(Editor’s note: Following is the latest installment of a multi-part series featuring Mohawk Edge retail partners who signed on to become Edge Aligned Stores members. This segment focuses on the benefits that membership provides Harrisburg Wall & Flooring, Harrisburg, Pa.)
Loyal Mohawk retail partners like Pennsylvania-based Harrisburg Wall & Flooring have long enjoyed the many advantages of aligning with Mohawk—everything from early/exclusive access to new product offerings to a host of value-added marketing programs and innovative digital offerings. But the benefits of that partnership increased exponentially for Harrisburg Wall & Flooring when the retailer took the next step by enrolling in the Edge Aligned Stores program.
“My father started the business with the previous Mohawk-aligned program, Color Center, probably about 30 years ago,” recalled Brett Bentz, current president of Harrisburg Wall & Flooring, an Edge Premier Retailer—the highest Edge tier. “We got in slowly by starting with private labeling and some of the other marketing programs Mohawk offered at the time. But as the Color Center program disappeared and was eventually replaced by Edge, I started talking to other Mohawk Color Center dealers who were having success with Edge. Their advice to me was that to make this really work, you have to go all in on the program offerings and benefits. So we transitioned from the Color Center right into the Edge programs, and we went all in—100%.”
Since then, Harrisburg Wall & Flooring never looked back. Now, as a member of the newest Edge program, Edge Aligned Stores, the retailer enjoys numerous benefits. Among them:
Increased visibility
In today’s technology-driven market, the advantage goes to retailers that maintain a bona fide online presence while aggressively promoting popular Mohawk brands on their sites and in store. That’s where Mohawk’s dealer locator comes in. When a consumer researches a Mohawk brand and then clicks on “find a retailer” for a local floor covering dealer that might carry that product, retailers enrolled in the Edge Aligned Stores program get priority placement on the dealer locator.
“People know the Mohawk flooring name, so when someone’s looking for a particular Mohawk product, we want Harrisburg Wall & Flooring to be the first place they go to,” Bentz explained. “We want the consumer to think of us as the Mohawk store. That’s our ultimate goal.”
Co-op funding
As part of the Edge Aligned Stores program, members like Harrisburg Wall & Flooring earn increased co-op funding. For example, the more qualifying products Bentz purchases, the more co-op funding he earns—dollars that can be utilized toward a variety of advertising initiatives. “The co-op money helps retailers access all the marketing tools available to us,” Bentz explained. “The more Mohawk products we promote online and in other outlets like local radio, the more consumers recognize the products when they come into our store—which, in turn, helps our RSAs sell more. Our sales associates also enjoy Mohawk Edge Rewards by selling Mohawk products, which is a big thing for us.”
Edge Experience Academy
There’s also a strong educational component to the Edge Aligned Stores program. Mohawk has developed the Edge Experience Academy, an extensive, six-week virtual workshop program designed to give qualifying RSAs the requisite tools they need to service today’s consumers.
The Edge Experience Academy is built on four key pillars:
- Cohort-style classes: RSAs from across the country grouped into teams for weekly sessions.
- Curriculum delivery: Six, 60-minute virtual workshops wherein participants are provided with a learning guide for use throughout the course.
- Post-program community: Enrollment and completion comes with 12 months of access to Edge Experience Academy platform offering discussion forums and webinars on best practices.
- Leadership involvement: Owners and managers are offered regular leadership workshops for reinforcing RSA learnings and sharing best practices.
The beauty of the Edge Experience Academy, participants say, is whether you’re a novice RSA or a veteran floor covering salesperson, everyone can glean something of value. Take, for example, Harrisburg Wall & Flooring’s Judd Bentz, who has worked in sales full time for the past six years but 14 years prior to that in a part-time capacity. He recently completed the Edge Experience Academy and came away with valuable tools.
“I learned some new techniques to help close more sales and make customers feel more comfortable and confident in the buying process,” he explained. “I also learned how to effectively present finance options to the customer. It’s definitely beneficial for anyone in sales.”
Another aspect of the Edge Experience Academy that Bentz found valuable is the fact that it’s built around community and peer-to-peer conversations—something he said enhances the overall educational experience. The format of the cohort-style classes—which typically entails anywhere between 12-15 RSAs from around the country—is conducive to ongoing learnings and long-term relationships. It’s about building communities among the different cohorts, which, in turn, provides a roadmap for them to stay in contact and involved with each other. “Everything about the program is designed and structured to help the RSA deliver on a specialty retail customer experience,” he said.
Showroom lighting solution
Edge Aligned Stores members can take advantage of merchandising aids to help showcase Mohawk flooring samples in various settings and under different lighting conditions. One tool is the showroom lighting solution, which allows customers to view samples under different “temperature” lighting, i.e., natural, warm and cool. This gives consumers a better idea how the product might look once it’s installed. What’s so appealing about this lamp, according to Bentz, is you can actually put your flooring selection under the light and you can play with different shades to make sure it’s going to work in the homeowner’s space.
“We use the lamp in the showroom to narrow down the options to the clients’ top three choices that they want to see during their in-home consultation,” he explained.
But perhaps the biggest benefit of being an Edge Aligned Stores member, Bentz noted, is the nature of partnership between the retailer and Mohawk. “We’ve learned from years in business that you’re much better off with a true partner like Mohawk,” Bentz said.
