RESULTSWinter 2014

FINALLYGet the Results

You Expect From Your Business

Leading theWay in theNew Year The 3 A’s of

Superior PerformanceAnalyze, Adapt, Advance

A Tale ofTwo Stores

The PRODUCTIVITY QuizWho do your employees think you are?

Plus: The Best Business Tips of 2013

Win

ter

2014

RESULTS Editor-in-Chief Bob Hutter

Contributing Writers Bill Gauthier Bob Bryan Tim Landry

Art Director Jesele Paragone

© 2014, CCA Global Partners, Inc. All rights reserved.

2

HireFor SuccessBecause only the best- quality candidates deserve your time.

We actively recruit, help hire and retain top talent

to drive your business.

Contact Brian Clardy now.

800.450.7595 x2141

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Letter from the Editor

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Getting results—that’s what it’s all about.

We’re not a non-profi t. We don’t give the stuff away. We sell amazing fl ooring solutions to customers who need us.

We make a profi t on the value we provide our customers. And they pay it because we strive to make them happy, to make their fl ooring project easy and effortless.

Bottom line, we get them to fall in love with their new fl oor. And we profi t from their experience.

This edition of Results magazine is focused on helping you get the results you expect from your business.

The Carpet One team is dedicated to helping you drive your business to new heights of effi ciency and profi tability. Several of the team have contributed articles in this edition of Results magazine. We hope the recommendations we make will have a positive impact on your business.

If you need help squeezing better results out of your businesses, don’t hesitate to contact the University team to assist. We are ready to help.

Have a great convention here in Phoenix. We look forward to seeing you at the University booth.

Happy New Year,

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Get the Results You Expectfrom Your BusinessCrafting Customer Experiences that Build LoyaltyBy Bob Hutter

I recently spent a day in Chicago at the corporate offi ce of Ace Hardware. We talked to one of their training professionals about a subject near and dear to my heart—service excellence. I learned a lot. And I remembered a lot.

Have you been into an Ace Hardware recently? I have one in my home town, New London, NH—Clarke’s Ace Hardware. For an avid weekend woodworker, Clarke’s is a regularly scheduled destination on a Saturday morning. I usually see Reed Clarke on the fl oor greeting customers and helping them fi nd what they need.

Of course, Reed’s behavior is not unique in the store. The entire staff is trained to engage a customer, ask questions to determine his/her needs, and provide a solution that gets results. I can personally attest that each employee at Clarke’s engages a customer not just to sell, but instead, with a passion to satisfy. They are friendly, supportive, and knowledgeable. I’ve shopped there rather than the Home Depot down the road since I moved into the community 26 years ago.

And I’m not alone in that loyalty. Clarke’s Ace Hardware has been a profi table New London business for over 40 years.

Case in point—Ace corporate has made service a key strategic differentiator of its business. That focus and the support from Ace executives have propelled Ace into a service leadership position in the industry. So much so that Shep Hyken, renowned customer experience consultant, wrote a book about the service excellence of Ace stores. In his book, Amaze Every Customer, Every Time, Hyken uses Ace as an example of how to develop and support a customer-centered culture.

Hyken covers a wide range of best practices, a few of which are key to our fl ooring business:

1. Start with the top in mind. Set standards for service excellence for your entire team. Put them in writing, review them, ask for additional suggestions that help you raise the bar. Request everyone to commit to executing them with every customer.

2. To be the best place to buy, be the best place to work. Showing a genuine interest in your team’s success and supporting them as they strive to meet and exceed your standards goes a long way to employee satisfaction and loyalty.

3. Up-selling is not sales, it’s service. It may be semantics, but I think it’s more about attitude and belief. If your sales team is focused on providing your customers with the best experience possible, the conversation will not sound like a sales pitch. My local Ace Hardware mastered this—just look at my credit card for verifi cation.

