Occasionally, we encounter people who have the uncanny ability to look at a paint chip, roofing tile, or flooring sample and immediately—and accurately—visualize how this piece would look once in their own home. The rest of us benefit greatly from having the ability to analyze the subtle effects of lighting at various times of day and the interplay between a sample and the colors it will be installed against. For this reason, we strongly suggest that retailers and manufacturers carry take-home flooring samples.
Do You Carry an Expansive Range? Consider Sample Boards.
While you aren’t going to hand over sample boards for your clients to keep, it can be incredibly helpful to offer sample boards of similar flooring shades for your more indecisive customers to borrow and compare inside their homes. This extra step may be what sets your level of customer care apart from your competitors, especially for those clients who are hesitant to make such a big decision without feeling fully informed.
Urge Clients to Consider Lighting
Lighting is a factor with a big impact on how flooring appears. When you give clients flooring samples to take home, ask them to look at the sample under lamplight, in the morning, in full daylight, and in natural light just before dusk.
While this applies most to wood and wood-look flooring, it can be nearly as important for natural stone, ceramic tile, porcelain tile, and mosaic glass, since these materials come to life under the broad spectrum of daylight while appearing slightly less vibrant under artificial light.
Ultimately, you want to be sure your client will love their flooring choice in every type of lighting under which they’ll view their floors.
Ask Them to Take a Step Back
Instruct your clients to place their samples or sample board on the floor and then take a step back. Next, have them take several steps back. Finally, they should view the samples from the furthest distance they can manage without leaving the room. This process will literally serve to give your client perspective.
Have Your Clients Rotate Flooring Samples
Wood and wood-look flooring usually has a clear grain. Your client should rotate their sample so that light from the nearest window catches the grain from both the long side and the wide side. Next, they should again step back gradually to examine how the light affects the grain.
The Advantage of Isolating Samples
Even if your client first needs to borrow a full sample board, eventually they will benefit from being able to lay individual samples on the floor at a time. The reason for this is that samples will “borrow” color from those surrounding them as they reflect light back onto each other. Even if your client is happy with a sample when it’s surrounded by others on the board, they may be surprised by how much saturation and hue can alter when their sample is isolated.
Why Exalt Samples?
We pride ourselves on our unrivaled work ethic, high sense of responsibility, and dedication to excellence. We manufacture our sample displays, sample boards, and sample strap sets here in our Texas factory.
If you have questions about our capabilities, turnaround time, or ability to create custom products, please contact us.