By Paul Friederichsen
Flooring retailers spend a lot of money getting customers through the front door. They advertise. They invest in websites and social media. They build beautiful showrooms. They train RSAs. They cultivate reviews and referrals. But one of their most potentially effective marketing assets may never set foot on the showroom floor. It’s the installation crew.
Think about the customer journey. By installation day, the homeowner has already made a significant financial—and emotional—commitment. He or she has selected the retailer, chosen the flooring, written the check, lived through the disruption of moving furniture and preparing rooms, and has rearranged personal schedules to make it all happen. Then a truck pulls into the driveway.
Who steps out of it may have as much influence over that customer’s ultimate impression of the retailer as anyone encountered up to that point. That makes installers something that isn’t talked about nearly enough: brand ambassadors.
IT’S NOT A FLOOR UNTIL IT’S INSTALLED
There’s an expression we’ve all heard that gets right to the heart of the matter: it’s not a floor until someone installs it, until installation, everything the customer has purchased is essentially “potential.”
The professional installer delivers on that promise. There’s an important distinction between someone who installs flooring and a professional flooring installer. Professionalism comes from training, certification, experience and a commitment to installing the right way.
That’s more than an installation issue. It’s also a marketing opportunity. Because when that professional installer walks into a customer’s home, the dealer’s reputation walks in with him.
AN AMBASSADOR IN THE CUSTOMER’S HOME
We normally associate “brand ambassador” with someone who publicly advocates for a company’s products or services—a celebrity, social media influencer, employee or enthusiastic customer. But strip away the marketing jargon and the concept is pretty simple: People influence other people.
That’s what makes the professional installer so potentially influential. He isn’t an actor in your commercial. He isn’t the salesperson who made the sale. He’s the craftsman standing in the customer’s home with the expertise and tools to transform boxes of material with promise into the finished floor the customer has been dreaming about.
Imagine him saying: “You bought this from a good dealer. I’ve worked with these people for years. And you made a wise choice with this carpet. It should perform well for you.”
Or, conversely, imagine the installer complaining about the retailer, criticizing the product, arriving late without explanation or treating the customer’s home carelessly. That’s influencing, too. Just the bad kind.
THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
Installation may be the most consequential customer touchpoint in the entire flooring purchase. It’s certainly one of the most intimate. The installer is invited into the customer’s home. He may be there for hours or even days. Customers observe how the crew works, how they communicate and how they treat their home.
The human element matters. According to a 2025 customer experience study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, 86% of consumers consider human interaction moderately or very important to their experience with a brand.
Installation expert and founder of Advanced Flooring Technology, Robert Varden, estimates that roughly 70% of residential flooring retailers rely on subcontracted installation crews. Legally and organizationally, those installers may be independent contractors. But from the customer’s perspective, that distinction is largely irrelevant. That’s because the customer bought the floor from you.
When something goes beautifully, you get the credit. When something goes badly, you probably get the blame. It’s not the logo on his shirt that communicates what your dealership stands for. Professionalism communicates your brand, too.
YOU CAN’T FAKE ADVOCACY
Here’s where the idea becomes more than telling installers to “represent the company well.” You cannot mandate genuine advocacy.
Varden believes one characteristic shared by many successful flooring retailers is the quality of their relationships with their installation crews. There’s no “us versus them” mentality separating RSAs from installers. Instead, installers are treated as valued professionals and part of the larger team.
Varden recalls an installer survey from several years ago in which compensation wasn’t the leading reason installers remained loyal to a retailer; the relationship with the dealership was.
If you want installers to speak positively about your company in customers’ homes, give them reasons to feel positively about your company when customers aren’t around. Respect their time. Communicate clearly. Have materials ready. Don’t create avoidable scheduling problems. Listen when they identify an issue. Pay promptly. Include them in conversations that affect their work. And invest in professionalism, such as encouraging training, supporting certification and recognizing installers who continue to improve their craft. If you’re asking installers to help represent your brand, demonstrate that you value theirs.
TURN PROFESSIONALISM INTO A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
There’s another opportunity dealers frequently overlook: don’t just appreciate good installers privately—market them. You promote your flooring brands. Why not promote the professionals who turn those products into a floor? Varden suggests prominently displaying installers’ professional certifications and accomplishments in the showroom—such as an installer “wall of fame.”
You could also introduce installation professionals on your website, feature them occasionally on social media, explain their certifications to customers and why they matter, celebrate years of service, include installation expertise in advertising and sales presentations. Instead of simply saying, “We offer professional installation,” demonstrate what professional means. Suddenly, installation isn’t something that simply happens after the sale. It becomes another reason to buy from you.
CLOSE THE LOOP
Installation shouldn’t be the dealer’s final customer touchpoint. Someone should follow up. Depending on the dealership, that might be the owner, sales manager, project manager or salesperson who originally worked with the customer. That call reinforces that the dealer remains accountable after the sale. It gives the customer an opportunity to identify a concern before it becomes a bad review. And when everything has gone well, it gives the dealer an opportunity to hear something equally valuable: “Your installers were terrific.”
Companies sometimes think of brand ambassadors as people they recruit. But some of the best brand ambassadors are people you create through the way you treat them. That makes the dealer-installer relationship more than an operational issue. It’s a marketing issue.
THE AUTHOR
Paul Friederichsen is a marketing and branding expert with a career spent in ad agencies as a creative director and strategist and with numerous clients over the years in the floorcovering industry. He is a partner in the international brand consultancy The Blake Project and is a contributor to Branding Strategy Insider.
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