued business success, family and friends, whatever it may be. “Try to really feel it. It’s an exercise in thinking, it’s an integration between thinking and feeling,” Gervais writes.

Determine what type of person you want to be this day. Are you going to be a mentor, friend, a source of calm for others who may be more stressed than yourself? The goal is to see yourself as the best you can be.

Get out of bed and put your feet on the ground. Decide the first thing you want to think about to start your day. Use similar techniques if you lose focus or feel stressed during the day.

Take care of yourself. Exercise, eat healthier and get enough sleep. The latter may be difficult if you are stressed or your mind is racing. Try going to bed at the same time each night. Matthew Walker, a sleep expert and professor at the University of California Berkeley, relates that your brain thrives on regularity. If you can’t fall asleep, Walker suggests you brush your teeth, read a book or write down your thoughts on a pad of paper or your laptop until you feel tired. Like going to bed at the same time each night, try to wake up at the same time each day.

Make the time to connect with those who are most important to you, even if you have to practice social distancing or meet virtually. This is the time to be compassionate. Everyone has been adversely affected by the global pandemic.

This is also a time of reflection and determining what is most meaningful to you and your family.

Designing for happiness and good health

Thu, 02 Jul 2020 18:17:00 GMT

Health and well-being are top of mind for most of your potential clients and provide a marketing opportunity for designers and showrooms who can demonstrate how their designs and knowledge can contribute to their clients' health and well-being. The materials, colors and finishes that you specify for a kitchen determine not only how the space will function and look, but the emotional response that it can generate among homeowners. According to architect Donald H. Ruggles, author of Beauty, Neuroscience & Architecture, if a pattern of space is readily understandable, the brain signals that the space is stress-free and approachable.

Shapes, tones, colors, textures and so on influence how the brain perceives a space. For example, islands with jagged or sharp edges can produce a feeling of anxiety, while ones with rounded edges evoke a sense of calm.

Different personality types respond to varied sensory inputs uniquely, and that makes it even more important to understand your client's personality. With kitchens and baths being the epicenters of most homes, understanding personality can be a considerable advantage to exceeding expectations. Open floor plans continue to be a go-to design for kitchens, but did you know that open floor plans cater more to extraverts? This is because extroverts have a penchant for stimulation, and their brains are wired to perceive things like sound, light, socializing and attention as a reward, claims Rachel Cannon, a designer in Baton Rouge, LA. Conversely, introverts have a penchant for calm and low-key activities such as reading or quiet conversations. Cannon suggests using soft textures to dampen sound in an open floor plan. “Rather than painting a room, consider upholstering the walls,” she suggests.

Design elements that bring in natural light and connect to nature have been proven to promote mental health. Natural environments can lift mood, improve concentration and reduce stress. Research shows that people who work in offices with plants are more productive and feel better than those who are plant-free.

Light therapy is not a new concept to kitchen and bathroom showroom professionals. Bright lights heighten emotional responses while insufficient light in a kitchen or bath can be depressing, according to a 2011 study in Public Health Reports. Understanding how light interacts with materials, people and tasks better equips you to help customers select lighting best suited for their project. The colors that your customers see in the kitchen and bathroom depend on the light under which objects have been illuminated.

It may have been a long time since you took a physics class, but you may recall that light travels in wavelengths. Different color wavelengths affect people differently. Blue, for example, produces shorter wavelengths, providing a soothing effect. Yellow, and red are longer wavelengths that are energizing. Green is associated with freshness and calm. Color research and application says the happy people are drawn to light colors.

kitchen-of-stillwater-kitchen-of-woodbury

Capturing The Hearts And Wallets Of Millennials

Show That You Care More

Remodeling a Kitchen: Increase Home Value and Sell Your Home for More

Putting Customers At The Center Of Your Universe

Determining the Lifetime Value Of Customers

Use Design Thinking to Build Loyal Customers

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Organize Around a Customer’s Needs

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Effective Responses to Angry Customers

Don't Assume

1. Likeability

2. We have a solid sales representative-customer relationship.

3. Resolved problems may still be problems.

4. Don’t believe that there is an open line of communications.

5. Don’t assume your sales staff will tell you of problems.

6. Just because you have the business does not mean you keep the business.

Why Change Is So Difficult

What Your Customers Want From Your Social Media

Delivering the Ultimate Customer Experience

Mastering the Obvious: It's Not So Easy

Feeling Overwhelmed? Taking a Vacation from Your Desk Can Make You More Productive

Creating Remarkable Customer Experiences

Bringing More Passion to the Showroom

Putting Off Until Tomorrow Things That You Should Do Today

Overcoming Negativity

The Future of Office Technology

Helping Your Team Navigate Uncharted Waters

How to Regain Control

Helping Team Members Cope

The Outlook For Kitchen And Bath

Helping Team Members Work Remotely

Was Chicken Little Correct?

Was Chicken Little Correct?

Was Chicken Little Correct?

Designing for happiness and good health