Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering Re: Smartstrand iq150 - Amazing Carpet 7May 16, 2010 2:29 pm Yeh trusting carpet retailers is really hard. The expert at one shop had never heard of iq150/smartstrand when I asked for his opinion. He went off to phone somebody, and came back saying its exactly the same as stainmaster ("remember pro-hart") but with an extra coating on it!!! In the end I've mostly learned not to trust most things they say and have been relying on Anthony and Ash for real opinions!! To be fair, there were some iq150's at HN we liked that were less shaggy (its not my style) but they were going to take longer to get in which unfortunately ruled those ones out. Re: Smartstrand iq150 - Amazing Carpet 8May 16, 2010 3:26 pm Yes. Many are kept in-stock in the US and shipped as required. If we stocked ALL the colours and styles it would ruin Australia's balance of payments I firmly think that if you don't know something, don't lie about it, just admit it and you'll probably know someone to call for advice. I phone a few people now and again when someone throws me a wobbly one !!! Best to be accurate. Re: Smartstrand iq150 - Amazing Carpet 9May 16, 2010 4:24 pm anthony_carter in relation to technical specs. They are all available, but are no longer published like they used to be. I caution people in trying to become too much of an expert overnight though. There is no way you are going to get enough info in a few hours on the net to fly solo on your decision making. I have done this forc18 years and still learn something new each day. I think it cones down to trusting the carpet retailer. A hard thing to do in some cases I guess I respectfully disagree there Anthony. To a point, yes, customers should take some guidance from retailers. But it is their decision that they have to live with. Far too often, I see people who have bought based on promises of performance which were way off the mark. I know there are exceptions, but carpet sales staff are notorious for not knowing much about the real life performance of carpets. Even some with years of experience in selling carpets have little understanding. Consider how we buy a car. We are exposed to all sorts of advertising & marketing hype, and eager car sales staff are ready to put us behind the wheel. But the discerning buyer will decide themselves what car best suits their needs. Whether they are buying a Mercedes Benz, Toyota, Kia or a Suzuki, they all have their specs published, including fuel economy and other ratings. There are magazines and consumer groups evaluating various models and lots of info that is available if the buyer wants to consider the purchase carefully. This is what I advocate... consumers making informed decisions based on reliable information. When it comes to carpets, it ain't rocket science! Price is a reasonable indicator of quality for starters. Realising that plain light carpets will show soiling is a no brainer. Choosing carpets and underlay that are more dense, heavy duty and made with quality wool or selected synthetic yarns should be common sense. All it takes is a bit of time to compare apples with apples. Ash. Re: Smartstrand iq150 - Amazing Carpet 10May 16, 2010 7:29 pm I am not at all saying go in blind Ash....but a customer with some info and not all the info can, in my experience, find it harder to be educated, as often the info (or their interpretation of that info) is just plain wrong. For example, technical people, such as engineers and school teachers etc often come to me with a little info and think they are armed for a day out shopping for carpet, but all that happens is I have to spend an hour re-educating them. A classic example is ounces of carpet. Now I have 32 oz carpets that are far superior to some of my 48 oz gear. This is from an appearance retention point of view due to pile height and guage. I think you find someone who you can communicate with, who is a professional, and discuss it all. I will spend hours and hours with just 1 customer if they are genuine and educate them - but in stages. It's like building a house (learning). You need someone to teach you the basics and build slowly the info. Plus I can put a technical term into English for a customer (ie which is better to understand, a laminate that has taber test of 13,000 revolutions or a laminate that is 8 times harder than your kitchen benchtop ?) what means something....see what I mean. A customer who reads this forum will ask for prime and a power stretch, but do they know what prime ? Do they know the difference between a kicker and a power stretcher ? There is no substitute for an industry professional 1 on 1 going through options, fibres, join location, pile direction, window locations etc. Re: Smartstrand iq150 - Amazing Carpet 11May 16, 2010 11:27 pm Hmmm some valid points there Anthony. But I still think you need to give customers the credit for having the capacity to learn enough to make THEIR decision based on some basic info that isn't difficult to grasp. As I've often pointed out, the 'bum-steer' is the usual way most carpet sales staff offer guidance! IF they were more informed and knew their stuff better like yourself, there would be much better outcomes. Example... its commonplace for lower spec underlays to be sold to customers as being "the best". They don't even mention the better underlays for fear of losing the sale based on price. Those who you say come in with some understanding (I would have thought) would be quite amenable to being shown why and how they could make better choices. The fact they bothered to get info in the first place shows they are discerning and want to make a sound decision. Of course, being in retail sales has its own set of skills to help a customer make their decision, and sometimes that can mean overcoming their preconceptions. Whether they come in with no knowledge or a good deal, your task remains the same. I get cold calls sometimes from new customers saying they don't want steam cleaning, or they want me to do things a certain way. I'm not gonna jump down their throat, but will find out why they have their preconceptions, before explaining how they can get the job done with the best outcome WITHOUT the problems they think are associated. I find it a pleasure to deal with those who are engaging with the issues. But those who just don't give a s#!t and just want to know "how much to clean me carpets"?.... they are the ones who I'm wary of. Chances are, if anything doesn't look perfect, they'll be the ones pointing a finger of blame at me, rather than bothering to take responsibility for why things don't meet their expectations. Anyway, we are here offering advice for whoever wants it, to do what they will with. There will always be different kinds of customers. Personally, I prefer to target customers who are more discerning, and use me because that is a carefully considered choice. The others, (such as tenants moving out of rentals referred to me) I try to impress enough to convert them into discerning customers. But there are still those you pay me and grunt as they leave me to it, never to think twice about this or their next commercial decision. Ash. 1 11011 1 15766 they can, it's a fairly standard solution when the slab isn't recessed. the falls need to be in the main floor, if it hasn't been done then you need to ask them to redo… 4 6595 |