RetailerNOW - JAN 2016 by RetailerNOW

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JANUARY2016

TAKE 5! January To Do List

1 Boost your sale’s sales. 10 2 Take your message on the road. 22

3 Keep business fresh. 32 4 Better worker reviews. 34 5 Reduce shipping costs. 36

10 WHAT’S INSIDE 2. 4. 18. 24. 28. 30. 32. 36. 38. 48. 50.

NAHFA President’s Letter Editor’s Note Member Portrait: Cynthia Heathcoe Product Focus: Home Office Furniture Next Generation: Eddy Morris Take 2: Store Re-Design Family Matters: Reaching New Heights Member Benefit: Shipping Costs RRC Guide: NAHFA Seminars & Exhibitors Government Action: Advocate for You NAHFA Community

DEPARTMENTS Cover Story 10. Secrets to a Great Sale Operations 14. 22. 34. 44. 46.

Experience Matters Your Message on Your Trucks Employee Performance Reviews Avoid Mattress Haggling 10 Costly Trademark Mistakes

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JANUARY | 2016

“ President Jeff Child RC Willey

Your market has a free choice, and only by supplying what the market wants, and not by your efforts to impose your merchandise, will you get your maximum share of the market’s potential. — Walter H. Lowy

President-Elect Steve Kidder Vermont Furniture Galleries

New leader (me), same focus (you)

Vice President Jim Fee Stoney Creek Furniture Secretary/Treasurer Sherry Sheely Sheely’s Furniture

Executive Staff

Jeff Child NAHFA President

Mary Frye Executive Vice President mfrye@NAHFA.org Membership Staff Kaprice Crawford Membership Team Leader kcrawford@NAHFA.org Jordan Boyst jboyst@NAHFA.org Sherry Hansen shansen@NAHFA.org Michael Hill mhill@NAHFA.org Jana Sutherland jsutherland@NAHFA.org Dianne Therry dtherry@NAHFA.org Please call 800.422.3778 for membership inquires. Contact Us RetailerNOW 3910 Tinsley Dr., Suite 101 High Point, NC 27265

appy New Year! January is a great time to look back and, just as important, ahead. Back to 2015 to celebrate our successes and realize where we can improve. Ahead to a new year with fresh ideas and challenges in 2016. Looking back on 2015 and the North American Home Furnishing Association’s second full year, I’m impressed with the progress we’ve made: a successful conference in Orlando, influential lobbying in Washington D.C., regional events both educational and fun, Next Gen mentoring programs where tomorrow’s leaders spent time with other successful retailers, and other programs. I’m excited about 2016 and our annual Home Furnishings Networking Conference being held in Long Beach, Calif. The conference gets better every year so I encourage you to sign up soon if you haven’t already. The NAHFA will continue our lobbying efforts in Washington to be a voice representing our industry. We will continue with our Next Gen programs and our regional events, as well as offer great services and seminars in our Retailer Resource Centers (RRCs) at High Point and Las Vegas markets. We’re working on other new and exciting programs and services for NAHFA members. Even with so many programs and events, the question has been asked, “Why should my company join or stay in the NAHFA?” RC Willey has been a member of the NHFA, WHFA, and now NAHFA for more than 30 years. We have been in performance groups and are currently in a buying group and meet annually to discuss advertising ideas with other retailers. In those 30 years, our relationship with the association has changed as we have changed. When our company was smaller, the programs the association offered were important to us. As our company has grown, the association has remained relevant, but for different reasons. We get value from the things we learn at the conferences, by supporting our industry with Washington lobbyists, and from the networking with other retailers, large and small. If you’re attending Las Vegas market, stop by our RRC (B-1050) and find out how you can get more involved—or pick up the phone and call us. The goal of the NAHFA is to make our industry more visible and make you more profitable. I’m excited to be part of that. I hope you are, too!

Chairman Marty Cramer Cramer’s Home Furnishings

Sharron Bradley Chief Executive Officer sbradley@NAHFA.org

RetailerNOWmag.com 800.422.3778

Jeff Child jeff.child@rcwilley.com Twitter.com/retailerNOW Facebook.com/retailerNOW Pinterest.com/retailerNOW

JANUARY | 2016

”

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JANUARY | 2016

“

An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all. —Elbert Hubbard

RETAILERNOW STAFF Lisa Casinger Editorial Director lcasinger@nahfa.org Robert Bell Editor rbell@nahfa.org

”

Here’s to a New Year (and new ideas!)

Tim Timmons Art Director ttimmons@nahfa.org

nyone who has met with El Dorado Furniture’s leaders in South Florida for even a short time knows there is a purpose and plan behind everything the company does. I was fortunate to spend a few days with El Dorado’s leaders as part of the North America Home Furnishings Association’s Leadership Immersion Program in Miami last fall. The takeaway for me and several of the Next Generation members who attended was that nearly every business decision made by El Dorado is made with the customer in mind. Well, maybe not every decision. My favorite story from my visit was Manuel Capo’s ice cream giveaway. As family members tell it today, Manuel, who escaped Cuba and started El Dorado in 1967, gave any customer who left his store without buying furniture a carton of ice cream. It was Manuel’s way of saying thanks for dropping by. Of course, a carton of ice cream in a car doesn’t last long in South Florida, which meant customers had to choose between Neapolitan and shopping another furniture store. Like I said, a purpose and plan behind everything. I’m not suggesting you invest in a freezer filled with ice cream (especially if your home furnishings store is in Minnesota). But what I am suggesting is that there be a purpose and plan behind everything you do. These days, “because we’ve always done it that way” isn’t good enough. Here’s to a New Year and trying something new in your store. Just make sure there’s a purpose.

Lynn Orr Business Development Lorr@nahfa.org Sydnee Funke Webmaster sfunke@nahfa.org RETAIL ADVISORY TEAM Carol Bell Contents Interiors Tucson, Ariz.

Robert Bell Editor, RetailerNOW

Travis Garrish Forma Furniture Fort Collins, Colo. Rick Howard Sklar Furnishings Boca Raton, Fla. Mike Luna Pedigo’s Furniture Livingston, Texas Andrew Tepperman Tepperman's Windsor, Ontario This Month’s Contributors

Karen Hornfeck, Jeff Giagnocavo, Julie Winkle Giulioni, Kelley Keller, Jordan Lapekas, Gerry Morris, Wayne Rivers, and Martin Roberts.

Robert Bell rbell@nahfa.org

CORRECTION Subscription: $70/year RetailerNOW, ISSN# 2166-5249, is published monthly (except March and December) by the North American Home Furnishings Association, 500 Giuseppe Court, Ste. 6, Roseville, CA 95678. POSTMASTER: Address changes to: RetailerNOW, North American Home Furnishings Association, 500 Giuseppe Court, Ste. 6, Roseville CA 95678. If you would like to stop receiving RetailerNOW, please send an email to RNOWunsubscribe@nahfa.org.

A profile of Next Generation NOW member Kaitlin Surdoval in last month’s RetailerNOW misquoted Surdoval, the marketing manager at Storis. Surdoval actually said, “Retailers focus on investing more in marketing and advertising than technology.”

© 2016 North American Home Furnishings Association. Published by the North American Home Furnishings Association. Material herein may not be reproduced, copied or reprinted without prior written consent of the publisher. Acceptance of advertising or indication of sponsorship does not imply endorsement of publisher or the North American Home Furnishings Association. The views expressed in this publication may not reflect those of the publisher, editor or the North American Home Furnishings Association, and North American Retail Services Corp. Content herein is for general information only; readers are encouraged to consult their own attorney, accountant, tax expert and other professionals for specific advice before taking any action.

JANUARY | 2016

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z GOOD TO KNOW

American retailers spend more on digital advertising than any other industry, according to eMarketer, and they also lead all verticals in programmatic spending. “Programmatic” ad buying typically refers to the use of software to purchase digital advertising, as opposed to the traditional process that involves human negotiations and manual insertion orders. In other words, it’s using machines to buy ads. Although this type of advertising is growing, programmatic ad buying is also widely misunderstood. Programmatic ads include six basic deal types: 1.

Open marketplace RTB (real-time bidding)

Private marketplace (PMP)

Private marketplace guaranteed (PMPG)

Automated guaranteed (AG)

Automated performance (AP)

Spot buying

“Marketers can use programmatic buying to reach their

audience across display, video, mobile and native, and across multiple devices,” says Eric Bosco, CEO of programmatic ad firm ChoiceStream. “Using the real-time insights generated from your programmatic buy, marketers can evaluate what’s working best—which geographies, times of day, audience segments, publishers—to narrow their target accordingly, so they’re paying only for highly effective ads. Marketers will also gain insight into who is actually converting and if that isn’t their target audience, the ability to discover new and undiscovered audiences.” Trust and transparency of programmatic ads is often brought up as a concern among retailers, particularly image-conscious luxury retailers. Marketers not knowing where their ads will show up creates concern the ads might appear on undesirable sites. Bosco, however, urges marketers should look beyond this concern and focus on conversion rates and results. According to Aaron Kaliner of programmatic media-buying platform company Rocket Fuel, this year “luxury retailers will realize that they can bring programmatic and audience buying to their publisher relationships and get great performance and efficiency.”

z COOL APPS Homebase (joinhomebase.com/retail)

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Spend less time on paperwork, and more time with customers. This app schedules shifts, tracks employee hours and labor costs in real time, and allows you to approve vacation requests with one tap. Also, keep an eye on your store from anywhere using the mobile app to see who is clocked-in, track breaks, and message your team. App is free; available for iOS, Android. Base features including Time Clock, Timesheets, and Employee Scheduling are free. Prices for additional features range from $9.95/mo for essentials to $79.95/mo for enterprise.

JANUARY | 2016

The TripIt app consolidates your travel plans into a single itinerary and manages all of your travel information, regardless of what website you used to purchase your ticket. Through TripIt, you can check departure times, directions to the airport, and even weather reports. It will even notify you about any delays. App is free; available for iOS, Android. Prices for additional features are $49/mo for TripIt Pro., whose many features allows you look up the aircraft of your flights to find seats that have the most space. Want to share a cool app? Drop us a line at rbell@nahfa.org

RetailerNOWmag.com

JANUARY | 2016

NAHFACHAT

TOPSHELF

Why Should Zappos Have All The Fun?

How do you handle a disgruntled customer?

Lisa Stephenson VITA Lighting Inc. High Point, North Carolina “Never be afraid of an unhappy customer. It’s how we learn. I truly believe it’s an opportunity to earn a long-term, loyal customer. We do this with three steps: listen, validate, and WOW. Listen to the customer and what they have to say. Don’t make excuses— hear them. Validate that we understand why they are concerned. And the most important step is to WOW them with our response to the problem, go above and beyond.”

Michael Edwards Don Willis Furniture Seattle, Washington “When you have a difficult customer you have to gain their trust and let them know you’re on their side. I just listen and let them air it all out. If they are screaming or cussing or crying, I develop a reason why I have to call them back, to give them time to calm down. Then I offer them two or three solutions and let them make the choice. My goal is to retain the customer, because it costs so much to get a new one. I suck my pride up all day long.”

Linda Harlan Post Harlan’s Furniture & Mattress Gallery Richland Center, Wisconsin “I've learned from experience that the best thing to do is to listen to their complaint, to let them talk, to stay calm, to kill them with kindness — and that usually diffuses the frustration. And then, if it’s reasonable, to honor their request. We try to go out of our way to keep everyone happy. It’s that important. It’s not one of those things I think you should do all the time, but we try to do it in every case.”