4. Challenge your standards—shop your competition. Just because you establish a set of service standards doesn’t mean they are set in stone. Your job is to lead your market. Get your team out surveying your competition’s actions. Then get them together and revise the standards to secure your leadership role.

5. Measure loyalty, not just satisfaction. Satisfaction surveys are a great tool, but when you combine that with a sales person contacting his or her past customers with recommendations, you build loyalty. Your sales people should be focused on selling the experience and building trust. Purchases are byproducts. You’ll take

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5

that customer out of the market and secure her loyalty to you for future purchases.

When I saw these practices in Hyken’s book, I recalled the program we have right in our own backyard—Installation Excellence. We have a number of members who diligently execute the program and promote their business as the best customer experience in their markets, and their 5-Diamond status—the result of survey scores and staff certifi cations —is proof of their success.

Over the next few months, the University is focusing on revitalizing the Installation Excellence program. We’ll be reviewing program standards, updating the training program and getting member feedback on the survey process and the certifi cation criteria. Look for a rollout of the revised program at our Summer 2014 Convention.

Likewise, this is a good time to review your store’s customer experience standards before the spring and summer selling season. Shop your competition, set goals for improvement, and get your team trained to execute the changes. If

you’d like help with any aspect of this process, don’t hesitate to contact the University—we can provide a custom training or consulting solution to help you reinvigorate your customer experience. And don’t forget to take a look at the Installation Excellence program—it will help you clearly differentiate your business from your competition.

Our goal is to help you thrive in today’s competitive markets. By empowering your team with the knowledge and skills to ensure your business’s success, you too will be the#1 place to shop.

Are you proud of how

employees think of you?

We can help you learn to be

not just a great manager,

but an incredible leader.

Ask Brian Clardy about the Managing Sales Performance Program.

800.450.7595 x2141

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The 3 “A”s of Superior Execution

Analyze, Adapt, AdvanceBy Bob Bryan

Several weeks ago, I was working with a Carpet One member on his business performance improvement plan. His goal for the year was to increase top line revenue by 10%. His plan was to hire a hunter who would drive new business to his existing sales team. I started our conversation by asking the Dr. Phil question: “How’s that working for you?”

“Not so good,” he responded. “After 6 months of trying, I still don’t have a hunter hired. I just can’t seem to attract the right people to interview. As a result, my revenue goals are lagging and I really don’t have enough time to focus on fi guring out what to do next. Honestly, that’s why I called you.”

I wish I had a nickel for every consulting conversation I’ve had that went this way.

Too often, a business leader is inspired with a great idea, puts a seemingly solid plan together and after a series of disappointments, abandons the plan for lack of time and resource.

Now let me be clear—I don’t want to dissuade you from calling the Carpet One Retail Consulting team for help. But I would like to recommend an initial course of action that could help you resurrect your plan and save you a few dollars. When I experience what I like to call “plan reality,” and encounter a number of obstacles to my goal, I use a patterned response I call the Three A’s.

The fi rst A stands for ANALYZE. Something in the plan isn’t working. Take the time to look back at your assumptions and determine where the issue is. For example, with the member above, I asked to look at his job description for a “hunter.” Then I asked him to tell me about what kind of knowledge, skill and experience he was looking for in a “hunter.”

Lo and behold, I discovered a signifi cant

gap between the job description/ ad he was posting, and his verbal description of what he was looking for. In the interview, he focused on the candidate having a book of business, but he didn’t ask about prospecting and networking skills, past experiences, etc. So what he was looking for and what he was asking about were pretty far apart.

I asked the member if he was happy with his written job description for a hunter or did he need to change it. He indicated that the job description was really what he wanted in a hunter for his store. At that point, I recommended the owner execute the second of the three A’s—ADAPT. His plan wasn’t working because he was on the wrong page. He needed to adapt his interview approach to accurately refl ect his written job description. So the member wrote behavioral interview questions that lined up with his job description and refocused his approach on what he really wanted his hunter to do.

