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New Year’s....are you ready?

I hope you have made good use of this month to reflect on the past year and start to put pen to paper to create the new one. 

Have you completed your goals for this year? Did you make them 12-month goals or did you try to achieve them by Thanksgiving so that you can enjoy the holidays stress-free, with your loved ones?

  • What did you learn from this year that you don’t want to repeat next year? 
  • What new challenges await you? 
  • What are the areas you want to develop – business skills? Tec…

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The Last Month of the Year

December is a funny month. 

For retail showrooms, this tends to be a slower traffic month with a lower average sale. And, like November, it also tends to be a good delivery month, with holidays driving making homes lovely for family and guests. 

Residential trade business continues to be strong and retail traffic has started to wane a bit but is still sufficient to hit targets. And trade showrooms can go either way as these are not typical times. 

Given the unpredictability, this is a c…

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GRATITUDE and CHALLENGES

It doesn’t take much effort to be grateful for the easy stuff…and we can forget even then.

It’s harder to be grateful for things that didn’t go the way we wanted them to go.

It’s harder to be grateful for the adversity itself and what the opportunity can teach us; a subtler more – dare I say evolved – experience of gratitude that for me that requires practice and effort. It takes work.

I have a solid practice of saying “thank you!” when I am happy with the results (I always say thank you when…

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GRATITUDE and COMMUNICATION

To paraphrase Stephen R. Covey, what we are experiencing is demonstrated in our communications. Listen to what you are saying in describing your current state, your opinions, your challenges...how you describe those things show you where you are operating from.

When you are present to being grateful, how do you express it? Do you thank others? Do you show how happy you are to see someone when they walk in the showroom door? Does your gratitude greet them before you say a word?

How do you expre…

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GRATITUDE and ATTITUDE

Gratitude is often in reaction to something happening that we wanted to have happen, such as simple things like a good parking space and more complex things like a good relationship…or being grateful for coming through adversity having gained insight and success. 

I start my day with a prayer of gratitude and a request for patience and willingness. Yes, willingness.

To not let my stubbornness and resistance take over what I am experiencing or expecting. To be open to new ideas, opinions, or wa…

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Expectation and Communication

I had dinner last night with a dear friend who is a brilliant cabinet maker and installer of high-end appliances. Kitchen/bath designers and appliance retailers refer him to their clients who want their products installed perfectly.

We were discussing how he gets paid (from the client) and how to best communicate that expectation. He currently asks the designer or salesperson “Has the client been told that I will collect my fee from them?” to which they always, always say “Yes!” And he usually te…

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This Equals That....

For sales associates and leaders everywhere

The numbers never lie. When you step on the scale, you know. When you open your bank statement, it’s right there to see.

The same is true for sales. When you look at your sales results, you know whether you are on track to make goal or not. If you are, great. If you aren’t, it’s a function of actions: the quantity and quality of the actions you have already taken.

If you want to get back on track to make goal, you need to take more actions. If you h…

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Q2 2021

Q2 2021

For sales associates and leaders everywhere

 Q1 2021 is now behind us. If you hit your quarterly goal, congratulations! If you missed it, check your performance statistics and you will find what was insufficient that kept you from  hitting your target.

The obvious challenges most retail and trade showrooms are facing right now are supply chain shortages and insufferable lead times. This is what the remainder of the year will look like, so it’s critical that we manage what we can contr…

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Slipcover Lessons

 

                                           

 

I started this project about a month ago, although how much time it was going to take to complete the project remained an unspecified mystery. Since this was the first slipcover I ever made, I spent time researching HOW to do this so that the result would be respectable. The ticking stripe fabric was a couple of years old, because I originally thought I would have someone do the work for me. But the pandemic arrived and my travel schedule slowed…

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Part 20 of 20: HubSpot Sales Statistics…With Secret Sauce Added

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20.   An average company loses 10% of its customer base every year

Don’t be discouraged! This is just a lesson in prospecting and staying ahead of your sales pipeline. Stay active and continuously reach out to new prospects and past clients to keep your pipeline full and your team looking ahead.

Salespeople

Simply put, keep prospecting and don’t take it personally. If you lose more than 10%, you might want to explore further to discover why that is. However, if you ask for referrals, market cons…

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