FLOORtalk

John McGrath, executive director of INSTALL, The International Standards and Training Alliance, discusses the floor covering industry’s installer shortage problem and suggests that what is needed is the building of trust. He says the INSTALL program works because all involved parties, manufactures and labor, believe in quality and teamwork. He says most in the industry incur problems recruiting installer candidates while the INSTALL program has a backlog because they offer a profession with fair wages, health coverage, retirement benefits and quality training.

Pam Bowe, CEO of The Bowe Company, which develops websites for flooring contractors, discusses the major categories of flooring contractors in the U.S. based on factors including the number of locations, specific market segments, and specialized services. Bowe talks about responsive design and the organizations and individuals contractors hope to attract to their websites.

Stuart Hirschhorn, research director at Catalina Research, talks about the strength of the remodeling market and it’s performance in 2018, as well as his expectations for 2019. He discusses how the housing resale market, which has been sluggish, affects remodeling and how home values have risen in the last five years. Hirschhorn also talks about factors, such as low unemployment and higher wages, and the effects they are having on the housing and remodeling markets. Also discussed are factors he reads as a gauge of the housing market, such as interest rates and expectations for the Federal Reserve.

Pam Bowe, CEO of The Bowe Company, discusses the do’s and don’ts of developing websites for flooring contractors and how successful contractor websites differ a great deal from retail websites. She talks about the primary elements that make up a successful contractor site, the importance of launching a well-designed and attractive site, and building in characteristics that allow visitors to save time by quickly navigating the site.

Stuart Hirschhorn, research director for Catalina Research, talks about the economy and other factors that affect the flooring industry and how will likely affect it going forward. He discusses the consumer and consumer spending, as well as spending in the flooring category, the slowing of the housing market, and millennials involvement in the housing market.

John McGrath, executive director of INSTALL, The International Standards and Training Alliance, talks about the organization’s move into concrete polishing, responding to its dramatic market growth in the retail, corporate, educational, health care, and industrial sectors. McGrath notes that INSTALL has become the most active deliverer of training in the concrete polishing in the U.S. holding training session monthly, working with the Concrete Polishing Council.

John Simonson, president of Webstream Dynamics and Five-Star Store Reviews, discusses the second seminar he will be presenting at TISE for floor covering retailers, "Leveraging Google My Business for More Flooring Leads." Simonson talks about the advantages of Google My Business, an effective and free service that generate leads and store traffic for retailers. Serving as a free homepage for small businesses, Google My Business permits consumers to not only learn a great deal about the retail business through text, photos and maps, but permits consumers to interact with the retailer and post reviews. The seminar is scheduled for Tuesday, January 22, 1 - 2 p.m.

John Simonson, president of Webstream Dynamics and Five-Star Store Reviews, discusses the seminar he will be presenting at TISE for floor covering retailers, "Flooring Website Strategies for 2019." The seminar will delve in to online data and trends and how to use this information to increase the effectiveness and productivity of retailers' websites to generate leads and store traffic. The seminar is scheduled for Tuesday, January 22, 9:30 - 10:30 a.m.

John McGrath, executive director of INSTALL, The International Standards and Training Alliance, talks about infection control risk assessment, an area the organization is expanding into to help deal with the hospital-acquired infections, which affect hundreds of thousands of people annually. He notes that construction-related healthcare infections strike about 100,000 people with about 5,000 dying from the infections each year. INSTALL trains its installers on how to work in these environments, containing and mitigate infection on the jobsite.

John Simonson, president of Webstream Dynamics and Five-Star Store Reviews, and Sandy Montero, owner of My Beautiful Floor, a consumer-oriented, information website, discuss developing a retail digital marketing plan and the role that social media should play in that plan. Also discussed is the need for product photography on retail websites and how to procure it, the commitment needed to successfully maintaining an effective social media presence, and the do’s and don’ts of selecting an outside firm to maintain social media presence.