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High Point Market Blog/Newsletter

“Homework”
High Point Market Seminar, Saturday, October 16 - 4:00 HFA Resource Center

In the last year, so many things have been amended or eliminated, morphed into something else, or revealed themselves as different from originally intended or understood. Those things have all happened to me, to my business, to my clients, and to my understanding and methods for teaching salespeople and sales managers.

This topic, Homework, is one of those newly realized nuggets in my “Sell it or Schedule it” sa…

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Delays and Communication

We all wish it was different…that special orders could be placed and received within a couple of months.

We all wish that price increases didn’t accompany these delays…and yet they do. What we can stop wishing for and start acting on are the communications that need to happen with the customer.

If it’s not a habit to send monthly emails to your customers who placed a special order, make it one. Start by telling your customer (in their thank you note) that they can expect to hear from you every…

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Connection and Communication

Mask, no mask?

Social distance or get close enough to talk?

As the pandemic rails on and showrooms manage incoming opportunities, the ability to communicate while wearing a mask remains tricky.  It’s hard to read full facial expressions, to hear people who speak softly behind a mask, and to repeat once or twice to be understood. 

It’s helpful to the customer (for their comfort and information) to initiate how the interaction will go…and if someone needs to repeat what they said, it’s understo…

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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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Looking ahead at 2021

Happy December!

The year is almost over - can you believe it? And as it draws to a close it’s time to start looking at what to create for 2021. I will be posting an opportunity next week for you to sign up for Goal Setting Mini Series for retail showrooms and another for trade showrooms (maybe a third for independent designers? Let me know and I will add it!) with directions to participate. Please keep your eyes open for this and I hope you will join us!

In the meantime, start to consider what…

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Painted Furniture and Halloween!

Hey everyone!

I will be at The Drawing Room in downtown New Bedford on Saturday, 10/31 from 10-2 working with Anthi and talking about a wonderful trend that is still with us: painting fine quality vintage and antique furniture in new, wonderful colors! Here is an example from my home - vintage Heywood Wakefield Windsor chairs painted BM Ravishing Red! That was the color that was ultimately chosen. The first one was too orange, so the painter was able to rub through the topcoat to show the orang…

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A New Month

For retail sales professionals, everywhere 


For some of you, the month of May was the best month in the history of your company. There was pent up demand for product, often in-stock merchandise, and purchases were made online and in person. May didn’t make up for losses in April and March when the pandemic drove us all indoors and away from others, but it did help regain some ground. Congratulations to those of you who made the changes you needed to make to take advantage of opportunities as …

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"Use it up…..


For sales professionals, everywhere

…wear it out, make it do, or do without.”

That is a World War II era saying that described and directed behavior that those living through that time followed until they died.  

When you can’t easily run to the store because you have a craving for mint chocolate chip ice cream and your wear it out.jpgbetter half-finished the last of it yesterday, you do without or choose another way to satisfy your fancy. When you fall in love with those new AG jeans on Nordstrom R…

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