16 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN APRIL 2021 POWER QUESTION learned from this pandemic that in-person meetings and costly corporate gatherings can now be replaced with inexpensive Zoom meetings. With that said, we’re putting more focus toward leisure. And I’m looking forward to increasing our market share by potentially opening up to be a pet-friendly hotel, focusing on more of the leisure travel than the corporate, because I believe that is what will keep us going.” Curt Viehmeyer, GM / Co-owner of Sears Trostel Lumber & Millwork, Fort Collins, Colorado: “One of the things we’ve found is that we have to stay in close contact and involved with our customer and their business, so we can provide them with products that are best suited to what they’re doing and help make them successful. We’ve also changed to a team approach rather than a single salesperson – we’ve learned that customers want multiple point of contacts within our company, so they can get answers and responses and service more quickly than a single conduit for communication. So we’ve really worked hard as a team to give them that, without duplicating efforts. And I believe that’s key for moving forward.” Matt Stevenson, CEO of HSM Group, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand: “In Auckland, especially, there’s been a real drive for people to work at home but talking to a lot of staff, and some new staff that we’ve brought on board, they don’t like it. They like their communication and the break time together to catch up. There is a small percentage that working from home suits them, but I think a lot of people don’t enjoy it. It’s the ‘people contact’ they miss – working solo and Zoom – it’s never the same as face to face. Speaking from a New Zealander perspective, businesses here – we just don’t have certainty after last year and it would be nice to have that. But there are interesting times ahead, and I think flexibility and resiliency are the two key things.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTI5MjAx