Salemcarpets

In 1986, Mike O'neill was a hiring manager at SalemCarpets.  His vision was to double the size of the SalemCarpets field sales force (Stainmaster was under development at Salem Carpets in a joint effort between DuPont and Salem).  Mike O'Neill's dream was to develop a first rate sales training program to prepare for the massive increase in salespeople as a result of the Stainmaster launch.  Mike O'Neill hired Michael Hilton, Chris Roehm, Mark Hasselwander, and Mike Maxey as the first salespeople to begin this ambitious training program.

Mike's energy and passion enabled Salem to develop this world-class training program (Mike built this program in addition to his daily responsibilities) and the rest is history. Salem became one of the most dominant carpet manufacturers of the late 1980's and became a key competitor to Shaw.  Each of these four original salespeople went on to highly successful sales and management careers with Salem. The training I received, as a result of this program, enabled me to earn a position with CRI.

During this initial period when Stainmaster was released,  Salem changed its' customer focus from selective distribution to mass distribution in each local market. During this period 1986-1989, my local Indianapolis market increased sales from $1.5 million to $3.5 million  We became Shaw's primary competitor.  In 1990, Shaw offered me a position in Miami to manage Miami Rug for Evans Black.  Coming out of a cold Indianapolis winter, the offer seemed like paradise.  Three years later Hurricane Andrew took some of the shine off of this south Florida market.  Six months after Hurricane Andrew, I went to work for CRI in communicating the message of the Carpet Industry, as a whole.

Michael Hilton

706-463-2168