JANUARY | 2016

(The Zappos Experience, McGraw-Hill, 258 pages, $25) If you didn’t take advantage of the North American Home Furnishings Association’s offer to tour Zappos’ world headquarters at Las Vegas Market in August and learn how the company is revolutionizing business and customer service, here’s your second chance. Author Joseph Michelli explains how Zappos does it worldwide—and how you can do it in your store. The Zappos Experience takes you through —and beyond—the playful, offbeat company culture Zappos has become famous for. Michelli reveals what occurs behind the scenes at Zappos, showing how employees at all levels operate on a day-today basis while providing the “big picture” leadership methods that have earned the company $1 billion in annual gross sales during the last 10 years—with almost no advertising. Zappos lessons are applicable not only to your home furnishings store, but also to the personal and professional development of people at every level of your store. While the media image of Zappos often portrays an over-thetop playful culture that might not seem applicable in our industry, Michelli challenges you to temporarily suspend your cynicism and explore the possibility that Zappos is neither too casual nor too weird. In fact, employees at Zappos demonstrate a commitment to hard work and excellence that the best companies in the most conservative of industries would envy. Sure, there are style differences that exist; however, the underlying principles that drive success at Zappos will improve both your company and you. Play and fun have served Zappos well. Undoubtedly, fun holds the rich and highly collaborative Zappos culture together. But let’s face it, if Zappos were dedicated only to fun, the company would not be thriving today. The genius of Zappos leaders is the way they blend the fun into the work. The visionary leadership at Zappos understands that work made fun gets done. Moreover, work made fun creates energized, happy and cohesive teams. Generally speaking the overarching benefits for Zappos from creating a culture of play and family connectedness are very consistent with the positive correlations researchers have found. Employees who find playful enjoyment in their workplace have more positive relationships with their peers, make better decisions, are tardy or absent less often and use fewer sick days than employees who aren’t having fun. In essence, fun is serious business at Zappos, and in turn, that fun produces serious business results. Fun at work is not something that can be left to chance or an optional initiative that disappears when things get difficult. Leaders at Zappos have never wavered in their support for a playful culture. Zappos has woven fun and inspiration into a seamless strategy that’s the envy of business leaders. Now that strategy is yours. With The Zappos Experience, Michelli delivers a package for instant success right to your doorstep. All you have to do is open and use it. Book review: summary.com RetailerNOWmag.com

RetailerNOWmag.com

JANUARY | 2016

Secrets to a Successful Sale MOTIVATE If a retailer has a compelling reason—simply because it’s Labor Day doesn’t cut it—shoppers will respond to their sale.

By Robert Bell

ave you heard? Schoenfeld Interiors is having a sale. Not just any sale, mind you, but the semi-annual sale that has loyal customers holding off on their home furnishings purchases until next month when everything in the store—from custom orders to kitchen tables—is one-third off. To say that Schoenfeld will be bustling next month is an understatement. “We do a good amount of business,” says NAHFA member Bob Schoenfeld, whose two Washington stores in Seattle and Bellevue will have extra staff on hand for the increase in traffic and, hopefully, business. “We pay a little price in January with slower sales because our loyal customers know what’s coming, but come February it’s all worth it.” You can hear the excitement, the anticipation in Schoenfeld’s voice, and why not? A good sale goes a long way to curing some of the ills of your store. Customers go home happy, perhaps even willing to come back in a few months to update another room. Commissioned sales associates go home happy, too, with a little more heft to their paycheck. And store owners get a nice shortterm infusion of cash. But retailers know all too well that putting together a successful sale has its risks. Will shoppers show up? Have you targeted the right audience in your advertising? Are your prices too low or, worse, too high? “You can’t just wake up one day and say, we’re going to have a sale,” says Schoenfeld. “I wish it was that easy for us, but it takes a lot of planning, coordinating, and making sure the right message

JANUARY | 2016

gets out to the right people. That’s not always easy to do for a retailer.” Nobody knows this better than Chris Lynch, CEO of furniture sales promotion specialist Lynch Sales. Lynch, whose company puts together promotional events for home furnishings stores, says the secrets to a successful sale are few. But dropping the ball on just one can be the difference between a successful sale and one that’s a dud. “There’s a lot of work in planning a sale and a lot that can wrong,” says Lynch, “but if a promotional event is done correctly you’ll look back and see that the risk is well worth the gain.” Start with the date. The traditional events pegged to the holidays— Memorial Day, Labor Day and Fourth of July—should always be part of your sales calendar, says Lynch. Just remember that you’re not alone. “If everyone else is having the same Labor Day sale, how are you standing out?” asks Bob Nelson. “Why should a shopper focus her attention and money on you when so many other furniture stores are doing exactly what you’re doing that weekend?” Nelson, whose company, Power Retailing, helps stores with promotional events, urges retailers to break free from the calendar and come up with a date on their own. Lynch agrees, and says the fourth quarter is the best time of year to throw a sale. “It’s the busiest time of the year,” Lynch says. “It works for both parties. The retailer wants to make an impact at the end of the year and the consumer typically has more disposable income and seems more in the mood to buy.” Lynch also likes to start a sale on a Tuesday for larger retailers and a Wednesday for smaller retailers. The first two days of the sale are reserved for customers who bring in the private invitation that was

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/ mailed out a week earlier. Lynch can hear the collective groan of home furnishings retailers: you want us to turn away customers who are walking in off the street? “Yes,” he says. “When they hear that you’ll be open to them on Friday, they’ll be back and probably be back early. There are (retailers who are) skeptics to this, but they find religion when their customers are turned away from a sale, but know they can take part in a few days and return. They walk away knowing you’re having a real sale and that it’s not like all the others.” So you’ve settled on a date. Now comes

> Those days of placing an ad in the newspaper and unlocking your doors are gone. Nobody knows this better than the home furnishings retailer, who sees skeptical shoppers and intense competition from big boxes on a daily basis. A successful sale can cure a lot of ills, say Chris Lynch and Bob Nelson, who have helped home furnishings retailers put together profitable events. When done right, a sale can help you find new customers, increase your average sales ticket, and give customers a chance to buy more frequently from your store.

REASON Here’s a checklist to make your next sale a success. Today’s shoppers are savvy and cynical all at once. They need a good reason to shop your store. “You need to show them that this sale is not the same as the one last month or the month before,” says Lynch. “They need to know this sale is different and you need to convey that in your advertising.” Lynch and Nelson say the best sales are tied to a retailer’s business. Think remodeling or re-merchandising.

TIMING

“You can’t just wake up one day and say, we’re going to have a sale… it takes a lot of planning, coordinating, and making sure the right message gets out to the right people. That’s not always easy to do for a retailer.” Bob Schoenfeld, Schoenfeld Interiors

the hard part: what’s your reason for a sale? Lynch cautions retailers to think about the consumer when answering this question. He says it’s difficult for a home furnishings retailer—any retailer, really—to convince consumer’s that the store is motivated to offer good deals. “They’re so jaded at this point because they can’t go anywhere without a sale being advertised,” says Lynch. “A lot of them are looking for reasons not to go.” NAHFA member Bruce Weintraub, who owns Tarpon Furniture in Hudson, Fla., sees first-hand why consumers are often unmotivated to shop for furniture. “Just open the newspaper every Sunday and there are four or five ads or inserts for furniture sales,” he says. “And it’s the same people week after week after week. If I’m a shopper and you give me a price there’s no compelling reason to buy it on the spot. I know I can come back next week or the week after that because I’ve seen how you run a sale, which is to say you’re always having a sale.” Lynch says a good home furnishings sale conveys information to the consumer that

S A L E

Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan

EXCELLENT

Feb/March/April/May/Sept

GOOD

August

FAIR

Of course you can hold a sale any month you please, but let’s face it: some months are better than others. Lynch and Nelson are fans of anytime between October and January. They’re thought to be the best for shoppers because they have a better sense those months of their disposable income. Avoid the summer months—June, July, and August when folks are vacationing. Once you decide when to start your sale, Nelson suggests allowing as much as a month for preparation. That gives you plenty of time to prepare advertising and balance your inventory to ensure a profitable turnover.

PRICING

Markdowns are critical. Nelson says if the majority of your merchandise is new, only a small percentage of your stock needs to be marked down more June/July than 25% to 30%. But if you have old product sitting on the floor or warehouse, Lynch urges you to price it to sell. Often, that might mean at cost. “The idea is to turn your inventory into cash,” he says. “At the end of the sale, what good is all that money you invested in advertising and marketing if that sofa is still sitting on your floor?” Another tip: don’t make customers work to find the price. And don’t have two or three price tags wrapped together showing different prices. One tag, one price Nelson reminds retailers that furniture is not like fine wine; it does not get better with age. “Be aggressive when pricing slow-moving merchandise,” he says.

BAD

KEEP IT FRESH Where is it written that a sale is limited to a weekend—or for that matter a week? Lynch’s staff has been known to put together successful sales that last for a month or longer. Two strategies for making your sale a success each and every day: first, after a few days, close the store down and re-evaluate your inventory. “Find out what’s selling and what’s not and price accordingly,” says Lynch; second, change the showroom around and don’t hesitate to take immediate markdowns if there seems to be little interest in a particular product. Nelson says it’s important for customers not to think the best pieces of furniture have already been sold. Keep your showroom floor filled, he says. Above all, be creative. The greater the hype and selection, the more customers will pay for your goods. Source: Cone Inc.’s “Cause Evolution” Study, 2010; Modern RetailerNOWmag.com OCTOBER | 2015 Marketing Partners 11

DEEP CUTS Make sure your discounts are deep from the start. It doesn’t help to slash prices after the traffic passed you by.

this is not the same old, same old. A good sale convinces consumers that the retailer is motivated to sell. “There’s the obvious ones like going out of business or the store is moving or will soon be undergoing major renovations,” says Lynch. “Those events tell consumers you’re serious about moving product because it also benefits you. The stronger the reason, the stronger the sale.” Getting the message out is important. Lynch suggests a retailer budget 7 percent of their projected sales volume for advertising. Start with your private invitations. These go to current customers in your database or to targeted ZIP codes you want to hear about your sale. Two weeks before the sale Lynch and Nelson suggest meeting with your television and radio reps and putting together a message that speaks to the reason of your sale. “The idea is you need to hammer home the reason,” says Nelson. “Just telling them it’s a remodeling or remerchandising sale isn’t enough. You need to explain it so they see the motivation for your sale.” Lynch offers a caveat: “Don’t just say it, do it,” he warns. “Consumers are smart and have long memories. If you don’t remodel after the sale, they’ll remember—and often by shopping elsewhere.” The most common mistake with any promotional event, says Lynch, comes with pricing. Lynch and Nelson say the retailer needs to be objective, which is not always easy. “Sometimes it’s

JANUARY | 2016

just too emotional for them,” says Lynch. “They look at a piece of furniture and they see their trip to High Point to buy it, the three nights staying at the Marriott and the shipping to get it to the store. By then, they’re too attached. Either they don’t reduce the price enough before the sale or a few days in they’re running around a deserted store with a magic marker and slicing prices. By then it’s too late. You have to load the shotgun while the ducks are still around.” “After all,” says Lynch, “when that sofa you’ve had for two years is still on the floor, what good was the sale?” Lynch believes one reason retailers are hesitant to reduce prices too much is because they look at each piece individually. “They look at each individual item as it sells and then calculate the margin,” he says. One of the benefits of hiring promotional specialists like Lynch or Nelson is their company will have a more objective view of the big picture. “We look at your inventory as a whole,” Lynch says. “Where

RetailerNOWmag.com

a retailer might start with $1 million in inventory and, by the end of the sale have sold $1.4 million, they might be happy with that 40 percent profit margin because theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re more wired to get 40 percent on everything in a sale.â&#x20AC;? Lynch says promotional specialists hired to run a sale sell on strong margins and at cost and are more likely to produce 50-percent margins. Regardless of whether you choose to use a professional promoter or go it yourself with your staff, Lynch and Nelson urge retailers to be bold in their pricing. Another secret: Lynch and Nelson advise retailers to throw a sale that is store-wide and not just for slow-moving product. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nothing gets a shopper to turn around and walk out faster than seeing only a special corner of the store is on sale,â&#x20AC;? says Lynch. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not going to make the same margin on your best sellers, but youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to sell more of them.â&#x20AC;? A professional event run by Lynch or Nelson can be expensive, but with their targeted advertising and aggressive pricing, they often produce. A recent sale at Masinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in Bellevue, Wash., pulled in 8,600 people to the store in six weeks. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not talking business as usual,â&#x20AC;? says Lynch. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A special event creates a buying frenzy. The only downside is youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to sell way too much furniture and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to bust your tail making deliveries. I suspect most retailers are willing to put up with that.â&#x20AC;? Lynch said a good sale like Masinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s can be replicated elsewhere by throwing sales within your sale. In other words, after the first week of the sale, think about closing for a Wednesdayâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;or stay overnightâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and rearranging merchandise, lowering prices even more, adding from your warehouse or ordering even more. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A good sale doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to be over the weekend,â&#x20AC;? says Lynch. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The best sales build on the frenzy first created, and the hype only gets better and better because you are telling them after they bought the dining room set that the $799 sofa they were looking at in passing will be even less, maybe $599 next week. Now youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got a buzz.â&#x20AC;? One of the hidden benefits to a good sale is the special-order business, which can account for more than 40 percent of a storeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overall business during a promotionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s run, says Lynch. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just focus on floor samples,â&#x20AC;? says Lynch. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The margins are higher on special orders and you engage new customers by giving them choices.â&#x20AC;? Schoenfeld says most of his storeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business is special order, which means next monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sale will produce better-than-average margins. Then, he says, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the bonus: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We usually get a few more customers who werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t regular customers that, after the sale, are loyal to us.â&#x20AC;?

