0109 dutailier cover 1:Furniture World 1/1/09 1:51 PM Page c101-09 dutailier c2 & page1:Furniture World 12/31/08 12:16 PM Page c201-09 dutailier c2 & page1:Furniture World 12/31/08 12:17 PM Page 106 BLUEPRINT FOR A DIGITALMARKETING STRATEGYA digital marketing strategy utilizes socialmedia tools to help you to connect with,listen to, and engage directly with con-sumers. 14 WE MADE A HUGE MISTAKE! You made a big mistake and purchasedtoo much inventory? Tell your customersabout it and give them reasons why yourstore offers great deals that differentiateyour promotions from other sale priceadvertising.20 SPORTS MARKETING Even in tough times, sports promotions,incentives and creative marketing canattract interest and retail traffic.28 WAREHOUSE & DELIVERYCHECKLIST FOR TOUGH TIMES For most furniture retailers it is virtuallyimpossible to increase sales this year, soyou need to focus on items you do con-trol, such as warehouse and delivery.34 ASCENDENCY OF THETRANSACTIONAL SHOPPER There are two broad types of shoppers;transactional and relational. Most arenot all one way or the other, but youllsee a mix of these two shopping motiva-tions in your customers that can help youto work with them appropriately.38 THE CASE OF THE STOLEN FURNITUREMax Morgan always thought employeetheft was something that happened toothers until it happened to him. Thisarticle outlines a plan to catch a furniturestore thief working an inside job.48 YOU CAN HARNESS THE POWER OF E-MARKETINGNew media is uncharted territory formany furniture retailers, but with a bit ofknowledge you can be one of the first inour industry to do it right.54 12 WAYS TO GET YOUREMPLOYEES ON THE SAME PAGETake these twelve steps to organize yourbusiness and you will dramaticallyincrease the focus and accountability ofyour people.64 THE SIMPLE RULES OF IN-HOUSE FINANCING If youve considered the highly profitablefinance end of the business and need toknow how to buy contracts for in-housecredit, try these simple rules. 66 BEST SELLING DESIGNSEditors picks of best selling designs.80 INDEX & DESIGN CONTACTSTelephone and email contacts for adver-tisers and featured Design editorial. 2 FURNITURE WORLD January/February 2009FURNITURE WORLD MAGAZINE BPA Association of Business Publishers1333A North Ave. #437, New Rochelle, NY 10804Tel: 914-235-3095 Fax: 914-235-3278 www.furninfo.comUS POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: FURNITURE WORLD, PO Box 16044, St. Louis, MO 63105.Publisher Barton Bienenstock barton@furninfo.comEditor Russell Bienenstock russ@furninfo.comVice President Sales Thelma Mason Davis thelma@furninfo.comAssociate Publisher Larry Stein larryboy303@gmail.comAccount Executive Eastern Region Jon Siegel jon@furninfo.comSales Director International Markets Gary Siegel gary@furninfo.comAssociate Editor S.T. Bienenstock editor@furninfo.comCanadian & Feature Editor Janet Holt-Johnstone editor@furninfo.comArt/ Design Editor Barbara Bienenstock barbara@furninfo.comComptroller Gifford Dorival gifford@furninfo.comDesign Feature Editor Margarett DeGange editor@furninfo.comSales Education Feature Editor Cathy Finney editor@furninfo.comOperations Feature Editor Dan Bolger editor@furninfo.comMarketing Feature Editor Larry Mullins editor@furninfo.comStore Design/Branding Feature Editor Martin Roberts editor@furninfo.comFURNITURE WORLD: (ISSN0738-890X) - Published every other month by Towse Publishing Co., 1333-A North Avenue, #437New Rochelle, NY 10804. Subscription: $19 per year; $39.00 for 3 years, $29 Canada, $4/copy; Foreign $89; (U.S. cur-rency only). Periodical postage paid at New Rochelle, NY and additional mailing offices. US POSTMASTER: send addresschanges to Furniture World, PO Box 16044, St. Louis, MO 63105. Publications Mail Agreement Number 41659018. Returnundeliverable Canadian addresses to: PO Box 875, STN A, Windsor ON N9A 6P2. Copyright 2008 Towse PublishingCompany, all rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited.Cover: Featured is the Matrix Too from well known glider manufacturer Dutailier. Thisnew model combines Dutailiers unequalled construction quality with contemporary style atan affordable price. Matrix Too glides, has multiple positions, reclines, swivels and can bepersonalized with different arm rests, back cushion styles, finishes and fabrics. See Dutailiersad on page 1 and the back cover of this issue, or visit dutailier.com for more information.IN THIS ISSUEThe Business Solutions Magazine For Furniture RetailersFOUNDED 1870 Visit www.furninfo.com The Industrys Most Extensive Furniture Site OPERATIONS MARKETING SALES FINANCE0109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 3:54 PM Page 20109 ashley 3-4-5:Layout 1 1/1/09 10:05 AM Page 30109 ashley 3-4-5:Layout 1 1/1/09 10:06 AM Page 40109 ashley 3-4-5:Layout 1 1/1/09 10:06 AM Page 5We have a new President andthe bright promise of hopefor new perspectives andanswers on how to moreeffectively and efficiently run our countryin the 21st century.How did President Obama win? Oneimportant element was his campaignsbrilliant grass roots digital marketingstrategy. Each step of the way, he wasable to measure and react to changes invoter sentiment caused by breakingnews, speaking points released by theopposing campaign, and much more.Obama realized early on that by relyingheavily on a digital vs. traditional mediastrategy, he could enter into a conversa-tion with the American public to find outtheir concerns and address them. Heused the speed of the internet to com-municate his ideas, and at the same timecollect campaign contributions. He didit. And, so can you.In 2008, I wrote five feature articlesfor FURNITURE WORLD magazine (allposted to the article archives on the furn-info.com website). Each one covered adifferent aspect of what you, as a retail-er need to know to be effective in theonline environment. Topics included howto convert e-based conversations intosales, online reputation management,social networking, and measuring resultsthrough the implementation of websiteanalytics. The adoption of new media digitalmarketing strategies can and will saveour industry - which means saving manythousands of jobs. Thats a bold state-ment, but it is true, because online iswhere your customers are. Over 570 million people use somesort of social networking site in ourworld today. Facebook is growing at the rate of600,000 new users A DAY. LinkedIn is being used by over 21million professionals. Twitter is being used by over 4 mil-lion people for micro-blogging,including Ford Motor, Virgin Airlines,Anderson Cooper, Zappos and othernotable brands.All you have to do is look around andnotice how many people you know areactively engaged with some sort of socialmedia or social networking site. It does-nt matter whether you are activelyengaged in this phenomenon, becauseyour customers are!Once you connect the dots, you willrealize that your brand needs to listen toand engage with customers on this levelby developing a digital marketing strate-gy. A digital marketing strategy is a cross-platform strategy that utilizes socialmedia tools such as blogs, wikis, pod-casts, video and webinars along withsocial networking sites such asFacebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr,YouTube and Hulu to connect with, listento, and engage directly with consumers.There are three main benefits you canobtain if you implement a digital market-ing strategy correctly.BENEFIT #1LISTEN AND ENGAGENumber one is the opportunity to lis-ten to what your customers and potentialcustomers have to say to you, or alreadyare saying about you on other sites. Fortoo long, retailers and manufacturershave not directly engaged the end con-sumer. Social media marketing gives you theBlueprint For ADIGITALMARKETING STRATEGYPart 2: Using new and valuable tools to connect with customers.Internet Marketing By Leslie Carothers6 FURNITURE WORLD January/February 20090109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 3:55 PM Page 601-09- alan morgan 7:Furniture World 1/5/09 4:25 PM Page 78 FURNITURE WORLD January/February 2009opportunity to listen to and engage theend user before your company makeshundreds of thousands of dollars inexpensive mistakes. These mistakescould be in your selling system, yourinventory, your customer service policies,delivery, warranties, or any other busi-ness area. If you are honest, transparent,responsive and engaged on the impor-tant social media platforms, your cus-tomers and potential customers will tellyou what they want and think. Can this be difficult to swallow? Yes.But every company needs to know whatits customers really want and think ofthem. What company can afford to putmerchandise on the floor without reallyknowing for sure, that it is the merchan-dise their customers want to buy? Thinkof this: how much money have you spentover the past two years in advertisingmarkdowns and/or getting rid of unsoldinventory? You can drastically reduce that expen-diture by engaging your audience direct-ly with social media, letting them co-cre-ate your store. Do you give up an element of control?Yes. But, the hard truth is that control isalready in the hands of your customers.Most of you know what it is like to be acustomer in the digital age. You do pre-purchase online research, and If youdont like something about a store youshop in, you can easily go to an onlinereview site like yelp.com or epinions.comand let the world know. Once that con-tent is posted, it is impossible to takedown. Its there, forever indexed inGoogle and Yahoo search engines andavailable for all your other potential cus-tomers to see whenever they conducttheir pre-purchase research.So, for this reason alone, it is criticallyimportant to begin an active program oflistening to and engaging your audiencethrough a social