Here’s some of the largest problems that exist today that you can actually do something about. So many of the problem in business, any business, is not understanding products, environments, selling or human nature. We’ll look at our industry and help you relate to some of these that can affect your business adversely.

Mis-specification of the carpet. Whether it’s a residential or commercial installation, if the wrong product is specified or sold for an installation site which will not perform up to the expectations of the end user, your going to have a problem. Simply put, the product won’t work where you put it because it’s the wrong color, the wrong yarn system, the wrong construction or the wrong installation method. Something you did caused the product to fail. Something you could have controlled went awry and cost you your profit. As a result the product, whether it be carpet, vinyl, laminate or any other, uglied out, came loose from the floor, curled, cracked, wrinkled, bubbled, lifted, etc. These are things you can prevent if you know your products, the use for them and the environment in which they’re being installed.

Eagerness to make the sale and therefore overselling the product. In your zeal to try and prevent a customer from walking you are willing to tell them the moon is made of green cheese to make the sale. You may as well be playing Russian Roulette with all the guns chambers loaded because you have just created a complaint. Most consumers today are not stupid. In fact, most of them will have obtained more information about the products they want to buy from the Internet than you may have learned in years. Therefore, when they come into your store it should be easier for you to sell them a better product because that’s what they want. If you try to sell them something you have a spiff on or that’s been “on sale” you may create a problem or lose the sale. Their knowledge is a perfect opportunity for you to upgrade the sale.

Not understanding the product. Whatever it is you sell you must understand how it will perform, how it is to be installed and why and how it is to be maintained. You must also be able to intelligently convey this information to the consumer, have your installers trained in the installation of the flooring material and have your sales staff educated in the application and performance aspects of the product. Then you must meet with all of your “team” on a regular basis so that you establish a basis of communication about these products. You should bring in the sales reps to talk about the new products so that you will have in house training and everyone should be at this meeting including the installers. If you don’t work together you’ll never be as successful as you can be and you’ll have more problems, problems that you could have prevented. This may be the most profitable thing you do.

Not understanding human nature when dealing with a complaint. This comes down to plain old good customer service. If you follow the practices outlined previously you shouldn’t have to worry much about complaints. However, we both know that some people will inevitably complain no matter what you do. It may just be that once the product is installed it doesn’t look the way they thought it would and they may want to see if they can push you to replacing it. It may also be that their perception of how the product should perform is different than the reality of how it will actually perform. The key here though is the consumers perception. If they think there’s a problem, there is no matter what. You have to be sensitive to this and be able to address it properly. As I’ve mentioned so many times in this column, don’t let the concern the consumer has fester lest you are willing to suffer their wrath. And, not to dishearten you, but statistics have shown that 50% of the customers who do complain are not satisfied with a company’s efforts to resolve the problem. Don’t be a part of this 50%.

You must respond to a complaint within 48 hours and physically look at it within 5 days. The longer you take the angrier the consumer will become and you have minimized your chances for a satisfactory resolution of the matter.

Now, we all must also remember that sometimes the consumer will try to dupe you. For example if the laminate has scratches all over it that look like someone was ice skating across the surface this would not be considered normal wear and tear. If Mr. Consumer disassembled the engine of his Harley on the living room carpet, this is not normal wear and tear. And if Mr. Terry Tool Time used the new ceramic kitchen floor to nail together some new shelving, this is not normal wear and tear. However, you must be able to determine what happened, that it actually wasn’t normal and be able to explain it. That’s called 98% understanding people and 2% product knowledge. Are we having fun yet?