It was reported by Bloomberg this month, The Home Depot is requiring all employees — including senior management executives — to work a full eight-hour shift in a store once per quarter… designed to support and engage with point-of-purchase customer experiences.
“We need to stay connected to the core of our business, so we can truly understand the challenges and opportunities our store associates face every day,” explained the staff memo from CEO Ted Decker.
Through this program, The Home Depot’s non-customer-facing team will learn from an up-close and personal perspective about products, customer service and workflow systems.
It’s not an exercise that is limited to big box retailers.
A large developer in Toronto used a concept called “Gemba Walks” to review its jobsites in a similar manner.
In practice, the experience from one of these “walks” resulted in the developer moving a parking lot to reduce the amount of time employees spent walking to and from their cars every day… ultimately saving 1600 hours of work time.
What wasn’t obvious on the land plan documents, became clear when feet were actually “on the ground”.
Gemba Walks — a concept originating from lean manufacturing — are structured ways to observe and improve processes directly where value is created. Gemba, a Japanese term meaning “the real place,” represents the physical location where work occurs. And as such, a Gemba Walk occurs during the time decision makers go to the place… where those decisions get implemented.
When applied to sales and marketing, a Gemba Walk fosters deeper alignment by enabling teams to engage directly with the realities of customer interactions. And to discover potential unmet needs.
Why Building Product Brands Need Big Shoes to Fill
Sales and marketing teams in the builder products industry often face friction due to a lack of shared understanding or misaligned goals. The Gemba Walk helps bridge this gap by encouraging decision-makers to see operations firsthand.
And gain insight into how sales activities and marketing strategies operate in practice.
Marketing teams endeavor to develop campaigns with clear messaging. But without the context of how sales representatives deliver that messaging — or how customers and prospects respond to it — the full effectiveness of those efforts can be lost.
Likewise, sales teams can struggle to understand the nuances of a marketing … if they aren’t exposed to the broader strategy driving those efforts.
Gemba Walks create a feedback loop between these teams. Marketing professionals observe how sales staff interact with audiences. And how marketing materials get applied in the field. They gain insights into potential gaps — such as inconsistent messaging or misunderstood product features — and can use that information to refine strategies.
Sales teams also benefit by understanding the rationale behind marketing initiatives… leading to more cohesive efforts. Together, creating stronger promises for their brands.
Sales & Marketing Alignment for Building Product Brands
Alignment between sales and marketing holds significant value for a brand. For installed building products brands, demonstrating alignment reassures audiences that all touchpoints — whether they engage with sales, visit a website, or consume marketing content — reflect a cohesive and unified message. A well-executed Gemba Walk ensures that marketing efforts mirror the realities faced by sales teams… which leads to more consistent and authentic brand communication.
Positioning Gemba Walks in a Marketing Plan
For Gemba Walks to deliver their full value, they must be integrated into the broader marketing strategy. Traditionally, marketing plans focus heavily on campaign execution — and budget allocation — but lack components that focus on cross-functional alignment.
In a building product marketing plan, a Gemba Walk can be introduced during various milestones:
- Strategic Planning: Before launching a new product introduction, key stakeholders from both sales and marketing teams should conduct a Gemba Walk… to gather on-the-ground insights. These observations can inform the messaging, tone and positioning.
- Performance Review: During the campaign lifecycle, a Gemba Walk provides a way to assess how strategies are being implemented. And received by customers. This helps with real-time optimization… while improving future efforts.
- Cross-Department Collaboration: The Gemba Walk can act as a regular touchpoint between teams. And for creating opportunities for ongoing collaboration and adjustment based on evolving market dynamics.
By treating the Gemba Walk as an ongoing process — rather than a single event exercise — building product brands can maintain a continuous cycle of alignment and improvement. Leading to more compelling sales and marketing efforts.
Four Best Practices for Incorporating Gemba Walks
To maximize the value of Gemba Walks, building materials marketing plans should follow a structured approach, based on recommended best practices:
- Setting Clear Objectives: Before embarking on a Gemba Walk, Sales & Marketing leadership must define the purpose. Whether the goal is to observe customer interactions — or assess how well marketing materials support sales efforts — clarity in objectives, will best guide observations and outcomes.
- Involving Key Stakeholders: Representatives from both sales and marketing departments must commit and participate in the walks. Even the unicorns who are famous for their ability to sell sand at the beach. This ensures that everyone contributes to the findings. That helps to develop a shared, mutually rewarding understanding of challenges and opportunities.
- Focusing on the Customer: While the primary goal is sales and marketing alignment, the customer’s experience remains central. Observations must consider how actions at every stage impact the end user — whether it’s through sales interactions — or the messaging they encounter.
- Documenting and Acting on Findings: A Gemba Walk is only as valuable as the insights it generates. Teams must document key takeaways. And translate those into actionable steps. Whether it’s adjusting messaging or refining sales techniques… the results of the walk will ultimately lead to innovation.
Kleber & Associates is the only home and building products agency that specializes in sales & marketing alignment. If you’re seeking to supercharge sales and create more effective go-to-market programs in the new year, we’re here to help. Send an email to Steve at sk@kleberandassociates.com to get the conversation started.
