Make A Friend And A Sale

When presenting unique design ideas to your customer, always remember the saying “the whole is worth more than the sum of its parts”. Too often I hear a shortsighted salesperson say something to the effect of, “I don’t make enough commission on a few feet of ceramic listellos to merit the time spent”. Or, “I…

An area that I often find myself offering advice to flooring dealers is suggesting methods of improving communications between the sales personnel and the installers. The dealer that has no cause for concern in this area seems to be in the distinct minority today. Two questions that I ask seem to speak volumes regarding a…

Providing outstanding customer service is the lifeblood of any successful business. Ultimately it doesn’t matter how many promotions that you offer or prices that you discount. Unless you are successful getting the majority of first time buyers to return to your store, your business won’t be profitable for long. Since it costs significantly more to…

Certain executive and administrative employees are exempt from being paid for overtime under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). One of the requirements is that the executive and administrative employee must be paid a minimum fixed salary. Effective December 1, 2016, the minimum salary requirement will be increased from $23,600 to $47,476. As an…

The news from the auto industry in Detroit is better lately. While there are a myriad of factors accounting for this reversal of fortune, I think that there is one resounding lesson that flooring dealers can learn from: duplicity and product sameness are both costly and confusing. Look at the brand reduction that has taken…

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…