Best Practices - February 2010

By Sonya Jennings

When the economy began to slip into a downturn, Phil Schrimper, owner of JP Flooring Design Center in Cincinnati, Ohio decided it was time to reinvent his store. He comments, “I am always considering something new. I’ve never believed in being a ‘me too’ type of company. To be successful, you need a story to tell about how your store is different.”

Schrimper took on a number of things to differentiate his business from others in town. He isn’t concerned that competitors often walk through his newly revamped showroom and try to steal his ideas. “By the time they figure out what I’m doing, I’m on to doing something else.” His recent ‘something else’ is a completely new set-up in his 20,000 square foot showroom that highlights tile, stone, and hardwood. He now has 30 different vignettes that show these floorcoverings installed. Kitchen, bath and outdoor living displays show the product on the floor so that the customer can truly see what the product will look like in her home. Schrimper comments, “Just having a few pieces on a board doesn’t give the customer the experience of seeing how the product will look in her home. Homeowners don’t want to make the wrong choice. Displaying the tile in a kitchen or bath vignette eliminates the anxiety of choosing the right product.”

Another way JP Flooring differentiates itself is its new presence in the hardwood refinishing market. With housing prices tanking all over the country, many homeowners are remodeling their current homes instead of buying new ones. Recognizing that trend, Schrimper found a local expert in hardwood refinishing who was interested in selling his own small company and managing a hardwood refinishing operation. Once he had the right person to manage the project, the next order of business was to find an angle to differentiate JP Flooring from every other local hardwood refinisher.

Schrimper recognized that one of the most common objections to refinishing floors was the mess it creates, and he found a way to overcome it, giving him a market advantage. By purchasing the Bona Atomic Dust Containment System, the company had a story to tell. This system, while quite expensive, solves the problem of the massive amount of dust that is produced when refurbishing hardwood floors. It sits in a trailer in the homeowner’s driveway and connects to the sanders and edgers in the home with a 300 foot hose. The powerful gas engine literally sucks the air clean while the refinisher is sanding and edging the floors. This allows the homeowner to stay in the home while the project is ongoing and keeps dishes, pictures, and everything else in the house free of the overwhelming amount of dust that accompanies a typical refinishing project.

After purchasing the equipment, Schrimper personally accompanied the refinishing team on more than 30 projects. “The most obvious indicator of the difference is that the guy sanding and edging is usually covered in dust from head to toe,” Schrimper says. “With this system, he’s ready to complete the job and go out to dinner. No dust on him at all.”

One interesting way of promoting JP Flooring’s dust-free hardwood refinishing system is the trailer in which it is housed. When the refinishing team is on a job, the trailer is parked in the customer’s driveway. The trailer itself is all black with custom graphics promoting the system. When the trailer sits in a driveway for a day or two, it piques the curiosity of neighbors, who want to know what’s inside. Many referral jobs have surfaced due to the look of the trailer alone. It’s not your typical white contractor van and creates curiosity about the equipment. Once the neighbors begin asking questions, it’s easy to tell the story of the dustless refinishing program.

Another new initiative for JP Flooring is participation in the local home show. Before the economic downturn, the store didn’t need to promote itself at this show, but with the present state of the economy, Schrimper sought new ways to get the store’s message out. A large video screen displays the benefits of the dustless refinishing system by demonstrating exactly how it works. Also, the store’s flooring products are displayed.

JP Flooring operates a 100,000 square foot facility in the Cincinnati area, and 20,000 square feet of the building is showroom. The company’s business is 20% commercial, 40% builder, 30% retail and 10% property management. Its products include tile, hardwood, carpet, stone, inlays, and laminate, and the company focuses on the middle to higher end of the market.