By Matthew Spieler
KISSIMMEE, FLA.—While business has been bad on the residential side of the industry, sales in the commercial sector have continued to do well as shown by an enthusiastic crowd at Starnet Commercial Flooring’s Annual Membership Meeting. Despite the good times, the membership, along with the group’s suppliers, put their collective knowledge together for three days to figure out the best ways to keep their profits climbing.

“Starnet is not a rebate group,” stressed Bob Sabosik of M.E. Sabosik Associates in Point Pleasant, N.J., and immediate past chairman of Starnet. “It is a revenue-generating resource where members and vendors act in partnership and reinvest in each other to create successful businesses. Only here can you speak one-on-one with the top-level executives from the best manufacturers in the industry.”

Randy Weis of RD Weis Cos. in Port Chester, N.Y., and Starnet’s newly elected chairman, added, “It’s all about creating and building relationships with each other. And now, more than ever, both sides—contractors and mills— need each other.”

Harry Brownett, vice president of sales and marketing for LG Floors, agreed with both. “We learn from [the membership] as much as we help them. That’s why we call them our sales partners. The Starnet tagline— Commercial Flooring Partnership— says it all in how this group is.”

As a way for the cooperative to stress to its suppliers how committed the group is to building stronger relationships between them, key vendors were invited to sit privately with select board members for 90-minute discussions on how they can work together even better.

“This had nothing to do with rebates,” noted Jeanne Matson, Starnet’s president and CEO. “This was focusing on constructive ways each side can work to become more of a resource and value to the other.”

Shift in strategy

Though Starnet has always focused on its vendors, she said in the last year the group as a whole “shifted” its strategy to create more of a partnership rather than a customer-supplier relationship. One of the ways this is happening is through a commitment to “up our communication with them. We want to increase our talks with each other, especially in each members’ local markets with the local rep.”

In fact, Matson said this commitment is the key driver behind two of Starnet’s main goals for the coming year. “We want to continue to grow our vendor partnerships and increase activity throughout.” The other area is to find ways to measure what each program is doing for the members and then work collectively to refine them so both sides know they are getting the greatest benefit from being involved in Starnet.

She added, though a great deal was learned at the meetings and the pilot project was received so well, the group will be looking into ways to expand the format to include more and more vendors.

Ron Conrad, national sales manager for Tarkett Commercial, says while the company also looks at Starnet as its partner, the fact is “this is a group in which each individual member is well educated in the types of floor coverings needed for the commercial segment as well as the installation of them.”

Beyond having this knowledge, he said Tarkett sells a system rather than individual products, such as its Look Smart program under the Azrock brand. “Starnet members understand how to put these systems together. They have a great understanding of what’s needed.”

Proof of this, Conrad added, can be seen in the type of business from the members. “Not only is it strong and continues to increase, 44% of the orders are with premium products.”

Target audience

Another reason why vendors appreciate Starnet is the members are focused on the areas of business they are promoting their products to. Michael Freedman, president and CEO of FloorFolio, which became a Starnet member last year and was showing for the first time during the trade show portion of the event, acknowledged the intelligence and professionalism of the membership, but added “these are the companies that use our products on a daily basis. They are not only the best-of-the-best, they understand the different segments of the commercial market and what’s needed to be successful in each.”

He added there is a level of comfort in doing business with professionals like those in the group. “I know that when a Starnet member is working with our products they are going to be used for the right application.”

LG’s Brownett added, “Starnet represents one of the best sales channels there is. For us, this is a targeted audience that we service 100%.” He pointed out the meeting’s trade show is something that is very beneficial because “it’s not a free-for-all like it is in other shows. This brings a national community together that is focused on a specific area. I love this type of event.”

Starnet member Al Baer Jr. of Baer’s Rug & Linoleum Co. in West Babylon, N.Y., noted the trade show is also a major benefit to the membership. “It’s a great way to not only see some of the latest products but talk to the top executives about them.”

In Starnet for approximately four years, he said that’s one of the many benefits of being a member. You not only form relationships, but as a smaller contractor Starnet opens doors that I would never have been able to.” The key, Baer added, “is to use [the tools] given to you. Even if you just try using 20% it’s still a huge benefit.”

It is the benefits that Baer speaks about that first attracted Weis to the group back in 1997 when “there was less than 40 members and they had not received any rebates in 24 months. It was the spirit of the people that convinced me this organization was going places. And I can honestly say this is the best organization I have ever belonged to—and I belong to a lot.”

Going to school

There is no argument the membership and suppliers have built strong, solid relationships, but as Matson said, the group is continuously searching for ways to add value to both sides.
One of the new initiatives launched during convention was Starnet University, an online training program that will be introduced in September. “The objective of the university is to strengthen the profitability of our members and preferred vendor partners,” she explained, “by delivering relevant product, installation and business training in a timely, convenient, engaging, economical and easy-to-use manner.”

Matson added this is a way to bring various types of training to the local market and allow these people to learn and even earn CEU credits depending on the course. “It’s a way of making member training more accessible to more people.”

In addition to general member training, she said this is an opportunity for vendors to introduce new products, provide technical expertise and communicate directly with the membership from the comfort of their headquarters. “They’ll be able to reach the right people inside our member firms so they can learn what they need to know, when they need to know it.”

The thought is, by providing up-to-date, thorough in-formation, members will feel that much more comfortable selling a new product from a vendor.

Staying green

As a commercial entity, Starnet was one of the early groups to understand the importance of the green trend, since it was the contract segment that started the movement. In fact, the membership be-came involved with the Carpet America Recovery Effort ( CARE) recognizing it can play an important role in helping to divert carpeting and other flooring materials from landfills.

During one of the many educational member workshops held during the three-day convention, Bob Peoples, a member of the CARE board and former executive director of the organization, praised the work being done by the cooperative. “Last year it is estimated that 290 million pounds of carpet was kept out of landfills, and since CARE started we surpassed one billion pounds—and Starnet has played a big part in it.”

At Starnet’s 10th annual Design Awards competition, Peoples, along with Fred Williamson, Starnet’s vice president of operations, presented the first Starnet/CARE Reclamation Awards to the two members (medium and large) who reclaimed the most carpeting in 2007, thus keeping it out of the country’s landfills.

The winner in the large-sized company category went to Legacy Commercial Flooring in Columbus, Ohio. Legacy was credited with saving more than 1.5 million pounds of carpet from going to the landfill. The medium-sized company winner was Sergenian’s Floor Coverings in Madison, Wis., which reclaimed 463,000 pounds of carpet.