The craftsmanship of the future needs competence and innovation.

"Only when manufacturers, retailers, and processors work together can the craft meet the increasingly high demands of customers in the future," says master craftsman Thomas Graber. However, as a processor, he feels abandoned by the other partners: The construction industry is booming. Low interest rates are driving an extremely strong demand for housing. Consequently, the construction and finishing industry is doing well, struggling to keep up with the demand. However, skilled personnel are scarce, so even less qualified personnel are being used – sometimes at decent hourly rates, which can already average around 45 euros for a skilled worker in Bavaria, for example. With the high and ever-increasing demands of customers, these requirements can hardly be met anymore. Yet, consultation and service are essential parts of the service provided by a qualified craftsman, including offering customers sensible alternatives or creative solution proposals. However, this often fails for several reasons: some simply cannot do it, while others do not have the means to offer innovative and novel solutions because there are simply no more innovations. I am convinced that a two-tier society will develop in the craft sector in the medium term: those who shop at hardware stores and hire inexpensive, low-skilled workers to carry out simple construction and finishing works. And those who will continue to meet the increased demand for expertise, creativity, and solution-oriented services and construction works with high quality in the future. But it is precisely the latter group that needs support. The Role of Manufacturers The innovative power of manufacturers has declined. Many retreat to "tried and tested" methods to avoid effort and not take risks with new, untested products. As a result, craftsmen find it difficult to offer customers "something special." Manufacturers now only provide components and/or semi-finished products that have multiple applications. This reduces costs and avoids the need to maintain various special products. Those seeking something special either have to wait a long time or pay prices that are difficult to enforce in the market. The consequence: processors resort to standard products, creativity and profitability suffer. This development is part of a vicious circle: innovations are often not yet mature, and the responsibility and risk remain with the processor. It is no wonder that they prefer to rely on what they know works. From my personal experience, in the future, only manufacturers who conceptually involve important processors and opinion leaders in the industry in the development of future special solutions and new products will be innovative and successful. Furthermore, it would make sense to use key processors as an "extended workbench" for their products to ensure quality and safety in custom construction and special solutions for the customer. Retail as a Link Retail plays a special role in this context. It could be the one to pass on innovations and related information to processors. However, due to the comprehensive nature of this task, which has led to the formation of specialized departments in many cases due to the abundance and complexity of the topics, retailers can only partially meet these demands because they lack the necessary staff. Few are capable of imparting "extra knowledge" beyond the information in the catalog. No processor expects their counterpart to be a walking construction dictionary, but in certain areas, more expertise than one possesses is required. From my daily practice, I can say that there is a lot lacking in this regard. Not only in terms of expertise but also in terms of reliability and commitment in the exchange of information. Often, manufacturers leave the retailer hanging. I am convinced that it will soon become clear who in the qualified building materials trade is accepted and valued by processors and who will evolve towards the hardware store trade. Qualified consultation requires the development and promotion of employees, not only in technical areas but especially in social skills. In the end, everything falls on the processor? We as processors are the jack-of-all-trades. We must know everything, be able to do everything, deliver at a reasonable price, in the best quality, and immediately – at least if we want to continue to impress customers in the future. The more it moves towards custom constructions or special products, the more important partners become. Whether it's retail or manufacturers: without reliability and competence, craft businesses cannot develop creative solutions for customers. Therefore, let's come closer together. Only by building a network of reliable and competent partners at all levels can we differentiate ourselves from the standard and step out of the (price) competition. Therefore: Innovation is not a privilege but can only arise through knowledge transfer. This is always required when problems, demands, or needs arise for which there is currently no solution. In this context, I can only appeal to manufacturers and recommend that they involve their premium processors more in their development and innovation power to develop solutions that are also feasible. On the other hand, I wish for openness to constructive criticism in terms of service and support, as well as the objective evaluation and responsible handling of improvement suggestions from the processors. We should also take the trade and its staff along this path – if it wants to continue playing a leading role in the market. If you want to be ahead of your time, you have to think beyond the present. Let's tackle it! Thomas Graber For the speaker profile: http://www.excellente-unternehmer.de/redner/thomas-graber-selbstmanagement.html Recommend via WhatsApp (only possible with a smartphone)