Retail education: Natural stones P.K.

HomeColumnsRetail education: Natural stones P.K.

by Kelly Kramer

Do you know what P.K. is? It stands for product knowledge, and it is something we all could use more of. When my first book, “Selling Clean In Retail Flooring,” sold out of the first printing of 2,500 copies, I had to release a second addition with updated and additional information.

So I added a significant amount of product knowledge with five new chapters on carpet, vinyl, tile and stone, hardwood and laminate flooring knowledge. Then another 3,000 books were printed.

Shortly after that printing the economy went south and like every other retail product, volume went down. Fortunately, I don’t make my living selling books or speaking at engagements because times could be a whole lot tougher right now.

But, like everything else in these times, it is time for me to start focusing on other avenues of obtaining income such as selling more books and reminding everyone of the importance of education and how it makes buyers trust you.

My books have always come with a simple, direct money-back guarantee policy:

If you don’t learn enough to increase your income, send it back and I will refund your money, plus I’ll even pay for the shipping.

Guess what? After 3,500- plus books sold, only one set of them has ever come back—and it was with a really cool note that read, “Mr. Kramer, I regret to ask if I can send back your books. They really helped me in my life and in making sales, but I have had to move back home to help my elderly mother. I cannot sell flooring from this location and I really need the money.”

Let me tell you, it was a pleasure to return that money and I asked him to keep the books just because he was so honest. That’s what “Selling Clean” is all about. That note made my day.

So, to further entice you to buy my books I’m giving you a snippet from the chapter on stone and tile that was added after the first edition.

Natural stone, marble and granite: These are products that are mined or collected from the ground. They can be used in rough form like ungauged slate, rough cut and unpolished like sandstone, or cut and polished to a high shine like marble and granite.

All types of natural stones are porous to some degree, and therefore need to be sealed

when being applied in known wet areas. The porosity of natural stones depends on their hardness and the depth layers of the earth.

For example, limestone and sandstone are very porous and come from the higher levels of the earth while granite has very little porosity and normally comes from a more compacted layer. An example of a more compacted, less porous stone would be a diamond. In fact, it takes a diamond saw or bit to cut or drill granite.

Natural flooring products

In an approximate ecological order: dirt, sand, clay, pebble, stone, limestone, shale, traver- tine, quartz, marble and granite.

There are several natural stones missing, but these are the most common ones that are used in flooring today.

That was just a look at a part of a chapter on what I call my “Big Book of Information.”

Call me at 970.622.0077 and order my two book and layout tool package.

This is an exclusive, one-time offer that won’t last long.

Thanks for reading.

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