What’s the problem?

Posted QLeave a commentPosted in furniture, marketing, mattresses

Have you heard this before?: “The experience of buying a new mattress is worse than buying a new car.”

Not only have I heard it, but I have seen it show up more than once in market research. It is true that there are some pushy sales people out there who aren’t interested in helping consumers solve a problem, but are more concerned about making the sale. I have seen retail sales associates (also known as RSAs) ignore customers when they walk in, give bad information as it relates to the products they are selling, talk badly about their competition, wear crappy looking clothes and just flat out add no value to the process. (more…)

The Power of Community

Posted Q2 CommentsPosted in creativity, marketing

We just finished up what was, in my opinion, a great industry conference in St. Petersburg, Florida. The International Sleep Products Association (ISPA) hosts this event every year for manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers in the bedding business. The goal is to get everyone together to discuss what is going on in the mattress industry and to take back information that will drive our businesses. There are a lot of things I could talk about to recap last week, such as the great speakers or the power of connecting with other industry professionals and how much you can learn from one another. Instead, I am going to talk about something a little more constructive.

This year, around 200 people attended the ISPA conference.

Where in the hell was everybody? (more…)

Home Sweet Home?

Posted QLeave a commentPosted in furniture, marketing, mattresses

I know that we have our own issues in the mattress world, but the furniture guys are in worse shape than we are.

Consider that the mattress guys spend significantly more money on national advertising to promote our brands. By this, I don’t mean the coop funds that manufacturers give to retailers to swing the door. I am talking about honest-to-goodness national buys that go towards building the brand and building value in the products that we sell. We have people out there talking about the direct connection between our products and the real benefits of using our products, like better sleep, which leads to better life. Where are the furniture producers? (more…)

News flash: Men sleep too!

Posted Q6 CommentsPosted in creativity, marketing, mattresses

We have been talking about how to sell beds to female consumers for years now. In fact, most everything we do or say, as it relates to marketing mattresses to customers, revolves around women. It’s understandable: Across all research, women make up the vast majority of buying decisions. According to a recent Furniture Today poll, retailers believe that percentage to be closer to 88 percent as it relates specifically to a mattress. (more…)

All or Nothing

Posted Q2 CommentsPosted in creativity, marketing

I pretty much suck at golf. Actually, I’m not horrible but it seems like I can never put it all together. When I am hitting my driver well, my putting is off; when my short game is working, my irons don’t show up. Think about your “business game”: Is it all coming together? If you are going to maximize your opportunities in this industry, you have to figure out how to get it all working at the same time. (more…)