Give Your Message Time To Be Heard

I know myself pretty well. I have been through pretty much every behavioral profile known to man. I am aware of my strengths and seek to avoid situations that magnify my weaknesses. As I look back on my career, I have to admit that was not always the case. In the mid 1990’s I attended…

This is an election year, so it makes sense to evaluate leadership in the most visible platform we have available in 2016. Now before you think this is a political column, think again. There are, in various forms, leaders on both sides of the isle. Though there have been good leaders, and some may even…

Too often managers overseeing projects, goals and key initiatives make the mistake of just setting a final deadline. To ensure that both momentum and enthusiasm can be maintained throughout a project, it is necessary to establish “tollgates” to monitor progress. Readers that are familiar with the building industry know that there is a projected timeline…

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….

When presenting unique design ideas to your customer, always remember the saying “the whole is worth more than the sum of its parts”. Too often I hear a shortsighted salesperson say something to the effect of, “I don’t make enough commission on a few feet of ceramic listellos to merit the time spent”. Or, “I…

When selling flooring at a full service specialty store, your offerings are often compared to a box store that wishes to place the primary emphasis on the product itself, rather than presenting it as an element of an installed floor. This type of outlet prefers to sell product first, and services only as required, as…