The last of the Three A’s is pretty obvious—ADVANCE. My member used his revised interview guide in subsequent interviews and lo and behold again, he landed a great candidate who has driven about $80,000 in new business thus far. Not quite the 10% the member was looking for, but the results are solid.

ANALYZE—ADAPT—ADVANCE.This proven approach applies to any aspect of your business performance. It should become a common best practice and be applied when you struggle to get the results you want. And if you need further help, don’t hesitate to call one of the Retail Consulting team members for assistance.

But I’m pretty confi dent that if you apply the Three A’s, you’ll fi nd that you can drive positive performance to your business consistently.

your sales pros!

Remind.Re-energize.Refresh.

Reset.Revive.Replenish.Restore.

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A Tale of Two StoresWho’s more important: our customers or our employees?By Tim Landry

I was recently shopping for a tablet. You know that computer-like thing I could use to read a book, watch a video, and do some occasional work when traveling. I went into a store with a display of a variety of tablets, each one with its own tag showing a price and specifi cations. What the tags didn’t tell me was what tasks each device was good for. After about 15 minutes, I was fi nally able to track down a salesperson of sorts who was only able to tell me what I already knew from the tags.

This person had no working knowledge of tablets; all he could do was tell me which one most people bought. Needless to say, I walked out empty-handed.

I went into a second store where I was immediately greeted by a young woman with a genuine smile. When I told her I was interested in seeing their tablets, she asked me, “Will it be for your use exclusively, or for others, as well? How will you use it? What’s the most important thing for you in owning one?”

She was a sales professional who answered my questions with great advice.

When I left the second store, I refl ected on my two experiences. I realized I formed an opinion of both stores—one positive, one negative—based solely on my interaction with sales people. This made me wonder: who’s more important in our stores—our customers or our employees?

The more obvious answer may sound simple. Naturally, without customers we would have no business. But without well-trained, high-performing employees, we would have no customers. In fact, in my opinion, if you have a great staff, the customers will come.

Your focus should be on developing such a team. Addressing this vital issue is easy to put off; as business improves,

everyone is busy. Plus, most business owners really don’t know where to start. Answer the following questions to determine if you should make upgrading your staff a priority:

1. Does the number/quality of my staff refl ect the kind and amount of business I want to do?

2. Do I make good hiring decisions through a hiring process in which I’m truly confi dent?

3. Am I getting the most out of my new hires?

4. Do I work hard to keep my good people, and deal with non-performers quickly? Do I correct issues effectively and take steps to build loyalty with my good people?

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, then you lose customers and money. The more “no” answers you have, the more money you’re losing. Likewise, the longer you wait to improve your staffi ng situation, the more diffi cult it will become to change. Hiring more people without a focus on retention is a huge mistake.

Consider this:

1. The number and quality of your staff refl ects the kind and amount of business you do. You must develop standards that clearly describe the kind of experience you want each customer to enjoy. Hold your team accountable.

2. Use a job description as a basis for determining the kind of candidate you want to hire. Develop behavioral interviewing questions that uncover how a candidate has acted in the past, relative to the responsibilities you require of him or her. Make sure you also check references; too often, after a good interview, an owner will skip this step.

Customers arefamily.

Make sure yourinstallers aretrained and

equipped withthe kinds of

tools you woulduse to takecare of your

own.

Contact Brian Clardy at800.450.7595 x2141

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3. Get the most out of your new hires as quickly as possible by providing them with a structured on-boarding process, including a targeted training plan for new hires.

4. Invest in your team’s knowledge by providing consistent training opportunities and coaching. Delegate new responsibilities to your best performers, allowing them to demonstrate exceptional performance.

Coach non-performers and discipline them when warranted. The University offers a number of pre-recorded webinars, including one on Performance Management. In addition, our Retail Consulting staff can actually assess your internal Human Resources processes, and provide advice and potential solutions.

