Las Vegas—Though Floor To Ceiling has been experiencing a steady growth rate in terms of new members and sales volumes of the existing membership in recent years, the buying group is poised to hit even greater heights as was evidenced at its Showcase 2004 convention here at the Rio Hotel & Casino. Proof of how much the group is growing could be seen at the outset of the three-day meeting as the more than 650 people in attendance—including 47 prospects from 15 states—marked the largest turnout at a Floor To Ceiling convention. Plus, this year also was the first time the organization held its winter meeting outside of Minnesota, which is were the corporate office is located and where Floor To Ceiling was born. “We’re serious about our national growth,” said Steve Sindlinger, Floor To Ceiling’s president, “and there is no better place to showcase yourself than Vegas.

Plus, much of our new store growth has been from the West so this was a way to get closer to them while also allowing some of our long-time members a chance to escape the cold of the north Midwest for a few days.” One of the key reasons behind Floor To Ceiling’s success was the theme for this year’s convention: A Winning Combination. “Teamwork is the difference between winning and losing in any highly competitive industry, including flooring,” said Jeff Lorberbaum, president and CEO of Mohawk Industries, during his opening keynote remarks. “Floor To Ceiling, like Mohawk, has made great strides in recent years and it is the same attributes which drive us, including teamwork, innovation and the desire to succeed. “Floor To Ceiling gives you a unique proposition to differentiate yourself,” he added, “so that you can give her the experience she expects as part of her decorating project.”

It was with the consumer in mind that Floor To Ceiling executives spoke to the membership about the buying group’s new programs and services and the importance of acting together as a team in order for everyone—from vendor to store salesperson and from corporate to store owner—to be successful. “The larger we become,” Sindlinger said, “the stronger the Floor To Ceiling brand gets. But, we need you to support it and use it because the brand is only as strong as our weakest link.” He noted how those stores which have embraced the Floor To Ceiling concept—from product selection to training and education—are continuing to grow while those that have not are no longer part of the group. “There have been some common threads and they mostly have to do with choices they didn’t make, including not attending Floor To Ceiling functions such as convention; not partaking in the core merchandising and product programs; not networking among the membership and vendors and recognizing we are all here to help and support each other, and not using the Floor To Ceiling name.”

“It’s all about trust, building a relationship and promises,” said Mike Weckerly, Floor To Ceiling’s brand manager. “Every one at Floor To Ceiling is focused on one goal, to bring value to our members so that they can bring value to their customers. Our name says it all and we are building more meaning into it everyday. “As Floor To Ceiling expands across the country,” he continued, “plus taking into account our mobile society, a customer who shopped in Floor To Ceiling store ‘A’ will expect the same promises in store ‘X.’” Ray Shrader, vice president of marketing for the group, added, “That’s also why it’s important to support our core vendors in all categories. They have worked hard with us to give you things to be successful by setting you apart from your competition. Now it is your job to support these initiatives, especially since they were designed with your best interests. It’s teamwork that makes a winning combination.”

One of the ways Floor To Ceiling is helping members focus more on core suppliers is through its Expressions program, which began last year. The display systems launched in 2003 were not only a “huge success,” but was the first step toward a complete private label program that will eventually cover every product category Floor To Ceiling offers. “Over 50% of our core carpet sales last year came from the two private label displays,” Shrader said, “and over 80% of the members who took them on reached their sales goals which meant the displays did not cost them any money. “We worked out programs with our suppliers to make these no-cost displays,” he told the membership. “These should be your go-to racks on every sale which will make the goals even easier to reach.”

At this year’s show, Floor To Ceiling unveiled the next displays in the theme, Ceramic Expressions, New Expressions and Working Expressions. New Expressions builds on the success of last year’s Soft and Active Expressions carpet displays, while Working Expressions is designed to showcase 59 styles suitable for use not only in residential settings but Main Street commercial applications. While Ceramic Expressions coordinates with the other displays, it is the group’s first private label hard surface display and also its first entry into a lit unit. Shrader said the private label initiative will continue to be rolled out to members. In fact, next year’s displays are already being developed. “We want to create our own identification and move forward to make Expressions synonymous with Floor To Ceiling. That’s why we will carry the label to our other offerings, from kitchen and bath to windows to home decor products.”

