Should a REALTOR® Understand Flooring Basics?

Flooring is expensive, and if it has to be replaced who can your customer go to? If they ask you what do, what will you tell them? How will you know the latest products and what’s the best for your potential buyer’s situation? Knowing more about flooring can be the difference between making and losing a sale. Would it help your client by sharing your flooring knowledge? The realtors that attended our last flooring training said they were sure it would!

Greater Capital Association of Realtors is excited to offer a 2^nd Flooring Certification course on November 7 and 8, at the Hyatt Place in Malta, New York.  Exit 12 off the Adirondack Northway. Lisbeth Calandrino, Industry Flooring Expert, from Fabulous Floors Magazine will be our featured speaker.  Our last class had rave reviews; we ran out of seating and had to turn people away. Don’t let this happen to you!

 This day and an half course is sponsored exclusively by Mohawk Industries, Inc.  Richard Owen, Sr. Director or Market Development and Training, Residential Flooring at Mohawk Industries will be joining the class as a guest speaker. Mohawk is the world’s largest flooring company, delivering style and performance for residential and commercial spaces around the globe.

“As your customers’ needs have changed, so has Mohawk, offering the finest in on trend and fashionable collections of flooring products to meet all the demands of today’s home buyers. From luxuriously soft carpeting to the best in wood visuals across all hard surface collection, you can truly FLOOR THE IMAGINATION with Mohawk!” – Richard Owen

 

INVITE YOUR CUSTOMERS AND BUILDERS! Do you want a client to attend, what about one of your customer builders, architect or interior designer?  Non-members are welcomed at all GCAR classes and this useful and interesting flooring course will benefit you and your connections.

Today’s home buyer expects more, and that includes their expectations of their REALTOR®.  You don’t want to lose a sale because they thought the flooring was a problem and you didn’t know what to do! Learn about the latest styles, color trends, which products are the best for your customers.  You will find this exciting and a major tool for your realtor kit.

Listen to what REALTORS® said in the April course:

• “Who knew there was so much to learn about flooring?! It was great information and Lisbeth was a dynamic instructor!” – Tracey LaFleur, Howard Hanna
• “Liz is an encyclopedia of information, I recommend this course to any REALTOR looking to enhance their knowledge or flooring materials, it’s a fun and worthwhile class!” –Susan Sommers, Better Homes & Garden Tech Valley
  
• “The information presented has changed my views on many types of flooring and the knowledge will allow me to better serve my clients.” –David Fyfe, Bird Realty
  
• “Lisbeth has an engaging personality and a wealth of knowledge related to flooring. Her course, Fabulous Floors Certified, was valuable and informative professionally and personally!” – Melanie Jakway, CM Fox Real Estate
• Fabulous Floors was a great course~ I will be able to make better decision on choosing floor coverings for my rehab projects!” – Lorraine Gage, United Business Services

Register now at GCAR.com:  $75 for members, $100 for non-members. Benefits to attending the course:

• Receive 9 CE credits for the course
• Receive an extra 7 hours of CE with a requirements course day that covers: Fair Housing, Ethics and 1 hour of Agency that expires at the end of 2020
• Be listed in the International Magazine: Fabulous Floors with your contact information to reach new clients
• Submit your REALTOR® stories to Fabulous Floors Magazine and have your own byline
• Discounts on products from local Retailers

Register early so you don’t get left out. We have moved from GCAR offices because of limited seating—after 38 we had to turn people away. Again our seating is limited to the first 60! Register now by clicking here.

STAY AFTER CLASS FOR FUN AND NETWORKING! Join us after class, November 7^th for a meet and greet with local flooring retailers, consumers and builders.

For more information on the class, call Lisbeth Calandrino @518-495-5380, or write, Lcalandrino@nycap.rr.com.

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Looking for New Customers? How About the Remodeling Show & Deck Expo?

 

I had a therapist friend whose favorite expression was “You can’t get chocolate milk in a turnip field!” It may sound silly but if you’re looking for something specific, you had better know where to find it! Looking for new business should be on the top of everyone’s list, but I know who has any extra time? Like you, I’m ‘time starved’ but this year I’ve been re- introduced to our partners in the building and remodeling industry. This is an industry that directly connects to the flooring business. For many of you, it’s your bread and butter business.

I recently spoke at the Leading Suppliers Conference in Portland, OR. The LSC was established by the National Association of Home Business in 1964. The council is a multifaceted supplier resource for the building industry that represents the business the business interests of its members through advocacy, education and networking. I realized how important this connection was when I realized how many of their members were from the flooring industry! This is what I call an ‘eyes wide open’ connection. Isn’t the building industry directly related to our business?

Seriously looking for new business?  How about ‘partnering up’ with some of your customers? Who is in a position to help you get more business and how can you help them? Are you overlooking potential customers who are also satisfying your customers?

Those of you, who’ve known me over the years and read my column, know my passion is   helping you become more successful. We all need to expand our horizons and explore new opportunities. With that in mind, consider this my personal invitation to the Remodeling show and Deck Expo, https://www.remodelingdeck.com/en/home.html on October 9-11, 2018 at the Baltimore Conference Center, Baltimore, MD.  The show is brought to you by Informa Exhibitions; the same people who bring you the International Surface’s event, TISE. If you’ve attended, TISE, you know Informa Exhibitions knows how to put on a great show.

“The Remodeling Show co-located with DeckExpo brings together residential remodeling and building professionals from all over the country to experience the hottest products, learn the newest building techniques, and build their professional reach through fun networking events. The in-depth education program includes hands-on training and business education through live building clinics, on-floor demonstrations, and conference sessions with industry experts.”

You can tweet about the latest building trends, meet new experts and do some Liveblogging or live streaming with Facebook Live. (If you’re not sure how to do these, give me a call.) This is a tremendous way to connect with your existing social customers and post fresh content to your web site. Click on the link and check out the network events and on-the-floor exhibitions.

“The strong economy and increased demand because of 2017’s natural disasters led Metrostudy, a sister company to REMODELING, to boost its 2018 prediction from the 4.7% rise in activity it forecasted three months ago. Metrostudy now predicts there will be 12.57 million projects launched in 2018 that are worth at least $1,000. That’s up from 11.96 million last year.”

Of course, there will be plenty of flooring manufacturers as well as architects and designers; you’ll feel at home!

These are your customers. What could be more enlightening than a new place with fresh scenery to get your creative juice going? Think of how excited your customers will be when they see you’re networking with their builders and understanding the trends in ‘their ‘worlds.

Of course I want you to join me at my seminars, TU10 – Being a Woman in a Man’s World – Women in Construction Workshop and TU19 – The Coaching Edge: Building a Successful Team. Please recheck the times and schedule for my workshops.

You’ve undoubtedly heard this before, ‘there’s gold in those hallways.’  I hope to see you networking in those halls!

Lisbeth Calandrino is Associate Publisher of Fabulous Floors Magazine, and we will be speaking at the Remodeling and Deck Expo, October 9-11, 2018. She can be reached at http://lisbethcalandrino.com. or Lcalandrino@nycap.rr.com., 518.495.5380.

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