In this tale of two stores, which store do you want to be? If you spend your time and effort developing a high performing team that focuses on exceeding customer expectations, your customers will buy—and buy again—and tell their friends to come buy as well.

If you believe you need help to raise the bar for your team, call on the University’s Retail Consulting team.

Contact Brian Clardy, bclardy@ccaglobal.com, for details.

Are you SURE your installers

are TRAINED

to use the besttools?

Let’s fi x that.

Superior seams.The preferred method.

Training from family you trust.

Call Brian Clardy at 800.450.7595 x2141

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The Best BusinessAdvice of 2013CONNECT Conversations You Can’t Afford to IgnoreBy Jesele Paragone

“Make sure your

customer is contacted

a minimum of fi ve

times. Most customers

don’t trust you until

after at least fi ve

points of contact.”

The GE Financing we have is of utmost importance to our closing of business! It’s an advantage in the whole scheme of purchasing when it comes to a client, because it offers a much better interest rate than a typical credit card. The amazing thing is that our average ticket has nearly tripled because of the GE Finance offers. Our average ticket is $1800.19, but the GE Financed projects have an average ticket of $4,515.75.

I suggest your sales staff push the GE Financing then go to the online system and pull up your “open to buy” account. Send letters to those people about upcoming sales. Your average ticket WILL increase!

- Cathy Buchanan

Hold a private sale and send personal invitations to people on the Open to Buy list and people in the “dead fi les.” The real eye opener was how many old quotes we had in the system in the fi rst place.

Implement a system to follow up on quotes quickly.

Ours involves a manager calling the customer to ask how things were going with their sales person, and seeing what else we can do to help them. This helps us fi nd out how the sales professional is interacting with the customer, herein helping us hold the salesperson accountable; it also gives the customer an opportunity to voice the “real” objection to buying. The system validates the customer’s feelings and, if they did buy somewhere else, helps us understand why.

- Charles Taulbee

Immediately after Summer Convention in Denver, I contacted my printing company and ordered 500 lawn signs. I placed them at customers’ homes upon completing the job, as well as in other suitable areas. I received a phone call from one lady asking for a basement renovation—a $20,000 job. You could say I made $20,000 in one week using just one of Eric’s 10-10-10 ideas.

- Freddie Fazli

We have postcards we send to our

unsold customers saying,“We’ve

missed you!” and “We have exciting new products and colors to meet your family’s lifestyle!

Hundreds of them are on SALE now!”

- Mary Cumming

Stairs wear the worst, so order an extra piece at the time of purchase so the carpet on the stairs can be replaced in the future. Most people appreciate that you’re looking out for them.

- Charles Taulbee

“Don’t wait a single second.”

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Leading the Way in the New YearYour Challenge for 2014By Bill Gauthier

I spent three days with the RNG Coordinators this past fall talking with them about what it means to be a leader. At the end of the three days we all agreed that in one way or another, we were all leaders, and that we all found leadership to be challenging. We also all agreed that as business owners our staffs look up to us to lead the business. We concluded our discussion with this question: what are we going to do differently in 2014 to lead our businesses?

During my time with the RNG Coordinators I saw how busy and complicated their lives are right now. So let’s start this year with a simple, impactful, and actionable leadership tactic. I am challenging each leader, (and yes if you’re reading this you are a leader), to set a vision for your business and reinforce it with your team. Now, I can hear the murmur of confusion coming from the audience, so let’s start slow.

Think of a concise, 2 or 3 word statement that clearly communicates an important vision about your business. Here’s one I heard from a member—‘Customers Rule.’ What does that mean to you? For me, it means that customers come fi rst. The customer is always right. Make the customers feel like they are number one.

Here’s another one a member offered: ‘Create Beautiful Homes.’ What does that mean to you? For me, it means pictures of beautiful homes that I have helped create. It means that I need to understand design and consult with the customer to create her dream space. Once you’ve identifi ed that single value for yourself, you need to communicate to your team and inspire them to demonstrate that value in their words and actions with your customers.

