Only 5 percent of salespeople can sell. The other 95 percent can not. The 95 percent who can’t include those who must wait until a customer “gets comfortable” before approaching. Or, even worse, they mostly ignore the customer until she either approaches the salesperson or walks out. When they do approach a customer it’s with a “May I help you?” or the equally inane, “May I point you in a direction?” More disturbingly, their idea of follow through is to shadow the customer walking from sample to sample before finding out what she wants. If they do speak during this process, it’s with an offer of lower price. Other attempts at conversation may include tidbits of product info, pertinent or not, picked up in the course of their time spent on the floor.

I admit it: In my mission to help create successful retailers and salespeople, I have become somewhat separated from life at the retail level. After all, it’s been 22 years since I sold my flooring stores and starting writing for the trade press and conducting educational sessions for the industry. But recently I have had a chance to get up close and personal with the day-to-day realities of running a flooring store.

Every industry showcases their product at a major show each year-electronics, automotive, kitchen and bath. At these spectacular events new technology is previewed and the most up-to-date information is offered through educational seminars.

About a year ago I wrote an article about gross margins that had been prompted by a retailer who asked me how it is figured. There is a huge difference between your gross margin and what you “mark-up” from the wholesale price to the retail price. In fact, the term “mark-up” is so useless to retailers that merchants in the retail paradise of New York City disregard its meaning and use “mark-up” interchangeably with “gross margin.” They just don’t believe that any retailer would be so naive as to use “mark-up” in its literal sense.

One frustration in my career is trying to motivate floor covering retailers to take proven retail strategies and incorporate them into their methods of operation. Change is difficult for most of us. It takes courage to change, especially since many of our businesses have spanned generations. But there are changes all of us can make that will deliver high returns.

The average retailer in our business doesn't set budgets, plan yearly advertising, forecast sales or even keep a detailed history of business performance. Such basic retail tools as sales patterning and ad books are all but nonexistent.

Hundreds of full service retail floor covering stores provide their managers and employees with an excellent income, health insurance, retirement and other benefits while building substantial equity for their owners. Most successful dealers own their properties and their futures are assured.

A New Orleans retailer was walking me through his store some years ago. We were talking about his retail group when he paused at a rack displaying samples of a rather ordinary looking "footprint free" textured carpet. "Warren," he said, "this is a perfect example of what the group does for retailers." He went on to explain that he'd had trouble getting $17.99 a yard for the carpet and that it was barely among the 20 top-selling products in the store. But that, he hastened to add, was before he signed up with a retail group.

Supposedly our greatest strength as full service flooring retailers is that unlike the "big boxes," we can sell. The boxes, after all, are really marketing machines able to draw thousands of customers through their doors each day. The busiest specialty stores average only about ten customers a day.