media strategy so youcan at least participate and influence theconversation about your store, yourbrand, your people or your products. SECOND BENEFITITS INEXPENSIVEThe second main benefit is that a dig-ital marketing strategy is extremely inex-pensive compared to a traditional adver-tising strategy. How much are you spend-ing on traditional advertising right now?7% of sales? Your traditional advertising is pushinga message out, hoping potential cus-tomers will respond and buy. A social media marketing strategyallows your customers and potential cus-tomers to opt in to the conversations theywant to have about your store, brandand services. In other words, you set upthe opportunities for them through a vari-ety of means on social platforms to inter-act with you. You invite them (throughyour email lists) to participate and theyhave the choice to opt in. It is much morepowerful to have customers who havechosen to engage with you than to pushan advertising message out to them. Social media is not advertising.Instead, it helps you listen, engage andrespond. It lets you enter into a conver-sation with your customers and admityour mistakes. It enables you to buildtrust and authenticity. Will it potentiallycause you to have to change your busi-ness model? Yes. Will it, on occasion, bepainful to hear the truth? Yes. Will it beworth it? Yes. Why? Because if your cus-tomers begin to really believe that youare listening, engaging, responding andacting, these customers will become asales force for your store and your brandthat no amount of money would ever beable to buy. This, dear readers, is whatevery brand hopes for - customers whoare so energized and excited that theycannot wait to tell their circle of friendsabout the great experience they had withyou! Creating your own loyal cadre ofbrand evangelists for your store is a wor-thy goal for any retailer.And, once the strategy is set in place,it is free (with the exception of monitoringthe conversations). This is why so manymajor brands are adopting and re-allo-cating their traditional ad budgets tosocial media.THIRD BENEFITITS MEASURABLENow, how can you know that it workswell? Because it is directly measurablethrough the use of analytics on your web-site. You can see, with analytics, whichsites are referring traffic to you. If, forinstance, you post a link to a page onyour website in a LinkedIn group, youcan see how many people clickedthrough to your website from that link. Here is the final key: Social mediainfluence people, but it is not a hard sell.Your customers will believe what theirA blueprint for a compete e-marketing strategy needsto include the initial set up as well as a plan to make itsuccessful and self sustaining. A good plan will assignresponsibility for engaging customers as well as storemanagers, sales associates, customer service peopleand support staff.Once the strategy isin place, it is free... 0109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 3:55 PM Page 80109 joys 9 & 15:Furniture World 1/1/09 2:47 PM Page 901-09 omnia page 10-11:Furniture World 1/1/09 2:02 PM Page 1001-09 omnia page 10-11:Furniture World 1/1/09 2:02 PM Page 11trusted circles of friends tell them morethan a broadcast advertising message.Once they are influenced by socialmedia, it will drive traffic to your websiteand your store. That is an important rea-son why you need to have a very welldesigned website (if you are an e-com-merce player like feelmorehuman.com orwww.target.com), or very well-trainedsales consultants to close those sales. If you choose to participate in socialmedia marketing then you must makesure your sales team is part of, under-stands, and is trained to work with cus-tomers who have come to trust youthrough your social media marketingefforts. If you build up trust in the virtualworld and your customers real worldexperience is full of angst, inattention andapathy, you will lose them forever andthey will, depending on how bad the dis-connect is, voice their displeasure on thevery sites you have set up to engagethem! Yikes. But even when problems likethis occur, if you are engaged, you canimmediately go online and admit yourgoof. Customers will generally forgivebrands that are honest, admit mistakes,and try hard to make amends. With socialmedia, you can document your effortsand that is worth its weight in marketinggold.So, what steps do you need to take toset up your program?1.Set up an initial strategy that outlinesthe general program, sets goals andassigns responsibility for achievingresults.2.Develop production materials need-ed to support your strategy. This caninclude website development, videos,banners, newsletters, content writing,administrative setup, etc.3.Set a budget for events to be mar-keted through social media-if any.4.Implement your program with thetools and strategy youve devised. Ittakes some time to execute an effectivecross platform strategy.5.Enable ongoing monitoring of socialmedia sites. This task is the respon-sibility of a community manager, a.person or team that is directly engagedon your behalf in the conversations con-sumers are having with your brand(store). This is the only ongoing largercost associated with implementing asocial media strategy and can be out-sourced.6.Educate your executive team inpreparation for launch.7.Train your sales team in how to con-vert e-mail or phone based inquiriesinto in-store appointments or immediatesales.Now, lets go back to the initial discus-sion about the costs of traditional adver-tising. These costs go on year after year,right? Yes. Are they directly measurable?Unless its direct mail? No. Do the costskeep increasing? Yes. Most importantly, are you seeing signif-icant sales as a result of your traditionaladvertising expenditures? No, for mostretailers lately.With social media, you only have to re-allocate existing dollars budgeted foradvertising. Thats all. The only major ongoing cost associat-ed with implementing a social media pro-gram is the cost of talking to your cus-tomers. Once the initial fixed costs arecovered, your bottom line operating costswill decrease dramatically. This, is why somany brands are re-allocating to socialmedia marketing, and why you mightwant to consider it, too. Leslie Carothers, is a 25-year veteranof the home furnishings industry and theprincipal of The Kaleidoscope Partnership- a national company that helps retailersand manufacturers leverage the internetand their websites to powerfully and prof-itably impact their businesses. Her areasof expertise include: Online reputationmanagement; use of analytics to driveprofitable growth through different busi-ness units; content writing for retail andmanufacturer websites; phone and emailinquiry conversion rate enhancement;social networking implementation andwebsite layout for ease of consumer andconsultant use and functionality.Questions on any aspect of internetmarketing including how to easily man-age your online reputation, can be direct-ed to Leslie at leslie@furninfo.com. Shecan also be reached directly at713.705.2482.Monitoring conversations consumers havewith your brand is the job of a community manager...0109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 3:55 PM Page 120109 storis 13:Layout 1 1/1/09 1:25 PM Page 13With an unprecedented numberof retailers running liquidations,GOBs and warehouse sales,and consumers being skiddishand afraid to spend, how can you breakthrough the clutter and get the traffic youneed?The secret to success in times like this ishaving strong relationships with your list ofclients, nurturing them, making sure theydont go buy from Costco or any otherbig box store because they have lowerprices.Well, if you have been guilty of neglect-ing your customer base, all is not lost. Youcan still reach them with an effective directmail piece that compels them to come andbuy from you.THE SECRET IS THE REASON WHYWeve all seen successful liquidationsand GOBs. Why do these work so well,when in reality the deals arent any betterthan average? The secret is in the conceptof The Reason Why.This is one of the most powerful advertis-ing and marketing concepts. Consumerssee ads that promise a lot, and they areincreasingly skeptical. Thats why they arelooking for a reason to believe what youare saying.The average furniture ad offers SlashedPrices and Buy Now Pay Never financingoptions. What compelling, believable rea-son does the customer have to believe thatthis is a legitimate, compelling, urgentoffer? They Dont!They see it as just another Me Too adthat sells the same stuff for the same pricesas everyone else, and there is no com-pelling reason to get off their duff andWe Made A HugeMISTAKE!...and other ad ideas that explain to customers that you offer great deals,and that will differentiate your promotions from other sale price advertising.Retail Traffic by Brett Kitchen & Ethan KapLike I said at the top of this letter, Im going to give you free delivery and removal, free financing and 10% off every purchase during the month of January. So the question youre probably asking is, WHY AM I DOING THIS? OK, heres why... I MADE A MISTAKE!Im not proud about this- but I dropped the ball. And the only solution I can come up with to correct the error turns the tables in your favor... So, IM URGING YOU TO READ THE REST OF THIS LETTER..What I did wrong was not pay close attention to how much inventory my Merchandise Director was buying.He went absolutely hog-wild and now my store is stocked to the walls with a huge inventory of outstanding homefurnishings... and I still have shipments coming in!!!I COULD HAVE STRANGLED HIM!!!So when I realized how overstocked we were - there was nothing left to do but move as much of these greatfurnishings out the door as soon as possible. And yes, that meant taking responsibility