The third edition of FloorCon is currently underway at the Omni Resort in Amelia Island, Florida. This year flooring retailers are immersing themselves in more education sessions, technology demos and a trade show.

Broadlume CEO Todd Saunders opened day two by sharing insight on how retailers can grow better together. Saunders, who just welcomed his first child this year, humorously compared the similarities between growing a human and growing a business. 

"We need to be customer obsessed," Saunders said. "We need to put the customer first, we need to put the customer experience first, but a lot of times in business, we're too worried about vanity, we're too worried about the importance, we're too worried about the company approach...but we need to be customer obsessed."

A focus of the event is Broadlume's Digital Retailing technology, which enables shoppers to complete most of their transactions online and finalize them in a showroom. Read more here. 

Deby Winter, owner, Carpet & Tile Warehouse in Vero Beach, Florida, shared that her 26-year-old business increased margins after implementing Broadlume's digital tools, "What we do close is at a higher product margin rather than closing deals at 18% to 30%." 

"A lot of this stuff is really just hitting it right on the head in terms of where we need to be going into the future in terms of using digital tools to get more clients, interactive, shopping on our website and bringing us into the next, bringing us up to speed," said fourth-generation flooring retailer Tyler Rogers of Carpet Trends in Rye, New York. "We brought a successful business for 65 years, and my father's brought it to such a point, but it's our job to partner with companies like this in order to get us into the future. So we're excited about, about the digital marketing, the retail lead management."

Julian, William and Piet Dossche, owners, International Flooring Company (IFC), used the convention as an opportunity to launch their new flooring brand—Canopy. The trio led one of the general sessions—How We Built the Largest LVP Brand in America, and What We’re Doing Differently This Time—where they discussed building the Coretec brand, the sale to Shaw Industries, and what they've learned to implement into their new brand of resilient flooring. 

"The key component to this whole partnership—it's market specific," said William Dossche. "It's market protection, It's limited distribution. It's making sure that you guys know that when you have our products in your store, you can make money and you will not be shocked from the guy across the street." 

Stephanie Stuckey, CEO of the convenience store chain Stuckey's, shared how she reclaimed and revitalized her family brand into a $10 million business.

"Elevate your team," Stuckey said. "I see my number one role is to elevate the team, fill them with passion, and make sure that they all feel valued." 

She also offered guidance on her social media success, which includes more than 100,000 followers on her LinkedIn profile. Stuckey said she posts relevant content daily using AIR as a filter: content that is authentic, interesting and relevant. 

"Listening to Stephanie was super inspiring," said Jim Deignan, business operations partner, Carolina In Home Flooring in Raleigh, North Carolina. "To know that what she chose to attach herself to was that brand, that name. And to revive that was inspiring. We're all selling the same thing, right? It's how you sell whatever your brand is. Our brand is a small business, family oriented. We're excited to do more of it."