Baltimore—Still riding the momentum of its first convention, Flooring America members from across the United States joined with the CarpetMax Canada members as well as those from America’s Carpet Gallery (ACG), to “Catch The Spirit” at this year’s Spring Convention held here April 18 to 20. Under the ownership of CCA Global Partners, the parent of such other buying groups as Carpet One, International Design Guild (IDG) and GCO Carpet Outlet, Flooring America is rebuilding its organizational structure and getting back to the basics.

Since its last convention, Flooring America has added 75 new stores bringing its total to 530 in America and Canada with a combined sales volume of over $1 billion. Guest speaker Terry Bradshaw, hall of fame football player, told the group that, “You’re all in this together. If you work like a team, act like a family you can accomplish anything. That’s the foundation of this country. “You are all here sharing your knowledge, exchanging your ideas,” he continued. “That’s what’s so great about a co-op. There’s no weak link.” “We’re focused on the future and what we can accomplish as a larger, cohesive group,” commented Evan Hackel, president of Flooring America and a member of CCA since 1988. “We made a commitment to be customer focused, to make the customer’s buying process simpler and to have a long term outlook that builds on our strategic initiatives.

The members’ response has been overwhelmingly positive.” Star Light, Star Bright The group is forging a new program called Star Service. Salespeople review installation details making sure the customer understands the process and what to expect. Installers review the work order before installation and afterward vacuum and perform a walk-through with the customer to ensure they met her expectations. Finally, the salesperson will make a follow-up call to check and see how everything went. At the end of each installation, the installer or salesperson will ask the customer to fill out a survey on how the store personnel performed. The surveys are sent to Flooring America’s headquarters in St. Louis where they are tabulated and a monthly report is published for each Star Service participant to see how successful they were in servicing their customers. Scores are then tracked to determine if participants can be certified as Star Service individuals making it easy for consumers to recognize the level of professionalism achieved by the business.

The program promotes the fact that it takes a coordinated effort from the store’s Star Service team to make sure no detail is missed, that no expectation is unmet. Customers are told what to expect on product and service and then personnel work to exceed that expectation. Convention members told FCNews they liked the Star Service program. Some noted it brought morale up and made service better, while others boasted it is a very good selling tool. “It separates the better from the best,” they agreed. Hackel added, “This program is a win-win. Customers are much happier because they get a hassle-free installation. Flooring America is happy because the fewer the installation problems a store has to deal with, the fewer the headaches for management and the greater the number of customers wanting to do business with the store.” He reported that the Star Service program has reduced the number of dissatisfied customers by 90%. “It’s our way of making a real effort to fight the tide by being truly customer-focused.”

Hard Surface Revolution For the first time, Flooring America organized a hard surface core product collection for its members. A wood line made up of 178 SKUs and a ceramic offering of 192 SKUs were presented to the retailers at the convention. While suppliers went out of their way to give the retailers strong programs and exclusive products, executives beseeched members to show their loyalty and support by signing up for as many core initiatives as possible. “We see a real effort from the members to try to grow the hard surface area of their business,” said Joseph Patterson, national buying group specialist/builder representative of Florida Tile.

“The response has been exceptional. We are very happy with the collaboration from the members right up to the top Flooring America executives. We’re glad to part of the team.” Since Flooring America has joined CCA, “We have seen a noticeable difference in the members,” explained Todd Vezina, vice president of sales for Formica. “By bringing them products and programs and getting members’ support, CCA seems to be taking them to a level where they weren’t be fore. We couldn’t be more pleased with the support we get from the members. It’s been outstanding.” Jeff Hoffman, president of MHD Corp. in Sandusky, Ohio, joined the Flooring America team last October. He told FCNews, “The vendors have been very supportive. They have some great specials we plan on taking advantage of while we’re here. “We are located in an elite area and we do get shopped around,” he added. “With the Flooring America programs we can offer our customers the best products which they can only get through us.”

“This has been a great convention for us. The suppliers have been overly responsive to our needs,” said Flooring America owners Mark Cunningham and Greg French of Ardmore, Okla. “What we have done here we could not have accomplished as an individual store,” he continued. “By being a part of a group like this we can do so much more. It’s important for us to be associated with an organization that can put together all these training sessions and programs. We don’t have to worry about figuring it out ourselves, we just come, learn, buy and go home ready to build our businesses even more.”

Cultivating Its Members As with many conventions, Flooring America offered its members a full day of educational sessions which touched on various interests involved in day-to-day business operations. George Graefe owner of My Dad’s Carpet in Douglassville, Pa., said, “The training sessions are very informative and beneficial to us. What we do is split up. My son, Edward, goes to some seminars while I hit others and we collaborate our information once we return home. This way we get the most that we can out of the convention.” “They have put together a new member training program which we are really excited about,” said Cunningham. “We are going to take full advantage of that. Most of what we’ve been presented with will not go unused.” Among the highlights of the Education Day were the classes hosted by FCNews columnist, Warren Tyler. Members were buzzing, “We thought the sessions were great.” As marketing conditions change, manufacturers consolidate and the economy fluctuates, “A retailer’s desire to belong to Flooring America has accelerated,” concluded Hackel. “The pace at which independent retailers are joining is increasing rapidly. They want to be part of our stability and our strength.”