for not monitoring my Merchandising Director, cutting my losses, and eating my mistake - BY PASSING ON A GREAT DEAL TO YOU, MYPREFERRED CLIENT!Hey dude, I bought toomany sofas.Cool. Why dont we tellour customers?14 FURNITURE WORLD January/February 20090109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 3:55 PM Page 140109 joys 9 & 15:Furniture World 1/1/09 2:47 PM Page 15come in before its too late.Consumers have been trained by us, thatjust another sale, is just another sale.Nothing special, no real reason to takeaction. Its the concept of deflation, on a differ-ent level. Right now talking heads are say-ing that declining prices lead to a slowereconomy because consumers keep thinkingprices are going to go down. Are you causing a kind of deflation onyourself by not providing a powerful REA-SON WHY in all of your promotions?If you are training your customers thatthey can always wait until the Next Sale,you are actually giving them a reason notto buy now. So how do you come up with a goodreason why?Here is an example of a marketing piecethat works like gangbusters every time it isused.One big reason why this is such an effec-tive letter is because of its well written,entertaining, personalized copy.But even more important is the BIGBELIEVABLE REASON WHY. First, the store-owner tells a true story about how anemployee (manager or owner) purchasedtoo much inventory. Then he or she explainsthat in order to get rid of that excess, it isnecessary to make some difficult andpainful concessions.As you see, he isnt just saying Im giv-ing you a great deal. Hes saying theReason Why Im giving you such a greatdeal is because of this: The InventoryManager bought too much stuff.Now does your Reason Why have tobe such a catastrophe? Not at all. You canuse a Retirement Sale a Flood Sale BillGlazer is famous for his Fire Sale and thelist goes on and on. Is the 4th of July a good reason why?Nope. Sorry. Give me something that legit-imately shows me why you are giving me areason to buy. Are you celebrating your son graduatingfrom college? A Wedding, A milestone?Did your landlord just lower the rent, or didan employee just have a baby? Take anoccurrence in your life, and turn it into aLEGITIMATE reason why you are making anoffer, and why they must act now.Another important part of this is thecopywriting. You cant write poor copy andexpect good response. It just doesnt workthat way.So this next segment will give you somecopy and paste copy examples that willhelp your ads perform better.Most home furnishings retailers forgetthat they arent just competing with otherfurniture retailers. They are competing withipods, cars, cell phones, laptops, and mostimportantly big screen TVs.This means you must use compellingcopy to show your customers why they can16 FURNITURE WORLD January/February 2009Is the 4th of July a good reason whycustomers should shop you? Nope!The landlordjust lowered our rent... One of our suppliers hit hard by the recession sold us fantastic dining groups for pennies onthe dollar... 0109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 3:55 PM Page 16CRUISE CANCUN LAS VEGASPoint of sales and marketing material FREE on your 1st order!Call for your free information package: 1 877 993 6835www.travelamerica.comWere Sending Your Furniture-Purchasing Customers on a 3 Day Las Vegas Getaway for Two (Including Air)!Their Choice of One of Three Exciting Vacations:*3 Day Las Vegas Getaway for two (including ight) *5 Day Cancun Resort Vacation for 4*5 Day Carnival Cruise for 2Americas Trusted Travel Incentive Provider to Furniture RetailersIncrease Furniture Sales by Over 30% Increase ad response Generate Excitement Exclusive Territories User friendly$159Cost01-09 travelamerica 17:Furniture World 12/31/08 5:15 PM Page 17get a tremendous value by buying furni-ture/bedding and buying it from you.How do you do it? Heres an example ofcopy you can use in radio, tv and print ads. Of course you could spend your moneyon a disposable electronic gizmo that getslost, broken, stolen or outdated in the next6 months. You could also spend your hardearned money on a new car that drives upyour monthly expenses even further. But weboth know those are not the best way to getREAL VALUE for your money. More and more folks are spending timeat home with family and friends. The bestvalue for your money right now is in anasset that wont become lost or outdated,but give you the luxurious living youvebeen wanting and deserve without costingyou a fortune.Now is the time to invest, thats right,invest in home furnishings that make beingat home a joy, and allow you to make avery wise financial decision.You see how you can sell against buyingany of those other products that competewith home furnishings? You just need tomake customers see the logic in spendingwhatever money they have on stuff for thehome, not on disposable gizmos.Combining effective copywriting tech-niques with compelling reasons Whymakes your ads more powerful than any-thing else competitors are doing.Be sure to remember If you dont havea reason why, the customer wont buy.Brett Kitchen and Ethan Kap arecofounders of Traffic Guys Publishing, andare commonly known as the "Traffic Guys."Brett and Ethan run a retailer MarketingMastermind Group to help retailersincrease store traffic and sales, while cut-ting the fat and waste from current advertis-ing. They also provide Done-For-You adsand promotions along with other systems tohelp retailers consistently drive in payingcustomers.Questions can be sent to Brett and Ethancare of FURNITURE WORLD Magazine atbretk@furninfo.com or call them direct at1-800-393-2054. For more information,visit their free home furnishings resourcecenter at www.hfplatinumclub.com.Heres an example of copy you can use...You could spend yourmoney on a new electronic gizmo ....You could buy a newcar and drive up yourmonthly expenses evenfurther...18 FURNITURE WORLD January/February 2009 Audio Learning Course 10 Lessons 2 CDs or 10 file MP3 Downloads Boost Average Sale & Closing % Great For Weekly Sales Meetings Listen between UPs Learn while commutingClick on the red FW Online Store button on www.furninfo.com or call for more information.Audio Download or CD-ROM Set $200 for single store license.call 877-235-3095 or email audio@furninfo.comHouse Callsby Cathy FinneyCLOSING PERCENTAGES OF 90% OR HIGHER!0109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 3:58 PM Page 18

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0109 vegas page 19:Furniture World 1/1/09 1:45 PM Page 19Some spend winter months dream-ing of the boys of summer.Others long for footballs drama,basketball's thrills, and all theblood, sweat and tears of professionaland collegiate sports. Hockey, golf, gym-nastics and NASCAR; each have theirdevotees, fans and the clinicallyobsessed. How to translate the significant powerof the bond that exists between your cus-tomers and their teams into solid busi-ness, vastly increased traffic and surgingsales? The key is to create links betweenthe loyalty home town fans have for theirsports heroes and the reality of yourstores brand. Sports celebrity endorse-ments, carefully crafted promotions andmeet-and-greet events are some of theavailable tools.No industry is better suited to takeadvantage of benefits of sports marketingthan the furniture industry. There is justno reason why sports fans should watchtheir favorite pastimes seated on wornupholstery in shabby surroundings. Acompelling pitch can be made that newfurniture enhances the entire sports view-ing experience. A little creative copyright-ing can cosy up a furniture store brandwith much better known sports franchis-es, creating instant and long-lastingassociations. Perhaps the most intriguingaspect of sports marketing is that a pro-motion can be crafted to attract men,women and families representing virtual-ly any socio-economic demographicgroup.NATIONAL FURNITURE OUTLETIm a ridiculous football fan, RandyWingard told us. I am a football infor-mation machine. I can tell you about anyteam or players detailed history. Forexample, the NFL College draft is twoProfiting FromSPORTSMARKETINGNo industry is better suited than ours to take advantage of sports marketing. Furniture Trends by Janet Holt-Johnstone20 FURNITURE WORLD January/February 2009When the saints march in, there is instant excitement at National Furniture Outlet.Their Special Home Town Team Sale ad featuring logo emblazoned upholstereditems attracted attention. Shown standing (from left to right) above are CharlieDurham, sales and Randy Weigand manager of the Westwego, Louisiana store.Seated is Matthew Gomez, owner/president, George Taix, manager and RaassanHolmes, sales.When the Saints march in...0109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 3:58 PM Page 20Please Visit Us In Las VegasWorld Market CenterBuilding A, Suite #52001-09- elran 21:Furniture World 12/31/08 6:16 PM Page 21days long and is broadcast for 18 hours.Most people watch the first round ormaybe the first day. I record and watchall 18 hours straight!Randy is a Manager at NationalFurniture Outlet in Westwego, Louisiana.He believes that wherever theres sport,there is also passion and opportunity forprofit. After Hurricane Katrina, thewhole region was Saints crazy. Theregion got behind the team as a symbolof the city. For a city that lost everything,it was something that could not be takenaway.Owned by Eddie Gomez and his son,Matthew Gomez, National Furniture hasbeen in business in Westwego for 21years. At one time we had only threesales people and one manager. We nowhave 10 sales people, 16 truck driversand warehouse personnel, and six man-agers. In 1992, the store was about9,000 square feet with a back room fora warehouse. Sixteen years later, thestore is 20,000 