80 JANUARY 2020
l
The Wholesaler
l
PHCPpros.com
80
SHOWROOM EXCELLENCE
I
often use parallels when I'm de- scribing the physical appearance of a showroom and the culture of the company. It's typically easy to see the differences between a high-perform- ing showroom culture and one that is not by walking in the front door. I've discovered a phenomenon during my visits to showrooms from coast to coast. I invite you to take notice and see if the same holds true in your experiences. I call it the "Broken Window Theory." When touring showrooms, each problem I notice that has gone on unattended affects people's attitudes toward their environment and, at some point, leads to more problems. It's quite a remarkable parallel, actually, so I thought it would be the perfect topic to share as you consider mak- ing improvements in 2019. Ironically, New York City police adopted this controversial theory years ago and touted it as the reason for the city's turnaround. While the theory also led to other social issue commentary, for the sake of this article, let's stick to the aesthetic and business side of the discussion. Leaders in New York believed that if a building didn't repair its broken windows, there would be a greater chance of vandals breaking a few more windows. Eventually, those van- dals may even break into the building. If it's unoccupied, they might perhaps become squatters or light fires inside. However, those leaders witnessed that when broken windows on a building were repaired immediately, the entire neighborhood tended to stay cleaner and the resulting civic pride motivated everyone to main- tain the area better. In the case of showrooms, a less extreme version is true. Consider this: A water bottle is dropped in the parking lot and not picked up. A bit more litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. The show- room staff seems to turn a blind eye toward it - or possibly has an attitude of "It's not part of my job." As time goes on, people even start tossing out bags of refuse from take-out restaurants. Next thing you know, it has be- come less important to maintain weeds because it's been proven that nobody cares about the area anyway. As seasons change, dust and water- marks dot the windows but they go unwashed. It becomes apparent to everyone who passes by or pulls in to look at the displays that the staff doesn't care about the appearance or the cus- tomer experience. Those potential customers will likely wonder if the staff will care about their order is issues may arise. Once we lower the standard - when that first water bottle didn't get picked up - a pattern begins to grow. Neither the staff nor the owner showed any pride in the busi- ness. There was no identification of the errant water bottle as a problem to fix and the bar is lowered. A similar pattern develops when one showroom display is removed or damaged in any way. It then seemingly becomes OK to have multiple dis- plays in disrepair or incomplete. Next thing you know, there are no pop-up drains in the bath sinks or basket strainers in kitchen sinks because the staff has become disengaged and be- lieve they can still sell just as well with what they have. They become blind to the fact that the showroom looks subpar or don't care. I mentioned pop-ups and basket strainers because they seem to be missing in many show- rooms I see, yet it's something incredibly easy to fix. As an owner or man- ager, you must walk your showroom every day with the eyes of a cus- tomer and be intolerant of vignettes that look anything less than what you would see in a new home. That includes a lack of tasteful accents. But please, no silk plants! If I see one more fake ficus tree used to hide bad drywall in a showroom, I'll scream. Proper light- ing also is important so consumers can picture what the products will look like in a real home environment. On the other hand, if you are vigilant almost to the point of being obsessed with the quality of your showroom and its displays - and have zero tolerance for "broken windows" in your showroom - it almost guarantees your showroom will nearly always look perfect and the experience your customers have will be enhanced.
A Few Bad Employees
This theory also can be used in a business context. When we don't resolve an issue, it becomes a broken window and can lead to a variety of problems in areas such as human re- sources and customer service, which eventually erode your corporate cul- ture and employee engagement. Take, for example, the veteran employee who's been with you 20 years, has a distinct attitude prob- lem and is poison for the rest of the team. You think this employee "knows too much" to get rid of. You decide it is a good idea to ignore the rudeness, the poor customer service and the undermining of other employees because this per- son has a solid understanding of your systems and procedures. Sound familiar? I have seen it dozens of times and it has had the broken window effect within those companies. Do what you know you need to do and fix it - now
Once you lower standards, a pattern begins to grow as disengaged staff ignore obvious problems.
Fix Your Broken Windows
BY JEFF MACDOWELL Executive Director Luxury Products Group
YOU MUST WALK YOUR SHOWROOM EVERY DAY WITH THE EYES OF A CUSTOMER.
Take your showroom seriously as a retail experience center - even the parking lot should be clean.
Photo credit: iStock.com/augustasm
Previous Page