Let’s make 2014 be the year you lead by communicating a simple, impactful, and actionable vision that focuses on your business and consistently communicated to your staff. Then, stand back and watch what happens—I think you’ll be happy with the RESULTS.

“I am challenging

each leader to set

a vision for your

business and

reinforce it for

your team.”

Your University’s Retail

Consulting Services for fi nancial analysis,restructuring, succession planning or coaching,can help youget your business

to the next level.

Real results.Solid Solutions.

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Who dothey think

you are?

You set the standards in your business, but how clear are they to your team?

Answers listed on the next page

An employee asks a question to which they “should” already know the answer. You:A) Tell him or her to think about it harder.B) Cheerfully walk him through it.C) Calmly ask why she doesn’t know the answer.D) Immediately offer the answer, just to save time.

You generally believe your employees need the most?A) BribesB) EncouragementC) CompassionD) Focus like yours

How do you prioritize items on your personal schedule?A) I prioritize items by importance.B) Based on how much I enjoy each task.C) Based on how much time each task will take.D) I always stick to the same schedule, period.

When an issue arises with a member of your team, how would you describe the way you deal with it?A) LoudB) UpbeatC) EmpatheticD) Calculated

How much do you trust your employees?A) As much as they’ve earned.B) Completely!C) Maybe more than I should.D) Hardly at all.

Numbers are down for your team. Your first response is:A) Hold a loud team meeting to get down to business.B) Have a team “pep rally” to boost confi dence.C) Chat privately with each employee to encourage them.D) Keep a closer eye on each employee individually

and identify the “problem person.”

You receive a last-minute project that needs to be done right away. What do you do?A) Drop everything and do it.B) Feel frazzled—there are so many things to do!!C) Calmly rearrange your schedule and make it

work, seamlessly.D) Grumble and get it done.

When an employee hits his or her numbers for the month, your response resembles:A) Giving a handshake and a “congratulations.”B) “Yay! You’re fantastic!”C) A heartfelt “Thanks for your hard work.”A) You point out WHY he was successful & say,

“Nice job.”

Your idea of a good motivator is someone who:B) Gets things DONE.C) Makes people feel empowered.D) Helps others stay the course.E) Finishes what they start.

You notice one employee is going above and beyond what you’ve asked of them. What are you most apt to do?A) Nothing. I expect my employees to go “above

and beyond” all the time.B) Reward them with lunch.C) Thank them privately for their dedication and

work.D) Make a note to promote them in the future.

You need help with a project. What’s your first step?A) Forge ahead on my own, fi rst, ask for help later.B) Get your whole team involved—make it social!C) Quietly ask your best employee for assistance.D) Wait for someone to offer help.

Answer KeyMostly A’sYou set the bar high and demand excellence 100% of the time, without exception, but may seem unreachable to your employees, but darned if they don’t jump at your every call! But if they want guidance on an issue, how well do you listen?

Mostly B’sYour employees know you expect a lot from them, and probably see you as “the fun boss.” Your employees likely adore you! The biggest challenge in your offi ce may be organization. The occasional missed deadline may be something you’re familiar with. Sound familiar?

Mostly C’sYou expect excellence, but may get the feeling that your employees think they can walk all over you. They know you’ll listen and be fair, but may not see you as an active, involved leader. Are you looking to feel more in control of your team? Do your numbers refl ect this?

Mostly D’sYou’re effi cient and highly organized, but may come off as a little passive-aggressive when it’s time to coach your team. You always fi nish what you start, but may not be comfortable asking for help for fear of diminishing your strengths as the business leader. Do you make time to work on fostering a tightly-knit company culture?

We all have areas in which we could improve. Talk to a member of the University team about where your team’s strengths and weaknesses are. We can work with you to determine the most solid solution to get real results.

Got a new employee?

for the product knowledgeand selling skills to

increase average tickets.

Send them to

Call Brian Clardy today at 800.450.7595 x2141