Jill Yard, N.E. Sales and Specifications, Dobkin Tile brought us to look at their show room renovations at 48 Railroad Ave., Albany, New York. It looks very elegant.
Rachel Pistana-Farnum, “Handyman in Heels” design consultant, Ruth Gallagher, Marketing/ Administrator, Hamlin Design Group, Lisbeth Calandrino, Associate Publisher, Fabulous Floors Magazine, Jill Yard, Crystal Marlin, Branch Mgr., Dobkin Tile showroom.
#Dobkintile #Fabulousfloorsmagazine #HamlinDesigngroup
Jabro Carpet One
Buying flooring should be a fun experience; unfortunately, it is often exasperating because of the sheer number of choices and price points. Flooring is an integral part of the house puzzle, and can provide an interesting backdrop for the rest of your design project.
Since flooring takes so much abuse, it’s smart to make a wise and thoughtful investment. Paint is rather inexpensive, can liven up your house and easily changed. Installing flooring, on the other hand, should be considered as adding value to the resale of your home. The flooring doesn’t have to be expensive; it just has to be tasteful and of good quality.
As you go shopping, consider that flooring can make a huge impact on the look of your house and your attitude. New floors can provide comfort as well as cleanliness. If you have young children and pets, this is an especially important consideration.
Before you go shopping, here are six tips that will help you make a good decision:
1.Determine your priorities. Decide which floors you want to change and what is important. How much time do you spend in each room? Do you have pets or children, or both? Do you spend time on the floor? Are you thinking of selling your house, and if so, how much maintenance are you willing to do? These days, we all have busy schedules, and spending time housecleaning may not be our first thought.
2. Err on the side of maintenance and performance. Most flooring will last forever, but many types-like carpeting, for example—will not look good forever. Many make the mistake of choosing flooring based solely on how long it will last rather than how it will hold up. Carpet is easily stained and difficult to keep sanitary, although there are new products out there then make cleanliness easy. If you want to be more ‘artsy’, you can add an area rug or two.
3. Go online to check for flooring retailers in your area. Once you’ve found a few retailers, check out their reputation through Yelp, Angie’s List, City Search and social media. What are their customers saying about them Ask? around, see where your friends have been shopping for flooring.
4.Check with flooring retailers to see what type of software they use. Specialized software called 2020 designs is used for kitchens and baths and shows how flooring will look in different rooms. Is the retailer able to bring up his or her website or provide room scenes to show the quality of his work?
Use Pinterest to generate some ideas. It’s likely the retailers or their manufacturers will have a page to show their products in room scenes.
5.Don’t put a maximum on your budget. Before you decide how much you can spend, you need to know what qualities you want. Choosing to stay within your budget may be a short-term fix but a long term headache. Choosing a stain-resistant floor that’s easily cleaned is a smart move. Check with the store to see if they have any financing specials that will allow for monthly payments. This way, you can get what you want and need.
6.Consider your floors as a backdrop for your home. There are great hard-surface, easy-care floors that will stay clean with little work. If you need more pizzazz, bring home different paint colors and try them out.
If you can’t afford or don’t want the real thing, the new stone, tile and wood “look alikes” are beautiful and easy to keep clean.
The main thing to remember is to have an open mind when you shop. As in any industry, things continually change. Your flooring expert will be able to offer you plenty of good ideas.
Lisbeth Calandrino is the Associate Publisher of Fabulous Floors Magazine. She consults with flooring retailers and manufacturers conducting customer service, sales and product knowledge seminars. To find out more about Lisbeth, go to her web site, http://www.lisbethcalandrino.com
#lisbethcalandrino #buyingflooring #twentytwentysoftware #redhotcustomerservice #lisbethcalandrino
Going green is not new; hopefully we can all do our part.
Farm-to-table helps build strong communities.
Deciding to take a green path is a very personal thing. My mom in the 1950’s threw out all the hair spray cans because she said it was destroying the ozone layer! No one even knew what the ozone layer was! I remember we looked it up in my encyclopedia, no Google, and found it to be fascinating but this was way before global warming was on the horizon.
The decision to make an environmental responsible purchase is not always easy. Over the past few years, flooring manufacturers have been early to catch on to the concept of green. Years ago, green products were responsible but may have been design challenged and difficult to find.
There are simple things you can do to improve your life and help save the planet.
Plant a tree. As simple as this sounds, trees produce oxygen, which cleans…
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Farm-to-table helps build strong communities.
