After finishing a job, a customer once told us “You guys are real Houdinis.”
They had just moved to Wisconsin and were renovating the old house they had bought. I guess they compared us to the most famous magician of all time because they thought we worked magic—turning the house’s timeworn floors into gorgeous flooring that looked like new.
Because they were new to the area, they didn’t realize the local connection they were making. Harry Houdini moved to Appleton in 1874 when he was a toddler, and he always claimed Appleton as his hometown, even after he moved with his family to New York City in 1887.
However, Houdini’s Wisconsin connections weren’t the first thing I thought about when I heard that comment from our pleased customers.
What came to mind were the similarities between Houdini’s approach to his craft and the way we think about appearance when we install or restore hardwood floors.
Houdini didn’t actually alter reality; he altered perceptions. In fact, throughout his career, Houdini actively sought to expose fake “mediums” and “spiritualists” who fooled people into thinking that the tricks they saw were supernatural.
It’s the same with hardwood floors. You can alter perception, but there’s also the reality of the floor’s quality.
By making the right choices about color, sheen, texture, board size, etc., homeowners can consciously create a certain perception. When these characteristics are combined together in the right way, the desired “illusion” can be achieved.
With hardwood floors, I would use terms such as “tone,” “ambiance,” and “character” instead of “illusion,” but the idea is the same—controlling various aspects of appearance to create a certain perception.
However, unlike the charlatans Houdini disliked, Ralph’s Hardwood Floors never misleads homeowners into thinking they have something that they really don’t. We don’t try to hide reality behind perception.
For example, we advise against the use of cheap engineered hardwood that has a poor quality finish and a very thin layer of hardwood above the engineered material. Those floors might look great for a little while, but soon they look shabby, and because there’s not enough hardwood to re-sand, the only option is new flooring. Where’s the “magic” in that?
There are no tricks in what we do for customers—unless you count knowledge, experience, craftsmanship, and dedication.
Nonetheless, it felt great to be compared to Houdini. Perception isn’t reality, but it is a big part of customer satisfaction, and it was comforting to know we were able to work our “magic” to get it right.
To learn more about Harry Houdini, visit the Houdini exhibit in the History Museum at the Castle in Appleton.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia, tmolini. Available under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.
