The “Not So New” World
To Thrive Post-Pandemic, Build a Community of Willing Partners
by John Gordon
It seems impossible to engage in any current dialogue that does not turn to some aspect of COVID and the “new world” in which we all live. While there is no denying COVID and the profound impacts it has had on so many lives and businesses, I would like to share some thoughts about the “not so new” world in which we all now live and work.
I began my career in the home improvement industry in 1980, starting in the lumber business. At that time, a new product called “wafer board” had hit the market. Any self-respecting and seasoned carpenter and salesperson knew that no product made from chips of wood could ever be a legitimate and structurally-sound building component.
Well, how wrong we were. If you don’t know how the story ends, “wafer board” evolved—and today OSB (Oriented Strand Board, if lumber jargon is not your strong suit), is a building staple accepted and respected by all. Much has changed in the last 40 years.
I have moved on from selling lumber to managing businesses and launching new markets, new concepts, and new technology. Even our world of real estate investing has undergone significant changes in just 15 years of its 61-year history.
While COVID has been an agent of change for us all, there is one constant that underpins survival and success in both the best and worst of market conditions: strong partnerships. Oh, the irony. In a time when COVID has us isolated and socially distant when in public, the need for strong relationships with supplier partners continues to be key to success.
Strong Partnerships
Building on a foundation of strong partnerships is not just a great sound bite—here is what it looks like in practice. Price and value are table stakes. Value that differentiates is the stuff of strong partnerships. How will my business work to make some element of my customers’ business better? How can we integrate processes and solutions to save time and money? How can we leverage existing capabilities to solve new challenges?
I trust that most of you have built strong connections with your partners. I am fortunate to have genuine partners in our industry and in others. As director of national accounts at The Home Depot, one of my responsibilities is supporting very large single-family property investors with product and service solutions. At any given time, my team works with customers who, in aggregate, touch almost half a million single-family homes and their occupants.
Think of this. Taking care of the residents who occupy our properties and communities took a serious blow when maintenance techs were not able to get into homes for 30 or 60 days. Thanks to strong partnerships with our suppliers, investors/property managers were able to share “how to” content that walked residents through simple but urgent fixes during those months when technicians could not enter homes. This small act of reciprocity lessened our backlog and made it more manageable until homes could be entered again.
Given today’s supply chain and transportation constraints, having a partner with the ability to assemble product in a single place and deliver it as a package when needed is a huge win. We turned many times to our internal business partners to leverage order aggregation and distribution solutions traditionally used in multi-family settings to solve problems for our single-family residence customers and their contractor networks.
Similarly, industry partners whose traditional focus was assembly of products for our retail customers came to our rescue when additional capacity was needed. Now, in addition to assembling product for our stores they made property visits to complete pre-defined and routine activities. This was an existing partnership with a whole new spin. Bottom line: While there have been many new challenges and pressures, strong partnerships—both current and new—have proven to be a reliable element of success.
The type of partnerships you will need to weather hard times will vary. Identifying and embracing technology partners helps to make most all other partnerships exponentially more effective. Personally, I could do without digital meeting platforms. But given the last year, I was forced to embrace the concept during stay-at-home orders.
Using Technology as a Force Multiplier
How can home renovation business entities utilize technology to partner together in a way that is mutually beneficial? It is difficult to build from scratch solutions within the tech world’s breakneck pace of innovation. Thankfully, The Home Depot has found ways to share information with existing systems and platforms that marry the best of both partners.
Today, the RenoWalk app, launched in the investor marketplace over ten years ago is better than ever. It now accommodates the tracking of change orders, provides before and after pictures and tracks project status updates. RenoWalk has forms that allow for loading information directly to digital project management and procurement platforms. It supports investors and property managers with the ever-debated tenant responsibility and deposit tracking details. To make adoption easier, there are open API’s (data feeds) for integration with existing platforms.
Technology is a great enabler and force multiplier. When it is placed in the hands of the innovative and resilient people who run and support daily businesses operations, the outcome is success.
The resiliency of the human spirit is not to be ignored or underestimated, especially in difficult times like the past year. Resilient people tend to be innovators when new solutions are needed—resilient employees are to be treasured. An engaged employee committed to taking care of your customer, despite hardships at home, can make or break your business. Your people need to know you will care for them in these difficult times.
Taking Care of Your Team
What have you done—what are you doing—to take care of your team and to reinforce their trust? How are you improving their lives as your business improves? This will be your most important partnership. Take care of them and they will take care of you and your customers. It is not rocket science, but this simple and obvious truth is sometimes overlooked. When your people know they are taken care of, they will have the time and focus to take care of your investments. Together, you will save time and headaches for everyone—you, your team, and your residents.
It is human nature to avoid change; after all we are creatures of habit. But when challenges threaten your business-as-usual approach, make a point to commit to resilience and innovation because I have learned that when I look for resilience and innovation and when I expect it from partners, they deliver innovations and adaptations that improve our processes immediately and for the future.
Whether you are reflecting on 2020 or looking forward to 2021 and beyond, find opportunities to grow and build strong partnerships and you will be wired for success.
A lot has changed during the pandemic, but some things will never change. We will never get to a point of not needing and relying on each other for survival. So, if you want to thrive post-pandemic and beyond, start building your community of willing partners with varied expertise. Do that, and you will safeguard your business through any environment.
Be well—and happy investing.