Deciding to take a green path is a very personal thing. My mom in the 1950’s threw out all the hair spray cans because she said it was destroying the ozone layer! No one even knew what the ozone layer was! I remember we looked it up in my encyclopedia, no Google, and found it to be fascinating but this was way before global warming was on the horizon.
The decision to make an environmental responsible purchase is not always easy. Over the past few years, flooring manufacturers have been early to catch on to the concept of green. Years ago, green products were responsible but may have been design challenged and difficult to find.
There are simple things you can do to improve your life and help save the planet.
Plant a tree. As simple as this sounds, trees produce oxygen, which cleans the air. Trees reduce soil erosion, and conserves water. Earth Day is a wonderful time to give a tiny seedling to a friend to plant. I attended a flooring seminar where everyone was given a seedling to plant. Each person received a seedling indigenous to their area of the country. That was impressive.
When you leave the house, turn the lights and television off. It’s also wise to turn off your printer, computer and cell phone charger if you’re not using them. Electronics often continues to draw electricity when they’re plugged in. One day, my father asked if I worked for the electric company. When I asked what he meant he said I must work for them since I never turned the lights off.To this day, I laugh every time I turn off a light switch. This is an easily learned lesson in conservation. An average of 8% of the total energy consumed by the household goes into plugged in devices.
Know where your food is being grown. My grandfather was a farmer; in his day, being a farmer and growing your own food meant you were poor. Today it means you’re smart. Farm-to-table is the buzz word.
Clean your house with chemical-free cleaners. Everyone I know is cleaning with white vinegar and adding baking soda to their laundry.
Bring your own bags to the grocery stores. New York state is banning all single-use plastic bags. The counties can also charge a 5 cent fee on paper bags. There are definitely too many plastic bags floating around the rivers and oceans.
Recycle your electronics and your clothes. I love when I bring my printer cartridges to Staples and get credit for them. It’s like taking recyclable bottles back to the grocery store. Everyone I know is shopping at thrift stores; it’s in to be conservative even with your clothes. Don’t you hate throwing out a perfectly good piece of clothing that you don’t want to wear or doesn’t fit?
The last one in my wheel house is changing your light bulbs.Wow, light bulbs have come a long way. I went to replace a 60-Watt bulb, yes, I still have some of them, and I had to take a course in light bulbs. There are so many choices, and we’re used to identifying them by their wattage not the brightness of the bulb. Wattage is the measure of electricity, but now we’re talking about how much light a bulb generates. This is called lumens. CFL’s or compact fluorescent lights have come a long way. They use about 75% less energy than the incandescent, (the ones we measure by watts) and have an estimated life of nine years. The LED bulbs use 80% less energy and last about 20 years.
I’m sure as the prices continue to come down, we will all be using the LED bulbs. I’m just happy to find one that fits!
#farmtotable #goinggreen #fabulousfloorsmagazine,#margolocust, #karengeorge, #lisbethcalandrino, #ledbulbs, #cflbulbs
TISE 2019 is upon us and with it brings exciting opportunities…for retailers, manufacturers, realtors, and consumers! As I sit back and reflect, I am truly inspired by the paths that have brought us here, excited about the journey ahead and enthused by the roads we have traveled along the way.
Drawing from my personal experience as a flooring retailer and integrating that with my knowledge of consumer needs and wants, made a partnership with Realtors an exceptionally easy choice to make. Fabulous Floors Magazine is now providing classes for Realtors to become Fabulous Floors Certified™.
Let’s face it; Realtors have to play an advisory role some point during the Realtor – Home buyer relationship. The consumer perceives their agents as having the answers about the properties they see. However, this is often with little knowledge of current flooring trends and product information.
In the same vein, consumers need the retailers to purchase the flooring from so all of you retailers out there, partnering with Realtors in your neighborhood can help bring the consumer to your doors. And, think about it, if the Realtors are educated in flooring types, they can direct their customers (now they are yours!) in the right direction.
As a publisher, I wanted to do two things: 1) help the Realtor gain knowledge about flooring and 2) give the consumer valuable information about the Realtor –Home buyer relationship.
We did this by offering CEU’s for Realtors in areas of flooring and homes. We have several classes coming up in 2019 on Historic Homes; How flooring affect home sales; Aging in Place and Retrofitting commercial flooring…just to name a few. We started in New York State with great success. For times and dates of classes in NY State and to sign up, go to, https://gcar.com/education. For additional information and details contact Lis Calandrino at lcalandrino@nycap.rr.com.
