Keys to Success: WIFI Navigates the Art of the Negotiation

By: Mallory Cruise-McGrath, senior managing editor, Floor Covering Weekly

Negotiating is key to any business and being able to negotiate effectively - and expertly - creates a bond between customers and partners. At Mohawk’s Edge Summit, held here Dec. 16-18, Women in the Floorcovering Industry (WIFI) held a discussion on The Art of the Negotiation and welcomed four panelists to offer their insights and strategies on everything from knowing and leveraging your product expertise and market value, setting goals and initiatives to building rapport and trust and knowing key trends in the market.

Moderated by FCW’s publisher and editor in chief and WIFI vice chair Amy Rush-Imber, panelists included Typhannie Harker, CEO of Carpeting by Mike, Somerset, Wisc.; Laura Bartley, vice president of communications and events at Mohawk Industries and WIFI board member; Kaitlin Ahern, director of marketing, America’s Floor Source (AFS); and, Rachel Stacy, president, S&H Flooring, Dallas, Texas.

Leaning into Expertise
Knowing the product in your showroom and market value is crucial.

“For me, it’s knowing the specs of the product, but also the customer and the lifestyle that they're living,” said AFS’s Ahern. “So, when the vendors are coming to you and saying this is the mil and the wearlayer, ask them who is this target audience? What customer is buying this? So, you can help understand where you're selling that product and then how you're positioned with it in your showroom. Is it the right customer for your location? Is it the right customer for your brand?”

Indeed, it’s important to make sure the product being sold is geared toward your target audience, said Ahern. “We're mindful of the specific ones for our target audience and then also knowing what your competitor has.” Ahern continued, “On the marketing team, I always have them do a competitive shop; we shop competitors in flooring and then we shop other retailers, so we know what they've got going on. Then we make sure our RSAs know what the other competitors are offering for promotions too.”

Knowing your product and making sure it meets the needs of your market — and is representative of your brand — is important to being authentic and trustworthy, qualities that are high prioritized by consumers.

“It starts with selling quality products that you believe in, that you can stand behind,” said Stacy of S&H Flooring. “Consumers absolutely recognize when they're dealing with an RSA who is competent in the product they're selling. When new products come out, we want to make sure that they all understand the practicality of it and the application for where it's to go. I think that with us, our biggest market value is on our service and that we have to outperform our competition through the services we offer.”

Building Rapport & Trust
Being true to your brands help build a strong rapport and ultimately trust with your customers, leading to repeat business and referrals.

“Initially it’s the authenticity that you lead with and the energy that people bring into the room,” Ahern said. “What’s the music? What’s the energy? How do you make sure that the right salesperson is matched with the right customer when they walk in the door?”

Training RSAs to read the customer’s energy and matching them with the right person is powerful, Ahern added. So too is knowing when an RSA isn’t the right match with a customer. “Making that switch and giving another RSA that customer to make the sale is so powerful. And sometimes, you need somebody in between like a greeter at the door who’s reading that person and saying, ‘Hey, this person is this type of customer.’” Ahern continued, “It’s so powerful to just be quiet and listen to what they’re saying.”

Being relatable to customers too is important, said Stacy. “Be honest and over communicate to a fault,” she said. “I think one of our biggest ways of doing it is we under promise and over deliver to where you’re not having to go back and say, I’m sorry we couldn’t do it.”

Harker said she uses her strong love of people to truly take the time to get to know them. “I think when you genuinely take that time — not just for goals that are self-serving — it’s felt on the other side. A common thing that I like to say is ‘it’s not what you can do for me, it’s what we can do together.’ And I know it’s cheesy, but it really is a good base to have a foundation on creating rapport with people,” she offered. “And when you do that, people are more drawn to you, they’re being more open and they’re more vulnerable.” Harker added, “And you’d be surprised — everybody is pro at something, and you don’t know what it is until you talk to them and then you’re pleasantly surprised at what that is. I love that.”

Achieving Goals
Panelists here shared insight into achieving goals. “Last year at our store — we have four people that work there as employees — it’s about sales goals,” Harker said. “And as it was a down year, we set a goal. Now, a goal without a plan is a hope and a hope isn't going to get it done. So, we write it down, we plan for it all year, we go over it every month. How close are we? What do we need to do?” she said. “Maybe we need to do a pop-up sale, maybe we need to do a brief made-in-America sale to get those numbers where we need to go. But following the strategy, following the goal throughout the year and keeping it in the forefront helps us reach that goal.”

Mohawk’s Bartley pointed to Edge Summit itself as a goal achieved. Said Bartley, “An initiative this large takes about a year of planning and at Mohawk, the customer is at the heart of everything that we do — that is a top-down approach, it's authentic,” she said. “When you leave your stores, we want you to feel like you're getting what you need out of this event so we try to make sure that the customer experience is as elevated as it can be.”

And it starts, Bartley said, with the innovative products showcased in the showroom. “We spend all year making sure that we're making the best products possible for you. Also, with the marketing stories that you're looking for that make it easy to sell to the consumer,” she added. “The second piece is education. We don't just have an education curriculum of what we think you should know. We actually ask our retailers, our best customers, what do they want to come and learn about? We built an education curriculum on that.”

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The panel for WIFI’s Art of Negotiation consisted of Rachel Stacy, president, S&H Flooring; Kaitlin Ahern, director of marketing, America’s Floor Source; moderator and WIFI vice chair as well as FCW publisher and editor in chief Amy Rush-Imber; Laura Bartley, vice president of communications and events, Mohawk, and also WIFI board member; and, Typhannie Harker, CEO, Carpeting by Mike.