If you are in the sanitary supply business, you know that two areas of great concern are keeping abreast of market trends, and government regulation. These two topics go hand-in-hand in determining a distributor’s approach to sales strategies and product lines.

A large percentage of distributors’ and suppliers’ sales are related to floor care chemicals and equipment. In recent years, the biggest trend by far has been the increase in the use of hard surface and resilient floor coverings. For a number of reasons, carpeting has been losing market share to hard surface floors. Consumers in all markets are finding that some hard floors have certain advantages over carpet, including longer life cycles, ease of maintenance, and improved indoor environmental quality.

What hard surface floors are popular? All of the following: resilient vct and sheet goods, concrete, wood (including engineered and pre-finished), laminates, stone, ceramic, and specialty floors, such as rubber, cork, and leather.

One reason for the increased interest in these floors is the variety among and within each floor type. Floors with natural colors and tones such as stone and wood are now fashionable. Even some resilient and laminate floors are being manufactured to look and have texture that resembles their more expensive stone and wood counterparts.

Product Demand
The result of this trend is the need for products to maintain these popular hard surface floors. That trend is combined with people’s growing interest in healthier and safer floor care products. The “green” product revolution has been slow to develop, but overall, there is increased interest among end users for green products that are safe to use and safe for the environment.

The U.S. Federal Government has enacted laws and implemented regulations that are intended to reduce pollution of the outdoor environment, including water and air. The other area of concern for safe chemical use is the indoor environment, and indoor air quality.

In recent years, the Federal Trade Commission has released “Guides For The Use Of Environmental Marketing Claims,” as an aid in determining what chemicals and products actually live up to their claims. For more information, visit the Federal Trade Commission's website.

Another action that is driving use of environmentally safe products is the effort federal agencies are making to purchase and promote the use of green products and reduce waste by changing regulations for packaging and recycling. This was initiated by two executive orders, #12873 and #13101, issued by President Clinton.

As a result of these executive orders, federal regulatory agencies have funded research on environmentally preferred purchasing (EPP), and subsequently published reports that can be used as models for states, counties and municipalities. What starts at the federal level eventually filters down to the local level with regard to environmental health and safety guidelines.

The result of these reports is that they serve as blueprints for federal and state agencies to implement their own environmentally preferred purchasing programs for cleaning products, including floor care chemicals.

The impact of these models has been dramatic. Large federal agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Defense, U.S. Postal Service, and other agencies have joined together in the “Cleaning Products Pilot Project” (CPPP). This project compares so-called green products. The agencies share the information, and then purchase environmentally preferred cleaning products and floor care chemicals accordingly.

The end result is that more federal, state, and local government contracts are including specifications requiring cleaning chemicals to meet environmentally preferred standards. Sanitary suppliers and distributors who bid on contracts with such government agencies must provide products that meet these established standards.

Saving the Environment
The trend and need is for environmentally preferred floor care chemicals. As a result, many end users are changing their purchasing habits and not buying such products as metal-interlocking floor finishes. Finishes and coatings with formulations that include heavy metals such as zinc are not considered to be environmentally preferred. Zinc may be great for improving durability of floor coatings, but it is not so great for water treatment systems when poured down the drain into local sewer systems. Disposal into sewers of spent stripping solutions that contain zinc — especially in large amounts — is of concern to municipalities, since zinc residues can kill bacteria that digest matter in water treatment plants. This is why metal-interlocking formulations are not as popular in some markets as they used to be.

Large corporations and businesses in the private sector are following the lead of federal and state government agencies in advocating the use of these green chemicals. A major change in the cleaning chemical market is the use of fewer petroleum-based products, such as solvents. Over time green products will gradually replace the petroleum-based chemicals in use today with natural seed-based products, which are less polluting, and emit fewer volatile organic compounds (VOCS). Slip-resistant floor coatings are also being refined and improved to help prevent slip-fall accidents, which is a huge concern in all public facilities and retail stores.

The challenges are great but so are the potential rewards. The main objectives end users are striving to meet include use of floor care chemicals that improve the appearance of floors and meet health and sanitation requirements, yet are safe to use and safe for the environment.

The rise in popularity of hard surface and resilient floors, along with the growing demand for environmentally preferred products, has spurred research and development of products that meet these combined demands.

To sell floor care products effectively, distributors must also have a knowledge of different floor coverings, and what systems and products are required to maintain them. It is imperative that sales representatives are trained so they are familiar with proper floor care chemical specification in relation to floor type. Not selling the proper chemical product for a particular floor can produce bad results.

Sad Consequences
For example, a school custodian told of an incident in which the school district’s maintenance supervisor was convinced to buy a concrete sealer to use on a rubber gymnasium floor. The sanitary supply salesman emphasized the big cost savings in switching from a specialized coating for use on rubber floors to the less-expensive topical concrete sealer. After a lot of work to prepare the gym floor, the cheaper concrete sealer was applied. Unfortunately, the results soon proved disastrous. The finish checked and cracked on such a scale that the entire floor needed refinishing in only two weeks. Sadly, the school maintenance budget didn’t allow for another recoat of the gym floor until the winter break. School employees and students had to look at the ugly floor for several months.

The end result was the loss of a long-time and lucrative contract with the school district for the distributor, and plenty of negative press by the maintenance supervisor at regional maintenance conferences.

Knowledge is power, and training in floor coverings and their proper maintenance, along with safety and health issues is a must. It’s not enough to train your own people, however. End users need training also in the use of the floor care chemicals and equipment you provide them.

Employers know that ongoing training programs with their employees help ensure better job production, work quality, and lower employee turnover rates. Offering a certified floor care technician course is an opportunity for sanitary suppliers and distributors to fill this need. Having the best floor care equipment and supplies is useless unless they know how to properly use them.

This need can be met by offering hard surface floor maintenance training to end users. Recently, the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) established a certification program that offers training in hard-surface and resilient floors. This certification is long overdue, and the number of approved instructors is increasing to meet the demand, as it has in years past for the carpet cleaning industry.

Information for sponsoring or attending a certified floor care technician training program in your area can be obtained from the IICRC at (360) 693-5675, and through their website.

For those who are willing to keep abreast of these trends in hard surface floor care and invest the time in training, the sky’s the limit for sales to government agencies and to the private sector. Knowledge and floor care products that fit the end user’s needs are a powerful combination that will give your business traction over your competitors and help establish long-term sales relationships.

Glen Franklin is the owner of Franklin Floor Care in Snohomish, Wash., and is a certified hard surface inspector, consultant and trainer in the floor-care industry.




POSTED ON: 5/1/2001