Remember your first blankie and how much you loved that thing? My kids both grew up with blankies and had a very hard time when we told them they could no longer take them everywhere. When I was young, my father and grandfather talked me into throwing mine into a campfire one night. This sounds cruel, but I think it was just their way to implement a new John Wayne approach to parenting. It failed in a big way. After the flames died down and I realized what had actually happened, I had what people here in Southwest Missouri refer to as a “come apart.” My dad got his butt kicked by my mom, so I guess it all evens out.

Do you have things you are emotionally attached to? I do to this day – like a dress shirt my buddy John Rachid gave me 15 years ago, or my Red Wing boots from my college days. I bring this up because I really wonder if people think this way about their mattresses. Are people as connected to that item as they could be? Does anybody name a mattress so they can say things like, “I can’t wait to get home and spend some quality time on Wilma.” Okay, be careful with the naming thing. It could get you into some trouble but you get what I am saying here.

We sell products that people have in their most private spaces, and spend 5-8 hours a day with. It is the place where people go to relax, let go, and rejuvenate. It is a product that hugs them at the end of the day and gives them comfort. It is also the place where they share the most intimate moments of their lives with their significant other. One would think that people would be very attached to this item, but I bet you money they would rank their sofa higher on the list of furniture they would not want to let go of.

Should we care if people are not emotionally connected to their mattress? I think so. I see it as a big miss if they aren’t, actually. The more people think, and more importantly, FEEL this way, the higher our product climbs on the must-have list. If we get on that list, then the money they are willing to spend on a mattress increases, so I say let’s get emotional. If we think about this hard enough, I am sure we can come up with some ways to tell our story differently so that our customers get downright silly over it. Everybody should have a name for their mattress, don’t you think?

Parting thought: When we had our first church service in our new building after rebuilding from the tornado, people were walking around talking about how much they loved the new worship center. Our pastor got on stage and said, “I hear you saying how much you love our new space, but remember we don’t love things…we only love what can love us back.” So maybe we don’t want them to love their mattress, but it would be nice to get them into a very deep sense of like with our products.

So what things do you carry with you from your past that you are emotionally connected to? Do you still have your blankie on shelf in a box? Tell me more in the comments section.