Franchise Friday Podcast Ep-206 with Albert Hermans of Floor Coverings International

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In this episode, Melissa speaks with Albert Hermans of Floor Coverings International

I’m an upbeat personality and I pride myself on facing opportunities head-on. My experience in creating multiple brands has taught me many life and professional lessons. Through these experiences, I’ve been extremely fortunate to learn about myself and create personal self-awareness around my strengths and areas of improvement. I know I can be counted upon as an outstanding relationship builder, client provider, systems creator, and leader. I have zero doubts my ability, however, I’m always looking for an opportunity to grow as an individual.

My goals in life and professionally are to always be looking ahead; to be continuously improving on my strengths and weaknesses; to help others; and to always work at exceeding expectations. I know if I keep my eyesight on those four goals, positive outcomes will always follow diligent work.

We are North America’s leading in-home designer floor coverings brand. Our company is carefully crafted on creating a discernable difference from any other floor coverings company. We specialize in residential, personalized flooring, selection, design and installation.

Floor Coverings International flooring franchise disrupts the floor industry by revolutionizing how homeowners buy new floors

Floor Coverings International flooring franchise disrupts the $48 billion residential flooring* industry for good. While the rest of the industry still makes consumers leave their homes to visit a big box store to make a personal and important decision for their homes, Floor Coverings International brings the flooring store directly to our customers’ kitchen tables. Our revolutionary model of ease and convenience has been rewarded with the highest NET Promoter Score in our industry. In today’s world, where homeowners are focused on safety and convenience for their home improvement projects, Floor Coverings International stands out as a brand that has brought a new way of servicing customers to the flooring industry.

As a franchise opportunity, Floor Coverings International also stands out. Ours is a business built on relationships to provide our customers with the very best in-home flooring experience in North America! Our proven business model has also helped hundreds of entrepreneurs thrive – in a business that is simple-to-run and easy to scale. Our large, protected territories cover an area with over $40 million worth of residential flooring opportunity, and our exceptional training and ongoing support help franchisees capitalize on this $40 million opportunity in their markets. With over 200 locations in the United States and Canada, Floor Coverings International is ready to rapidly expand across the country. Our commitment to giving back extends beyond the four walls of our customers’ homes and into the communities in which our customers live, work and play.

Excerpts from our interview with Melissa and Albert

According to Melissa:

I just love these conversations because you would never know that. That’s how you got into franchising and to your point. It’s not something that’s talked about in school or in general conversation, especially around career and your future. Which is something else we can get into about the the younger generation. How can they start getting into franchising earlier? Because to your point, so many the people that we work with, they’re later in their career, it’s like their 2.0. They have already had this whole career in corporate and now they’re finding out about business ownership. So, I love so you’re like the original, you’re O.G. Guy

According to Albert Hermans:

When I’m speaking to a prospective franchise owner my job is to be the front porch of the franchise organization. When we let somebody into our club, or our house, if you will, it’s going to be because they’re the right fit. And not every brand is the right fit for not every individual because every individual is different, and every brand is different. Any franchise relationship starts with the franchisor, the guy or gal in my position standing on the front porch, being really clear about what it is that the brand can offer a prospective candidate and communicating it to the coaches and the clients as well. The franchisor says, here are our values, here are the things that we’re able to offer. And then the candidate says, Yep, I identify with them. And it winds up being a great relationship. That’s one of the reasons why I like franchising is because it’s not lonely at all. You’re an entrepreneur, you have content, control and direction. But you’ve got a network of many, many others that are running the business alongside of you, plus the corporate support as well. Love franchising for that. An opportunity to learn from people that had been there and done that. We’re the number one rated flooring company in North America by customer service standards. And that’s not just because I say so it’s measured by net promoter score. We are the Ritz Carlton of the flooring industry, like the best of the best. And there’s a couple of different reasons why I’m going to tell you that it starts with just the fundamentals of us being a decentralized franchise model, we’ve got local ownership for all of our outlets that are going to bump into their customers at the supermarket. But more than that, our franchise owners we bring into the organization identify with the idea that the bar is set so low in the home remodeling industry. People have terrible connotations and thoughts when it comes to a contractor coming to their house. We bring franchise owners into this business that bring soft skills to a dirty industry, we can really stand out. And so that’s how we become the best flooring company in North America.

More About our Host, Melissa Pang