Common thought is that as much as 80% of initial impressions are formed by non-verbal communications. With this thought in mind, I am constantly amazed by how many sales personnel make their chances of success needlessly compromised. Poor grooming, soiled or ill-fitting clothing, less than fresh breath, facial hair and cheap cologne are but a…
For years we have believed that the written word typically takes priority over the spoken word. It was presumed that published information had been subjected to some form of review and editing process. I am beginning to doubt the validity of this premise today. Blogs, social media postings, etc. are being made available to us…
While viewing the CNBC program “Titans” featuring Southwest Airlines Chairman Emeritus Herb Kelleher recently, I heard a quote that should be adopted as a mission statement for all service based businesses. He stated “Think small and act small and we will get bigger. Think big and act big and we will get smaller.” Wow! Think…
I had my batteries recharged in Kansas City last week. No, not the electrical kind, but rather the internal batteries that keep you moving and motivated. This phenomenon occurred while attending the annual CFI Convention. Most of what is written and said about the installation trade these days is neither encouraging nor kind. I have…
Recently I was in a self-checkout lane at a Kroger’s store while an attendant literally stood and watched me. The signage above the machines stated “for your convenience”. What am I missing here? It’s more convenient for me to be observed than it is to be assisted? Since when? The only way that a scanning…
My wife and I recently spent a week taking a 1300 mile odyssey touring on vacation. Driving this amount of distance we passed a great number of flooring stores. Several days into our trip, I asked over lunch what stores she had seen that impressed her. The sad reality is that she could only remember…
When opening my mail this morning, I received a reminder that is worth sharing. I received a hand written note of appreciation from an acquaintance. It was 41 words on a 4 x6 inch card. It likely took one minute to write and cost 44 cents to mail. Not much time and not much money…
The news from the auto industry in Detroit is better lately. While there are a myriad of factors accounting for this reversal of fortune, I think that there is one resounding lesson that flooring dealers can learn from: duplicity and product sameness are both costly and confusing. Look at the brand reduction that has taken…
Keeping customer care as the core of your business I believe two basic truths about improving the experiences that our customers have when shopping our stores. First, before you can be a good customer care provider, you must first learn to be an aware customer service receiver. And secondly, we mostly learn from observing other industries….