So, here we are with the blockbuster threequel we’ve so eagerly been awaiting - Lockdown 3.🙄
But this lockdown is different – the end is in sight. With the confirmation of yet another vaccine to add to the arsenal, we know that life will be a lot better and a lot closer to the normality we all crave, sooner rather than later.
In the meantime, opportunity awaits.
Perhaps even more than in the last two national lockdowns, the latest restrictions will play further into the hands of home specialists.
Being forced to stay at home during the bleakest months of the year must stimulate further - or at least underline - the desire for improved indoor living spaces.
With a clear light at the end of the tunnel now, people aren’t sitting on their hands refusing to think about the future.
Instead, they’re using their additional free time to research and investigate options, fuelled by their new year's goals. And it’ll be the KBB retailers that join them on the first few steps of their journey most likely to stay the course.
The other big difference with this lockdown is that it’s not unknown.
We’ve had them before, and we’ve all learnt valuable lessons from the previous lockdowns, particularly the first one last spring. Here are three of my biggest takeaways:
1. Most KBB retailers lost a lot of sales momentum in the first lockdown. Panicked, they furloughed too many of their staff, for too long. Meaning they weren’t adequately able to service opportunities in-play before the lockdown, and those that presented themselves during the lockdown.
2. You don’t have to ‘close’. Technology has come on leaps and bounds. As was discovered last year, you can do a considerable amount remotely when it comes to progressing both design and sales. You’re not even virtually open. You’re just …open.
3. Demand will spike once lockdown is lifted. As particularly happened after the first lockdown, there will be a significant surge in sales activity when this lockdown ends. Your challenge is to spread that demand in a manageable way, now and in the months that follow.
To do that, enhance the relationship with your current prospects right now and encourage those buying decisions sooner rather than later. If someone wants a new kitchen fully installed any time before summer, when do they need to make decisions and place orders…? Exactly.
These three facts result in two important takeaways:
The more proactive you are in sales and marketing over the next few weeks, the faster you’ll power out of Lockdown 3 and the rest of 2021.
The more you work now to drag forward the work you are likely to get from March onwards, the more of the demand and more business you’ll be able to accommodate across the rest of the year.
The biggest mistake you could make right now is battening down the hatches and hibernate until all of this is over. (Leave that to your competition.)
This is almost over, but with one final opportunity to put yourself in pole position, this is an opportunity not to be missed.
And with that in mind, we’ll be discussing in more detail how you can maximise the opportunity of Lockdown 3 this coming Friday, 15th January at 11am, with the next edition of The Big KBB Marketing Call.
It’s content, conversation and community for KBB retailers, and their supporters. We hope to see you there!
Click here to register now.
