In the 20-plus years I’ve been writing training manuals and advice columns, this subject is the one I’ve written about the most often. That’s because this area is where most retailers and commercial flooring companies make the most mistakes and lose the most sales. Far too many companies believe their sales advisor’s time on the sales floor is too important to waste with on-site measuring and estimating. In fact the first flooring retailer I worked for more than 30 years ago had that same idea.
As salesmen we would meet with the customer on the showroom floor, help that potential buyer make a choice, then tell them that our measure man would contact them in a few days to set a measure date. The measure man, who was paid a set amount for each measure, would then call them to schedule a date that fit both their schedules. Sometimes the measure date would be a few days after the in-store presentation, but most often it would be a week or more out. After that, the measure man would get the diagrams back to the salesmen/women a day or two later.