April 15/22, 2019: Volume 34, Issue 23 By Jason Spangler Hardwood is one of the oldest and most widely used premium flooring types, and its popularity is increasing. In the United States today, sales of hardwood flooring products are approaching $4 billion yearly. On the downside, however, more than $500 million is spent each year on repairing flooring failures. Since hardwood accounts for about 10% of all flooring installations, that amounts to roughly $50...
Read MoreMarch 4/11, 2019: Volume 34, Issue 20 By Kelly Oechslin In today’s fast-paced business environment, data is increasingly complex and harder to manage. Without integration geared to the way you do business, no amount of staff meetings, afternoon appointments with the CPA or physical inventory counts will tell you the nitty gritty details of exactly what is going on in your business, and certainly not in a timely fashion. Data is arriving from more...
Read MoreFebruary 4/11, 2019: Volume 34, Issue 18 By Lisa Niswonger (Disclaimer: This is not an offer to sell a ProSource Wholesale franchise, but is for informational purposes only. No offer to sell can be made in any state that first requires registration or notice as provided by applicable law until compliance with such applicable law occurs.) ProSource Wholesale redefined the flooring industry 28 years ago with the development of a business model focused entirely...
Read MoreNovember 12/19, 2018: Volume 34, Issue 11 By Lori Kisner The economy is booming, new home starts are strong and consumers are investing in home renovations—all great news for the industry. Why is it, then, that retailers are still feeling the pinch? More importantly, how can they grow their businesses and bottom line? Flooring stores aren’t impervious to the issues that occur in other specialty retail industries. Let’s face it—specialty retail is a competitive...
Read MoreOctober 15/22, 2018: Volume 34, Issue 9 By Jason Goldberg What is more important to your business—lead generation or lead management? The answer: They are both equally important and, when used correctly, they build upon each other. A lead is typically coming to you one of three ways (what I call the lead source): digitally—most commonly through your website forms; walking right into your store; and calling your store. What caused this lead to...
Read MoreMarch 5/12, 2018: Volume 33, Issue 19 By Kurt Wilson With the explosion of mobile devices in the last few years, many new software programs and apps have come on the market that are designed to be used by flooring professionals. That begs the question: Why should you get onboard the mobile train? Answer: Mobility enables your sales, estimating and installation team members to be more productive. For example, sales professionals can use their...
Read MoreJanuary 22/29, 2018: Volume 33, Issue 6 By Matt Beaudreau Many businesses today—including the flooring industry—have as many as five generations working together. That’s a phenomenon unprecedented in the history of the U.S. workforce. This presents both an opportunity and a challenge as businesses look for ways to improve communication and work processes across generational lines. The first thing an owner needs to do is acknowledge there are fundamental differences in the way people...
Read MoreJanuary 8/15, 2018: Volume 33, Issue 15 By Matt Beaudreau The big question on the minds of many businesses today, whether you’re selling laminate flooring or Lamborghinis, is how do we reach this group that everyone is talking about—the millennials? For the purposes of this conversation, we define millennials as follows: those born between 1977 and 1995. The long and short answer is retailers first need to look beyond the “category” of potential buyers—although...
Read MoreNovember 6/13, 2017: Volume 32, Issue 11 By Wes Dillingham I recently learned about a company called Enjoy, a 100% online reseller of consumer electronic products such as Apple TV, GoPro, etc. I know what you are thinking: another Amazon, right? The difference is Enjoy—which currently operates in New York and San Francisco—takes online retailing to the next level. When you buy a product from the company, they have someone deliver it in person,...
Read MoreAugust 28/September 4: Volume 32, Issue 6 By Wes Dillingham (First of two parts) One of the biggest mistakes companies make when buying and implementing software is not approaching it as change first. It’s important to keep in mind that any software you plan to implement at your company is likely to present a major change to the day-to-day routine of your employees. In other words, if you are implementing any type of software...
Read More