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;If Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a shopper and you give me a price thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no compelling reason to buy it on the spot. I know I can come back next week or the week after that because Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen how you run a sale, which is to say youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re always having a sale.â&#x20AC;? Bruce Weintraub, Tarpon Furniture Showrooms

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Experience Matters When it comes to customer experience, Universal Studios is no Disney. What about your store? By Jeff Giagnocavo

ithin one hour of being at Universal Studios for Halloween last year with my family, my children ages 11 and 7 knew. They knew something was off. Perception is everything and it quickly became their reality. Universal Studios just wasn’t Disney World. It just wasn’t the same. There is only one word that is needed to explain why Disney is so much better than Universal Studios when it comes to everything there is to know about a Florida theme park vacation and that is— Comcast. I wondered, during our time in Universal, does Disney in fact own Universal Studios? So I Googled it and found out the answer which immediately made perfect sense. Universal Studios is owned by NBCUniversal which is owned by….Comcast. Yes, that Comcast. The same soul-sucking Internet, phone and cable TV conglomerate that most certainly has a reservation for a direct ticket to hell, complete with eternal damnation and copious amounts of torture. If you don’t have Comcast in your area, likely Time Warner, or AT&T are comparable. In all of our 23 miles of walking over the course of three days, only once did I find a true studio and theme-park experience that made me believe I was actually in the moment, and my kids picked it out, too. I found this little gem buried deep within The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Olivander’s, the shop of magic wands. Here the proprietor matched the participant with a wand, my boys were truly entranced. However that was the only moment, a brief three minutes within three days, in which my boys lost track of where they were at that precise moment in time. How far and wide do your customers need to be from your front door to get that feeling of enchantment and delight? How soon do they get the feeling that transforms them from the begrudging emotion of just shopping to the excitement of transformation and change? Ethan, my oldest, mentioned numerous times that various characters’ costumes were incomplete, their cell phones were noticeable, and the characters in Harry Potter World should be drinking Gillywater and not Gatorade. I said he was right and that I’m sorry he wasn’t completely taken away. I guess Disney is just different. I won’t turn this article into a pitch for how amazing Disney is at the consumer—or in their words, guest—experience, but if you’ve been to Disney you know. And if you haven’t, you should go just for the learning experience (the entertainment and fun aren’t bad either). Time and again we were disappointed with Universal Studios. The park closed earlier than expected. The food and beverage stands closed two to three hours earlier than the actual park, undoubtedly leaving millions of dollars on the table annually. I didn’t ask why, maybe I should have, but it didn’t matter. Ultimately someone else dictated how Universal’s park should be run, and in the end it

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ruined the customer experience. Maybe it’s a union thing. Maybe they outsource their food and beverage staffing and it’s their rules. From the outside, it appears control has been taken away from Universal and it is costing them millions. Is this happening in your business? Is your staff wrestling control from you, which leads to an inferior customer experience? Are your vendors’ problems becoming yours, and ultimately your customers’ problems? If so, take back control; you have no other choice. Otherwise, the perception that you don’t care about the customer’s experience will become reality. Much like the wand shop and the journey by which we took to find it, how far are you making your customers search for something amazing? Do they ever find it? Further, what wonderful stories can you weave into and tell about your products? By the way, those wands that were “chosen” for my sons—you know, because the wand chooses the wizard—were $129 each! I spent $260 on wands and my boys loved every minute of it. That’s an experience they won’t get from Amazon or anywhere else. Sadly this was the only such experience like this. Mostly we were let down by something we paid extra for, the camera connect card. Sold to us as the “We take the pictures, you leave your camera at home, our staff is everywhere ready to take your picture, show the card and say cheese” solution. It turns out we were being given the bare minimum the entire time. All told just 32 photos for our family, most of which were the ride cameras. Only seven pictures were of our family posed. Seven pictures to sum up our annual family vacation—discovered only after the fact. Compare this to our one-and-only day in Disney with the same type of photography solution. All told, with Disney we had more than 400 pictures on our camera pass card from just one day! Talk about over delivering on what was sold to us. Ask yourself how your customers feel about those add-ons and upsells. Are they doing you harm or good? And, most importantly, what do your customers think of them in comparison to other available solutions? In the end you might say I have sour grapes about going to Universal, but I don’t. I simply won’t be back. Yes, there are rides there that Disney doesn’t have, but at the end of the day that doesn’t matter. The experience that awaits elsewhere, that I know and love, is more than enough to make up for this. So—which theme park will you model your customer experience after? In the end the customer casts the vote only once, and they always vote with their wallet.

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Jeff Giagnocavo is co-owner of Gardner’s Mattress & More in Lancaster, Pa. He is also the co-owner of Infotail, a sales and marketing automation agency. He regularly speaks at industry events on successful retail strategies. Jeff can be reached at jeff@infotail.com

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Back On Her Feet

Even when she moved her family into a homeless shelter, Cynthia Heathcoe never gave up on herself. Today she owns her own home furnishings store. By Robert Bell

ynthia Heathcoe remembers the nightly ritual of opening the window at the homeless shelter, trying to coax a breeze inside for her family. Unfortunately any air that entered also brought in the stench from the crematorium across an empty lot. Heathcoe will never forget the smell. And truth be told, she never wants to. “Every time I think about that smell it reminds me how far I’ve come with my life and that I never want to go back to where I was,” she says. “As bad as that smell was, in some ways I hope it stays with

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me the rest of my life.” Officially, the shelter where Heathcoe’s family lived for six months is a short drive up the interstate from her home these days. In so many other ways, the shelter and Heathcoe’s former life are light years removed. Today Heathcoe is the owner of Contemporary Living. There were days when Heathcoe didn’t own a sofa for her family to sit on. Now she sells Italian leather sectionals out of her tony store in an upscale outdoor shopping mall.

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It usually takes a few years for a home furnishings store to gain traction in a community, but someone forgot to tell Heathcoe that. Contemporary Living opened in March of 2013. Customers quickly took to Heathcoe’s eye for design and contemporary furnishings. Last year the store managed more than $1 million in sales, and Heathcoe is projecting to do even better in 2016. “Everything has taken off,” she says. “To say I feel fortunate is obvious. I feel so much more.” Of course, it wasn’t always this way. As Heathcoe tells it, a bad marriage and a series of “unhealthy and poor choices” found Heathcoe and four of her children living with her mother, but even that was not working out. That’s when she moved into The Lord’s Place, a homeless shelter in nearby Boynton Beach. Heathcoe worked two jobs while at the shelter. There were times she would return to her one-bedroom apartment after work, stare across the field at the back of the funeral home and wonder how she was ever going to make things right for her family. Heathcoe felt many emotions during that time, but never pity. “It was never a poor-me situation, just poor choices,” she says. “I never let myself get down.” She held down several jobs. She was a waitress, a beverage cart hostess on a golf course—you name it—but those jobs never ignited a passion in her. “Those were jobs where I got paid for smiling,” Heathcoe recalls. “I didn’t know what I

wanted in life, but I knew I didn’t want to get money every time I smiled. I wanted to smile every time I earned money.” One job in particular seemed to match that philosophy. Heathcoe had a knack for selling home furnishings. She became interested in furniture years ago selling refinished custom painted furniture out of her garage with her ex-husband. Heathcoe put that limited experience to work selling furniture at two stores in South Florida. Selling came easy to Heathcoe. So easy, in fact, that the manager at one of the home furnishings stores told her she was too good at sales to promote. “I can’t tell you how frustrating that was to hear,” she says. Heathcoe left. She went to work as the manager of Urban Home, a home furnishings store in Palm Beach Gardens. As Heathcoe remembers it, the store owner “gave me 10 sofas, a notepad, and a laptop and turned me loose.” Some people might have been frustrated with such a limited inventory. Heathcoe embraced the challenge. One day the owner of the store mentioned he was thinking about retiring, and asked Heathcoe if she was interested in buying his store. Heathcoe’s first reaction was to jump at the offer. But one of her clients talked her out of it. Penny Pompei heard about Heathcoe’s offer while buying some decorative pillows from her. “It was weird,” Pompei recalls. “We hit it off really well. I don’t think we’re good social friends, but when we were talking about those pillows and retail and business, I could see her passion.” Pompei is a regular customer of Heathcoe’s and has spent more than 20 years succeeding in any business venture she has come across. She’s owned

BOUNCING BACK Cynthia Heathcoe once sold furniture out of her house. Then she lost her house. Today she’s the owner of a home furnishings store in South Florida.

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WHAT NAHFA MEANS TO ME

“

I’m new to the industry so anything I can learn is going to be valuable to me and there’s so much out there that’s available to help me, through the NAHFA. The networking, the learning from others, the training the association offers? Those are things you can’t put a price on. Just getting access to so many other people and the knowledge and experience they have made joining the association a no-brainer.

”

– Cynthia Heathcoe, Owner Contemporary Living, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

STAYING POSITIVE “I didn’t know what I wanted in life,” says Cynthia Heathcoe, “but I knew I didn’t want to get money every time I smiled. I wanted to smile every time I earned money.”

a travel agency, a winery, and an architectural firm over the years. Most recently she’s dedicated herself to helping small business owners and companies succeed. Pompei is on the executive board of SCORE Palm Beach, a nonprofit group whose mission is helping small businesses grow. From the start Pompei could see something special in Heathcoe and the way she presented herself. “She’s an incredibly talented sales person,” says Pompei. “Before she shows you anything, she listens. Here in South Florida, it’s very easy to enter a furniture store and feel like you’re being stalked. That’s not how Cynthia is. She’s tenacious in a business sense, but not from a sales perspective.”

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Pompei was worried Heathcoe’s enthusiasm was getting the best of her. Instead of buying the store and its assets, Pompei suggested Heathcoe let the store go out of business and start one of her own in the same space. Pompei put Heathcoe in touch with attorneys and other business people who helped guide and mentor her through the process. Heathcoe was able to secure a $112,000 Small Business Administration loan through a nonprofit group dedicated to helping minority startups. She used the money to buy inventory and signed a contract with the mall to lease the same space of her old boss. What little money she had left over went into marketing and advertising. Today, Contemporary

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“

Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards. I knew my children needed me and that’s what kept me going.

”

Living has expanded to three times its original footprint and has an off-site warehouse. “I’d like to think I got where I am because of my determination and wanting this so badly,” says Heathcoe, “but I’m smart enough to know better. I had a lot of guardian angels looking out for me. Some smart business people, too.” Contemporary Living is a family business these days. Heathcoe’s new husband, Robert, manages the warehouse, finances, and deliveries while Heathcoe tends to the buying and selling. “It’s a beautiful showroom,” she says of her 4,000 square-foot store. “I still have to pinch myself to believe it’s really mine.” On a recent weekday morning, Heathcoe was moving across the showroom floor, talking with new customers, calling back old clients, offering design tips—all with a smile on her face. “What can I say?” she says. “I think I have a gift for selling. And not just selling, but listening to people and what their vision is for a room or a home. I’m not going to sell you something if I don’t think it’s what you’re looking for. People know that about me. They trust and appreciate that.”

Most of Heathcoe’s products are American made, which, she says, her customers are increasingly requesting. The walls of her store are lined with original works from local artists. In a way, Heathcoe says her time spent living in a homeless shelter has made her a stronger, better person today. “Circumstances happen and they just take over you,” she says. “That time of my life taught me a lot about myself. It taught me how important it is to help others who are in need. One of the things I’m most proud of is this store, but I’m even more proud that all of my children are so caring and giving of themselves.” That giving plays out every Christmas morning, when Heathcoe and the kids carry out a family tradition of buying doughnuts and delivering them to the homeless. “Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards,” she says. “I knew my children needed me and that’s what kept me going. “You know what would be great?” Heathcoe asks, not waiting for an answer. “I learned a lot from so many others who gave themselves to me. Wouldn’t it be great if I could do the same for someone else?”

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JANUARY | 2016

That’s a Wrap! Your trucks can deliver more than furniture. Have them deliver your message, too. By Jordan Lapekas

n the business world we are all trying to find better, more cost effective ways to market and advertise. Sometimes the best vehicle for delivering your message is, well, your delivery vehicle. How many hours do your customers spend driving in their cars, sitting at stop lights staring at the rear end of a car or truck? They are a captive audience and their eyes are searching for something to look at, something to read, to interest them. When most retailers load their trucks for home deliveries, they make sure they maximize the use of truck interior space so they don’t waste fuel, time, and man-hours. Yet, most of those same retailers squander ad dollars by not effectively using blank space on

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the sides and backs of their trucks, cars, and vans. A blank delivery truck, car, or van is a terrible waste. A boring, uninformative, or unimaginative message is almost as bad. Why not get the attention of everyone around you, just by driving around or parking creatively? Think of your trucks as blank canvases you can use to win the hearts and minds of your customers. Don’t assume potential customers will find your advertisements; take your message directly to them so they can’t miss it! Now you’re thinking about putting graphics on your trucks but you’re worried about the cost. The investment you make in vehicle graphics goes farther than any other typical advertising medium.

