Installations are still considered to be the bane of the industry, the Achilles heel, the weak link in the chain and any other negative connotation you can think of to justify blaming installation and installers for a large percentage of the claims you get. But what are you doing to help relieve yourselves of the pain of installation issues? Let me share this with you; if everything is fine with the flooring material and the installation gets messed up for any reason, physical or psychological, the entire job and sale can be compromised and jeopardized and go down hill from there. The installer must be made to realize and participate in the importance of his position. And the dealer must realize the importance of the installation of the product as a quality service he is responsible for rendering. Until a floor covering product is installed, and we should add properly installed, it has no value, it’s just ballast.
What can you do at a local and national level to better serve the installers you have working for you, whether employees or subcontractors? You can establish relationships with groups such as CFI, FCICA, WFCA, INSTALL and other organizations. You can help form, if they don’t already exist in your area, chapters for installers and if they do exist, you should willingly participate in them. You can sponsor educational programs through distributors or manufacturers, both of whom should be happy to comply. At these events you can provide refreshments, such as pizza and soft drinks and have raffles or give aways, such as tools, movie tickets and lunch coupons.
You should invite installers and have them actively participate and give input into such things as products you sell, their qualities, ease or difficulty of installation, differences, application techniques for varied adhesives, proper trowels to use, how to use new and different tools properly, why to use things per the instructions and have them add tips of their own, how a product works and why it works the way it does, what things are problematic, go over manufacturers installation instructions and requirements, tell them, show them and let them participate. Give them the CRI- 104 and 105 and use these guideline standards for an educational program. Ever done this before? Most of you probably have not. Do you think this could help you, them and your business? If you answered no then you should be in another line of work.
I can assure you that by following the outline shown here your installations will be the best in your area, your installers the most satisfied, conscientious and loyal and if you pay them what they’re really worth you’ll enjoy success you didn’t think possible. You’ll also have the best installers coming to you for work and you can wean out the ones you don’t want. You also need to include your sales staff in all of this because after all, you should be working as a team.
How can you make this work? Develop a Quality Partner Agreement so you can all agree to: Install each job as if it were your own; Provide excellence of service to all your customers; Insure that you can be proud of the quality of every job you do; Constantly work to improve the process, products, skill and quality of all you do; Be a team and work as one; Agree to work in harmony with everyone on the team. This is simple stuff everyone can do just by deciding to do it. You can eliminate your installation issues at virtually no cost by following what you’ve read here. You have my permission to use any part of this for your own benefit, that of the installers your customers and the industry. You can prevent installation problems and you have a load of tips here to help you. There should be no excuses.
Author: Lewis G. Migliore
LGM and Associates – The Floorcovering Experts