What do you get when you take two determined women who spent half their lives learning a trade that is, for the most part, male dominated? Add to that a vision of one-day owning their own business and you get Cheryl Acierno and Tina Boyer of Acierno-Boyer & Co., a Denver-based firm spe cializing in working with clients to specify flooring for a variety of projects.

“Tina and I have worked together our entire careers,” says Acierno. “We didn’t plan on getting into the flooring industry, it just happened.” “I was majoring in music with an art minor and Cheryl was going for a journalism major,” explains Boyer. “While still in school we both began working for Colman Kahn, a local flooring retailer, and things just evolved. Colman gave us a lot of opportunities to learn. He was our mentor.”

Under Kahn’s guidance the duo took every opportunity they could to learn the ins and outs of the business. Initially working as secretaries, both became efficient in writing proposals and coordinating jobs. Eventually they branched out to sales and, shortly thereafter, found themselves handling entire jobs from start to finish.

“Colman trained us to know how to make things happen,” says Acierno, “whereas most salespeople know how to sell and that’s it. We knew how to take it from walking the job to estimating and then putting all the proposals together. We would coordinate everything to make sure all the supplies came in and got to the installers. We even did the billing.

“Colman had always run a hands-on kind of business,” she adds. “And, we wanted to continue that in our own company, eventually. With the knowledge we gained we also felt better prepared for hiring people. Most owners have a background in sales but, when it comes time to hire employees other than sales staff they suffer, not knowing what skills to look for. We, on the other hand, were pretty lucky in finding the right people because we knew what it took to do each job. We also found good installers who knew what they were doing.”

Boyer and Acierno noticed other similar companies in the area but knew they could do a better job. “We have a lot more experience in doing this and could do a better job at it,” notes Boyer. “After about a year of talking about it, we decided to take a leap of faith.” Acierno and Boyer’s vision of owning their own business came to fruition in 2000 when they formed Acierno-Boyer & Co.

The two began by working out of a friend’s business while their showroom was being built. “We set up a table at a client’s business who was also a friend of mine,” says Acierno. “It was in their carpet library so we could have access to all the carpet samples and books to create some sembelence of respectability. We had to share a phone but the phone company messed up our business line so we had to use our cell phones. It was like a scene out of “Jerry McGuire.”

“We wrote an order our first day and, from there, experi enced a lot of growth in a short amount of time,” she continued. “I don’t attribute that to anything other than the relationships we built through the years.” “You know it is hard for women to get started in business,” adds Boyer.

“There doesn’t seem to be that many female owned companies here in Denver. We were amazed at how many people wanted to help us because, though we had the trade experience, we didn’t really have the business experience. Once they see that entreprenurial spirit, it’s amazing how many people will wrap their arms around you and really try to help and that was true of our customers as well.”

Early on, Acierno-Boyer & Co. felt it had a little dif ficulty when it came to bidding jobs. “What happens is the jobs go out to bid a lot of times to general contractors who tend to be part of the ole’ boys network,” explains Boyer. “It was a little harder to break into but, I think we have overcome that obstacle.

“And, yes,” she continued, “there are times when you can hear through the phone that the contractor would prefer to work with another man but we are respected in what we do and they have to work with us whether they like it or not.

“There are times when being female works to our advantage because we have a better rapor with the designers. We talk their language and, more importantly, we work with them, turning over each and every rock to find exactly what they want. Whereas some men, and I don’t mean to stereotype or generalize but, a lot of men I’ve worked with in the carpet business will walk into an office, take two or three books out and say these are your choices.”

“We tend to be more patient, especially with designers who want to see everything you have,” interjects Acierno. To date, Acierno-Boyer & Co. has a staff of eight that works in the company’s showroom along with an integrated computer system. The company is also a member of StarNet, a national co-op whose members comprise some of the industry’s largest contractors throughout the country.

“We joined StarNet earlier this year,” explains Acierno. “We saw the value in it, not only for the support it provides us but to be around many of our peers. “Obviously, your not going to call up your competitors and ask how they are running their business but we can call other members who are in the same business as us,” she continues.

“We know how to sell but running the business was a little difficult for us to pick up. So, talking to our peers who are already established and know the pitfalls, they openly take us under their wings. We are able to learn through others’ experiences.” “We found it to be just a great group of people,” adds Boyer.

“Top quality dealers from across the country.” The duo also saw what the advantages of being part of a large group could do for their business. “We can get better discounts even though we’re a small company,” says Boyer. “Because we’re under the StarNet umbrella we get better deals from vendors across the country.” “From where we started, with having absolutely nothing to being pretty well established in this marketplace,” concludes Acierno, “is something with which we are both very proud.”

To learn more about Acierno-Boyer & Co., call 303/839-1448.

By Kathlene Vercellino