Blog Archive

Most likely you at least contemplated a few resolutions this year. Maybe it’s to lose those holiday pounds, quit smoking, hit the gym more, show more patience with your family and friends, learn to play a musical instrument and/or complete a marathon. No matter, I wish you success. While we often get caught up in personal improvement come January 1, this is also an ideal time to evaluate our business and establish goals and then track and measure success through the coming year.

Read this brief article from the New York Times about Yves Behar and his firm Fuseproject and you’ll be inspired to rethink the design of houses and the products that go into them.

Most of us have forgotten how to brainstorm for ideas, if we ever learned the correct way in the first place. The problem solving firm, Jump Associates, shows how it’s done.  They show how to avoid the dreaded “Tennis Practice” style of brainstorm where one self appointed senior person thinks their job is to smash every new idea lobbed at them. The result is that one group of people stops suggesting ideas and another simply suggests ideas they think will be liked but not what they really think will work.  You can learn more about effective brainstorming and why most companies think they are being creative when they are not.  Read more in this new York Times Sunday Magazine Article.

The majority of today’s shoppers first look online and then in store.  Combining these two provides a more powerful and cost effective way to make a sale than expensive and ineffective paid media advertising.  Building material manufacturers who sell to big box retailers like Home depot and Lowes should get on board with this trend. Their current advertising agency or internet agency may not be able to embrace this new method of growing sales.  You can read more about it in this New York Times article.

Many building material manufacturers forget that the best way to sell their product is by selling a project.  This article in the New York Times is an excellent example of how to get more people buying paint and the related items needed for a paint project.  There are several reasons why this example is so great.  First, it’s in the New York Times which gives it credibility and maybe even a little status.  More importantly it is reaching people outside of the store which will drive more traffic at stores like Lowes and Home Depot.  Another reason is that it’s written from the perspcteive of several different experts who are giving you confidence to do the project by telling you how.  They do this without blatantly promoting their brand.  A final very effective touch is that they have an excellent photo of the products with captions so you know what to look for in the store.

The growing use of smart phones and their many apps are now starting to change the game for retailers.  Everyday more and more shoppers are using their phones to comparison shop prices of other outlets while in store.  See something you like at Home Depot? 

The recent home price indexes from S&P/Case-Shiller show that the lowest price housing segment is suffering the greatest decline in pricing.  Builder’s who cut features and quality in an attempt to have lower prices are focusing on the wrong end of the market.