Your attitude and strong action plan will help you navigate through these challenging economic times!

 

BY PETER SCHOR

Showroom specialist

 

So how is your attitude?

 

Can you tell me about one positive benefit of having a negative attitude in these tough economic times? Do you get frequent flyer airline miles or any perks? An attitude is like the allegory of envisioning the glass being half empty or half full. In Larry Seligman’s book Learned Optimism, which is taken from a 50-year government study, optimistic men live around 21% longer and optimistic women live 23% longer. This should be enough to motivate you to shift from pessimism to optimism. Find ways to “work-out” mentally every day in order to clear away any “stink’ in think’ in.”

 

Remember that in the showroom selling process, “no one rises up to low expectations.” Sales success comes from seeing and expecting positive outcomes in advance. It is your projection of confidence that instills the client with the comfort that you and your showroom are the person and place to work with.

 

Want to change how you think? Choose “Selective Listening”!

 

We get our daily information and news from TV, radio and newspapers. These three mediums generally plant negative information in our brains. Scientists have proven that we receive 15 times more negative messages than positive messages daily. A good example of feeding a bad attitude is watching the cable news, which runs 24/7 and repeats the same negative news stories 24 hours a day. Most of the news is negative, set to music with plenty of drama and choreography. You can watch the news but don’t make the mistake of tying your feelings to the news unless you can personally do something to change things. If you are watching more than a half hour of news each day or read the entire newspaper in less than 30 minutes, you might be heading for a negative frame of mind. It is also okay to have empathy. Just say and repeat to yourself, “Selective Listening” many times and have this on your conscience. Post these profound words in front of you at work and at home.

 

Want to change how you think? Selective communications — self-talk!

 

Scientific research has proven that we talk at the rate of 500 words a minute. Negative self-talk like, “How did I ever get into the showroom industry”; “We’re in a recession”; “My prices are too high” “I can’t do it”; and “I’m destroyed” are self defeating. Repeated over and over again, these phrases can become negative, toxic,and hypnotic. Reactive language such as “I have to,” “I should” and “I must” can be changed to proactive language such as “I choose to.” “I will” and “I prefer.” Wouldn’t it be better to say “I choose to go to work” with some emotion behind it each morning for 21 repetitive days rather than “I have to go to work”?! After 21 repetitive days, watch how much your attitude positively shifts!

If you want to look at the mind in a scientific manner, take a look at thoughts on the conscious level. These thoughts become feelings at the sub-conscious level and they results in your behavior. What have your thoughts, feelings and behavior been like lately?

 

What have you planned to do differently in your showroom for the balance of 2009/2010?

 

Here is a list of “Lucky 7” ways to increase your sales and gross profits, save time, increase productivity and improve your showroom. Although you may being doing some of the things on this list, you may not being doing all of them. The “Lucky 7“ ways are:

 

• Re-think your current product mix to increase gross profit margins. Keep your gross profit margins up there as dropping profit margins take a ton of product volume to make up for.
• Monitor overhead costs and eliminate wasteful habits. The U.S. and our industry have gone on a “diet” in every aspect of their life’s which should include showroom costs.
• Create a better experience. Improve rapport with clients visiting your showroom, therefore creating a higher “perceived value.” Practice building a deeper rapport with your clientele.
• Implement better ways to create more qualified showroom traffic. Go to the website www.thewholesaler.com and go to the archives articles, August 2007 (professional trades) and September 2007 (consumer) target market articles. These articles provide “blow by blow” instructions on how to do it effectively from beginning to end. Have you ever seen all the sic Code? This code shows trades in a 25-mile radius of your showroom? I know dozens of showrooms who have used it effectively to bring in more business and there are especially effective in these leaner times.
• Go Green. Visit the archives of Kitchen and Bath Design News online and type in “green” and you will come up with articles, books and newsletters. Then identify the geen products that you have existing in your showroom. Ask your manufacturer partners to identify their green products, if any. Then add to the qualifying process by asking your clientele if they have a green priority.
• Product additions. Add very discreet green tags on showroom products that meet showroom criteria. How about adding these tags to all the non-plumbing connection products you can sell to the builders or consumer directly i.e. shower doors; saunas, outdoor spas, kitchen cabinets, ceiling fans. Additional products include lighting, magnification mirrors with lights, cleaners and polishes for the products you sell; and lots more! How about whole house purification systems, indoor air filtration, and floor warming. You can brand your showroom for green products. 
• Outcall Service. Create an outcall service charging $100 per hour to come to customers’ homes to determine what products will fit in their applications. The cost is refundable against the purchase of the goods by the consumer or recommended trade.

 

In conclusion, everything begins with a “Yes, I can” attitude as Attitude is Everything!! I quote Frank Outlaw who said it the best:

 

“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become character. Watch your character, it becomes your destiny!”

 

Peter Schor, president of Dynamic Results Inc., is an educator, motivational speaker, consultant, coach and writer in our industry and many diverse others. For the past 17 years, he has conducted 100 educational programs yearly, including 34 industry conventions. Schor has great expertise in the field of showrooms and has won many industry awards. He also works with manufacturers in the field of sales, marketing and public relations. Schor can be reached at 1302 Longhorn Lane, Lincoln, CA 95648, phone 916/408-5346, fax 916/408-5899, e-mail pschor@dynamicresultsinc.com or visit his website at www.dynamicresultsonline.com.