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Think about it… Newspaper ads...if the customer happens to notice them, how long do they focus on them? Seconds? A typical contract can vary from a day to a week. Local radio ad...which station? Do all your customers listen to the same station? What time of day? Tough to nail it down and you may waste a lot of money trying to figure that out. Local TV ad...same situation as radio. It plays for seconds and then it’s gone and so is your money. Stationary billboards...they’re great, except you’re only renting that space and only reaching those who happen to drive down that exact street. Contracts are expensive and lock you in even if the ad doesn’t work. A typical contract length is two to three months. Yellow page ad...ask yourself, if MOBILE AD Rather than waiting for consumers to see your message, delivery truck advertising your customers still use the actual allows you to take your home furnishings store's message to them. old yellow pages much? How often do you? about the quality of your products and service? You may have topAll these advertising venues are great, if you can afford them. quality products, but if they are delivered in mediocre style it can The more you get your name out there, the better, of course. The negatively impact your customer’s perception of you and your comgoal these days should be to use your advertising dollars as efpany. Your truck is a mobile billboard with truck graphics shouting fectively as possible and truck graphics will give you the best “bang your name. Make sure it is saying the right thing. for your buck.” You can reach the most people, for the longest Your truck exposes your message to the public 24 hours a day. A time, with the least expense. well-branded truck wrap will have more impact because consumers Truck graphics are seen by thousands of eyes every day, so will retain your brand name and message over your competition. don’t miss out on this kind of exposure: your ad goes everywhere Make the minimal one-time investment in sharp graphics for your your customers go. Your ad is in front of them at signals, in their trucks, and company shirts for your delivery staff. A branded delivneighbor’s driveway while you are delivering, strategically parked ery truck enables your staff to become ambassadors for your comin town or just driving down the street. pany and invariably, because the truck looks sharp and polished, Don’t rely on your potential customers finding your advertising; they are able to portray a more professional image. Your customers take it directly to them so they can’t miss it. will feel much more comfortable and confident that they bought Once you buy it, you own it. No contracts, no time limit, and from a quality company. That is the image you want. truck graphics can last up to 10 years. Delivery truck advertising is one of the most cost-effective forms Remember, your delivery truck is a dual-purpose investment; of advertising with the most visual impact. Studies by the American it not only delivers goods but it also delivers your message, you Trucking Association show that 91 percent of people notice words should always keep that in mind. Take a hard look at your truck, and pictures when displayed on trucks. Metro trucks are seen by does it have any identifying graphics? If so, are they old and faded? 14 million pairs of eyes a year. Take advantage of these numbers. Are the letters peeling off? Do your delivery personnel look profesPut your advertising on your delivery truck and get your name out sional? Would you feel comfortable letting them in your house? It there. is always important to keep your delivery truck clean and looking sharp, and your delivery personnel looking professional. RememJordan Lapekas, marketing director for TruckSkin ber, your truck is a direct representation of your company. Graphics, has more than 25 years of experience in Your customers are making a big investment with you. They are marketing, graphic design, sales training, and retail management. She also is a freelance website designer, putting their trust in you and your company. If they see their new graphic artist, and marketing consultant for other furniture showing up in a shabby truck, with delivery guys that individuals and companies. She can be reached at look like they just rolled out of bed, what image does that project jordan@truckskin.com.

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JANUARY | 2016

Bringing the office home As telecommuting gains traction, so does the home office.

FLEX IS KEY Somerton Dwellingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s iMPROV collection offers work-at-home pieces with open and closed shelf storage along with drawer storage and drawers with drop-down fronts. 24

JANUARY | 2016

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By Karen Hornfeck

ith technology connecting the world more and more, brick-and-mortar offices are fast giving way to home offices and many workers are choosing to telecommute at least a portion of their work week. In fact, in a recent article Fortune magazine noted that 83 percent of Fortune 100 hiring managers polled indicated that telecommuting will be much more prevalent in the next five years. Fast Company magazine noted in a November 2015 article that “remote-first” companies—those designed only to be run by a network of telecommuters—and independent consultants are on the increase for the coming year. And the home office is becoming as standard in many homes as the kitchen. Working from home is a trend that promises to continue and furniture designers are paying attention. “Millennials who are just entering the workplace make up a large number of the telecommuters and the home office furniture purchasers,” says Stephanie Lena, Somerton Dwelling’s vice president of merchandising and design. Many of these Millennials are buying first homes without a devoted room for a home office, so designers have gotten creative. “It used to be that someone would need a whole space devoted to an office,” she says. “Now you can work right from your sofa with either a laptop or a tablet, so we take that into account when designing.” Lena says simply adding a drop-down drawer to a sofa table offers consumers an impromptu work space. Lena points out that if a consumer does want to set up a home office, furniture needs to be of a smaller scale and multifunctional. “Modular furniture is ideal for the home office since it can be arranged and rearranged to meet changing needs,” she says. Somerton Dwelling’s iMPROV collection offers pieces with open and closed shelf storage along with drawer storage and drawers with drop-down fronts making easy, flexible desk areas. “These pieces can be lined up to make a whole wall of shelves and work areas or re-arranged and used as smaller pieces in any room,” Lena explains. The iMPROV collection and others like it that offer flexibility also appeal to the different generations that are shopping for home office furniture. “Millennials are looking for technology, compatibility, and style,” [in that order] says Matt Alexander, vice president of new business development for Twin-Star. “While generation X is looking for smart organization, style, and quality, and baby boomers are looking for organization, quality, and style.” The prevalence of laptops and tablets also means less computer space storage is needed. Ten years ago, many home office desks had built-in space for a computer tower. Today, that desk is like the tower itself, obsolete. But a defined space is still important for many who regularly work from home. “You need a dedicated work space for your home office that inspires you to work and helps you focus,” says Dave Adams, marketing manager for BDI Furniture. Adams himself is a telecommuter. He believes the home office should always look like a work space and should have an aesthetic that complements the room in which it is placed. “BDI’s home office furniture coordinates

well with other collections,” Adams says. “You never lose site that the office home pieces are a well-made piece of furniture.” Stylistically, today’s consumer is interested in streamlined office pieces as the move toward simple living continues. “Less is more,” says Lena. “With the trend for smaller space homes continuing, the trend for smaller work areas will also continue.” Function plays an important role when space is at a premium. Somerton Dwelling’s collections showcase pieces that work well in a variety of rooms. Its desks, for example, are often displayed as multifunctional pieces in a common living area like a family room or living room. Furniture designers have also kept an eye on other rapidly changing technology when designing. In its Enterprise desk, Twin-Star showcases a built-in docking station that plays audio and video from mobile devices while also charging those same devices. “The desk’s center hutch features Bluetooth speakers on both sides and an integrated USB power strip with two, three-pronged outlets and two USB ports,” says Alexander. “It’s perfect for charging your electronics while you work.” Buying habits for each generation—Millennials, Generation X, and Baby Boomers—may vary, but the common denominator is a need for organization. “Function plays a major role in home office furniture purchases as power strips with USBs are added, giving the consumer the ability to easily plug in and recharge their devices,” explains Lena. “And since those features are not always pretty, consumers look for ways to hide their cords so the room looks neat and organized.” No matter how much technology changes the work environment, there will always be a need for office supplies, so storage is a need that will never go away. “Storage, storage, and more storage areas help keep things organized and in order,” says Lena. She points out that

THIN IS IN Twin-Star’s Bell’o Enterprise desk, like today’s technology, is sleek and user friendly.

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JANUARY | 2016

CAN WE ADD A PHOTO HERE???

SMALL IS BIG Minimizing the footprint at home is stressed with BDI’s Aspect desk (above) and with Somerton Dwelling’s iMPROV line (right).

there are hundreds of tips on Pinterest dealing with organizing a home office. “We try to make it easy for consumers by offering generously-sized shelves and lots of drawers and space on our pieces,” she says. Educating consumers about the special features that home office furniture offers is important. At the fall High Point market, BDI Furniture re-vamped its display of its home office furniture, says Adams. “In the past, we made sure there was a laptop or computer on the desk top.” This year, Adams went a step further by creating fictional users for each desk and customizing props that fit a personal profile—a strategy retailers might want to consider. “We actually thought about who would be working at each desk,” he explains. One desk was being used by a fictional cartoonist and featured cartoon layouts and colored pencils. Another desk was being used by an architect, with blueprints and drawing tools scattered about. “The displays engaged consumers and made them interact more with the product,” says Adams. “Without props, consumers are standing in a sea of desk tops when they look across the sales floor,” he explains. “Any time you can show something in a vignette, it’s very important.” Adams points out the efforts spent on crafting an engaging vignette can pay off for retailers and he encourages retailers to not only focus on the desk, but find other pieces like a file cabinet or bookcase that make the sales floor feel more like an office space. “It invariably leads to more adjacent selling,” Adams says. “Suddenly a consumer is buying three or four pieces instead of just a desk.” As home office furniture offers more options, retailers should

be prepared to educate consumers about those options and explain why specific features are important to creating an optimal working environment. “Knowledgeable sales staff and good signage are two key ingredients to educating the consumer on how to build a home working area to best fit their needs,” says Lena, who also encourages retailers to pay attention to their website content as a sales tool. “A good website can also help because we know that consumers do most of their shopping before they ever go into a store,” she explains. “We developed an app on our site that allows the consumer to configure their iMPROV modular pieces before shopping.” Lena says the app has been a useful tool because it helps consumers make a decision on what they are looking for before they ever see it on the sales floor. Somerton Dwelling also has an active presence on Pinterest, offering consumers design solutions for home offices, small spaces, and other challenges. It’s estimated that 30 million Americans work from home at least one day a week. And Forbes magazine predicts that number will increase by 63 percent in the next five years. With a keen eye on technology trends, retailers can offer consumers relevant, useful furniture choices that meet the needs of those seeking a new way to work in today’s world. Karen L. Hornfeck is a freelance writer and marketing consultant based in Greensboro, N.C. She has more than 20 years of experience in marketing, public relations and journalism. She can be reached at dkhornfeck@gmail.com

JANUARY | 2016

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NEXTGENPROFILE

Six Answers with Eddy Morris I’ve always had a passion for teaching. After I left high school I had the opportunity to work with high school students on an academic team and then when I served on my (Mormon) mission I was working with other missionaries. I love helping to improve people and helping them to improve themselves and reach a goal. Working together with everyone focused on getting somewhere or accomplishing something as a team. That’s always been something that I’ve enjoyed being a part of. zzz

The teacher who made the biggest impact on me was Mr. Rigby, my U.S. Government teacher back at Sky View High School. He was very passionate about everything that he taught, but he also showed me how important it is to be a hard worker and passionate about whatever it is you are doing. That’s the biggest thing I took away from him. If you’re going to do something, whether you like it or not, do your best. We still keep in touch—that’s how much he means to me. zzz

The biggest challenge to sales training is just in the way retail works. The managers and the store owners just don’t have the time to adequately train someone. Look at what they have to do. Payroll, scheduling, inventory, hiring, and firing. They’re wearing so many hats handling the day-to-day stuff that they don’t have the time to work on what’s most important. They need to sell furniture. The reps are in the same boat. They do as good a job as they can given everything they have to do in a day or week. Their areas are loaded. They have to worry about teaching people in so many stores in so many areas and when they come in, there’s always the possibility that a sales person has the day off or is home sick. So they never really have a regularly scheduled amount of time to go into a store, sit down with the sales associates and go over the product. zzz

The hardest thing to teach is work ethic. I’m not saying you have to be born with a good work ethic, but it helps. A boss or leader can motivate someone. You’ve heard the saying, ‘You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink it?’ That’s partly true, but a good boss can salt the oats. It’s the same with sales. Some people are motivated without their boss or manager ever having to lift a finger. Some people need a little nudge, a little motivation. zzz

I’m finishing up grad school at Utah State, but when I’m not in school I love being outdoors. I live in the Cache Valley (northern Utah) so there are so many things to do outside. I like to hike and spend as much time outdoors as possible. When I’m inside I’m usually reading a book or watching sports. zzz

My favorite book is one I’m reading now, Good to Great by Jim Collins. I enjoy hearing what it takes to make a good company a great one. Part of that, I’m convinced, is good training.