sq. ft. with three ware-houses.When the Saints march in, theresinstant excitement at National! We firststarted in 2006 giving away two ticketsto every Saints game. Just as a littlesomething for the customers. One entryper purchase helped to make sure wewere rewarding paying customers. In2007, I went with Matthew to the TupeloMS Furniture Market. We saw theBaseline licensing group. Being sportsfans ourselves, it caught our eye immedi-ately! We placed one order to try it out.The New Orleans Saints products soldright away.Baselines head of marketing, JayShurling, sent one of his investment part-ners over to meet with us. It turned outthat he was connected with severalprominent athletes, including membersof the New Orleans Saints. He suggest-ed that we have Saints players come byand tie the appearance with product pro-motion.We had a huge promotion on May10, 2008. The players agent actuallysent three players by (for a fee). Theyfilmed a few commercials for us, signedautographs and took pictures with thecustomers and employees. We took it abit further by having free food and drinksby hiring barbecue catering. We hadgive-aways every 15 minutes, with thefinal give-away being a free recliner witha Saints logo.Approximately 500 people camethrough the store that day, about fivetimes normal traffic. At least 150 of themhad never been to our store before. Itwas about 50/50 women and men butalmost every one of them had a childwith them! Sales were a little better, butwe knew that day would be difficult tosell the furniture. The goal was for thepeople who came to have such a happyexperience they would come back againand again. Especially those who hadnever been here before!As far as what didnt work, the foodwas a bad idea. The cost of the food, thetables, the cleaning and the general has-sle of the food, was not worth the time oreffort. I guess the best way to put it, thefood did not bring in any customers thatwere not coming anyway.We told the players that we would dosomething again on a smaller scale dur-ing the season. We had a weekday pro-motion with two of the Saints players.(Due to the Football Season, it could notbe on a Saturday.) We still had free auto-graphs and free pictures, but no food.We gave free gifts, (Fatheads, picturesand rugs), and a free recliner. It wasmuch easier the second time around. Weknew what to expect and had about 200less people due to having one less play-er and having it on a Tuesday.We still give away tickets to everyhome game, still one entry per purchase,with the entries that dont win ticketsgoing in the drawing for the Saintsrecliner at the end of the season.Its interesting that the economicdownturn has not really affected ourSports promotions. We definitely plan onhaving more Saints players here in the22 FURNITURE WORLD January/February 2009(A) Pictured left to right are some ofNational Furniture Outlets employees atthe event. Standing are Edith, Adinis,Lorainny, and Paula. Seated left to rightare Amanda, Julia, Patricia, JoAnn andAudrey. Jeannie is kneeling in front. (B) Seated and waiting to greet customersare Saints wide receiver Lance Moore,running back Pierre Thomas,agent/consultant Mike Harris and widereceiver Marques Colston.(C) Line of fans and customers waiting tomeet the players and get autographssigned.ABCWhen Duke plays UNC how about...0109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 3:58 PM Page 22Inspired by GRAND FLORI DI AN RESORT & SPA Inspired by ANI MAL KI NGDOM L ODGETwo leading brands coming together, creating magic for outdoor living.Inspired by some of Disneys most recognizable resorts and crafted by Agio, the leading brand in outdoor leisure furniture, the Disney Resort Collection is soon to take ight for specialty retailers across the nation. Through inspired design, the collection embraces todays relaxed and casual style with a touch of imagination unmistakably Disney. Feature this ne collection on your showroom oor and let your consumers bring home the magic! Disney.Life Begins OutdoorsTO EXPERIENCE THE ENCHANTMENT OF THE DISNEY RESORT COLLECTION, VISIT AGIO-USA.COM/DISNEYBring Home the Magic01-09 agio page 23:Furniture World 12/31/08 12:16 PM Page 23future. Its a sure way to generate excite-ment for the customers as well as thesales crew.National doesnt really work with littleleague events. We may donate to a localplayground, and theyll put our sign up,but no promotions.Randy admits hes a big Saints fan.But Im an even bigger fan of football ingeneral. He is also a moderate basket-ball fan. I follow the NBA, but theres notmuch more room in my brain for anyother stats or information other than foot-ball!IDEAS FOR PROMOTIONSJon Siegel, FURNITURE WORLDMagazines Account Executive EasternRegion, who has a background in sportsmanagement, says that, it isnt difficultfor furniture retailers to attract and keepthe interest of sports fans. The highlypublicized Jordans Furniture promotionthat resulted in 24,000 of Jordans cus-tomers winning furniture is just one bigexample. This promotion generated asurge in business and publicity leadingup to the Boston Red Soxs World Serieswin. It was reported that the insurer of thepromotion paid out between 20 and 30million dollars to consumers. There are less extravagant ways toattract attention, he continued.Retailers need to be creative. For exam-ple, a New York area furniture retailercould use traditional media, in-store sig-nage and the powerful social networkingtools discussed by Leslie Carothers in theNovember/December 2008 issue ofFURNITURE WORLD to generate asports fan following. It would be easy tostart a hometown Linkedin usergroup,call it a support group, for spouses look-ing to spruce up their significant othersugly sports dens. Another user groupcould feature furniture design tips forRanger fans with children.Such a retailer might ask customersto enter a drawing to pick the correctnumber of strike-outs that starting apitcher is going to throw. The winnercould receive a sports fanatic roommake-over with Yankees themed furnitureand accessories. If the Yankees get intothe playoffs that year, the retailer mightfollow-up with a give-away by randomdrawing for themed merchandise, includ-ing a mix of upholstery, lamps, kids furni-ture, signed photos, pens, mugs, etc. Thebelievable premise for the promotioncould be that the storeowner is such a diehard fan that he or she has to do some-thing to celebrate! Even straight-forward sales can bemade to appeal to fans. Lets say thatnext year your team makes the playoffs.Why not celebrate with a sale on selecthome theater groups that will makewatching the big game more enjoyable?Round out the promotion by sending amailer to your preferred customer list.Invite them to come to a kick-off partyfeaturing new home theater merchan-dise. Entice them with a playoff ticket raf-fle and throw in a percent-off sale onpromotable your team merchandise,tee shirts and backpacks for the kids sothat your teams fans, young and old,can enjoy this post season with all thecool gear.Or heres a lure. Run a series of radioads saying, its 2009 all Texas Long HornFans. Receive an NCAA official pig skinfootball with any purchase of $500 ormore for your college dorm or off cam-pus home furnishings only at XYZFurniture of Houston.Stores in most areas of the countrywill be more successful promoting withcollegiate or pro teams playing at thestart of a new season or in post seasonplay. College promos should be gearednot just by playoff scenarios, but also byrivalry. When the Duke Blue Devils playthe UNC Tar Heels, how about, Attention24 FURNITURE WORLD January/February 2009The downturn has notaffected our sports promotions.Olindes promotes sports themed furniture built around college teams, baseball and NASCAR. Shown is a print ad for their their recent Big GameCelebration promotion touting recliners and HDTVs delivered before thebig game. Also shown is Conway Furniture's foray into racing sponsorships.Ten lesson audio presentation that will help you: TURN BROWSERS INTO BUYERS, FOLLOW -UP, LEARN WHAT TO SAY, TURN CUSTOMERS INTO CLIENTS, GET ORGANIZED AND GET REFERRALS.To learn more, go to www.furninfo.com/store & click on Marketing of Me Or Call 877-235-3095. See Order Form on Page 75 In this issue.TURN BROWSERS INTO BUYERS!0109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 3:58 PM Page 2401-09 twinstar 25:Furniture World 12/31/08 6:14 PM Page 2526 FURNITURE WORLD January/February 2009Promotions can be crafted to attract men, women & families from virtually any socioeconomic group.all Blue Devils fans! Receive a $100 gascard, or Visa gift card, if our team winsthis Saturday, only at our store.CONWAY FURNITUREIn Canada, hockey is big. And theancient art and craft of curling has itsdevotees. Our friend, Paul Dekker,Conway Furniture in Listowel, Ontario,has never used the celebrity angle inhis sports marketing, but we sponsor anannual curling bonspiel, in fact, itscalled the Conway Bonspiel. We donttie into it at store level, but we do getacknowledgements for it. We also regu-larly sponsor ice time both for minorhockey tournaments and figure skatingcompetitions. It is $50 to $100 for anhour of ice time. Again, were acknowl-edged for this. We have in the past spon-sored sweaters for soccer, a great sportfor kids, low cost and maximum partici-pation.We also support our local OHL hock-ey team, Midwestern Ontario Junior Bleague, with a sweater sponsorship andmajor ad in their programme. And minorhockey, Midwestern Ontario Junior C, intwo neighbouring communities in ourtrading area. Minor hockey support isgenerally through sponsoring ice time fortournaments, and we have sponsoredindividual players through programmeadvertising and the high school hockeyteam in fundraising for a European tour.My manager is