For the consumer, in our magazine Fabulous Floors we dedicated a section — Finding Your Way Home, to help them in the home buying/selling process. This section includes articles written by Realtors and flooring products that are lifestyle driven. Pick up a copy of Fabulous Floors Magazine at SURFACES in Las Vegas this month and see for yourself!
Margo Locust, Publisher, Fabulous Floors Magazine
#TISE2019 #GCAR #NYstaterealtors #Findingyourwayhome #Lisbethcalandrino#Margolocust
Have you Ever Thought of Growing Your Business By Working Less? If so, join me on my FREE Webinar, November 15th, see times below:
You will learn…
Cost: FREE
Date: Thursday, November 15th
Time: 1:00 PST, 2:00 MST, 3:00 CST, 4:00 EST
Register here: http://marketingmasterywebinar.com/Lisbeth
See you there!
To Your Success,
Lisbeth Calandrino, http:www.lisbethcalandrino.com
#marketingmasterywebinar #lisbethcalandrino #Floorcoveringnews #greatmanagers #growyourbusiness #setting goals #lisbethcalandrinotimesunion #successlimitinghabits
IS YOUR BUSINESS MAKING YOU TEAR YOUR HAIR OUT?
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 2nd 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!
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:
Register now at GCAR.com: $75 for members, $100 for non-members. Benefits to attending the course:
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 7th 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.
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.
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.
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.
#Remodelinganddeckexpo #2018Remodeling/deckexpo #lisbethcalandrino #Beingawomaninamansworld #Thecoachingedge #Leadingsuppliersconference #Nationalassociationofhomebuilders #Remodelingdeck18 #remodeling_deck #remodeling_edu
Fabulous Floors Magazine is happy to have guest blogger Emil Mellow of EM Creative Services. Mellow is extremely talented and understands retail.
For the second year in a row, the vast majority of retailers (86 percent) believe there is a direct correlation between proper execution of merchandising directives and an increase in sales conversion rates. For Retail Winners, the rate is even higher: 94 percent recognize the link between merchandising execution and sales.
Who doesn’t want better sales? Here are some ideas to make the overall customer showroom experience exciting and inviting.
Steps to a Great Showroom.
They say ‘you only have one chance to make a first impression’ and it’s true. Get a third-party to evaluate your store from front to back. People notice your window displays.
I design showrooms everyday but it was impossible to redesign my own studio! I had to have someone with fresh eyes and not emotionally attached.
Does your exterior building have ‘curb appeal’? What about overall appearance? Check your signage, parking lot and planting. According to a FedEx survey, nearly 76% of consumers, (8 in 10) said they had entered a store or business they had never visited before based simply on its signs.
Your entrance way – is it fresh – is your flooring clean and new? Is there a sign greeting your customers? Fresh flowers? For instance, enter a Safeway grocery store in the chain’s upscale Marketplace format, and your eye is drawn to the floral department on the right.
Make your retail store first class – you want to create a special shopping experience and a clean well-lit showroom is a good start.
I would say 80% of showrooms that I evaluate are overcrowded with merchandising displays and samples. I hear the excuses…’I’ve got to keep that one I’ve known them for ages’. That is not a good business reason to have their display. Research now shows that there can be too much choice; when there is, consumers are less likely to buy anything at all, and if they do buy, they are less satisfied with their selection. HBR
If your strategy is to showcase the best products to help your customer, then you need to make the tough strategic decision on what products are the best and only showcase them. Don’t duplicate! It will only confuse your customer. They are there for your expert guidance or they would be shopping in the big box!
Get rid of deadwood (Displays that haven’t performed or are duplicates).
With fewer displays that have your preferred choices you’ll have more room for wider aisles and a better shopping experience.
Finally clean your show room like it’s your formal dining room – get rid of the clutter!
Want better sales? How easy is it for salespeople to find the right products? How many times have you been in a store and the salesperson says, “I know the perfect product for you—it used to be right here!” Every time this happens the salesperson loses status with the customer and appears to be not on top of their game. Cleaning up and organizing your showroom is the critical link to getting things sold.