Eddy Morris Marketing Manager The Furniture Training Company

Six Answers is a monthly profile of a Next Generation Now member. Next Gen NOW is an NAHFA-hosted community of young industry professionals whose mission is to give voice to the needs and goals of the industry’s next wave of leaders. Connect with members at nextgenerationnow.net or Twitter @ngnow. 28

JANUARY | 2016

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Lun nch h witth Lead ders s Monday, January 25, 2016 11:30 am Various Showrooms – sign up on line @ nextgenerationnow.net Visit the RRC B-1050 for details Visit nextgenerationnow.net or stop by the RRC for details and to reserve your spot.

Next Gen-NOW is an NAHFA-hosted community of young industry professionals whose mission is to give voice to the needs and goals of the industry’s next wave of leaders. RetailerNOWmag.com | 2015 NAHFA.org • NextGenerationNO OW.net • @ngnow • SEPTEMBER NextGenNOW

TAKE2

Design is at the Heart of this Makeover

In more ways than one, INTER!ORS of Pennsylvania makes its design hub the center of attention. By Martin Roberts

, s original The store e before th ext erior ade m n io n ovat bo lder re ut. it stand o

JANUARY | 2016

s they have twice before, INTER!ORS Furniture & Design turned to me when they wanted to re-imagine their store in Camp Hill, Pa. A total revamp was needed to convert the space from a lackluster shell to the vibrant, design-focused destination Todd Lehman, INTER!ORS Furniture & Designâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CEO envisioned. The large open-plan Design Center is the hub of the new store, acting as a draw for area interior designers and customers, many of whom had not previously considered working with a designer.

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g renovation ro om fo llowin The airy sh ow andising ch ld visual mer al lows for bo . on ti easy naviga and makes for “The store is really the culmination of the way we do business today,” Lehman told me. “That’s why the Design Center is in the middle of the store, and is as open as it is. We wanted the Design Center to be a very comfortable, approachable, well-lit space where everybody feels welcome and at ease.” My team developed both the exterior and interior of the new store, including signage and graphics, as well as planning for lighting, fixtures and the layout of the store’s three lifestyle zones: Today’s Modern, New Traditions and Refined Country. Integrating my expertise in consumer behavior with a total sense of the market allowed me to build a captivating, sales-driven facility and, moreover, work with Todd to help him better understand innovative techniques from other types of retail that he and his staff could easily apply to the Camp Hill store.

y is the centrall new sh owro om e s, th ea ar of b on hu ti e Th consulta n Cent er with ig es D d te ca e. lo d mor gs, finishes an fa brics, catalo r int erio e d s ar e a e r n e y f e f h o in g t nt er h e t c y r n e g ns. i v o The des ofessionals e their selecti r r p o l d esig n ers tai custom to help

, Toda y s Modern Zone , one of three distin ct lifesty le areas, dr aws customers into its mi x of chic and slee k of ferings.

Martin Roberts, a retail and design industry veteran, has more than 40 years of design projects to his credit around the world. His company, Martin Roberts Design, includes an awardwinning team of retail consultants, architects, and interior and graphic designers. Roberts can be reached at martin@mrobertsdesign.com.

The ele ga inv it es ntl y a ppoint e c d mat tr they ch ustomers to r elax an ess cent er o ose f r d lin ge om an a and bed ra rr din g ac cessori a y of mat tres s es. ses

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JANUARY | 2016

FAMILYMATTERS

Reaching New Heights It’s easy to relax in a family business. It can also prove fatal. By Wayne Rivers

t a recent conference I attended, the speaker ahead of me quoted a fascinating statistic: 80 percent of the climbing deaths on Mount Everest occur on the descent. Everyone knows that attempting to scale the world’s tallest mountain is a daunting physical and mental challenge, something nobody had accomplished until 1953. We also know that, for a host of reasons, it is an undertaking frequently resulting in physical injury if not death; even today with all the advances in technology and equipment, almost 10 percent of Everest’s climbers die on the mountain. I was struck and surprised by that 80 percent statistic. My assumption was that deaths on Everest occurred as climbers struggled to reach the summit—not on the way down. Why is that number so high? Here are a few reasons:

JANUARY | 2016

Exhaustion. The climbers are just plumb worn out! They’ve used all their energy, focus, and resources to achieve the goal of the summit. They just don’t have much left in the tank for getting off the mountain. Tired people make mistakes, and on Everest mistakes made out of fatigue can kill. Euphoria. Having reached a goal so few human beings ever achieve, their hearts and minds are filled with euphoria and elation. Most climbers had held the dream of conquering Everest for years if not their entire lives. Having reached the top—literally—they’re overcome with a giddy sense of euphoria and, consequently, they let their guards down. Planning. Most of the planning for conquering Everest goes into the ascent. Having ascended successfully, the assumption is that getting off the mountain will be easy by comparison. It’s not. The journey

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down is just as treacherous if not more so. Think about the times you’ve had a close call on the stairs in your own home. If you have a little stumble going up, that’s usually not too bad; you can catch yourself. However, if you stumble going down the stairs, that might be a different story altogether. Stumbling on the journey down from Everest is a killer. Relaxation. Climbers coming down the mountain are more relaxed for some of the reasons listed before. The goal having been achieved, they breathe out huge sighs of relief, and the weight of their immense tasks fall from their shoulders. They relax, sometimes to the point of complacency, and there is no room for complacency in such an unforgiving environment. This is all very interesting, but what does it have to do with family businesses? It occurred to me the same four dangers to an Everest climb also apply to a family running a business. Let’s look at the reasons again: Exhaustion. Running a successful family or closely held business can be a recipe for exhaustion. Many family business leaders, whether they’re willing to admit it to themselves or not, suffer from years of mental and physical stress, fatigue, and even burnout. None of us is immune to the fact that tired people make mistakes. Euphoria. Following the glory years from 2006 to 2008, many family business leaders were giddy with their new heights in sales, profits, and head count. A lot of businesses didn’t brace for The Great Recession that was looming. Their euphoria morphed into fear and loathing, and, trapped in reaction mode to a worsening business climate, many businesses have yet to return to those giddy highs. Planning. Family business leaders are conditioned to always plan for growth—the ascent, in other words. It’s hard for them to get their minds around a declining economy, or one we might refer to today as The New Normal, where growth is hard-won indeed. Since most of their planning muscles had been developed to contemplate growth (the way up), they may not have quite the same capabilities for planning in today’s fragile, low-growth/no-growth economy. Or, worse, they may have stopped planning altogether and exist in a reactive, fire-fighting, hurry up, daily crisis mode. Relaxation. Many family business leaders have, over time, become relaxed to the point of complacency. They rationalize, “Our business has been here for generations. We’ve grown from Mom and Dad’s humble beginnings to being a large and powerful presence here in our community. We have been recognized with civic and industry awards. We’ve had some amazingly profitable years, and we’re financially pretty well off. This is a family business dynasty which will continue forever! We don’t need to change. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing.” If these kinds of sentiments have ever been uttered

under your roof, they are dangerous words. Complacency can be a dangerous thing in any industry—and the home furnishings sector is no different. Running a business today is more challenging than it’s ever been, and complacency resulting in a failure to objectively and critically analyze your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and barriers could be a death sentence. That’s where I hope this new column can help. I’ve worked with and helped build family businesses for 26 years. My goal is to inspire, challenge, and motivate you to break out of the cycle of working IN your business and take some time to refocus and work ON your business so you can get more out of it and—here’s the payoff—more out of your life. Please email me with your family business questions and I’ll try to help.

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Wayne Rivers is president of The Family Business Institute. He has appeared on The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, and is an expert panelist for The Wall Street Journal. Email your questions to Wayne at wayne.rivers@familybusinessinstitute.com.

JANUARY | 2016

k n i h t Re Annual

Performance Reviews

Day of the Zombie Performance Reviews

By Julie Winkle Giulioni

he annual performance appraisal might be among the most reviled of time-honored workplace traditions. And it makes sense. Managers must invest countless hours in a process that endeavors to boil a year’s worth of a human being’s contribution down to a series of check boxes, numeric ratings, and bulleted highlights. Employees—those human beings whose contributions are being over-simplified—may look forward to a chance to discuss their performance (since those conversations generally happen infrequently) but often leave feeling empty, demoralized, and undervalued. As organizations like Microsoft, Adobe Systems, and The Gap jump ship on the traditional performance appraisal and the press continues to pummel this business practice, one might wonder if the annual performance review will soon go the way of the

JANUARY | 2016

dinosaurs. Likely not! At least not until the value it’s intended to bring can be re-created through other means. Performance appraisals are designed to serve multiple masters: • At the organizational level, they provide critical information for workforce alignment, succession planning, compensation, calibration, and budgeting. • At the manager level, the annual appraisal offers an opportunity to step back and thoughtfully consider the performance of each employee and the kind of support required to sustain and elevate their contributions. • And at the employee level, it’s a chance to sit down and hear how they’re doing—what they’re doing well and how they can improve. It’s an opportunity for connection, recognition, learning, and motivation.

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But let’s face it: in reality, the performance review represents the assurance that managers and employees connect at least one time each year around issues of performance. And whether the current system actually delivers this outcome in a meaningful way really doesn’t matter. It will be difficult for organizations to abandon this time-honored tradition until there are new practices that accomplish (probably better) what the annual performance appraisal is fundamentally in place to do. The high-profile organizations that are eliminating annual reviews promise monthly touch-bases instead. But, given the pressures on managers today, we’ll just have to see how that plays out over time. So, if you’re a leader in an organization today, you have a unique opportunity to be on the “bleeding” edge, to innovate your own approach to management, and to begin experimenting and developing practices that could one day become the alternative to the

annual performance review. Here’s a list of ideas to get you started toward perhaps earning the right for performance appraisals to be eliminated in your organization. • Send a few Sunday night LOVE letters. Rather than battling the “Sunday night blues,” take a few minutes to reflect on the past week in preparation for the coming one. Consider the positive things that occurred and shoot out a few “Little Observations of Value or Excellence” (LOVE) emails. Just a sentence or two of recognition every couple of weeks or months can do more for motivation and engagement than a typical performance review. • Forward frequently. Make it your practice to forward along customer comments and compliments from peers and superiors to employees. Let everyone know—immediately and more directly—how their performance contributes

to the bigger picture. • Turn the tables. Sharing your observations and feedback provides helpful information; but don’t assume the full burden of performance assessment. Engage others in a two-way dialogue about performance. Routinely ask employees questions like: what have you accomplished that you’re most proud of? What’s going well for you? Where do you feel like you’re falling short? What support do you need to perform optimally? • Encourage feed-“back-and-forth.” Any review of performance is more accurate and reliable when conducted by those closest to the work. Employees are in the best possible position to know the truth about how their peers are doing. So train them. Support them. Encourage them to share feedback generously and constructively with each other.

Take proactive steps today to build performance-related conversations into the fabric of your workplace. Make this kind of dialogue a regular and natural feature of your organization’s landscape. And who knows? Perhaps your organization will realize that it no longer needs to impose artificial processes and systems to handle what’s already happening—and you might find yourself and your organization bidding adieu to the performance review.

Julie Winkle Giulioni is the author of “Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Employees Want,” with Bev Kaye. Giulioni has spent the past 25 years improving performance through learning. You can learn more about her at JulieWinkleGiulioni.com. This article was originally published on SmartBrief’s SmartBlog on Leadership.

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JANUARY | 2016

MEMBERBENEFIT

Controlling shipping costs By Kaprice Crawford

any retailers feel a strain on their business in the form of ever-increasing operating expenditures; subsequently they’re always looking for ways to cut costs. Reducing shipping charges is an often overlooked way to combat rising expenses. With annual carrier rate increases, skyrocketing fuel costs, and accessorial charges that may increase 20 percent or more each year, finding a way to reduce shipping expenses can make a serious impact on your overall balance sheet. But how do you know if you’re spending too much on shipping? One way is to determine your shipping expenses as a percentage of total sales. On average a business spends 1.5 percent to 4 percent of total sales on shipping. How much is your business spending on shipping? If it’s more than 4 percent, the North American Home Furnishings Association (NAHFA) can help. Here are some strategies to help trim your shipping costs that require little effort, but offer a big return on investment. Implement one or all of them and watch your costs go down.

day guaranteed service, you can send a 35-pound package from Cleveland to Boston and pay a ground rate of $16.50. Sending the same package second-day air would cost about $60.75. That’s a 73-percent difference to ship air versus ground for the same twoday level of service. Service level refers to the time frame in which the carrier will ship the package from origin to destination (i.e. same day, next day, two day, three day, etc.). Why pay for next day service if you don’t need it? Another example helps illustrate the impact on your bottom line by using the wrong level of service. To get a 35-pound package from Cleveland to Boston the next day, you will need to use an air-express carrier for $168. If time permitted, you could send the same package second-day air for $61. Again, the same package via two-day ground costs about $16.50. Clearly, using the correct service level will keep your costs down.

