Telling Better Stories

Kitchen and bath showrooms need to be able to tell stories that resonate with the people they want to reach, because the story is meaningful to them and makes a difference in their lives. The challenge, according to marketing guru Seth Godin, is to change your worldview. Many of us are still living in the world that says all people want as much stuff as possible for as cheap a price as possible.  The Amazon mantra. That’s why we have Black Friday sales, self-storage units and the belief that offering discounts is the way to convince customers that your showroom is the right one for their kitchen or bath remodel. There is always somebody happy to push you to buy something you don’t need because the object of the game is for you to have more stuff. That’s a world based on scarcity with the belief that most people don’t have enough stuff and are always questioning how do I get more stuff? 

But there’s a different view that is not so obvious. It’s a view not based on scarcity, but rather on abundance. In an abundant economy, it’s not about acquiring more stuff because when we are honest with ourselves most people know that they have enough stuff. What they don’t have is connection and time. They are lonely. Study after study finds loneliness as a pressing and disturbing societal problem that continues to be exasperated by social media. 

Think about your customers. How many of them are lonely?  How many of them have excess free time? Think about your team and yourself? Do you have too much time on your hands? If you want to create a tribe of raving fans in a world of abundance, you need to provide your customers and team members with connection and meaning where they can be at their best. 

What does this look like at a kitchen and bath showroom? It’s not about specialty finishes, wood versus MDF, quartz versus stone and so on. It’s not about how much margin you need to cut in order to make a sale. Those are all nice but will discounts and product mix provide connection or meaning? What will? Start by answering these four questions: 

1. Who are your next customers? 

2. What are the stories they have told themselves before they visit you or your showroom? 

3. How do you encounter your next customers in a way that they trust the story you want to tell them about what you have to offer? 

4. What changes are you trying to make in them, their lives, their story? 

What can you and your team do to change your prospect’s life, provide meaning, or build connection?