'You don't know what you don't know.'

This statement didn't quite sit right at first until I got my head around it, and now it's something I've found to be as true today as it was when I first 'got it'.

Let me explain - we all like to think that we're fairly smart, experienced people and pride ourselves that this strengthens our business or teams. However, I expect that not many of us go through a single day without learning something new which may change our thinking or the way we work in the future. That's the 'You don't know what you don't know'.

Often this is simple learning or discovering something new. Sometimes this discovery is by viewing something from a different perspective or by simply doing it in a different way.

Let's be honest, who really saw the credit crunch coming? Who sold their property, sold their banking shares and moved everything to cash savings across a multitude of banks. Well for the record I didn't!

I suppose it could have been viewed as inevitable, if viewing it from a different perspective.

Now let's consider a different 'you don't know what you don't know', and look at the area of kitchen, bedroom and bathroom installations. That's quality installers, sub contractor relationship (probably), damaged products, legislation, bad press, the price of installations and ultimately consumer satisfaction to name but a few!

To start with an old story about differing perspectives. I once asked a retailer 'do you communicate with your installers regularly?'  The confident reply was 'Yes, I bollock them every week!' This too often sums up a perception of installers within our industry, but actually the challenge is more around how do we as decision makers pro-actively manage and sell an installation service that works on paper and in real life?

Now to my retailer friends I ask a few important questions:

* Where does your area of expertise sit? Is it manufacturing, retailing or installations?

* If you install, what percentage of the total cost is product and what is installed? Can we say it's probably 50/50 for a complete bathroom?

* What percentages of your selling effort are around the product, the showroom, the design? Might that be 90% plus?

The question is, are you giving installations a fighting chance of being successful? Might it therefore be little wonder why consumers question the cost simply because the service was never sold in the first instance?
I ask myself, is it difficult to get the consumer to think "after hearing about your installation service I'm really impressed. Thanks that's put our minds at rest!" Are we impressive with installations or do we really bolt the installation on at some point in sales process?

Maybe it's because I've spent 14 years in installations it seems so easy to sell, but I've also retailed for 12 so I still see it from both perspectives and selling it still makes sense. I learnt this and 'got it' a long time ago. Our industry doesn't need to be unsettled by installations, but perhaps it needs to think a little more openly about embracing it, removing the negatives, capitalising on selling it and making it a pleasure to help their customer 'get it'.

I'm sure each retailer is clear on the features, benefits and the uniqueness of their product proposition, well what about their installation service?

To the many top quality retailers that are as clear about their installation proposition as they are about their product, I applaud you, but you're doing it because it makes good commercial sense and minimises brand damage.... shouldn't we all start to think this way?   

Could you benefit from a new perspective on the virtues of an installation service?

If consumers want it installed (and the majority do), they'll need to be convinced you're as serious as they are around the quality & peace of mind your offering or they could simply look elsewhere? 

In conclusion, I believe installations can be as easy or as hard to sell and deliver dependant on your perspective, but whatever your view it still needs to be sold to be of value!

Why do I think this, well it's because 'you don't know what you don't know!'