Obtain Discounts with Carriers

As much as 10 percent of freight invoices contain an error. Auditing your freight invoices can help you catch and receive credit for costly mistakes. NAHFA’s Shipping program with PartnerShip can help you reduce your shipping costs and help you implement any of these key strategies above. Contact your NAHFA membership representative at 800.422.3778 to find out more on your specific savings.

If you think you have to be a big retailer such as Wal-Mart or Home Depot to get discounts from carriers, think again. Your NAHFA works with PartnerShip, a third-party logistics provider that can leverage the buying power of more than 30 different trade associations to obtain discounts for you.

Use the Correct Mode & Service Level

Audit All Invoices

Examine where you spend your transportation dollars. Is your spending concentrated in Less-than-Truckload (LTL) freight rather than small package, or air instead of ground? These distinctions are called modes of transportation—and the mode matters. Ground and air shipping are the two most common transportation modes. This example shows why using the correct mode matters. For two-

Kaprice Crawford is NAHFA’s membership director and can help NAHFA members with any questions or problems they encounter in their jobs. Contact Kaprice at 800-422-3778 or kcrawford@nahfa.org.

UNDERSTANDING THE UPS AND FEDEX SMALL PACKAGE RATE INCREASES Going up: • FedEx Express package rates are increasing an average of 4.9% for U.S., U.S export, and U.S. import services. • UPS Air and International package rates are increasing an average of 5.2%. • FedEx Ground and Home Delivery rates are increasing an average of 4.9%. • UPS Ground rates are increasing an average of 4.9%.

JANUARY | 2016

Every year FedEx and UPS evaluate their shipping rates and make adjustments that can have a substantial effect on you and your business. As always, how much more expensive your particular small package shipments will be in 2016 depends on many factors, including shipment volumes, sizes, weights, and modes. The important takeaway when thinking about your shipping expenses in 2016 is that the announced average increases

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paint an inaccurate picture of the true impact these new rates could have on your business. The small package shipping experts at PartnerShip have dug into the details and analyzed the new rate tables to assess the true impact to shippers and help you make sense of these changes. Learn how the 2016 rate increases will affect your shipping costs by contacting NAHFA.

Is Payment Processing Costing You Too Much? Your Home Furnishings Association membership gives you big savings. No Contracts Free Equipment Rate Guarantee HFA members who’ve taken Trekstone’s free merchant savings analysis have found an average decrease of 20% in fees.* *Average member savings of 20% has equated to an approximate $3,000 a year savings.

Bring your statement to booth #26 in the RRC (B-1050) for a Free statement analysis!

“Six months ago we began a quest to improve our credit card processing because we were totally frustrated with our current pricing and service. We switched to HFA’s Trekstone program, and it’s been the best change we’ve ever made in our business.” — Ronald E. Werner, HW Home, Inc.

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Along with the many business service providers showing in the Retailer Resource Center, NAHFA is proud to feature Endorsed Program Partners. When researching your next partner, look for the Endorsed Program icon for exclusive NAHFA member discounts and/ or services.

APII`.....................................................28

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With the average consumer faced with more than 3,500 marketing messages each day, winning brands and retailers cut through the clutter and stand out through storytelling. As humans we have better recall and form deeper connections when information is presented in a narrative or story form. Customers have grown weary of the hard sell; they want to share values and beliefs with their brands. The days of B2C have been replaced by H2H (Human to Human). What’s your story and how can you best bring it forward? This session will uncover what storytelling is, why it’s vital in today’s world, who’s winning, and best practices to take home and put to work today.

10:30am – 11:30am Showrooming & Webrooming: Leverage Them to YOUR Benefit Ellen Gefen, Gefen Marketing

Showrooming has become a brick-and-mortar store’s worst nightmare. Or has it? The practice of visiting a store for the purpose of checking out a product before buying it online at a lower price is the new way to shop. Retailers have been trying to figure out a way to keep up with this trend. Some brick-and-mortar retailers have successfully competed with online retailers by offering loyalty programs, in-store price matching, and other promotions to deter showrooming. At this informative seminar, we’ll go over ways you can position, present, and promote your products so that showrooming works for your benefit.

Janice will discuss the findings of the 2015 NAHFA Retail Performance Report industry study. You’ll see how the average and top performers in the industry stack up in a variety of critical operational measures. Attendees of this seminar have an opportunity to hear what the best retailers in the industry are doing to achieve maximum results in sales, profitability, inventory flow management, and cash flow. This talk has one primary mission: to help propel your business forward.

3:30pm – 4:30pm Converting Lookers into Buyers Philip M. Gutsell, GutSELL & Associates

Today “I’m just looking,” is the number one excuse in our industry. Find out how to nip it in the bud and overcome it. Philip M. Gutsell, a 30-plus-year retail expert will divulge his secrets of converting lookers into buyers. If you’re a home furnishings retailer tired of seeing your customer traffic treat your store like a museum; this is the seminar for you. Find out how to not only greet your customers more effectively but also develop immediate rapport leading to more customer commitments today. Phil spells out the critical steps for you to take back to your sales floor for immediate results.

MONDAY, JANUARY 25 9:00am – 10:00am Produce Measurable Return on Investment with Software Driven Efficiencies Kyle Mulvaney, STORIS

12:30pm – 1:30pm Align Team Goals with Your Goals John Egger CEO, Profitability Consulting

Sales teams may not be as productive as they could be if their goals differ from those of the owner. This applies to all divisions in your company. John Egger has helped hundreds of home furnishings stores develop aligned goals so the company and the team can be more successful. Attending this seminar could be your most profitable hour at market.

Retailers don’t buy inventory and then sell it for a loss—inventory is purchased to drive revenue and profit. By the same token, you shouldn’t buy software unless it too drives revenue and profit. It is critical to understand how technology driven operational efficiencies can deliver dependable and, most importantly, measurable returns on investment results throughout your organization. Explore how to measure positive ROI results in sales, operations, finance, inventory, logistics and merchandising and turn any software purchase into an investment.

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JANUARY | 2016

NAHFA’s Retailer Resource Center - Seminar Descriptions 10:30 am – 11:30 am

TUESDAY, JANUARY 26

Why No One Wants To Pay Full Price Anymore & Why It’s Ruining Your Brick-&-Mortar Store

9:00 am – 10:00 am

Bill Napier, Imagine Advertising & Napier Marketing Group

With the Internet, transparency is killing the old model of charging exorbitant prices on what was once considered a luxury or unique product. People can find anything they want, anywhere on the web. A Business Insider article tells how there are now companies that are reverse engineering the manufacturing model to show consumers real costs, which is leading to the commoditization of everything. In this session we’ll show what’s happening and how you can implement five simple strategies to counter this dilemma and make the margins you should and want to be making.

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm The Power of Cross-Channel Advertising!

Generate Higher Sales By Target Marketing to Baby Boomers and Elderly W. Alan Martens, Ergo Centers, LLC

This sales technique is focused on identifying the customer’s needs, presenting the right solution, and creating urgency to make a decision. It targets baby boomers and the elderly (65+) with the most disposable income, many of whom are in pain whether they are sleeping or sitting and because of that price is a secondary factor in their decision-making process. These quick techniques help develop trust by showing you understand their needs which can lead to dramatically increased average sales. Done correctly, they generate higher closing ratios without hard closing and can generate a higher “be back” ratio. Take away a step-by-step plan to create and implement these sales techniques into your product lines to generate a higher sales-per-square-foot ratio.

Doug Knorr, Knorr Marketing

We hear it all the time...impressions, impressions, impressions! However, impressions alone do not drive traffic and sales! Nothing good happens until you engage the consumer and drive them into your store.This high-energy seminar will share the secrets to making your social media and pay-per-click strategies work in tandem with your traditional advertising to garner a greater return. Doug Knorr, president of Knorr Marketing, and his team will show you how to target, engage and analyze your advertising investment so you drive more traffic and new consumers to your store.

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Making Money with Mattresses Martin Roberts, Martin Roberts Design

Mattresses are available to purchase in many places but are still the single most profitable sale in any furniture store. With the expertise of retail store designer Martin Roberts, discover how to better display your mattresses to draw more traffic and increase add-on sales. Martin will explain how to sign the in-store mattress shop, where to locate the mattress department to maximize visual impact, and the importance of staffing the department with knowledgeable sleep specialists who make it simple for your customers to buy the mattress they need.

3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Workplace Investigations: Best Practices

10:30 am – 11:30 am Top 10 Mistakes in Email Marketing Ken Mahar, Email Broadcast

In this fast-moving seminar you’ll learn the fundamentals and advanced techniques used by Email Broadcast to deliver outstanding email campaigns, in a fun, what-not-to-do format. If your current campaign doesn’t exist, or is a series of sales messages, this insightful talk will teach you how to have a dramatic impact using effective email marketing, including fresh ideas guaranteed to engage your audience. Come early as this talk consistently attracts a large number of attendees and has been highly rated. Presenter Ken Mahar, CEO of Email Broadcast, has 15 years experience in email marketing after a successful retail sales career including furniture retail and management.

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm Get the Right Buyer, Not Just ANY Buyer Kyle Doran, R&A Marketing

Advertising and marketing are metric-centered crafts. Traffic counts, close ratios, expenditures in relation to top line sales, and margin control all dictate what we say and how we say it. A key metric that gets lost in all of these numbers is the focus on where current customers are living, working, and playing and how we can find more of them. This presentation will give you three easy-to-implement improvements to start finding more of the right buyer--not just any buyer.

Pascal Benyamini, Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Do you know what to do if one of your employees informs you they were harassed by another employee, a vendor, or a customer? What if you learn that two employees were involved in a verbal or physical altercation at work or during lunch? Or what if one employee accuses one of your supervisors of bullying? This seminar will cover best practices in the investigation, including when and how to investigate and who should investigate. If done properly and effectively, the investigation can help prevent or limit financial exposure and/or mitigate against negative public opinion. Your management team is sure to come away with invaluable tips on when and how to conduct an effective investigation.

JANUARY | 2016

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Leverage Second-look Financing to Increase Sales Michael Sampson, Genesis Credit

Providing multiple financing options increases sales opportunities, encourages repeat business, and builds customer loyalty. Learn how implementing second-look financing programs can have a positive impact on your sales. Gain understanding of this underserved market, the size of the market, and how to encourage more customers to sign up for and use credit in your stores. Supplementing your current financing options can be quick and easy for your sales people and customers while helping increase your sales.

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NAHFA’s Retailer Resource Center - Seminar Descriptions 3:30pm – 4:30pm

12:30pm – 1:30pm

Omnichannel Revenue is Happening NOW– Let’s Get You Selling

David Phillips, DLangeMobile

Stop Mailing, Start Texting

Jessica Norby, MicroD Inc.

Seamless consumer engagement is going to be a vital part of your selling future. It’s time to implement a strategy and start asking the tough questions: If you’re not providing a seamless consumer experience between online and in-store, what’s stopping you? How can you provide shoppers with the best “touch and feel” product presentation online? What’s your plan for managing online sales inquiries? and Do you know how your in-store sales team feels about your online presence and its potential--is it a competition or collaboration? Learn how to integrate both the in-store and online selling components to encourage staff participation, drive traffic, close sales, and stay relevant in your retail market.

Companies across the United States continue to spend millions of dollars per year on solicitations, payment reminders, collections via regular mail to an existing customer base only to receive (at best) a 2% ROI. SMS, MMS, IVR, and email automation are all tools that furniture retailers and software companies should be incorporating to communicate with their customers and potential customers on a global scale. In addition to the technological aspects of the above, D’LangEMobile will also provide attendees with legal and compliance guidance.

2:00pm – 3:00pm Don’t Bet on Marketing Database ROI

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27

Scott Bailey, Target Data

9:00am – 10:00am How Millennials Impact Retail Shopping Marisa Peacock, The Strategic Peacock

Research shows that Millennials (a generation of roughly 80 million individuals) are changing the rules of brand marketing, redefining purchase habits, and revolutionizing the shopping experience. They prefer being able to interact with brands through digital channels versus historical marketing tactics such as circulars or in-store advertisements and because of that they’re using technology and mobile communication to change how they interact with brands. Retailers interested in appealing to Millennial consumers will learn how to provide this young, but influential demographic, with a more shareable and social shopping experience.

