Many of you may not have heard of NeoCon, especially if you concentrate your focus on the residential retail flooring business. You may also not understand or appreciate the significance of this market on your business. NeoCon is the premier commercial furnishings market held in Chicago every year. Relative to our industry, floor covering, it showcases the latest and greatest products from carpet to, increasingly, hard surface materials. The significance to you is the products introduced and shown are, what I consider the cutting edge in styling and technological advances. They are the upper class products many of you don’t see but have a significant impact on your business and on the industry in general.

NeoCon is where style and fashion drive the business. It is a market attended by the design community and up-scale furnishings procurers of corporate America. What you see at the show is the highest style and fashion the industry has to offer. For example, the latest fibers that shimmer with brilliance adding a special design element to a pattern are showcased. And, speaking of pattern, you’ll see more of it at this venue than any other industry market.

Patterns have become a bigger style, design and fashion element of commercial flooring products being sold. Designers love unique and different styles which allow them to customize their clients’ spaces. The flooring industry has obliged by delivering products that, simply put, wow their audience. Every manufacturer has something different and extraordinary to show. The most gorgeous and colorful products you’ll see are displayed here. Every manufacturer competes to offer the best in style and fashion; it’s amazing to see.

These high-styled, well-constructed products influence the merchandise you’ll see in your stores in the future. Why is that? Because as corporate America goes so goes the style and fashion in the residential marketplace and this will influence your customer.

Every one of us is exposed to these products in office buildings, retail department stores and design and fashion magazines creating a want and desire. If you are not aware of this you should be.

In order to grow your business and cater to the consumer’s wants and desires, you have to be aware of what’s going on in the marketplace relevant to your business. Floor covering is an increasingly style and fashion oriented business. People want to impress with their homes and businesses.

I’ll use our business as an example. Almost every visitor comments on how fashionable the place looks. This is certainly intentional, as it should be for any company including yours because it makes a statement about the operation. It sets the tone for what people expect of us as a service business based on the image we project.

Our clients and anyone who visits have to see that we’re professional—they have to feel good and confident about doing business with us; it has to show. This is the way it should be with your business. The products you sell, which are more and more stylish, being influenced by the commercial sector exhibited at NeoCon, have to make your customers feel about their homes the same way I explained.

Since we all seem to spend more time working, people want something to show for their efforts. The products at NeoCon and their influence on the residential side of the business do just that. You should start thinking more about fashion, learning more about it and hiring more for it because your customers are going to be demanding it. They are not going to get this type of stuff from any big box or a retailer who doesn’t adjust his business to the times. Manufacturers are tapped into this trend and it gets bigger and better every year. If you want to stay on the front side of the curve and be more successful you have to be aware of what the commercial side is doing.

Another reason I like NeoCon is, it is a “dress up” market. This is a personal issue. We’ve become too casual, to the extent that we’re sloppy. Because NeoCon caters to the design and architectural community and higher-end users, who know style and fashion, it is the classiest venue in the industry. This is an image and if you want to be a style and fashion operation you have to look the part. You can’t sell at a high price or at the high-end of the market if you, your staff or your store doesn’t fit the profile.

Remember, if you have a question, problem or need information of any kind on flooring products, call us, we can help. We’ve recently gotten bigger and better. If we can’t get you an answer, nobody can.