"Lazy tax" generally applies to the money you lose for not shopping around for better rates from utility providers, banks, telcos, health, house and car insurance. Consumers on average can save up to two thousand dollars per year by saying goodbye to misguided loyalty and switching providers and plans. The same "lazy tax" principle can be applied to your window coverings business. You might be paying suppliers too much because you don't have the time or resources to check invoices properly.

Everyone has one aspect of their job that they just don't like. Most sales consultants love working with clients, picking fabrics and selecting the perfect window coverings solution. Then, they dread doing the actual quote. Curtain quotes, in particular, are very time-consuming. It can be tempting to speed up the process by sending out short quotes with little detail so that your competitors don't get the jump on you. A longer quote with more information might be more successful in clinching the sale. But, if it takes a week to get to the client you can still lose out.

In 1963, Bob Dylan penned his iconic ballad The Times, They Are a-Changin’ that reflected on how the world had irrevocably changed. While the narrative seemed to be about political and social change in the sixties the real message was that you need to be prepared for change because it is coming whether you are ready or not.

Flip the time travel switch to 2018. Now, we are so accustomed to change that we rarely think about it because some new advancement in technology or science is broadcast every other day. We begin to take note when these new developments make a difference in the way we live or work.

Creating a great customer experience has become an important sales and marketing strategy in today's competitive consumer space. The New Science Of Customer Emotions study by the Harvard business review reveals that customers who have a great emotional connection and experience with your business are three times more likely to recommend your service, less likely to shop around and are less price sensitive.

There is a difference, however, between customer experience and traditional customer service. Good service is to schedule a customer consultation in an efficient and friendly manner and deliver the product on time. If the sales consultant creates beautiful window treatments on budget the customer will be happy with the service. Install the job seamlessly on a tight deadline before an important function and the whole customer experience will be exceptional.

Our second DBs nitty-gritty article is focusing on curtain calculating methods and how DBs works with your curtain workroom's price list.

Each curtain workroom has its own method of calculating making prices. The salesperson quoting on curtains needs to be aware of this process to produce an accurate costing. This can get somewhat tricky especially if you use more than one workroom.

EXCERPT FROM WFA MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2018

SOFTWARE SPECIALIST OFFERS FASTER OUTCOMES

Drape and Blind Software has introduced new system improvements to enable faster manufacturing and fabric updates. Belinda Smart spoke with Mira Krulic at Drape and Blind Software.

When it comes to technology, there are two types of people. Those who embrace change and look forward to updating systems and devices.
And, the rest who love being in the comfort zone because they don't want to endure the pain of change.

The comfort zone may feel safe but in business complacency is lethal. Your competitors will find better and smarter ways to do things.
You will miss opportunities and roadblock growth which is essential to survival.

You visited the customer six months ago and finally, they made the decision to go ahead with your quote. High fives all around! But, it was a large quote for curtains with different fabrics in each room, blinds and tracks. You remember that one of the fabrics had low stock and the blind supplier had a price increase recently. Before you put the job into production you should check everything. This means ringing suppliers to confirm availability and price and re-doing the quote manually if things have changed.