The specific question that I had to answer for myself was what is our organization's final product that could be exchanged for money with it's customers.. Well we are and have been selling wooden floors for quite a while now and the answer was simple ‘wood floors' what else?? However, when I got into it a little deeper what I discovered was that what the customers wanted was a "Well installed wooden floor that they enjoy over a period of time" and not simply a good wood floor.

This simple sentence brought into my awareness many more things that were needed to be done to make this statement come true for our customers. So, off we started! Lately we had started giving a complete package to end customers, from suggesting the right floor for their project to final installations and maintenance trainings. We reengineered the entire processes looking at the problems that the market (Architects, retail and project customers) in general were facing.

Now no job is marked complete until the whole process which includes getting signed acknowledgements from each customers are taken stating their experience with Span floors and if the final end product ‘a well installed wood floor' which they know how to maintain and what to do if something goes wrong, is achieved. This includes making aware the customers of their responsibilities as well and train them or their staff on care procedures and the other do's and dont's..

The effort is an ongoing one with our teams getting continuous training so that the objective is achieved consistently, time after time. Also, with this blog, I wanted to share with you what I am trying to do so that you can write in to me directly in case you experience anything less than what has been stated above at satinder@spanfloors.com!!

More next time..

Yours

Satinder Chawla

For centuries, we as a species have been in love with wood! It has adorned the palaces of the kings and served the paupers alike, albeit in different forms though. It’s natural beauty and versatility has lead it to be used from simply a fuel to the most elegant and intricate wood floors.

Coming to our subject, use of wood for the purpose of flooring has been extremely popular in Europe, Americas and Japan just as stones has been in our subcontinent. Reasons vary from availability to suitability in the local context and from personal choice to design requirements internationally. Lately, however, wood floors have seen a tremendous rise in popularity in our part of the world as well and have become a fashion statement of sort.
It all started in the early 90,s when our honorable Prime Minister, Mr. Manmohan Singh (then the finance minister) decided that enough was enough and we Indians deserved better thus opening the Indian economy to imports. In India a few enterprising cos. took lead and a few European laminate flooring products were introduced to the market for the first time ever. Though not strictly a pure wood floor, it’s core board, called the High density fiberboard or HDF in short, is essentially saw dust, a waste from the wood working industry. The surface layer (which we see and walk on) is basically printed paper with a layer on top (aluminum oxide) which protects the paper from being damaged from foot traffic.

The product caught on like wildfire! Maybe the Indian populace was bored of using the usual marble and stone and wanted a break. In the hands of Interior designers, this became a tool for really expressing their creativity and they started using it to create beautiful floors in homes and commercial spaces, the likes that we have been admiring in international design magazines and TV soaps till now.

Today, the wood flooring market has moved on to a more specialized level. Besides laminate floors, which look like wood, you have a great variety available in real wood flooring products too. Real wood floors are just that, Real wood made into a flooring plank or a tile in various shapes and sizes covered with easy to maintain finishes with warranties as high as 25 years. This product is really for the connessiour, who want nothing but the best!
Coming to a conclusion, the reason why we Indian’s along with our brethren in rest of the world, have fallen in love with wood floors (both laminate and real wood) are basically the same! They are great to look at, come in huge variety of different colors, textures and styles, are extremely easy to maintain and fall within all manner of budgets.


So long..

Satinder Chawla


P.S. I would be going in more details about each kind of wood floor (in my future blogs for those of you who want to explore the subject in more depth)

Recently we conducted a workshop wherein we invited a few Architects and Interior designers for an interactive session on wood floors. The idea was to move away from standard or traditional advertisement to a better way which could give people real benefit and in the process make us known as well. I had observed quiet a lot of misinformation or unclarity on the subject during my various interactions in the market (wood floors being a relatively new phenomenon in our country) and the thought emerged why not start an educative seminar on various aspects of wood flooring and help all concerned understand it better?

This was a new idea for us and per my information, a first (and one-of-its-kind) in the wooden flooring industry in India. As I was to deliver the workshop (a first for me also), an anxiety started to develop as the time approached. Nevertheless, it went away after the first few minutes as people started participating with no less thanks to the interest shown by them and the support from my teammates!

We touched various subjects including why wood floors?, what kind of floor is suitable where? Best practices of installation and so forth..

The end result proved brilliant. All participants rated us and workshop a VERY GOOD JOB in their feedback forms and the entire team felt that the effort was worthwhile. The intention (which I had) that all attendees go away with better knowledge and feel more confidence next time they are out to specify any kind of wood/laminate floor seemed fulfilled.

Also, it felt good that people showed interest and took the pain to try this out. The group was a varied mix from professional interior designers to architects to trade sales people and I hope that the knowledge gained would help all to advise their customers better.

Thanks a ton, guys!

Satinder

P.S.: We will be conducting this or a similar workshop in September 2009 – would be delighted if more of you people come and participate. A formal invite will follow... thanks once again.

Hi...this is the story about my decision on writing a blog!

Well, it all started with My dear friend, Akshar! He is a guy with a multifaceted personality and one of his talents is harnessing the power of web in helping people increase their business (www.centronicssupport.com) . As he is currently redoing our website (making it much more informative and really user friendly), we wanted something that would make it LIVE and FRESH! Hence the idea from the boss which was “Boss if you want to make the site really interesting, share your knowledge and ideas thru blogs. Write them ! “ Me WRITING, BLOGS!! Now what the hell Is it?? And why do I have to do It??

As usual, he quickly got me to agree that it is required and would be worthwhile and that I WILL HAVE TO DO IT! And to top it all, a deadline by which I have to write a certain nos. God that was some work! So I started! It took me one whole Sunday (over 8 hours continuously) to write only 2!  THAT WAS TOO MUCH WORK! This guy is making me work like mad.. I thought!

But that was then. Now, I feel like a pro..(Maybe a little exaggeration) but surely much more comfortable sharing myself and my ideas thru this medium. I do not know how many will read them or find them of value, nonetheless, I write on.

I am beginning to enjoy sharing the learning that I have gained over the years (Over 9 years now and 20,00,000 sft of Installations) and have overcome my initial apprehension about putting my hard earned knowledge out in the open. As a very eminent philosopher once said, A man is only as useful as he can be of help to others! I guess I have realized that all my knowledge or for that matter all I that have gained in life is because someone somewhere helped me. I would not have been here without all that help and support. And so I work!

Au Revoir..

Satinder