the president of theListowel Cyclones, Midwestern Junior Bleague, and my controller/I.T. man doesthe bulletin for them here at the store. Ittakes time from work, but they are bothgreat employees who get their workdone, so it isnt a problem. The partici-pation in that organization connectsthem with many potential customers.I did sponsor a car race for four yearsas well! And we have a golf sign up in theoffice and book two or three tee-offs onWednesday evenings after work. A littlesocial time, followed by food and bever-age. When we are on the ball, we invitesome of our manufacturers reps to jointhe fun, and hopefully buy a round!For the most part these sponsorshipsare a part of small town life. We knowthe people who are involved and the par-ents of the children who are playing. Ifmy business were in a larger population,I would handle it differently. I wouldsponsor one thing visibly instead of manythings in a small way.OLINDES FURNITUREDown south again, Tommy David,Sales Manager at Olindes Furniture inBaton Rouge, Louisiana, loves to Turnbusiness into pleasure and pleasure intobusiness!, and how better to do thatthan with sports interaction? Back 120years ago, Olindes was a small hard-ware store, now there are four Olindesand four Ashley Home Stores. Wedecided on sports promotions a fewyears ago when one of our buyers was atHigh Point. And weve had big trafficbuilding promotions for the last two yearswith team players at the store. We do ourads in college colours. Were usingsports themed furniture built around col-lege teams, baseball and NASCAR. Ourgive-aways have been Big Man reclinersin purple and gold with the LSU logo.On game days, Olindes opens an houror two early, and their ads tell customersto come by before you go out to supportyour team. It works for Olindes!It has been said that when things arenot so bright in the economy, we tend toturn to sports and sports-related activitiesfor escape and to work off our frustra-tion. Stir the imagination and enthusiasmof your customers. Hit them where theylive! Consider your options and climb onthe proverbial band wagon. Youll havefun while youre at it and might evenmake money!twitter... facebook.... linkedin... newmedia!Leslie CarothersFrom tkpleslie: What are you doing?713.705.2482 leslie@tkpartnership.com www.linkedin.com/in/lesliecarothers www.twitter.com/tkpleslie0109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 3:59 PM Page 2601-09 high point 27:Furniture World 12/31/08 5:08 PM Page 27To improve is to change; to be per-fect is to change often is a SirWinston Churchill quote thatstrikes home in these difficulttimes. That quote, and the use ofManaging By Walking Around tech-niques (described in the 1982 book InSearch of Excellence by Tom Peters andRobert Waterman) are the driving princi-ples that need to be used by every furni-ture retailer in these tough times. Inrecent years Lean process has con-tributed another dimension to overallbest practices strategy. In simplest terms,applying Lean principles to furniturewarehouse and delivery provides aframework to eliminate waste every stepof the way with the ultimate goal ofachieving a perfect delivery. For most furniture retailers it is virtual-ly impossible to increase sales this year,so you need to focus on items you docontrol. This article is focused on oppor-tunities that you identify using your eyesand ears through Managing By WalkingAround and the use of common sense.If you have broad management respon-sibilities, rearrange your schedule tospend time in warehouse and deliveryoperations over a three-week period.Your entire first day should be spent inoperations. Based on what you see whilewalking around, you will probably wantto visit the warehouse on subsequentdays to observe operations needingimprovement and develop action plansto address these issues.OBSERVE DELIVERY Was the workplace left clean andneat the previous night for the start ofthe new day? Is the entire staff at their work stations ready to start work on timeor, do people sit around drinking cof-fee and chatting? Does the warehouse manager have28 FURNITURE WORLD January/February 2009When Times Are Tough, Use AWAREHOUSE & DELIVERY-LISTIt will be tough to post sales increases this year,so focus on opportunities that you can easily control.Operations by Dan Bolger GOAL COMMENTSReduce t he cost __________________________________ ______________________________________________I mprove cust omer servi ce __________________________________ ______________________________________________I mprove saf et y __________________________________ ______________________________________________Prepare f or growt h __________________________________ ______________________________________________Reduce damage & errors __________________________________ ______________________________________________I mprove i nvent ory cont rol __________________________________ ______________________________________________Become more f l exi bl e __________________________________ ______________________________________________Faci l i t at e i nf ormat i on vi si bi l i t y __________________________________ ______________________________________________Reduce downt i me __________________________________ ______________________________________________Add your goals and comments about each of the items listed above as you walk around and then rearrange them in the priorityorder that fits your situation. Reproduced with permission from Lean Warehousing by Ken Ackerman, Ackerman Publications,614-488-3165. It is a a useful reference for the general topic for application in warehouses.0109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 3:59 PM Page 28the days work planned so there isproductive work that can be startedimmediately. Conversely, are on timeworkers killing time while a managerfigures out what has to be done? Assuming that your company loadstrucks in the morning, are returnsalready properly identified, unloaded,accounted for and waiting in yourreturns area? Are there procedures in place to helpyour employees understand why thegoods came back? Are there mysteries to be solvedregarding previous deliveries or non-deliveries? Are the trucks swept out, and areblankets and tools already loaded onthe trucks? Are all the goods properly preppedand ready to go? Are there any defects to be fixedbefore loading? Is the dock well organized so thedelivery team can load the truck in atimely manner, or are there delayswhile they hunt for missing parts orunits? Is furniture being dragged on concrete or are dollies and/or handtrucks used to properly handle furniture? Is everything blanketed in the truck? Is the light side of the blanket alwaystoward the product and dark sideout? Are all furniture surfaces protect-ed from damage? Are ties properly used to preventproducts from shifting? As each delivery team prepares toleave, pay attention to their appear-ance. Do they properly representyour business image, whether in uniform or personal work clothes? OBSERVE RECEIVING Are all the support documents avail-able for easy reconciliation? What can be done to reduce the timebetween receiving and delivery? Can the distance traveled betweenreceiving, warehousing, prep anddelivery be shortened? Walk the warehouse and observeput-away and stock pulling. Is every-one hustling? CAPEL RUGSA M E R I CA S R U G C O M PA N YL A S V E G A S W O R L D M A R K E T C E N T E R , A 2 2 6W W W. C A P E L R U G S . C O M | 8 0 0 - 3 3 4 - 3 7 1 1Creating rugs that define the home is at the heart of the Capel tradition. And,with 10,000 dif ferent inspirational designs, our selection goes well beyondother rug companies. From American Originals to colorful contemporaries,from fine hand knots to functional outdoor styles, were creating rug classics fora new generation of style.IN OUR HOME THERE ARE TWO TREASURESMAGGIE MAE AND BEAUTIFUL CAPEL RUGS.Bruce Hric, President and CEODEFINING HOMES FORNINE INCREDIBLE DECADES.Spend time in operations over a three week period.0109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/8/09 3:56 PM Page 29 What stock is dusty or possibly damaged which indicateslack of inventory control? Are cycle counting programs in evidence? OBSERVE PREP Can unpackaging and basic prep be done by less skilledworkers? Are the most skilled workers doing highly productive work? Is merchandise movement efficient? How is the trash handled? Observe the staging for each truck bay. VISIT THE SHOP What is the level of professionalism in every aspect? VISIT THE OFFICE Listen to office communications and observe the functions. How do the staff members work together to achieve overall customer service goals?Throughout this grand tour, consider whether you would bepleased to have your customers walk through with you, includ-ing the break areas and restrooms. Thats an acid test. As you move from area to area, speak with all the peoplewho contribute to operations. People who actually do the workare frequently aware of, and glad to tell you what needs to bedone. Sometimes though, management never asks or is not lis-A. Mess and disorder. Your team should fold blankets and create neatwork spaces as they work, without leaving the cleanup for later.B. Missed steps that can cause furniture damage. Furniture should bewrapped with blankets before strapping.C. Good staging practices.As you walk around notice...C.A. B.30 FURNITURE WORLD January/February 20090109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 3:59 PM Page 3001-09 vietnam hawa page 31:Furniture World 12/31/08 6:06 PM Page 31tening. Your notes will provide an internalassessment of strengths and weaknesses.They will help you focus on improve-ments achievable with your internal staffand help you determine areas in whichyou may need to hire outside consultantsto supplement your in house expertise.You may also want to reference previousFURNITURE WORLD Magazine articles(posted to the Operations ArticleArchives on the furninfo.com website)that provide specific recommendationsfor receiving, hiring and compensation.Daniel Bolger P.E. provides operationsconsulting services to clients throughoutNorth America. FURNITURE WORLDMagazine readers can contact him at bolger@furninfo.com or call him direct at740-503-8875. For more information on this or othertransportation, logistics and furniture ware-housing topics, go to www.furninfo.com toread all of Dans articles.E. Watch for employees who might injure themselves, the furniture orothers. For example, dont stand on bedrails, practice safe box cutter protocol and refrain from horseplay.F. 