Hardwood Floors February/March 2026

By Seth Gladden

They are deciding between doing it themselves or hiring a professional. Their hardwood-related questions are simple: • Will my home be respected? • Will this be dusty? • Will the color turn out right? • Will repairs blend in? • Can I trust the crew in my house? • Is the investment worth it? Here’s the challenge: unless you want to knock on random doors and ask people if they want their wood floors replaced or refinished, how do you reach the right customers, earn their trust, and help them say yes? One of the best ways is video.

In my college days, I got a summer job selling home security systems door to door. Before they ever let us loose on a neighborhood, they flew us to corporate for a full week of training, where I learned everything about the equipment. Every sensor, every wire, every circuit. And even though I was training as a sales rep, I knew how to install it, troubleshoot it, and explain it in a way that would make an engineer proud. Which, of course, became a problem. During my first week on the job, I’d knock on a door, get into a home, start the sales walk-through, and a homeowner would point to a motion detector and ask, “So how does that work?” And I would light up. “Well, it uses a dual infrared sensor that tracks heat

signatures across multiple motion zones…” Somewhere in the middle of that sentence, their eyes would glaze over. I almost could see the sale floating away. I had made something simple sound complicated and scary. When I told my sales manager what was happening, he laughed and gave me something new to try. The next day, another homeowner asked the same question. “How does the motion detector work?” I said, “Really well.” That was it. That was all they wanted. Not a technical lesson. Not a schematic. Just reassurance that it worked. So, what does any of this have to do with selling and installing wood floors? Everything. Because no matter the industry, we all get hit with the curse of knowledge. The more we learn, the harder it becomes to imagine what it’s like not to know the details. When you install or refinish hardwood, you think about substrate prep, moisture, layout, sanding sequences, species behavior, dust containment, repairs, color consistency, and finishing systems. Homeowners do not.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SETH GLADDEN | THE GLADDEN GROUP

the magazine of the national wood flooring association

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