Laminate Flooring Journal - Skinny Edition

They’re out there.  You can’t tell them just by lookin’ at ‘em, but when you talk to them, it becomes clear pretty quickly what they’re after.

Say a customer walks in, and she’s looking for flooring for a nursery.  Or it’s a local contractor building a school.  What about that doctor who stopped by to talk about flooring?  The one opening the new office down town.  She’s one of them too.  One of the growing number of consumers that care about indoor air quality.

Don’t panic.  You don’t need to come up with some elaborate scratch-n-sniff demo, at least not for Wilsonart High Pressure Laminate (HPL) Flooring, because the best laminate flooring in the business just got better.

It may not be news to you that Wilsonart Flooring and its BlueFusion^® Adhesive products are GREENGUARD Certified for indoor air quality.  They have been for quite awhile now.

But what is new is that the highly-accredited GREENGUARD Environmental Institute has developed a new designation called the GREENGUARD Children & Schools^SM Certification. It’s even stricter than the first certification because it tests products that go into environments that are heavily populated with rugrats, like day cares.  And guess whose products qualify?  That’s right, Wilsonart HPL Flooring.  Go ahead, visit Sustain.Wilsonart.com for complete details.

It’s just another way that your customers can be sure that Wilsonart Flooring is bona fide.  So whatever they are looking for, FSC-certification, CARB compliance, recycled content, and now GREENGUARD Children & Schools Certification, you can breathe easy knowing Wilsonart Flooring’s got it covered.

Templeton-out

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Howdy, flooring wranglers.  I was holed up in my burrow reading “The Selling Advantage™” newsletter (what? It’s hot in Texas in July), and I came across this here list of ways to get prospects emotionally involved.  See, according to this, “value is the emotional combination of price, quality and service.”  Sell on price alone, and you miss the chance to sell on quality and service.

In fact, scads of surveys done for private business and government show that price is only the sixth most important thing to buyers (!)  Here are 7 strategies used by top salespeople to make price a less important part of the buying decision.

1. Now with Benefits! See, the prospect always wants to know what is in it for her.  She’s not looking for features (Wilsonart Flooring’s High Pressure Laminate (HPL) construction); rather she’s looking for benefits (HPL won’t scratch or dent when your kids chase your dogs through the homestead).
2. Cost/Benefit Ratio: The prospect will make up her mind based on her perceived value in relation to the price.  Salespeople can’t do much about price, but they can show the prospect enough benefits that she’ll buy.
3. Grab your hankie because buying is an emotional experience. A prospect’s strongest emotions usually go back to past experiences, and not the good kind, involving service or quality.  Ask questions about past dissatisfaction, and show how you can do right.
4. Justify your price: The only time that price is the main factor in a buying decision is in the absence of value. Benefits justify price.
5. Talk about it: If your price point is on the higher side, sell it as a benefit.  And justify it before your prospect starts cawing about it. 
6. Stay cool: If the prospect talks about the price of Wilsonart Flooring, don’t panic.  Remember, there are five factors that are more important to the buying decision.  Talking price is a way of filling space while thinking it through.  It’s also a buying signal.  When she talks price, she is asking you for more reasons why she should buy.
7. Salespeople who sell on price alone are vulnerable.  They will always be threatened by higher quality, lower prices or better service.  Think of value as a three legged stool made up of quality, price and service.  Take away two of those legs, and you don’t have much to rest on.

Folks do a lot of work around the house when the weather is nice, so you’ll likely get a chance to practice these strategies soon.  I hope you find them as useful in your nice, cool, air-conditioned store as I did in my burrow.

Templeton- out

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Did y’all happen to catch the “Wood” article that ran in Floor Covering News June 14/21?  It said:

Wood sees a return to the king:  Oak is back.

With all of the state-of-the-art technology available today, hardwood flooring producers can manufacture just about anything they want.  But it seems what many consumers want these days is a return to the basics, and that means oak.

Wilsonart High Pressure Laminate (HPL) Flooring offers many oak designs, including this regal collection.  Plus, HPL floors won’t get all scuffed up if you walk on ‘em with yer boots on.  What?  It’s true.  I’m just sayin’…

Meet Hudson, Princeton, Sterling and Tensley, the Noble family.  This design series is known for its pedigree and grain-matched texture (known in the industry as EIR).  Although the group shares the characteristic cathedral grain of oak, with texture following grain, each individual is unique in its own way.

Hudson and Princeton hail from the Styles collection, and though they share common heritage each is exceptional in its own right.  Hudson Noble is the golden child, warm, bright and inviting.  Princeton Noble is a little darker; its design is deeper and more introspective with its luscious chocolate tones.

Sterling and Tensely are from the Red Label side of the family.  Sterling Noble’s honey-kissed latte coloration accentuates the family tradition of unique personality, adding interest to the oak heritage.  Sterling works well with many darker components.  Tensley Noble evokes the atmosphere of an afternoon winding down.  Known to warm up a room with its presence in glowing tones of goldenrod and aged ginger.

The Noble family shares more than just the ability to please with their ingrained realism.  Each design has color-matched beveled edges, a 5″ x 46.5″ dimension and the ability to grace any space with a sense of elegance.

Templeton- out

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