fearWith apologies to FDR, we paraphrased his wartime comments and hijacked it for the cabinet industry. After all, change is not exactly something that’s embraced in our industry.

For a business whose last big innovation was the roll-out tray, things pretty much hold the status quo. After all, if it works, don’t fix it, right?

It Hasn’t Worked For Years

Pre-market drop, status quo was the way to do business. With consumers entering showrooms credit card first, reasons for change were few and far between. If someone is willing to pay good money for products and services that don’t contain an ounce of innovation, then it’s really proof of supply and demand as a market sustainer.

The issue with that thought process is, of course, that all good times come to an end. Eventually the vacation in Vegas ends and reality sets in. We need to be prepared for a life after vacation.

New Concerns, New Challenges

Today’s consumer is savvier than ever. Yet manufacturers continue to market their brand like they did pre-2008. In all honesty folks, consumers don’t give a rat’s behind about your brand.

Your work at being the hip-brand, the design conscious brand or, God forbid, the Gen Y brand has been displaced by the brand that’s easiest to do business with. (I swear if another brand mistakes Gen Y with marketing strategy, I’ll barf.)

You make a highly configurable product that is difficult to compare yet you do little to help consumers understand how and why they should make their choices. Can the consumer easily compare your products across your line? Not likely.

Your dealer suffers in this as well by not just your hand, but your competitors too. And, in the age where no one is being transparent, their sales people end up pushing one brand; the one they understand, or the one they show the most of, or the one that has the rep who brings them donuts. You believe that if you continue to hide your information, you will keep your current book of business. How’s that been working for you?

It’s Time to Change

You can provide your dealer with a tool that will make your brand the easiest with which to do business. Scary, right? Before your competition can even react, you will have grown share from under them.

If you want to revolutionize how your product goes to market, you have to start with your distribution channels. It’s where you lose all control of your brand and it’s where change must start.

Find out how Equilibrium’s Quote to Order system can be the tool that brings your company to success.