- I think technology has had a major impact on your ability to compete as a flooring retailer that you didn't have and you can be the star of your market. Good morning Jason, welcome
to Sarasota and FloorForce. - Good morning John, thanks for having me. I always enjoy being here. - Awesome, so listen, you talk to hundreds and hundreds of retailers, as I do. What do you think about the
environment that we're in today, and the prognosis for
flooring retailers in growing their business in the environment that we're in today? - Well, I think it's a
great environment right now to be in the flooring business. I think we're in a good market. But I think things have changed. I think technology has had a major impact on your ability to compete
as a foreign retailer that you didn't have in the past. So if we go back 10, 15, 20 years ago, if you wanted to compete
against the big guys, your marketing choices were TV,
radio, newspaper, billboard. Where today you have all
these digital choices that allow you the
ability to spend what's a comfortable amount of money for you in a specific marketplace. You want these five zip
codes and you want to hit this type of target, you can do that. In other words you can
compete with the big boys while at the same time still having that local flavor of who you are. So today you should be able to compete better than you ever have before. - That's great insight. I mean, that's one of the
things that we try to express to independent flooring retailers is listen, when you're
looking at these giants, the Home Depots of the
world, the Floor & Decors, the Empires, their target market is the entire map of the
United States, right? But for most retailers, they have one or they have two stores. They're really looking at
a small segment of the map. And what our goal is to own that backyard. Listen, you're the
neighbor of these people. And what digital marketing is moving to, especially with Facebook and Google, we actually can identify
who is actively looking for floor covering in the market and we can put our ads directly
in front of these people. - Yeah, and to build on that,
the ability to specifically target exactly who you want,
whether you're a big retailer or small retailer, pick
the right partners. You can do some great
things in your marketplace. - What would your advice be to that person who has that hesitation about moving their company to the next level? - The first thing everyone
needs to understand is that the world we live in is changing and it's changing at a very rapid pace, and you have to basically be
able to make those decisions that are in the best interest
for you and your company. You have to get outta your comfort zone, you're going from how things were to where things need to be. Technology's changing the world. Everyone knows that,
you see it everywhere. But for some reason, in flooring, we're slower to react, and we need to quit being slow, we need to
act and we need to act fast. And you have to either decide
to be part of that or not and if you're not, good luck, because chances are you're not gonna grow and you're gonna die a slow death. Or, you can decide to get with it and you can be the star of your market. So it's up to you, but make the decision, stick with the decision,
you gotta run with it. - What are your feelings about
E-commerce and this industry? - So E-commerce is like
a hot button topic, because let's face it, consumers are buying a lot of things online. Flooring is a huge investment that requires professional installation. And there's a lot of things
that have to go right. So when I look at E-commerce and I'm talking to these retailers,
and they want my opinion on it, well first we have to look at the retailer and look at
who you're up against. You can't take forty thousand
products and put em on your catalog and hope to have
any level of success against the big companies -
the Amazons, the Wayfairs. So if you're adamant,
if you're just dead-set on doing E-commerce,
then perhaps you need to take a set of products
that maybe you stock and have a section of your website that just focuses on those for just local, where someone can go on
your website and order it and then pick it up at your store, or maybe you run it out
and deliver it to em. But you're dealing with a smaller SKU set. I'm gonna build a 75
thousand dollar website and then realize I gotta
put 50 thousand dollars in marketing and digital advertising. You quickly realize,
well, I don't even spend 75 thousand dollars on my current website, and I don't put anywhere near
that in digital marketing. Why don't you invest that in
key assets in your business that you can actually
make a difference on? And you gotta figure out what
your company's built to do. Amazon's gonna get theirs,
you gotta figure out how to get yours. So my advice to people's focus on the things that you can control. I always advise them, why don't you look at in-home shopping? There's a segment of the market that you can compete in in your arena and probably do it better than
anyone else in your market. - So, you believe that shop at home may be an alternative for
someone that's looking to expand their business,
but keeping it within the wheelhouse of the
assets that they have. - Somewhat, I think
that in-home shopping is an invaluable asset that
every flooring dealer needs to have in their arsenal. There's companies that
focus exclusively on that. But think about this, you have
showroom, you have in-home, you have to go to Mrs. Jones'
house anyways to measure, so you might as well just give
her that whole experience. By the way as a foreign retailer, when you're doing those things, you're gonna put yourself in a better position to make that sale. - What made you successful? How are you wired? What makes you successful at
running a flooring business and now a software business,
what is it that you think is the characteristic about
you that's different than the 10 thousand other people that run flooring businesses? - I think at my core I'm an operator, and that's what I like to do. I like to look at things
and I like to see, how can we make this work better? What can I tinker with? What can I do? And it's more than, look,
you have problem identifiers, and you have problem solvers. I identify and I solve those. So one of my characteristics,
and this is just me, is I will get in there with the team. So you may get nervous when I show up, like well, what's Jason gonna see? Well he's gonna see
everything that's wrong. But then he's gonna work with you and he's gonna help you fix it to where my relationship with my employees, no one's scared of me once
they realize who I am and what we're doing they realize this is all about team, he's gonna work with us. I'm an operator and
that's what allows me to operate businesses and
make them successful. - [John] Well it obviously works. - It works very well. - But I'm wondering, with a
highly successful business as big as it is in flooring,
and now a really highly successful software company, who are you, what do you do outside
of these two things? Who is Jason Goldberg? - Look, I'm married, I've
got a son who's one year and about three months old and you know that's the pride of my life and I spend time with my family and I work. I enjoy traveling with my friends. I take a couple trips with my good friends from high school and college. I love raising my son, I love
spending time with my wife. But I'm unique in the
fact that I love to work. When people ask my wife,
what's Jason's hobby? She'll tell em, his hobby's working. And to me, that's fine.
Some people hate working. I happen to be one of those
people that I love working. Maybe it's because the
areas that I work in, I love what I do, you know I
love the flooring business. I love the technology business and those are my two main businesses. I also have a real estate company, but those are the two
that I focus on the most and I just really enjoy doing it. - Great talking to you Jason. While you're here in Sarasota Florida hopefully you get out to the beach and you figure out a way not to work - - OK. - for a little bit of your time here. But I appreciate the time with you. I look forward to moving
on with our partnership. And thanks again. - Alright, thanks John.
- Yep. (powerful music) (click) (zooming
