{"id":426,"date":"2012-04-30T21:48:33","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T21:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/urbanfloor.com\/blog\/?p=426"},"modified":"2017-10-20T19:24:33","modified_gmt":"2017-10-20T19:24:33","slug":"technology-and-your-business-are-you-keeping-up-or-falling-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.urbanfloor.com\/blog\/technology-and-your-business-are-you-keeping-up-or-falling-behind","title":{"rendered":"Technology and Your Business- Are you Keeping up or Falling Behind?"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 30, 2012<\/strong>
\nBy Dan Simon, Social Media Marketing Manager<\/strong><\/p>\n

Information…\u00a0 Getting it, sharing it and distributing has changed over the years.\u00a0 I remember as a kid watching ‘The Flintstones.’\u00a0 The daily newspaper was chiseled in stone and you better duck for cover and not get hit in the head.<\/p>\n

Because of technology we’re getting information at an alarmingly fast rate of speed with so many places to get it from that it seems like you’re swimming in an ocean hoping you make it to the right island so you don’t drown.<\/p>\n

Back in the day you tore out a magazine page and brought it in to your hair stylist to show how you wanted to get your hair cut and styled.\u00a0 Remember that embarrassing time when you walked into a record shop and when you wanted to know the name of the artist and song and you had to sing it to the store clerk in front of everyone?\u00a0 For those of you in younger generations… yes that is how we gathered our favorite music… iTunes had not happened yet.<\/p>\n

It’s a new frontier.\u00a0 While you have to be high-touch you also need to be high-tech.\u00a0 The personal touch is often forgotten because it’s very easy to automate technology and make it easier.\u00a0 But no matter how much we become more advanced in tech, people still want to have that human touch.\u00a0 Think about it…\u00a0 do you like calling into your bank on the phone and having to deal with multiple automated menu-after-menu, push this number-push that?<\/p>\n

Here is the point.\u00a0 An old world way of building relationships with customers must collaborate with a new world way of high-tech.\u00a0 Unavoidable and balance is key.<\/p>\n

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www.urbanfloor.com<\/p><\/div>\n

An example of current relevant media and technology that can be used to personalize service with tech without taking the human aspect out. Enter:<\/p>\n

iPad and Pinterest<\/a><\/p>\n

As a dealer imagine this:<\/strong> Customer walks into your showroom.\u00a0 Obviously you ask how you can help them.\u00a0 You show them around to your various selections.\u00a0 You have samples of wood species and brands… But your sales rep also can carry an iPad (or tablet) where they can show a flooring sample with an image of how it might look in an interior designed room.\u00a0 And using Pinterest<\/a> from your account and on a tablet you can feature flooring collections<\/a><\/strong> on-the-fly as they shop, walk and you consult.\u00a0 Sometimes it is a challenge for clients to imagine floors in a home but if you can paint a picture it is easier to see potential.\u00a0 This is an opportunity for personalized service while providing cutting-edge technology to give your customer total client care.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As a homeowner imagine this:<\/strong> You walk into your local dealer with your iPad and your own Pinterest account.\u00a0 Not only are you able to show your consultant exactly what you like from your tablet but you also have the ability to show other design ideas you love so that there is better understanding for what you want.\u00a0 After all “a picture is worth a thousand words,” right?<\/p>\n

Times are changing and how we do business is evolving rapidly.\u00a0\u00a0 Here is a story I heard years ago early in my career but remember to this day.\u00a0 In business no matter how small, medium sized or fortune 500 large… the axe needs<\/strong> to be and must<\/strong> be sharpened to survive now and grow in the future…<\/p>\n

“Rodger, a woodcutter, worked for a company for five years but never got a raise.\u00a0 The company hired Bill and within a year he got a raise.\u00a0 This caused resentment in Rodger and he went to his boss to talk about it.\u00a0 The boss said, “You are still cutting the same number of trees you were cutting five years ago.\u00a0 We are a result-oriented company and would be happy to give you a raise if your productivity goes up.”\u00a0 Rodger went back, started hitting harder and putting in longer hours but he still wasn’t able to cut more trees. <\/em><\/p>\n

He went back to his boss and told him his dilemma.\u00a0 The boss told John to go talk to Bill. ”\u00a0 Maybe there is something Bill knows that you and l don’t.”\u00a0 Rodger asked Bill how he managed to cut more trees.\u00a0 Bill answered, “After every tree I cut, I take a break for two minutes and sharpen my axe.\u00a0 When was the last time you sharpened your axe?”\u00a0 This question hit home like a bullet and Rodger got his answer.”<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 30, 2012 By Dan Simon, Social Media Marketing Manager Information…\u00a0 Getting it, sharing it and distributing has changed over the years.\u00a0 I remember as a kid watching ‘The Flintstones.’\u00a0 The daily newspaper was chiseled in stone and you better […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,30,1],"tags":[140,141,137,19,41,139,138,136,21],"class_list":["post-426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-educational","category-news","category-uncategorized","tag-customer-service","tag-flintsones","tag-growing-business","tag-hardwood-flooring","tag-ipad","tag-pinterest","tag-social-media","tag-technology","tag-urban-floor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanfloor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanfloor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanfloor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanfloor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanfloor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanfloor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2588,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanfloor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions\/2588"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanfloor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanfloor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanfloor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanfloor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}