By Gary Keeble JR. Marketing manager, USFloors
As more and more consumers become aware of cork as a flooring choice, retailers need ways to capture that interest and convert that interest into a sale.

One way to capture that interest is to cite interesting, even amazing, facts about cork. If you can then relate the fact to the consumer and her needs, chances are greater that you will convert her interest to a sale.

Cork takes the heat, lands safely on Mars

Since the early 1970s cork has been used by NASA and the aerospace industry as the key component in heat shields due to the inherent flame resistance of this amazing natural material.

Cork is one of the primary components of SLA-561V, which has been used in the heat shields of the Spirit and Opportunity Mars Rovers and will also be used on the Mars Science Laboratory scheduled for launch in the fall of 2011.

We don’t know if there is life on Mars, but there is cork on the Red Planet.

So how do you translate this amazing fact to your customers’ needs? The flame resistance of cork is an obvious benefit to home safety but what about durability? If cork can go to Mars and survive, surely it can perform in your home.

Cork, the healthier floor

Cork is naturally anti-microbial. That’s right, cork is one of nature’s most intelligent plants in that it actually produces its own anti-microbial called suberin to protect itself from parasites that would seek to harm it in the forest.

Even when cork is made into a floor, it retains those anti-microbial properties making it one of, if not, the healthiest natural flooring options available.

This could be quite a valuable piece of information to a family with babies or small children in the home or even an expectant couple converting a room to a nursery.

The best of both worlds

The most amazing thing about a natural cork floor is that it takes the best attributes of a soft surface floor—warmth and comfort— and the best attributes of a hard surface floor—durable, easy to maintain, adds value to the home—to make what could be considered the perfect floor. Not to mention it is made from one of nature’s most sustainable and environmentally friendly materials.

Learn all you can and then some.

By taking the time to learn interesting facts about natural cork, you, the retail sales associate, can draw the consumer into what is probably the flooring industry’s most interesting and compelling story…the story of cork.