Proper lighting is a must. Well balanced lighting is critical to see color and texture. Ask your retailers to only use low volt LED daylight balanced fixtures for your displays. A recent study from Lux suggests that in-store lighting can actually help guide customers through your store, and increase the average spend per customer: “Zumtobel claims a fashion retailer in Germany saw its sales go up by around 12% compared to another local store, after it installed a new lighting scheme specially designed to appeal to the personality profile of its target customers.”
Wide aisles and sight lines – the best showrooms have both. Tall displays in the center of your showroom create a visual barrier and a shopping ‘maze’. Take an example from your retail friends in attire. They have low racks in the center and line the walls with the taller displays…they do this for a reason! Women shoppers like to feel comfortable not claustrophobic.
Hire, pay, train and retain friendly engaging sales people.
One successful retailer I interviewed told me he uses a personality test to determine if the store associate is the right type. This is critical because if they are ‘shy’ or don’t like to engage your customer everyone fails.
This is not rocket science. You have to get the right people on your floor to have a good pleasant customer experience and build repeat business.
It helps to have someone with flooring experience but not 100% critical. They can learn about flooring. In fact, the better flooring providers love to give PK (Product Knowledge) session right in your store. Take advantage of this free service.
Conclusion
I get it…it’s a daunting task to re-do a showroom but essential if you want to do more business.
It is also tough to lose business to the ‘bigger and better’ store down the street. So do the right thing…evaluate, plan and change. It’s for your survival and growth. Ask for professional help if you need it! The results will be new and repeat customers, happier sales people and more profits. Now that sounds like a project worth doing!
Emil Mellow is owner of EM Creative Services and has over 20 years of retail merchandising experience from design to implementation. Some of his design experience includes Armstrong Flooring, Karndean Designflooring, Disney Epcot, DuPont, Stainmaster® and Wawa. He can be contacted at emellowcreativeservices@gmail.com or by calling 302.690.2358.
Lisbeth Calandrino is Associate Publisher of Fabulous Floors Magazine. She can be reached at Lcalandrino@nycap.rr.com or 518.495.5380.
#EMCreativeservices #Emilmellow #showroomdesigns #Lisbethcalandrino
Lisbeth Calandrino, Associate Publisher, Fabulous Floors Magazine
Every time I look at the magnitude of our SURFACES show, I feel an enormous pride to be part of the floor covering industry. I’ve learned so much from industry experts, met so many great people and had the privilege of consulting with many others.
I’ve been going to the show for over twenty years. It’s comprised of three world-class trade shows: SURFACES, StonExpo/Marmomac, and TileExpo events, TISE is THE industry marketplace for floor covering, stone, and tile industry professionals – offering four impressive days of the newest products, hands-on demos, inspiring trends, key manufacturers + industry suppliers, along with unmatched education and networking opportunities.
TISE is definitely for the creative types; architects, interior designer and installers as well as business owners. Having been in the industry for over twenty years, I’ve always felt that installers and fabricators were the backbone of our industry. Through the years, have become more respectful of those that have the skills to take our products and turn them into magnificent floors.
One interesting seminar “Art & Technology Collide: Creating Unique Designs with Waterjets” will be highlights both the art and the installation of waterjet. It will be presented by Jim Belilove; WE06 January 31, 12-1PM. There are a number of seminars listed specifically for stone fabricators and/or installers; this is a unique seminar for those interested in specifying water jet projects.
This year I was honored to be on the Advisory Board for TISE with other industry professionals; they came from all areas within the industry and the press. I enjoyed listening to their ideas for seminars and what they felt their constituents cared about. The process of determining what seminars should be offered was done over a two-day period, and at times it was difficult to determine what should ‘go and what should stay.’
Whatever seminars you should choose to attend, you should know the programs were determined with much thought. I enjoyed listening to the participants ideas for seminars and what they felt was important to their constituents. The process of determining what seminars should be offered was done over a two-day period. At times, it was difficult to decide what should ‘go and what should stay.’ Whatever seminars you should choose to attend, you should know the programs were determined with much thought.
TISE is an important event for your potential customers. As you look at products, think about whom at home (interior designers, architects, home owners, installers and builders) would be interested in what you are learning and seeing. Here are some ideas for you.
#TISE2018 #WE10Healthandwellness #Facebooklivestream,#WE06Artandtechnology,#Instagram,#ChristopherGrubb#Mandalaybay #Surfaces#Lisbethcalandrino #customerservice #StonExpo/Marmomac, #Tilexpo #uniquedesignswithwaterjet
Fabulous Floors Magazine 