Developing a marketing database can be a daunting task. Plus, once in place, there’s no guarantee that the database will be used or can produce a meaningful ROI. Don’t bet on that ROI. There may be little reason to plow $1M or more into enterprise-wide systems when most of the targeting and analytics that are desired can be achieved with far less investment. Getting this up and running first can be less daunting, less expensive, and serve as the proving ground for ROI. The secret to success is staying focused.

10:30am – 11:30am How Digital Store Experiences Are Leading the Retail Evolution Ollie Bath, CloudTags

How many customers in a store remain unknown to the retailer? Digital interactions are easy to track, but once a shopper enters the store, the majority of that data is irrelevant. Now, consumers use their personal devices to aid in their decision making. Our research shows that in-store digital devices convert at a 20% higher rate. Retailers need to create a store that allows these interactions to see an increase in sales both in-store and online. Attend this seminar and learn how to take advantage of this consumer trend and deliver a fun and profitable in-store experience.

HOME FURNISHINGS AS S O CI AT I O N RetailerNOWmag.com

JANUARY | 2016

Is that your best price? Haggling over a mattress seems part of the business. It doesn’t have to be. By Gerry Morris

t’s just a fact. When considering retail sales, mattresses are far different from home furnishings. While both are often under the same roof, and both categories of goods go into people’s homes, the commonality stops

there. The biggest difference is how shoppers approach the two. If you were to watch people enter a store, you could quickly identify which ones were shopping for furniture and which ones were in the market for mattresses. In general, the former is more relaxed, animated, yes, happier and impulsive. The latter is most often absent of emotion and more determined, like they are on a mission. That’s because they are. They want to replace a utilitarian item that is “broken,” get the best deal, and get on with their lives. The difference between mattress sales and furniture sales is most dramatic when it comes to pricing. Few people try to haggle on furniture, most try to on mattresses. It’s the nature of the beast. You must decide how to handle your pricing structure, including sales, promotions, and discounting. It is wise to address pricing and discounts as a policy matter. Along with quality of product and customer service, fair pricing practices play an integral role in the credibility and reputation of a company.

Swing the Door With mattresses being such a competitive product, retailers have made the “lowest price, longest financing, most free services” the main reason for consumers to shop their stores— “swing the door marketing.” While this approach may increase traffic, there is a price to be paid for doing so, in the form of lost profits and credibility. Consumers shop for mattresses like a commodity, not caring where they buy it and certainly not developing loyalty to a particular retailer. It’s hit-and-run buying and selling.

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With this preconditioning, no wonder shoppers are ready to haggle. Sales associates facing that mindset are often put upon their heels and go into a reactive mode to demonstrate value. Not an easy proposition on a product with such limited parameters as a mattress, which has two components and four sizes. Knowing that, many retailers purposefully inflate their prices in order to give the customers the perception of a deal. Markup to markdown. It works, but that system is fraught with problems. Sales associates who have leeway on pricing most often bypass any real selling and addressing of customer needs by dropping price for no valid reason. Even sales staffs comprised of top professionals can get weary and wary of shoppers on value-seeking missions.

A Principled Approach Pricing and discounting get into the whole area of fairness. How fair is it for one polite customer to just accept the list price while the next one that rudely demands a deal and threatens to walk out buys the same product at sometimes hundreds of dollars less? In the world of social media networking, word-of-mouth travels at light speed. Word gets out that all one has to do it threaten to walk out to get the real price. It happens all the time. But there are many successful retailers who do not play that game. It starts with the company, and all the employees valuing and believing in the products they offer. They protect that at all cost. Some

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even make a policy that there is no discounting whatsoever. They publicly proclaim it. It seems that shoppers, when informed of the “rules” ahead of time, are OK with it. They like the straightforward no monkey business. I dealt with a 50-year-old family business in Dallas that adhered to this type of pricing. Twice a year they would run a mere 10-percent off sale and people would be lined up to buy. This in the midst of other retailers offering huge discounts on a daily basis. Their sales staff would present the products on their own merit, focus on addressing their customers’ needs, proudly defend their prices as fair and let the chips fall where they may. Research confirms that many people will pay more for the same product to buy it from someone they like, trust and believe is working on their behalf. To do that, it is important to make sure you believe that the pricing you have is fair and competitive based upon the relativity of quality as compared to others.

Creating a Policy Here are some ideas, suggestions and guidelines to keep in mind as you formulate a pricing and discounting policy. • Publicly state your pricing policy. “We offer quality products and price them fairly. Unlike other retailers, we do not artificially mark our prices up in order arbitrarily mark them down to give the perception of a “good deal.” Again, shoppers are conditioned to expect discounting. You can change their expectations with a stated pricing policy and they will accept it. • There is nothing wrong with building in a modest discount for special situations. But it’s important that discounts have a valid reason. As an example, you may offer discounts for buying the entire package with protectors, pillows, frames, etc. Or with the purchase of bedroom furniture. • If you do allow some leeway on pricing, it’s vital that pricing drops have some valid reason and that cannot be because the customer was demanding it. I can’t overstate the importance of holding the price except for legitimate reasons. Like the old saying goes, if you give something, get something in return. That’s a valid and honorable position to take—for example purchase the entire accessory package, or buy more than one bed, etc. • Offer discount coupons to customers for their next mattress purchase. Be sure to stay in contact with all customers through email or Facebook or Twitter to let them know when you’re having a promotion or sale.

Create Real Promotions • Floor Model Sale. You could sell off your floor models on a regular interval and extend the savings (a lesser discount, but still a savings) on your regular products for a weekend sale. • Discontinued Fabric Sale. Consider getting with your fabric suppliers and find top-quality end-of-run products that you can buy in limited quantity. Prepare a nice swatch to put at the end of your flagship line and sell them at a modest discount while quantities last. • Inventory Reduction Sale. When times are slow, consider building up some inventory and then create an event for a limited time. • Consider offering a limited edition model for special occasions. Select a spectacular opulent, but tasteful cover and enhanced specs with special tailoring and embroidering to set a new benchmark for pricing. It will lessen the resistance to your current flagship line. It’s a reality. Consumers expect and want discounts on mattresses. But more importantly, they want value. You can demonstrate value with quality and you can offer legitimate valid savings in fair and valid ways as stated above. Just remember, you must keep the credibility and integrity to avoid being tarnished with undefined pricing and discounting practices. Fair and principled pricing policies and practices can not only protect your reputation, they can also increase your sales and profits! Gerry Morris has more than 20 years’ experience in the mattress industry. In partnership with the Furniture Training Co., Morris offers a premium online training course, “Sell More Mattresses with Gerry Morris.” To view the course, visit furnituretrainingcompany.com.

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JANUARY | 2016

10 Small Business Trademark Mistakes that Cost You Money By Kelley Keller

our small business trademarks have an untold potential value. Who knew 10 or 20 years ago that the Google and Apple brands would be worth tens of billions of dollars each? Every brand has to start somewhere, including yours. It’s critical to protect your brands with trademarks. If you don’t, you could not only lose the opportunity to profit from their future value but also, you could run into some expensive trouble. Fortunately, all of that trouble is avoidable—all you have to do is properly clear and register your trademarks. But that’s exactly where many small businesses set themselves up for problems and begin making trademark mistakes. Rather than investing the time and money to protect their businesses and brands the right way, they use free (i.e. do-it-yourself ) or cheap (i.e. legal document services providers) methods to search the availability of their business and brand names as trademarks and to register those marks. It’s a recipe for disaster that has created an entirely new type of legal services, doover legal services. The $500 or $1,000 you save today could cost you tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars in the future. I’ve seen too many businesses forced to close their doors because they’ve made one or more of these completely avoidable errors. Don’t be another victim. Educate yourself and avoid these common trademark mistakes:

You registered your trademark but didn’t secure your name in URLs or social media profiles. Once someone else registers a domain or snags a social media profile using your trademark, it can be time-consuming and costly to stop them. Imagine if they start publishing content using a domain or social media profile that matches your brand name. If that content is inappropriate or confuses consumers, you could lose business.

You never trademarked your business name. Just because you registered your business name so you could start operat-

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ing in your state doesn’t mean you own the trademark. You need to register your business name as a brand name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Your business or brand name is descriptive. The more descriptive your business or brand name is, the less likely you’ll be able to trademark it. Learn how to choose a strong name that you can trademark before you fall in love with it and invest time and money promoting it.

You assumed that since you made up a word or logo that you own it and trademark registration is unnecessary. Nope. Even if you make up a word, you still need to register it as a trademark to be able to fully protect it and enforce your rights to it.

You searched your name in the USPTO database or on an online search site and found no matches, so you assumed it’s available for you to use. The USPTO database is just your first step in conducting a trademark search. For one thing, it doesn’t include potentially conflicting marks due to common law. Furthermore, an online search using other free or cheap service providers will give you limited results. There is a huge difference between a comprehensive search and any other type of search you conduct yourself or pay someone else to conduct for you.

You think because your business or brand name includes your personal name that you don’t have to register it. Business and brand names that include your first or last name are typically considered to be descriptive and can’t usually be trademarked.

You assumed your trademark covers your use of your mark for everything and everywhere. Not even close. Your trademark only covers your use of the mark for the goods and services specifically described in your trademark registration. This is why it’s so important to work with an intellectual property attorney to write the goods and services description section of your trademark application.

You’re not using your mark as it was registered. You can only protect your mark as it was registered, so you need to use it that way. You should use the trademark

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symbol to put others on notice that you registered the mark. But that’s not the only reason you should use the trademark symbol. If you don’t use the symbol, it could be a lot more difficult to collect money damages or recover lost profits in an infringement lawsuit.

You’re not maintaining your trademark. Did you know you could lose your trademark if you don’t maintain it? First, you need to continue using it in commerce or you could lose your rights to it. Second, you have to renew and update your registration. Between the fifth and sixth year and between the ninth and tenth year after you register your mark, as well as every ten years thereafter, you have to file specific registration renewal documents or the USPTO could flag your trademark as abandoned and cancel it. That means someone else could register your trademark. If you want to get your trademark back, you'll have to start all over and register your mark from scratch.

You’re not monitoring and enforcing your trademark. If you’re not monitoring your mark for potential infringements (both online and offline) and responding to those infringements to enforce your mark, then you could lose your ability to protect it. Develop a process to monitor use of your mark online by doing regular searches using the USPTO database, Google, and social media. If possible, invest in trademark monitoring with an intellectual property attorney or use a thirdparty watch service provider like Thompson CompuMark or Corsearch that has access to far more online and offline databases than free or cheap providers offer.

Kelley Keller, Esq. is redesigning the legal ĞǆƉĞƌŝĞŶĐĞ ĨŽƌ ŝŶŶŽǀĂƟǀĞ companies, business owners, and their families through ŚĞƌ ůĂǁ Įƌŵ͕ ŝƌĐůĞ >ĞŐĂů ; ŝƌĐůĞ>ĞŐĂů͘ĐŽŵͿ͘ ^ŚĞ ŚĂƐ ϮϬ ǇĞĂƌƐ ŽĨ ĞǆƉĞƌŝĞŶĐĞ ŚĞůƉŝŶŐ ďƵƐŝŶĞƐƐĞƐ ŝĚĞŶƟĨǇ͕ ŵĂŶĂŐĞ͕ ĂŶĚ ƉƌŽƚĞĐƚ their trademarks. You can hear her every week ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ŝƌĐůĞ >ĞŐĂů ƵƐŝŶĞƐƐ &ŝǆͲ/ƚ ^ŚŽǁ ;ǁǁǁ͘ ĐŝƌĐůĞůĞŐĂů͘ĐŽŵͬĐŝƌĐůĞůĞŐĂůƌĂĚŝŽͿ ďƌŽĂĚĐĂƐƟŶŐ ŽŶ iHeart Radio.

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JANUARY | 2016

GOVACTION

e t a c o v Ad It’s What NAHFA Does for You By Lisa Casinger

n advocate is a person or organization that publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy. It’s a champion, supporter, spokesperson, and crusader. It’s what the North American Home Furnishings Association (NAHFA) does for its members and the industry.