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Ask for a freelighting energy energy analysis.ReplaceYour EnergyHogs!* Savings calculations incorporate: Average hours per day lights on, Average days perweek lights on, Average kilowatt hour rate, Average cost per lamp change, Rated average Lamp life, Lamp cost.See us inHigh PointNHFA Retailer Resource Center Plaza SuitesFirst Floor #527Get your FREE9 Watt MiniTwist, 10,000hour compactfluorescent lamp & ask about promotional pricing on highquality energysaving bulbs thatwill save you lotsof Green by Going Green!800-222-LAMP (5267)Go Green!01-09 service lamp 33:Layout 1 1/1/09 2:06 PM Page 33Ascendency Of TheTRANSACTIONALSHOPPERTransactional shoppers are more interested in price than relational shoppers.They shop around and rarely make their purchase on the fist visit. Sales Management Magic by Joe Capillo Where to begin? TheNovember/December issueof FURNITURE WORLDMagazine included thirteenpoints to attend to in this awful economyand I hope they were helpful. Now letstake a closer look at steps you can andshould take today, tomorrow and everyday from now on.I have personally been affected by thisperfect storm of events that overtook usin the past 18 months, having beeninvolved in a family business that spi-raled out of control through the failure ofa group of branded stores, an attemptedmerger with an even sicker company,and the crashing housing market. Ispeak to you from close to where youare. I hate to say it this way, but I feelyour pain.Heres my advice for owners andmanagers at all levels, particularly smallfamily businesses: Take control of thepoint of contact.In our business, nothing fails like suc-cess. All the sales youve ever made, andall the sales your individual salespeoplehave ever made, have been closed in anenvironment that no longer exists. In thepast, youve probably approached cus-tomers in ways that no longer will work,so youd better have a Plan B.Things may never go back to the waythey were in, say 2005, 2000, or 1998.Maybe those companies that survive thiswill end up being one of the few placesleft in the neighborhood to buy furnitureand thrive in an under-stored market-place. Perhaps other channels of distrib-ution will become stronger than ever andthe whole idea of furniture stores willbecome pass. But, meanwhile there aremortgages to be paid, health insurancepremiums to maintain, and college edu-cations to be funded. Companies who hope to thrive needto take control of the point of contactbetween customers and salespeople. Beright there with them all the time. This isnot the time to trust that things are beingdone well. You know that there is a con-sistent, wide range of performanceamong your salespeople, and you can-not afford to let anyone get away whocould buy, and should buy from you.Business owners and managers, par-ticularly at the highest levels in large,multi-store companies, are just not closeenough to the point of contact. In theselarge companies its understandable. Butin smaller companies, its inexcusable.Someone from ownership or manage-ment needs to be out there every hour ofevery day to make this happen. Youllclose some sales that otherwise wouldntbe closed, and youll learn a lot aboutCut Packaging Disposal Costs. Become A Green Retailer. Generate A New Revenue Stream.International Industries & Associates Corrugated, Styrofoam, Poly Wraptel: 954-979-3368 cell: 817-692-1481 inter_recycling@bellsouth.net www.interrecycling.comTURN YOUR TRASH INTO CASH NOW!0109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 3:59 PM Page 34what your customers are thinking to helpyou promote and advertise the rightthings.TRANSACTIONAL VS. RELATIONAL SHOPPERSHeres some interesting informationthat supports this assertion. There aretwo broad types of shoppers; transac-tional and relational. Most people arenot all one way or the other but youll seea mix of these two shopping motivationsin your customers that can help you towork with them appropriately.Transactional shoppers are most inter-ested in price or the deal youre offer-ing. They shop around a lot, and rarely,if ever, make a purchase on their first visitto your store. This partially explains whyclose ratios for home furnishings are lowcompared with some other kinds ofretailing. These shoppers will tell every-one they know if they believe they got agood deal at your store, so when you sellthem, they can be a good source of newbusiness. Theres little or no loyalty with thesefolks, though. Theyre just as likely to buysomewhere else the next time. Theyrenot interested in a relationship withyour store or your salespeople, just ingetting the best price. They also dontvalue design help.When you get these people back asecond time on the same shopping pro-ject, they buy a very high percentage ofthe time because youve already con-vinced them that youve got great prices.Relational shoppers on the otherhand, are typically less concerned aboutprice, or the deal, and seek a relation-Everyone becomes more transactional in times like this.January/February 2009 FURNITURE WORLD 350109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 6:57 PM Page 350109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 6:57 PM Page 36ship with your store and, if they earn it, with a salesperson. These peo-ple need a lot of help with the design aspects of their purchasing deci-sions, and need someone they trust to tell them to go ahead and buy.These people are more likely to buy on their first visit as long as they feelthey are valued and their needs for support are met. Theyll be loyal tothe relationship as long as you work to maintain it. Just remember thatthese are different times from normal.Most of us display a mix of the two modes depending on the natureof the products were shopping for. For example, where product distinc-tions are clear as in cars, or TVs, and there is a lot of information avail-able regarding quality, features, and pricing as would be the case inboth product categories when a rating source such as Consumer Reportsexists, we tend to be more transactional. Where more consultative sell-ing is required, as it is in furniture, little comparative information is avail-able, and outcomes affect quality of life issues, we become more rela-tional.So how does this affect us now? Everyone becomes more transac-tional in times like this.Still, experience shows that when customers return to your store a sec-ond time, your close ratio will be over 70% and as high as 90% for yourbetter salespeople. The problem is getting them back, particularly thosetransactional types. This is why you need a system for dealing with bothtypes of customers the first time you meet them, and ways to determineif they lean toward transactional or relational buying. You also need astrong follow up system that is transparent to management and man-aged closely. Of course, before you can follow up, you have to have thecustomers contact information and permission to follow up. For this tohappen, you have to serve everyone at the highest possible level,accounting for the uncertainty customers have about your products (noinformation or ratings available) and the affect the decision to purchasehas on peoples lives.Be-Backs are everything in our business, and in these conditions moreso than ever. Everyone is a transactional shopper these days, but you canstill uncover the hidden core of need if you pay close attention, and getthem back one more time. This is the kind of game that needs to becoached play-by-play, on the field by the top managers working withtheir players in the game. This sport, unlike real sports, is one where thecoaches and owners can actually play in the game.Joe Capillo is a furniture industry veteran with 35 years combined experi-ence as a retail consultant and retail industry executive. He is a contributingeditor to FURNITURE WORLD and a frequent speaker at industry functions.Joe makes himself available for private consultations on any aspect of retailsales management and sales education. He can be reached at joecapillo@furninfo.com. See all of Joes articles on the information packedFURNITURE WORLD website furninfo.com.Be-backs are everything in ourbusiness. Especially now. January/February 2009 FURNITURE WORLD 370109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/8/09 3:27 PM Page 37Max Morgan, owner ofMorgans Furniture Gallery,was stunned. Three of hismost expensive bedroom sets,two entertainment centers and threesofas were missing from his warehouse.He double-checked his computer andphysical inventories. This was no mis-take. It had to be employee theft. Theonly people who had access to thewarehouse were Morgans employ-ees.Max Morgan never had anemployee theft problem in his com-pany before. He called the police. Auniformed officer promptly arrivedand took a report. The next day, adetective showed up and inter-viewed Max. The detective told himthey had run criminal recordchecks on all his employees, butnone had criminal