Design as a marketing principle

Doing more than just selling flooring product

About half of you provide 
in-house design services, according to our 2011 Reader Survey, which we conducted late last year and discussed in our Nov./Dec. issue. We found this specific finding so interesting — and we think the industry in general should, 
too — that we decided to explore it further. We wanted to find out just how some of you implement design services as part of your offerings to the customer.

To help with the answer, we went back to talk to Ken Straarup, owner of Main Floor Carpets in Medicine Hat, Alta., who, in our October feature on quality, mentioned that he actually has two interior designers as part of his store’s sales staff. According to Straarup, “I don’t know how we could manage without them. They are integral to our approach to the customer.”

In-house design is an approach that has gained traction in the industry at large. Ahmad Negahban  is chief executive officer of Canadian Carpet and Tile in British Columbia. Negahban not only utilizes designers as part of his sales staff, but he considers design to be a philosophy of doing business, and it’s one that he sees more often in Canadian flooring retail.

A competitive tool

According to Negahban, “Some retailers are partnering with designers, while other retailers are hiring them as part of their staff, while others are even having their sales people trained in interior design, too. These days, if you’re not providing design services and solutions to your customers, you’re not being as competitive as you could be.”

One of Straarup’s interior designers/salespeople is Marilyn Dalton. As might be the case with many design people in flooring, the path Dalton took to her current career is a unique one. Her background is in marketing, the skills of which she used at a telephone company for about 18 years. She then managed dental offices for a period of time after that.

However, her family’s frequent moving, due to her husband’s job as  c.e.o. of large companies in the United States, meant she developed a knack for interior design. According to Dalton, “I always bought the homes, purchased them, decorated and helped design them, and I did a lot of that.

“So when it came time for us to retire, we moved to Medicine Hat. I became bored at home, so that’s when I decided to go to school for interior designing and decorating.” Dalton says she received a diploma recognizing her credentials, but not everyone follows the same path: “For example, Jacque Lawrence is the other designer on our sales staff, and she has followed a more traditional design career path before getting into sales.”

Design and sales knowledge

When asked to weight the importance of her backgrounds in both design and sales when it comes to doing her current job, Dalton is quick to state it’s 50/50. She says, “There is no question that my background in marketing and sales has helped me do things like qualify a customer. Lawrence knows how to do that, too. However, for both of us, design knowledge is the added value we bring to the staff, and that Ken acknowledges by having hired us in the first place.”

Indeed, Straarup’s approach to serving the customer very much includes the know-how that his interior designers bring to the table. But it’s more than that. According to Straarup, “Sure, some people come in, want a specific carpet, we give it to them, and that’s it. But others come in asking questions about a flooring product, and it just builds from there. So we not only have the people who can provide some design advice, but our set-up helps the design process, too.”

That set-up involves providing samples to products that the store doesn’t even sell, but that help the customer form a picture of their living space in their minds — along with the help of the store’s design people, of course. Straarup says, “I have paint samples, and I don’t sell paint. I also have countertop samples, and I don’t sell countertops. But we provide these overall design tools to the consumer so that they’re better prepared to design their rooms or homes, and they do it with the products we do in fact sell in our store — most notably flooring, of course.”

Negahban follows a similar approach to addressing the customer’s needs. He says, “We most definitely provide design ideas, not only for the floor, but for the paint colour, the kitchen door — you name it. In fact, we have a certified designer working for us who offers design advice and consulting for both interior and exterior design, and it’s an integral part of our overall philosophy.”

The small and big picture

According to Negahban, that philosophy is multi-layered. On the micro-level, for example, all the designers in his stores also sell. He says, “Design advice is part of the complete process of selling, if not the most important part for us.” However, at the macro-level, Negahban has integrated design into the very fabric of his business. He adds, “We have now been offering design as part of our service for the past five years. It is even part of our marketing plan. Basically, this is how we try to make ourselves different from the competition.”

Straarup says the exact same thing when asked about why he started to use designers in his stores. According to Straarup, “We just wanted to take it that one step further. We wanted to get better. We wanted to try to get an edge over our competition. So I’ve worked hard to get the right people in our store, and I think Dalton and Lawrence most definitely qualify in that regard. Design is now a huge part of our business concept.”

Straarup says he does provide design services as part of his basic offering to the customer. So, both Dalton and Lawrence will go out to the customer’s home, provide an assessment, and offer some solutions. This is at no extra cost, as long as the customer buys from the store. However, on an occasion or two, the customer wants more, and is willing to pay for it. Says Straarup, “In these cases, we’re offering professional design help, the customer is happy to hire us for that, and everyone benefits.”

A team and a family

So how does having designers on a sales staff actually work? In Main Floor Carpets, two of the five sales staff (Staarup still includes himself as part of that staff) are interior designers. For one of them, Dalton, it really comes down to a team effort and philosophy. She says, “For example, if one of the non-designer sales staff needs some design help, they’ll call me over, and I’m more than happy to help. The other designer, Lawrence, is the same way. The other sales staff members help us in return, too.”

Asked if this team approach can complicate the commission formula, Dalton has a very quick reply. She says, “I don’t do that. I mean, you can if you want, but none of us do that. Generally speaking, whoever opens the sale will get that commission, and I’m more than fine with that. For me, this is more than a job. I’m truly doing what I love. This is my family. We really treat each other like family here.”

However, Dalton is also quick to add that it’s not just the interior designers in the store that can provide design help, or that have some flair for design. Dalton says, “For example, we have one gentleman in the store who does strictly insurance and restoration, but he’s actually very good with colours, he knows his stuff — as does Ken [Straarup], whom I’d give a pat on the back for his design knowledge, too.”

After talking to both Straarup and Dalton about their stores, it becomes clear that their approach is about more than selling carpet. According to Dalton, “We really try to educate the customer on what their design needs are, and how we can help to address them.” Straarup agrees. He says, “If we’re not providing the customer with the kind of quality they’re looking for, then we’re in the wrong business. We should be doing something else.”

The bottom line

Yet Straarup doesn’t pretend to play the role of benevolent saint, either. He implements his approach to the customer because it will lead to more sales. Period. Straarup says, “There is a reward for providing a comprehensive approach to the customer. If you first show them the floor they’re looking for, but then have the designers make other suggestions, the process just keeps building. The end-result is a better bottom line.”

In the pursuit of that better bottom line, Straarup stresses the need to get an edge over the competition. According to him, “Look, if a customer is buying a product, and you’re offering them design help, but your competition isn’t, then who do you think that customer will come back to when they need that product, or some other product in the future? Seems like a basic equation with a simple answer, if you ask me.”

In fact, competitiveness was a major theme cited throughout the interviews conducted for this article. Straarup sums up the landscape nicely when he says, “You know, before the recession, you could just stick to selling floors, and maybe get away with it. Now, you have to work hard at it, and providing the customer with as much one-stop shopping as possible is the way to go. It at least seems to be working for us so far.”

In the flooring business, part of that one-stop shopping experience most definitely involves design. In fact, using design as the overriding marketing philosophy appears to be a solution in today’s competitive landscape. In other words, the road to success is not just about selling product, but about providing design solutions to a happy, returning and growing customer base.