To ensure this happens, he said all displays are created to not only be stylish on the show floor but be functional for at least five to seven years. “These were designed to have a good shelf life, because we don’t want to have our members changing our displays every year.” Besides giving members a way to differentiate themselves through the private label Expressions offering, Sindlinger pointed to some of the other things Floor To Ceiling has recently undertaken since last year to help members improve their businesses. “We now can offer ads for all mediums and all regions of the U.S. Now, no matter whether you’re a small or large operation, in a big city or small town, we can help you create effective, attention-getting advertisements for print, radio or TV. “This year,” he continued, “we are offering a financing option that features a private label credit card and has better deals for our members than MasterCard and Visa.”

The program is run through Wells Fargo Financial Retail Services. Recognizing that effective use of technology can help members become more efficient and profitable, Sindlinger noted, “We must improve our use of technology and Floor To Ceiling is ready to help you.” As an example, the company is adding a full-time information technology specialist to assist dealers. Also, to improve the effectiveness in communicating with each other, Floor To Ceiling is planning to convert its corporate mailings to members to electronic only by the third quarter of this year. He also stressed to members to take advantage and optimize the use of the products and categories the Floor To Ceiling program offers. For example, “if you are selling tile, then it makes sense to be in the bath category. We will continue to look at and add new vendors in new product categories so that you can truly be a one-stop shop. And offering multiple product categories is vital to achieve this.”

Shrader said an example of new and different products includes lighting and exterior stone. “Truth is, except for the lumber and the foundation, we can build the entire house. The key is that we are a true interior design showroom —Floor To Ceiling—so whatever works in interior design works for our members.” While a number of new decorative and space saving products were displayed, such as tempered glass bowls and closest storage systems, one of the new floor-related categories represented at this year’s convention was radiant heat as WarmlyYours showed dealers the company’s latest innovations for warming not only tiled floors but carpeted and wood or laminate ones as well. “We’ve had a very good response from the members,” said Georges Selvais, general manager of Warmly-Yours. “To most, radiant heat is something new; it’s been sporadically used at this level. But now that it has the full support of the group, everyone is interested in getting involved. Because the radiant heat category is not mature, it means there are many small players, so it is important to be involved in a professional group like Floor To Ceiling. The members trust that the vendors have been carefully researched and chosen because they can provide them with products and services to help their businesses.”

Mark Kieckhafer, director of marketing for Alloc, agreed with how the buying group has done a good job in seeing trends and giving its members cutting edge products and programs before others get them. “Floor To Ceiling was one of the early groups that latched on to laminates and the members really understand it,” he explained. “The fact they sell high pressure laminate counter tops helped with their understanding and trust level, even though, at the time, it was a new type of application. In fact, we do more business per these members than any other group.” Besides giving members new and innovative products, training is another area that Floor To Ceiling continues to stress to members and this year’s convention was no exception. In addition to a full slate of breakout sessions on topics designed to help make members more profitable, Floor To Ceiling unveiled a 13-week in-store training course designed in conjunction with Warren Tyler, author of FCNews’ “Salesmanship” column.

While addressing the membership, Tyler noted Floor To Ceiling truly understands the value of education and how much it can help increase professionalism and profits. “I’ve never seen such a dramatic example of what sales training can do than at Floor To Ceiling. The majority of the people who consistently attend its training sessions have improved their sales tremendously. “The reason is,” he added, “if you are product oriented, you can’t sell. You need to be people oriented, sell on emotion. Remember, selling is something you do for people, not to them, because rich or poor, she wants a beautiful home.” Sindlinger said the DVD training course is “very in-depth. We’ve been doing intensive training at our corporate headquarters for many years. But we felt if we can create a similar type of course for our members to do in their stores we can get more people trained because it is hard for everyone to take the time to come to Minnesota for training. “We firmly believe the key to being better is not just by offering quality products and services, but through training,” he concluded. “The most important thing is, we need to continue to work together as a team, that’s what creates a winning combination.”