records. Thedetective explained that sincethere was no physical evidenceand no witnesses to interview,there was little the police coulddo. He went on to explain thatpolice were not eager to inves-tigate employee theft casesbecause when police did catchthe perpetrators, their employers usuallydecided not to prosecute. This madepolice feel they had wasted their time.The detective said their first priority wasinvestigating crimes against persons. Healso said The truth is that we dont haveenough manpower. Property crimes likeyours usually get moved to the backburner. Max decided to go a different routeand have all his employees take poly-graph examinations. Hegrabbedthe phone book, opened itto Lie Detection and called a privatepolygraph examiner. The polygraphexaminer told Max that, because of afederal law called the EmployeePolygraph Protection Act of 1988 (EPPA),he could not ask any of his employees totake polygraph tests unless two require-ments were met. The requirements are:1) the employee must have had accessto the stolen customer property, and 2)Max had to have what is called reason-able suspicion that the employee stolewhat was missing. The more questions Maxasked, the more confusing thepolygraph examiners answersbecame and the more frustrat-ed Max became. Max thankedthe polygraph examiner andhung up.Max decided to try an internetsearch using the search termSolve Employee Theft. The firstthree search results all referred himto the same web site and the sameinvestigator. Max went to the web-site and studied it carefully. Hebelieved he might have found thesolution to his problem. And it wasentirely legal.According to the website, Max wouldorder theft investigation questionnaires(written interviews) for each of hiswarehouse employees. He would admin-ister the questionnaires like tests to hisA Case OfSTOLENFURNITUREMax Morgan always thought employee theft wassomething that happened to others until it happened to him.Prevent Employee Theft by James W. Bassett38 FURNITURE WORLD January/February 20090109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 4:15 PM Page 38More Fun To Sell. More Profits To Earn!Sell The Quality Conscious Resort Furniture Customer Barstools Bars Cafe Stools Game Tables Pub Tables AccessoriesLuxurious designs crafted to exacting quality standards. Since 1959 Darafeev has been the number one choice of elite retailers for their Home Resort style furniture. Made in the USA from American hardwoods with quick shipping programs. More fun to sell. More profits to earn!VISIT US IN LAS VEGAS - WMC BLDG. A-132 CALL FOR A FREE CD CATALOGwww.darafeev.com Phone 800-227-7866 fax 800-664-4329Craftsmanship Custom Options Made in USA01-09- darafeev :Furniture World 1/3/09 4:36 PM Page 39warehousemen and their supervisor. Then Max would mail thecompleted questionnaires back to the investigator. The investi-gator would analyze each employees answers and write areport explaining which employees Max could legally ask totake polygraph tests in compliance with the EPPA law. Theinvestigators report would also advise Max regarding whichqualified employees should be asked to take the polygraphfirst, second, third, etc., based on who was most likely to havecommitted the theft. Then the investigator would fill out thepaperwork required so that each qualified employee could belegally asked to take a polygraph test.Max got the investigator on the phone and asked What isyour success rate in solving theft cases with these question-naires? The investigator answered In cases like yours, ninety-five percent. But I cant guarantee you will get your merchan-dise back. Max said I understand that. My first priority is find-ing out who stole my furniture and getting rid of that person.Max ordered the theft investigation questionnaires andreceived them promptly via email. That afternoon, he adminis-tered theft questionnaires to his employees and sent them backto the investigator by overnight mail. Two days later, Max was reading a report that had beenemailed from the investigator with results for each of his ware-house employees. An attachment contained completed formsso Max could ask his number one most likely suspect to take apolygraph examination in compliance with the EPPA law.According to the employees answers on their question-naires, the most probable culprit was a truck driver namedChet. Chet was one of Morgans four delivery drivers. A closerunner-up to Chet as the most probable culprit was Nathan, hiswarehouse foreman. The investigator seemed to think the twoof them might be working in cahoots. Max Morgan couldnt believe his warehouse supervisor wasinvolved. Nathan was the first employee Max ever hired and hewas the last person Max would have ever suspected of stealingfrom him. But the information in the report was pretty clear.40 FURNITURE WORLD January/February 2009ls your usiness surviving? Or thriving?800.617.8271 | creditstarsoftware.comYou need your own in-house financing, ut you`re not readyfor another department. Professional Finance ContractServicing powered y CreditStar provides complete financeprocessing and you keep the earned interest and latecharges. To find out aout this and other financemanagement options call American Software & Computersor visit our wesite: www.creditstarsoftware.comKeep all the profit from your sales.With n-House Financing. Als Furniture s Thriving.STOLENFURNITURE0109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/8/09 3:26 PM Page 40Heres some of what the report said regard-ing Chets involvement in the theft:Chets helper, Scott, wrote on his question-naire, Chet told me he got charged withdrunk driving two months ago. He said he hadthe money to make bond but didnt have themoney for his lawyers retainer. He told me ifhe didnt come up with the scratch for thelawyer, he would get convicted of DUI and losehis job.Freddy, a warehouseman wrote: Chetsbeen acting real up-tight lately, not like hisusual self which is kidding around with all of usand joking.Marcel, a delivery driver, wrote:Somethings not right with Chet. It seems likehe and Nathan are always having these privateconversations in the corner of the warehouse.It hasnt been very long since the two of themdidnt like each other hardly even spoke toeach other. Now, all of a sudden, its liketheyre buddy-buddy.Heres what the investigators report saidabout Nathan:Tom, a delivery driver, wrote: I hope Imwrong, but maybe somethings going on withNathan and Chet. Every day for the last twoThe most probableculprit was a truckdriver named Chet.0109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 4:15 PM Page 41weeks, Nathans been sending out Chetstruck last. Before that, it was whoevers truckwas loaded first was the one that left first.Chet and Scott used to get their truckloaded first almost every day. Scott liked tofinish early. Now, he dont much seem tocare. Im trusting that youll keep my nameout of it.Alvin, a delivery driver, wrote: Last yearNathan bought a new house and a new car.Not long ago, his wife got laid off. NowNathans saying hes gotta have a raise.George, a touch-up man, wrote: Just thisMonday, Nathan came into my area, tookan entertainment center with a big scratchon it, and loaded it on Chets truck. He toldme hed touch it up himself at the cus-tomers house. When I asked why he wasgoing out with Chet, he said they had tomake a special delivery after working hours.Very strange. Never happened before sinceI been here that Nathan went out on a deliv-ery.Along with the theft investigators report,Max received completed forms so he couldlegally request Chet and Nathan to takepolygraph exams in compliance with theEPPA law. The investigator advised present-ing the forms to Chet first. He thought Chetmight prove more cooperative than Nathan.Max called Chet into his office, closed thedoor and said, Chet I want you to readthese two forms carefully. If you have ques-tions about anything you read, let meknow. Chet read the forms slowly and deliber-ately. Then he said These forms say I donthave to take the polygraph test if I dontwant to. I can refuse.Max asked, Why would you think aboutrefusing if you are innocent?Chet said I have to protect my rights.Max responded And I have to protect thecompany. Did you read the part that says Ihave the right to fire you if you refuse to take0109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 6:58 PM Page 42the polygraph test?Chet said, Yes. Would you do that?Max said Tell me about the furniturethats missing from my warehouse.Maybe its not all your fault. If not, youshouldnt take all the blame.Chet turned away from Max andstared at the wall. His eyes began to getmisty. Then he began to get angry.Chet said, It wasnt my idea. It wasNathans. Nathan found out I got a DUIlast month. He said I could beat the rapwith a good lawyer. I asked if he wasgoing to loan me the money. Nathansaid he had something better in mind. Heexplained how we could overload mytruck and that we could deliver the extrafurniture to the houses of various guys heknew. He said if I didnt show my helperthe invoices, then Scott would nevercatch on to us. Nathan said wed split themoney hed get from selling the furniture50-50.Max said I understand why you stole.Why did Nathan steal? Did he getbehind on his payments? Did his wifelose her job?Chet said Heck no! Well, his wife didlose her job, but the very next week shefound a better one. His problem is thathe developed a liking for nose candy.Cant get enough of it.Max asked Cocaine?Max couldntbelieve his warehouse supervisor wasinvolved...January/February 2009 FURNITURE WORLD 430109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 7:01 PM Page 43Hurricane damage, recession,inflation and foreclosures are justa few of the things drivingAmerican workers to steal fromtheir employers....FINDING GREAT PEOPLE IS WHAT WE DO!Furniture Team is your top talent recruiting solution! From mid-level managers totop executives in retail, wholesale, and distribution--let us find the best candidatesfor you. We will access, qualify, interview, evaluate, and secure potential candi-dates to help you get the best team possible. We work with home furnishings companies nationwide and abroad. We not only find great candidates for you, we can also assist in the offer/ negotiation and transition processes. We have worked with over 200 client companies in 10 years. Member, NFHA and WHFA.Furniture Team Management Recruiting, Inc.Call Pete Tomeck today! 