When it comes to hardwood flooring, there is a saying that personally resonates with me: "You're only as good as your last job." While a simple phrase at heart, it serves as a personal mantra as well as a challenge for our family business.
Log in to view the full article
When it comes to hardwood flooring, there is a saying that personally resonates with me: "You're only as good as your last job." While a simple phrase at heart, it serves as a personal mantra as well as a challenge for our family business.
Back in the late '90s, right before the big tech blowup, the economy was so good that everyone in business was in business. Needless to say, my immigrant father joined in with the business-hungry looking for both success and a chance to taste the American dream. He came into this country with nothing—the language, an inheritance, or proper schooling—to his name. Everything he knew about flooring he learned from other flooring companies that he worked for. Unfortunately, like his teachers before him, he lacked any advanced technical knowledge. Therefore, he went through a system of trial-and-error from which he refined and adapted his efforts (keep in mind that when you are providing for a family, every dig mark or missed spot becomes more noticeable than ever). He accepted the pressure and, even with his poor English, pushed for customer satisfaction through his attention to detail, his dedication and his no-nonsense demeanor.
Like most success stories, my father's venture into flooring was a humbling experience. He started out working for his younger brother in a business that failed to take off. When the business failed to achieve the level of success my uncle desired, he placed it in my father's care. Like a well-polished floor, this was when the company started to shine. My father immediately changed the culture and the way flooring was done. Through experimenting with sanding sequences and changing the types of finishes, my father turned the company into an established, well-recognized and profitable business. This was evident as I went along with him to the distributors where he bought supplies; they would go out of their way to provide the best service for fear of losing his business.
After grinding out the mishaps and errors, the company continued to grow stronger every year. It brings me discomfort to admit, but in victory we got complacent and even, at times, lazy. Eventually we began delegating to our most trustworthy employees the task of applying the final coat of polyurethane and receiving the checks from the homeowners.
We never gathered all of the finer details of their operation, but by the time we figured it out, their coup d'état had taken its toll: These "trustworthy" employees had operated behind our backs to profit in their own flooring business. For every check they received, they would hand out a new business card-a card that differed little from ours. I can still recall the pain in my father's eyes as well as the anger that burned in me upon our discovery of their operation. They then attempted to persuade our remaining employees to join them and leave us with nothing. At this point, I hope those reading this have been fortunate enough to be unable to relate to this story.
Ultimately, I believe everything happens for a reason. When these employees took our customers and tried to take our employees, it hit us that we could be out of business. The deserters had proclaimed we would fail without them, so they essentially left us with a simple challenge: Get better or get out of business! Although it was very stressful, we began reevaluating everything that had gotten us to that point. Moving forward, we no longer wished to just survive as a business, but to sit among the top dogs of our industry.
My father realized that we needed to make improvements. He also acknowledged the few yet crucial skills that had always eluded him in the flooring trade: staining dark colors, applying waterborne finishes and installing parquet floors, to name a few, and that if he wanted to take the company to the next level, it would have to be through higher education. After most of our employees left and I finished my college degree, I decided to join the effort to save my father's business as well as make it stronger. The business side could grow, but only at the same rate as the quality of work being done; my father realized that the two would grow proportionately. Opportunity struck when one of our contractors informed us about the National Wood Flooring Association. From attending the first class to recently assisting at one of them, we have found that education and business rely heavily on one another for success.
Knowledge is empowering, and it allowed me to do my work with greater confidence. Education has transformed me from a nervous, soft-spoken man to a confident one filled with great conviction toward customers. I can now walk into a prospective customer's home, answer every question honestly and debunk any false information. We weren't always that way, and looking back at those times, I still get chills thinking about the things we used to do!
These days, we place a strong emphasis on finding and maintaining a satisfied customer. These are the customers that will help your business grow. There is no better advertisement than word of mouth, so in keeping our customers happy, we always ask ourselves two things: Did we achieve their many goals (on time and on budget?), and did we do it while providing exceptional customer service (going the extra mile)? Being in business, we realize there is nothing worse than disappointed customers-they're like a virus that will spread and, if uncontained, could potentially destroy the host (your business).
How to survive? Stay relevant, be competent and be the best that you can be. Customers can sense it, and if you don't come through on their goals while providing great service, you will have an unsatisfied customer. Remember, you are only as good as your last job! So it was through the classes at the NWFA as well as the many expert contacts I established in the industry that I can truthfully and wholeheartedly say that we would not be the same company we are today without stepping into that first class. It is through the knowledge and experience we gained that we have flourished in this demanding and ever-growing industry. From fancy installation to finishing secrets learned through the years through the NWFA, we are positioned to be one of the best flooring businesses in our competitive market.
The negative experiences of having our employees' hubris take both our customers and confidence away awakened us. We were complacent: We thought we knew enough and were doing enough to get by. Now, higher education allows us to stay ahead of the game and offer new, exciting and improved techniques. We now take it upon ourselves to always ask if we could do better. Never get complacent. Love and respect what you do, and in the end, you will be rewarded.