In 2015, the NAHFA: • Hosted our first annual Washington fly-in with the American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA). NAHFA members joined AHFA members to meet with key legislators, regulatory agencies, and congressional staff to discuss industry issues. We are planning another visit later this year. • Facilitated discussions between industry software providers and approved tax software vendors to examine integration issues with collecting online sales taxes. While there’s no federal legislation to enable interstate collection of sales and use taxes yet, many states are passing their own legislation to audit and collect sales taxes from out-of-state sellers. • Organized calls to action to our membership and the industry to support bipartisan House online sales tax bill; support has tripled since introduction. • Worked with the Mattress Recycling Council to inform retailers about the mattress recycling requirements in their states and help them effectively use the programs. • Represented member interests on California’s TB117-2013 flammability standard and the subsequent SB1019 labeling requirements through direct negotiations. • Joined the National Retail Federation’s coalition that pushed for an executive and legislative solution to the West Coast port negotiations. We added our members’ stories to those of the coalitions’ to increase our voice in Washington.

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• Worked with the National Kitchen & Bath Association to oppose proposed Registered Design Practitioner Act in Illinois that would require interior designers to be licensed. This initiative was defeated in 2011; it resurfaced this year and we helped prevent it from going to a vote. • Partnered with AHFA on myriad issues including formaldehyde in furniture, upholstered furniture flammability, and other furniture safety standards such as tip-over. • Joined the California Chamber of Commerce in a coalition supporting AB 543 (an act to amend sections of the Health and Safety Code relating to toxic substances—Prop 65). • Worked in concert with AHFA and a bipartisan group of lawmakers to follow up with the Environmental Protection Agency on its timeline and substantive work on the stalled formaldehyde rule. Our message urges the EPA to be consistent with existing California regulations in its rulemaking. • Met with the Upholstered Furniture Action Council and the Green Science Policy Institute multiple times to discuss flame retardant chemicals and flammability testing in furniture. • Monitored predictive scheduling legislation in California, Connecticut, Maine, and New York. NAHFA is in a coalition with representatives from these state retail groups and the NRF. • Hosted seminars and webinars on the voluntary tip-over standard and the EVM chip card migration. Many of our efforts are ongoing as we educate members on the importance and effect of these regulations and legislation on their businesses. We’re ready for 2016 and looking forward to another Washington fly-in. We’ll save you a seat.

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Lisa Casinger is RetailerNOW’s editorial director and NAHFA’s government relations liaison. You can reach her at lcasinger@nahfa.org or 916-784-7677.

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You’ve got product, we’ve got buyers. Let us help you connect. RetailerNOW is the only association print and digital media dedicated entirely to your target retail audience. Our readers are the CEOs, owners and decision makers you want to reach. Ready to connect? Advertise now. Call at 916.757.1160. Call Michelle Lynn OrrNygaard at 916.757.1160.

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INSPIRATION+EDUCATION

JANUARY | 2016

NAHFACOMMUNITY With its grand opening in Montgomery, Holley Home Furnishings doubles For years NAHFA member Ralph Holley toyed with the idea of expanding Holley’s Home Furnishings, the family furniture store his father started 55 years ago in Alexander City, Ala. When he heard about a downtown storefront opening in Montgomery, Ala., he decided to pounce. The Montgomery location opened in late October. Business started spotty, but has picked up with every passing week, Holley says. “I think word of mouth has been better than the money I spent on advertising,” he says. “More people are starting to know we’re here and are coming in to see us.” Holley said he’s always been intrigued by the Montgomery market, which is 50 miles away from his other store. It’s a lakefront community where many people have second homes. Holley spent the first few weeks after the opening shuffling between stores, but says he’s ready to focus on the Alexander City store and let a manager handle the Montgomery location. Alston, Holley’s father, got into the furniture business four months after graduating from high school in 1949. He was 17. When it came to selling furniture, Alston Holley didn’t wait for the customers to come to him. He met them. Every morning he loaded his truck with a rug, a dinette set, or a sofa and hit the road. If customers liked what they saw, they bought off the truck. No cash? No problem. Alston Holley offered in-store financing. He collected payments the same way he sold furniture by driving out to meet his customers.

Gorman’s opens three-day warehouse clearance center; expects to add another $3 million to 2015 revenue

Gorman’s president Tom Lias in the company's new clearance center.

NAHFA member Ralph Holley, center with ribbon-cutting scissors, and his father Alston, (right) celebrate the opening of their new store recently in Montgomery, Ala.

Ralph Holley says he’s proud to have opened a second store, but even more proud that his father, now retired, is around to see it. “The only thing my dad loves more than this store is mom, my sister, and me,” Ralph Holley says. “For him to see that his little hole-in-the-wall store has not only grown but spread to two locations, I know that makes him proud.”

In the days leading up to NAHFA member Gorman’s Home Furnishings and Interior Design opening its clearance center, two gnawing fears kept Gorman’s president Tom Lias awake at night. “My first fear was what happens if we have this big opening and nobody shows up,” says Lias. “My second fear was what happens if we open and everyone shows up.” Fortunately neither fear came to fruition. Gorman’s officials held a soft opening for its three-day clearance center Nov. 13-15, and were pleased with the traffic. Not too heavy, not too light. Just about right, says Lias. The grand opening will be later this month. The 12,000-square-foot center, attached to the distribution center, will be open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays and it looks like anything but a warehouse with gold and silver chandeliers lighting the polished white floors. Gorman’s, which sells mid-priced to high-end furniture in its five Michigan stores, will offer floor samples, extra inventory, custom cancellations, accents, accessories and one-of-a-kind merchandise marked down as much as 70 percent. The company expects to add another $3 million in revenue this year from the clearance center. A clearance center is nothing new to Gorman’s. It’s operated clearance centers in previous warehouses for nearly 15 years and has run more than 40 warehouse sales. When the company purchased its Farmington Hills building 10 years ago, it moved all clearance center items into its Southfield, Novi, and Lakeside showrooms. Those areas at the stores are now being developed into other concepts, such as the Intro Sofa Shop at Lakeside.

Do you have something for the NAHFA Community? Send your information and hi-res photos to Robert Bell, rbell@nahfa.org. 50

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NHFACOMMUNITY Stoney Creek throws a party—and Ontario’s hungry benefit

Jim Fee presents Joanne Santucci of Hamilton Food Share a check from the store’s inaugural “Wrap it Up” event.

Christmas came early for many of the needy in Ontario when NAHFA member Jim Fee and his store Stoney Creek Furniture donated $8,900 to Hamilton Food Share, a hunger relief charity.

The money was raised from Stoney Creek’s first “Wrap it Up” charity event, which included auctioning off seven Christmas trees decorated by area designers. “The night went above and beyond my wildest expectations,” says Fee. “I was thinking we might raise four or five thousand dollars, so to do what we did was really wonderful. Hamilton Food Share does a great job in our community of funneling food to other food banks in need so this will really help them.” Guests paid an admission to the auction, which also included the opportunity to buy raffle tickets for about 40 door prizes ranging from Toronto Raptors basketball tickets to spa days to wine baskets. The raffle tickets alone raised about $2,000. Local artisans were invited to the event to sell their hand-made wares such as gloves, candles and soaps. “A lot of them sold out of everything they brought and some got a lot of exposure to clients they might not have ever met,” says Fee. “So really, everyone benefited from the night.” Co-sponsors of the event were McKeil Marine, 50 Point Market and Holland Park Garden Gallery.

Welcome New NAHFA Members The NAHFA is excited to recognize and welcome the following new members:

Andrea Yard

The North American Home Furnishings Association provides networking and education events across the country through the year. Visit NAHFA.org/events or email events@nahfa.org for more information or if you’d like to host an event in your area.

Discount Furniture Yard, Lakeland, Fla.

Jon Kundtz Hillyard’s Furniture, Dublin, Ohio

Ron King King’s Home Furnishings Waukeegan, Ill.

Carolann Strickling Riley’s Furniture, Millerton, N.Y.

Tony Harris Southeastern Consignment Tuscaloosa, Ala.

ASSOCIATE MEMBER Scott Morton Louisville Furniture Market Louisville, KY

Las Vegas Market NAHFA Events NGN BASH – Ticketed Event Sunday Jan. 24 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. Gold Diggers Lounge, Golden Nugget

Annual NAHFA Member Meeting Monday, Jan. 25 7:30–9:00 a.m. NAHFA’s Las Vegas Retailer Resource Center Building B, 10th Floor, B-1050 A continental breakfast will be served.

NGN Lunch with Leaders Monday, Jan. 25 11:30 a.m. Various showrooms Sign up online at ngnow.org/events/las-vegas-market

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JANUARY | 2016

INDUSTRYCALENDAR 2016 Atlanta International Area Rug Market January 13-16 Atlanta, Georgia americasmart.com

Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market January 13-19 Atlanta, Georgia americasmart.com

NY NOW

Canadian Furniture Show

January 30-February 3 New York City, New York nynow.com

May 28-30 Toronto, Ontario, Canada canadianfurnitureshow.com

Tupelo Spring Furniture Market

Showtime

February 25-28 Tupelo, Mississippi tupelofurnituremarket.com

June 5-6 High Point, North Carolina showtime-market.com

High Point Market

Dallas International Lighting Market

April 16-20 High Point, North Carolina highpointmarket.org

Dallas International Lighting Market January 20-24 Dallas, Texas dallasmarketcenter.com

Dallas Total Home and Gift Market January 20-26 Dallas, Texas dallasmarketcenter.com

Winter Las Vegas Market January 24-28 Las Vegas, Nevada lasvegasmarket.com

International Contemporary Furniture Fair

June 22-25 Dallas, Texas dallasmarketcenter.com

Dallas Total Home & Gift Market

May 14-17 New York City, New York icff.com

June 22-28 Dallas, Texas dallasmarketcenter.com

Home Furnishings Networking Conference

Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market

May 22-24 Long Beach, California thehfnc.com

July 12-19 Atlanta, Georgia americasmart.com

Louisville Furniture Market

Atlanta International Area Rug Market

May 25-26 Louisville, Kentucky Louisvillefurnituremarket.com

July 13-16 Atlanta, Georgia Americasmart.com

NAHFA-hosted events are highlighted in red.

ADINDEX Connie Post (304) 736-7283 conniepost.com Page 45 Cresent (615) 975-4862 cresent.com cresent.furniture @cresentfurniture Page 35 Furniture Wizard (619) 869-7200 furniturewizard.com furniturewizard @furniturewiz Page 9

General Finishes Fax: (262) 642-4707 generalfinishes.com generalfinishes @GeneralFinishes Page 47 High Point Market (336) 869-1000 highpointmarket.org http://tinyurl.com/ HighPtMarket @hpmarketnews Page 7, 20, 21 Las Vegas Market (888) 962-7469 lasvegasmarket.com facebook.com/wmclv @worldmarketctr Page 3

Myriad (800) 676-4243 myriadsoftware.com Myriad Page 15 NAHFA Products (800) 422-3778 nahfa.org NAHFA @NAHFA Inside Back Cover Northwest Furniture Xpress (828) 475-6377 nwfxpress.com Back Cover

To advertise in RetailerNow, contact Lynn Orr at (916) 757-1160.

JANUARY | 2016

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ProfitSystems (800) 888-5565 profitsystems.com PROFITsystems @PROFITsystems Page 27

Tidewater (800) 535-4087 x6553 tidewaterfinance.com Tidewater Finance Company @TidewaterMotor Page 13

STORIS (888) 4-STORIS storis.com STORIS.solutions @STORIS Page 5

Truckskin (877) 866-7546 truckskin.com TruckSkin @TruckSkin Page 15

Surya (877) 275-7847 surya.com SuryaSocial @SuryaSocial Inside Cover

Whittier Wood Furniture (800) 653-3336 whittierwood.com Page 47

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the number of Millennials in the U.S. workforce as of Q1 2015â&#x20AC;&#x201D;this number is higher than any other generational category. Source: Pew Research

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THE WAY WE WERE

hat’s our first furniture store. The photo was taken in 1967. I still have dreams about working in that little store. It’s where I grew up, where I went after school and worked. I did just about everything there—received products, swept the floors, cleaned the bathrooms. “And those rocking chairs? We brought them in every night and when we put them out in the morning, that was our way of saying, ‘We’re open!’

“That aluminum chair on the far left? We used to put all the pieces together by hand and then weave the nylon through them. It took all day. We sold them for something like $12 apiece. I think they cost $10 to build. Not the best margins back then. “We bought the property and the land on both sides of it—pretty much the whole block—and eventually built one of our stores there. We still have the blue sign with the arrow—and a lot of memories. Pedro Capo, Chief Operations Officer El Dorado Furniture, Miami, Florida

Share your old photograph and memory by contacting Robert Bell at 916.757.1169 or rbell@nahfa.org

JANUARY | 2016

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