Carpet Dealers Receive Free Stainmaster Training S

Atlanta, GA, May 20--Stainmaster carpet awarded free customized sales training sessions to three carpet dealers at Surfaces 2005. Ron Katz, of Harry Katz Carpet One and ProSource of Long Island, New York, Sutada Hesse of Hesse Flooring in Lihue, Hawaii, and Tarek Alkadri, of All American Flooring in Lewisville, TX, each won a training session. Steve Griffith, Invista vice president, residential flooring, said, "Our market research tells us that the purchasing process for floor covering can be confusing for both the sales associate and the consumer. To help improve the process, we have developed training programs that incorporate essential tools to help our dealers better serve their customers while increasing sales. The training improves product knowledge as well as sales skills and has generated outstanding results for both the retailer and Stainmaster carpet." "The customized training really exceeded my expectations," said Tarek Alkadri of All American Flooring, whose training session was held on April 19 and 20. "I believe that sales training is important for any retail business. The techniques Stainmaster carpet teaches can be applied to any industry. My salespeople are now more confident. They understand both the product and the customer better, which naturally translates into increased sales and happier customers." "We decided to hold the training workshop during the evening hours to allow for more participation from our employees," added Ron Katz, CFE, of Harry Katz Carpet One, whose training session was held on May 11. "Even after a full day of work, all of our salespeople were very interested and actively participated in the interactive training." The dealers are able to choose from 10 training topics for the session including: how to greet customers, how to use brands in sales presentations, how to handle objections from customers, how to close sales and sell at higher margins, and how to improve product knowledge. All of the dealers also will receive e-learning CDs for the Stainmaster carpet Sales Skills Online training to give to their salespeople. Stainmaster Sales Skills Online provides Stainmaster carpet dealers with sales training that includes real-world situations and practical sales techniques and allows participants to fully interact with the training modules. As an added bonus, up to five salespeople at each dealer who complete the customized training also will receive a satellite radio and one-year subscription for service.