At the recently held Surfaces show in Las Vegas, neither Shaw nor Mohawk had a significant presence on the showroom floor. No big news there, as they have not participated for several years. While their collective market share is significant, I came away with the impression of both how large and varied our industry is…
As I return again from Surfaces, I have a renewed optimism that our industry is regaining some lost momentum. While attendance figures are not yet announced, traffic in both the showroom and educational events seemed to me to be significant. One observation stands out in my mind. I feel that the personal appearances shown by…
When I speak to salespeople, I often ask them how ready they are to make a sale right now. I almost always get an answer to the effect of, “I was born ready!” Then I will ask them for a clean business card (not a wrinkled one that has been in their wallet for too…
Many flooring dealers that I visit with state that “advertising just doesn’t seem to work very well for us. We run ads occasionally, but usually don’t see immediate results.” In most cases, the problem that I see is not the message itself, but rather the messenger. They forget that the products that we are offering…
I admit it. I am a serial list maker. At the beginning of each day, I typically find myself making a “to-do-list” of what I both want and need to get accomplished that day. There is nothing unusual about this. My guess is that many of you do the same. What I would like to…
I was recently asked by a young sales professional for some advice regarding her handling the move into management at one of her company’s satellite stores. My advice to her was to remember that her first day on the job would be her most important day on the job. Remember that first impressions count. Whether…
We have again reached the time of year when distractions become more commonplace. If one is not disciplined, it’s easy to spend all day at the workplace, yet accomplish very little. Even though December is not traditionally a booming month for flooring sales, important tasks still remain to be accomplished. In my experience, one of…
Close your eyes, relax, breathe deep – and spend some money. Retailers have long known that less-stressed shoppers are likely to browse longer, but there’s also evidence that they’ll also be more receptive to higher prices. A recent study in the “Journal of Marketing Research” found that relaxed shoppers were willing to pay up to…
We’ve all heard the axiom that “it’s not always what you say… rather it’s how you say it”. I believe this to be absolutely true. The way that you deliver your message has a direct impact on the perceived content of the message. Just today I hung up the phone and commented to an acquaintance…
A successful team is made up of many parts. There are role players, “glue” guys and stars. It’s sometimes easy to recognize the stars and forget the other players. Each individual that works for you should be providing an important and necessary function to the success of your team. True, some of those players possess…
Frequent readers know that I am constantly stating that we learn our best marketing lessons when we look outside our own industry. I was reminded of this again this week when reading of the passing of Allen Bernstein, former CEO of Morton’s Steakhouse. He was the chief architect of their expansion from one Chicago location…
One great benefit of being in the training field is that I come in contact with many successful business owners and managers. Some of their stories are truly remarkable. To reach the levels of both sales volume and longevity that their firms have attained, they have obviously done a great deal of things well in…