Born in Dublin, Ireland, and mother of four, Patricia Flavin is senior vp of marketing for Beaulieu of America and is responsible for the Bliss, Hollytex, Beaulieu Property Management Solutions and FashionSmart carpet brands. She also serves as vice-chairman on the marketing issues committee of the Carpet and Rug Institute. Prior to Beaulieu, she marketed her own highly successful line of health and beauty products, and jewelry and fashion accessories for 17 years on major shop-at-home networks. She was also responsible for establishing markets for Regina cosmetics throughout Europe and Asia.
Believe
me, nothing tests your skill selling to women like pitching a product live on a
home shopping network. I should know-I did it for 17 years. The products I
promoted were my very own line of skincare essentials and botanicals. With
earpiece firmly planted as my link to the director and a monitor in view
off-camera to help me track the responses, there I was talking beauty to an
unseen TV audience.
When
it comes to purchase decisions, flooring dealers would do well to remember two
important words: Women Rule! Overwhelmingly, it is a woman-usually a married
mom-who does the research, visits a few stores, interacts with the sales people
and, ultimately, makes the purchase decision.