Based in Loveland, Colo., Kelly Kramer is an author, inventor and owner of Kelly’s Carpet Wagon. He is a 27-year veteran of the flooring industry, with 25 of those years as a retail sales advisor. To contact him with questions or to book him for public speaking engagements, call or email: (970) 622-0077; retaileducation@netzero.net
About nine months ago during the presidential race, I pulled up at a stop light behind a car that had this saying printed on the back of its trunk: “Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.”
Looking back at more than three decades of time that I’ve been selling various products, I’ve seen some nice changes in the direction of the ethics and honesty of how sales people are taught to sell.
As a student of flooring since the early 1980s, I’ve seen a long history of changes in the products, selling techniques, and buying trends of our floor covering customers.
A big part of what I believe about “selling clean” with honesty and ethics is finding a way to use stories about yourself in the community that you live in.
Every once in a while I have to remind myself what a lucky guy I am: I have a wonderful wife, Anne; great family and friends; a comfortable life and my health.
When I’m doing training for retail flooring chains or talks at floor covering association dinners, I always include a section on “what needs to be said” to prospective buyers.
Throughout my 30-plus years as a floor covering retail sales advisor, store manager, company owner, sales / product knowledge trainer, manufacturer’s representative, columnist, author, inventor (layout tool) and consumer advocate, I’ve worked to perfect the positive buying experience for my future buyers.
