My mission in this industry has been to unleash the potential of retailers. Some advice works in normal times. Some is better suited for times of distress. Most will work in any economy. For example, I speak and correspond with many floor covering storeowners who are proud they are personally responsible for the lion’s share of their company’s sales volume. I truly believe and let them know this is admirable, but for the business to reach its full potential, it’s critical for owners to develop programs that will have their salespeople’s skills approaching or even surpassing the level of their owner.

When I lead industry seminars that deal with human interaction-customer service, management or sales-about half of the session is devoted to human skills. This has prompted some casual observers to offer the half-baked opinion that all of my sessions are similar.   

Whether your business does a million dollars or 100 million dollars in annual sales volume, you are likely to be affected by the current economy. Similarly, no matter what level of success you have attained in manufacturing, distribution or retailing, you can’t know it all or even 20% of it. It seems the more you know, the more you realize what you don’t know. Forty-nine years in the industry and it seems I learn more each year than in the previous one.

We are well enough along in this downturn that any advice might be coming a little late. If you're reading this, there’s a good chance you have endured a sharp drop in demand for flooring.  Still, it is worth noting that there are a few important common sense things that should remain high on your list these days. They are worth reviewing. 

Last time we discussed the differences between manufacturers’ advertising and retail advertising. In a nutshell, manufacturers want to create a desire for their products and retailers want consumers to purchase these products in their particular store.

Something I rarely write about is retail advertising. Not that it’s a subject I am unfamiliar with, but there have been other priorities. In addition to this, the subject is controversial simply because there are so many opinions on the subject and more importantly, it is an area where fiber producers, marketing people and manufacturers insert themselves. While these people and their organizations are indispensable to all of us, their agendas are at odds with that of most retailers.

Scarcely a week goes by when some retailer doesn’t ask that question. My sincere belief is that most flooring retailers can benefit greatly from aligning with a retail group. Bottom line is the average group member has significantly higher sales and gross profit than nonaligned stores which proves the efficacy of joining a group. While less than 40% of floor covering retailers in America are aligned with a group, they account for over 70% of the volume. My work as an educator, consultant and organizer of recruitment activities with the major retail groups affords me access to much information about them.

Times are tough and from everything we hear things will get tougher in the months ahead. The building bubble has burst and the fallout is trickling down past the floor covering business to the plumbers, electricians, carpenters and dry-wallers. But let’s keep things in perspective: During the Great Depression unemployment reached 20%. That may be a staggering statistic but it also means that 80% of Americans were still working. Today things are not nearly as bleak.  

Economic slowdowns and the sluggish business conditions they bring also represent opportunity. It’s a chance to reassess what you do and how you do it.  If you’re not as busy as last year, why not use the time to re-evaluate your operation? Think about how you attract new business; how you go about merchandising and marketing.  Do you close up early on the weekends-and thus lose out on what could be the busiest time of the week? You have probably had changes in mind for some time, but as we all know, change sometimes comes hard.

How easy can it get? Leave it to the retail co-op Big Bob’s to come up with something simple that makes an incredible difference in your business. The theme of the retailer’s convention this year was: Be proud of who you are. Be proud of what you do. Be proud of who you work for. The store owners on hand didn’t have to have this explained to them. Some are among the nation’s largest flooring retailers and many posted healthy sales increases for 2007. (One owner was up 45% last year!)