There has been so much talk about the industry’s’ lack of imagination when it comes to styling but that’s not what you will have seen. Instead, you will have been inundated with some of the most innovative styling ideas ever to hit the floors of your stores. Style and fashion are alive and well in the carpet industry.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING FAMILIAR WITH THE NEW PRODUCTS ON THE MARKET

The new patterned looks with tracery styling done by varying the pile heights of the carpet coupled with additional color patterning in the product will take your breath away. But you have to pay attention to what you’re looking at because as beautiful as these products are they will also present more challenges for installation. For this matter you have to be especially attuned to making sure your installers are also aware of the new products you’re going to be selling in your stores. For you to be successful with the new highly styled products you have to open up a very wide line of communication with the guys who are actually going to be working with the carpets and getting them successfully installed.

Not only will you see more styling and patterning, some of which will be very intricate and all of it very different but you’ll also see a lot done with dyeing processes that will also give the carpet a high style appearance. Again, this will present challenges to you in the way of installation and side match shade variations.

The other technological advancement that you’ll need to be aware of is the new carpet backings being employed. Some will have different colorations and looks that no one has seen before. You have to know what the characteristics of these products are to successfully sell them and get them installed.

You can’t just expect to work with these new backings the same way you work with a regular Action Bac product. Each backing comes with its own set of installation procedures that you’re going to need instructions for so make sure you get them and understand them. Ask the manufacturer for help.

Questions you should be asking, especially relative to patterning and particularly relative to coloring are, if the products are available in wider widths so they won’t be so difficult to install. This being the case you can expect to install a living room in one drop instead of slugging in fill pieces to keep the carpet uniform, present an aesthetically pleasing appearance and, most importantly, prevent a complaint. You should be able to sell these types of products for more and the mill should be able to charge you more, since the products look better, take more time to manufacture and require more skill to install. Also, you are going to be creating even more beautiful rooms and homes so you all should reap the rewards of doing so. But the products should be available so that both you, the retailer, and the manufacturer can minimize claims.

To do this you have to let the manufacturer know that if you are all being challenged by a product they can make changes in what they do. How will you know this? If you are being frustrated by a particular problem, say side match or pattern match on a piece of goods that’s 12 feet wide and you know that if it were 13'6" or 15 foot wide you’d eliminate the problem, all of the retailers in the country are having the same problem. You won’t be the only one. So you have to talk to each other through your local floor covering associations, which should be a forum for things like this, or tell your rep, and make him listen, or tell the leaders of the buying group you may belong to, or the mill presidents. When they get a consensus of the dealers having the same kinds of problems, and you should follow up on this, they can then do something about the problem.

If you don’t stick together doing something like this you’re going to feel the pain of not doing it. And, if you make enough noise I can assure you something will get done. If not let me know and we’ll display it here in this column.

KNOWING HOW TO INSTALL THESE PRODUCTS

As for the installation of these products, you have to sit down at one of the weekly meetings you should be having and let everyone know what you bought and what it looks like. Have both the installers and sales people present so there can be a discussion on the new products and then ask for opinions on what they think relative to selling and installing these new beautiful carpets. Certainly, in my opinion, the installation will require more skill, therefore you will be paying more for the services of your people to install them. That’s more than fair since these carpets will require more time, patience and attention to detail to install.

You aren’t just selling cut pile beige anymore folks. You have to realize that if you want to upgrade your lifestyle and that of your customers you have to pay a price to do that. The consumer is more than willing to spend a little more for the quality service; you know it, I know it and they know it.

These are exciting times in the industry. The new carpet products are absolutely stunning and they’ll have that effect on your customers. You have to be as excited about the carpets and what’s going on as your customers will be and then you’ll be able to sell and install these new products successfully and profitably. So you have to remember to pay attention to what your looking at, what you’ve bought and the changes you’ll have to make to your business to accommodate these new carpets. Whoever adapts to this change best will be the most successful.

These are the types of things and the type of thinking you have to employ to completely set you apart from any competition you may think you have. I talk to enough dealers of all types and end users to know that there is a great rift between what the consumer wants in service and what they’re getting. The independent dealer is still in the drivers seat. Your opportunities have just expanded so take advantage of them.