Building trust and likability are the two key elements on becoming a trusted sales advisor.

Throughout my flooring career as a retail sales advisor, store manager, mill rep, product knowledge training manual author, layout tool inventor and columnist I’ve always taken a deep interest in selling area rugs.

During my career in floor covering, I've spent about 80% of my time selling to residential remodel buyers. I guess you could say it's what I do best and what I enjoy the most. Even though the average job might only be between $2,000 to $5,000, I still enjoy working with homeowners the most.

There is no hiding the fact the two main areas I train on are customer relation selling skills and product knowledge. Learning and understanding these two aspects alone can make you a top sales advisor in our industry.

Throughout my career in retail flooring sales I’ve worked for several companies and each had its own way of presenting product and installation pricing.

Back about 30 years ago, a close friend introduced me to a small group of people at a party. He jokingly told the group an old cliché: “Be careful with Kelly he can sell ice cubes to Eskimos.”

I've always believed you need to see what customers drive up in, because it can often give you clues on which direction to take them. It’s not to see if they drive an expensive or low-end car, because that will make you assume something and often in the wrong direction.

More than 10 years ago I stopped making New Year’s resolutions. The reason being is I finally understood that what we know we should be doing and what we can continually gain permanent control over are two different things.

Back in 1996, my wife Anne and I were trying to move from Southern California to Loveland, Colo., where we currently live. Our first task was to choose a realtor to sell our home. Next we set up appointments with two companies with which to have an initial talk/interview. 

As I retailer myself I, too, have had these calls from customers who say, “My carpet is flattening out.” Well I’m sorry to break the news to you and the fiber companies/mills that make and sell soft yarns: They’re supposed to flatten.