Every two weeks, FCNews seeks out flooring retailers across the country to offer their advice on hot topics of the day. This week, we asked: How are you compensating when retail traffic slows down?
Here are their responses:
“We implemented what we call huddle meetings that we do twice a week and have found this to be very effective in keeping our salespeople on task with follow up, quotes, measures, etc. We know that timeliness is very important in today’s purchasing process, so we want to get the jobs measured and quoted as soon as possible, and then have reliable follow up.”
—John Taylor, Taylor Carpet One Floor & Home, Fort Myers, Fla.
“We are looking at Main Street and commercial to make up the shortfall from residential. We have moved into epoxy coatings and concrete prep to expand our offerings.”
—Mike Foulk, Foulk’s Flooring America, Meadville, Pa.
“We eliminated a part-time position and increased our digital spend.”
—Elisabeth Stubbs, Enhance Floors & More, Marietta, Ga.
“We have expressed to our RSAs to treat every customer interaction with the utmost importance. Whether it be a phone call, text, email, internet lead, they best realize these inquiries are likely not tire kickers. If we don’t satisfy these customers completely, the customer will go right down the street and find someone who will.”
—Craig Phillips, The Flooring Edge, Akron, Ohio
“While retail traffic is slower, we’re taking this time to do a few pivotal things. First, fine-tuning our retail operations on the fulfillment side for when the recovery does happen. Second, we’re focusing on using the divisional synergies that already exist within our walls to take share. While slightly frustrated with a slow start to 2024, we fully expect the dam walls to break very soon.”
—Casey Dillabaugh, Dillabaugh’s Flooring America, Boise, Idaho