717-361-7858 www.furniture-team.com pete@furniture-team.com"I put my name on the line with each placement!--Pete Tomeck, President - Member, SHRM44 FURNITURE WORLD January/February 2009Chet said Yup! He does two linesevery day at lunch. Hes got a buzz onright now.Max said Youre a good worker. Iwouldnt have fired you for the DUI. Iwould have moved you to a helpers joband trained one of the helpers to driveyour truck.Chet said What happens now?Max pulled out the blank ApologyForm the investigator had sent to him viaemail, handed it to Chet and said,Here, fill this Apology Form out com-pletely and truthfully. Dont hold anythingback. Then sign your name. I cantpromise you anything, but maybe some-thing can be worked out to keep you outof jail and help you find another jobsomewhere. You may also have to testifyagainst Nathan.Chet said Why not? Hes the one thatgot me into this mess. And he hasnt paidme my share.Chet wrote and signed his apology(i.e., a confession) and provided Maxwith the addresses where the stolen fur-niture had been delivered. Because Maxhad a signed confession from one of hisemployees and information concerningthe locations of the stolen furniture, thepolice agreed to assist with search war-rants and arrests. Both Chet and Nathan are currentlyawaiting trial on Grand Larceny charges.Nathan was also charged with posses-sion of cocaine. The police managed torecover all of the stolen furniture exceptfor one sofa. In todays world, hurricane damage,recession, inflation and home mortgageforeclosures are just a few of the thingsdriving American workers to steal fromtheir employers. Some are also seekingsolace in illegal drugs. Max Morgan always thought employ-ee theft was something that happened toothers until it happened to him.James W. Bassett has been a theft inves-tigator and polygraph examiner formore than three decades. His newbook, Solving Employee Theft: NewInsights, New Tactics is available fromBooksurge.com, Amazon.com and fromthe author himself. You can contact himdirectly at (352) 277-6222, via email atJBassett@furninfo.com, or visit his web-site www.TheftStopper.com to learnmore about theft investigation question-naires.0109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 4:38 PM Page 44 Solid Wood Construction Custom Colors Program Variety of Wood Stains In Stock Fast Delivery Made in USA Since 1892FURNITURE COMPANY300 S. 6th Street Kiel, WI 53042Phone: 920-894-7441 Fax: 920-894-3292email:service@aalaun.com www.aalaun.comYour Solid Wood Domestic Table SourceGramercy Park has a feeling of casual elegance thatis at home in any room setting. Crafted primarily ofsolid maple, Gramercy Park features graceful profiled legs, under shaped tops, and clean lines. The natural beauty of solid maple is enhanced by oneof our Primary Maple stains. Recommended finishesare medium brown Burnt Sugar (-08), dark brownBrandywine (-09), and our darker Coffee (-11). Thiscollection of tables, many of which are scaled forsmaller spaces, is well suited for our Custom Colorpaint and stain program.01-09- laun ad:Layout 1 1/5/09 12:50 PM Page 450109 wizard pages 46-47:furniture world 1/1/09 10:35 AM Page 460109 wizard pages 46-47:furniture world 1/1/09 10:36 AM Page 47There is a shift that is occurring inthe advertising world. Resourcesfrom newspaper, yellow pages, TV,cable, and radio advertising arebeing reallocated to web sites, internetsearch, email media, and mobile media.This change has just started to occur inthe furniture industry. New media isuncharted territory for many furnitureretailers, but with a bit of knowledge youcan be one of the first in our industry to doit right.The big guys such as Rooms to Go,IKEA, Thomasville, Ethan Allen, NebraskaFurniture Mart and many independentsare aggressively collecting and using cus-tomer and prospect email addresses tohelp build customer loyaltyand keep their best cus-tomers from shopping in other places (likeyour store). Some of these companies collect emailaddresses from shoppers, buyers and onthe internet and then they follow-up withvarious levels of customer contact. Mostsend a general monthly or semi-monthlyemail promotion that is totally advertisingfocused. This is a start, and it is easy todo.A few provide value driven content-based e-marketing newsletters targeted totheir customers interests. This is even bet-ter then emailing a promotional messagebecause it provides value to current cus-tomers/prospects and helps to build longterm relationships. I define e-Marketing as permission-based marketing and follow up donethrough interactivemedia such as theinternet. It can bedone through webpages, searchengine optimiza-tion (SEO), mobileshort message ser-vices (SMS), oremail. In this arti-cle we will largelyfocus on using email. Even as e-Marketing is on the rise,most independent furniture retailers hangon desperately to old guard marketing.They see change as a risk, and decide tostick with what and whom they know.Traditional media has worked in the pastfor them and they hope that their cus-tomers will come back. They hope thatjust by changing the mix of traditionalmedia, buying smarter and tweaking themessage, they will attract more business.To a degree, this strategy can work, espe-cially with retailers that have made poormedia buys, neglected to quantify results,and run tired advertising that fails to dif-ferentiate their store brand or motivatecustomersThose of you who have been followingLeslie Carothers excellent FURNITUREWORLD Magazine series that covers e-marketing and social networking (postedto the furninfo.com article archives) haveseen that there is an opportunity to con-nect with customers in a substantial way atlow cost by using new media.Furthermore, it can be done in a way thatother retailers in your market probablyhavent even considered. New media enables independents tocompete on a similar playing groundlocally as a national or regional power-house! It is far less costly than traditionalmedia as it is driven by brains, creativity,and knowledge of the virtual world. Youmay not be able to match AshleyFurnitures newspaper insert budget, butyou can connect with customers and givethem targeted information that supportsyour brand, boosts retail traffic and sales.Consider these points: Most stores get the majority of theirsales from within a 30 mile radius ofwhere their customers live or own aproperty. Shift To Modern Media THE POWER OFe-MARKETINGFour tips to strengthen customer relationships.Operations by David McMahonProvideValue0109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 4:38 PM Page 480109 profitsystems 49 & 51:Furniture World 1/1/09 10:40 AM Page 49 There are usually several shoppingchoices in that 30 mile area. The majority of your store sales comefrom the top 20% of customers. Your top customers are also someoneelses top customers. Many of your younger customers andvirtually all of your future customersdemand Modern Media they grewup with it.This is your window of opportunity. Youwill eventually need to embrace modernmedia, so why not do it before your com-petition? Change is hard, but playingcatch-up is harder. Trying to come frombehind has put the nail in many coffins.4 TIPS TO HARNESS THEPOWER OF E-MARKETING1. Always Provide Value And BuildRelationships: So, the population is notgrowing that fast. Your baby boomer cus-tomers are retiring and have a fixedincome. Your best customers sons anddaughters grew up with the internet andemail. But, these new buyers are gettingmarried and will be looking to furnishtheir own homes. The key is to communicate in a newfashion to these baby boomers and theirtech demanding children. They expect youto be a savvy marketer so that they can: Find you on the internet easily. Give them a website experience thatprovides answers all their questions,has a modern look and excellent functionality. Receive relevant information when youcontact them.If you dont live up to these expecta-tions, they wont hesitate to give their busi-ness to those that do, such as IKEA andCrate and Barrel. Contact with your old and new cus-tomers should be geared toward value.Examples include, contact for past pur-chase, special order update, delivery con-firmation, preferred customer events, e-Newsletters, and specific next purchaseideas. They do not want spam!The new consumer does not get thenewspaper, digitally records televisionshows, opts out of mailed catalogs onwww.catalogchoice.org, never looks atthe yellow pages and has only one phone an internet capable mobile phone. Consumers now give permission toonly those companies they like andrespect.2. Ask for Permission: New media isabout permission. Consumers have got-ten hit over the head for years with inter-ruptive marketing practices. Their TVshows are put off by loud yelling car orfurniture commercials, the paper isjammed with garbage that was oncetrees, and their mailbox overflows withjunk if not checked each day. If you say,Well, interruptive advertising has workedfor me, I say, Nothing lasts forever.Consider permission. Now, peoplehave choice On Demand. They canavoid commercials with TiVo, digi cableand satellite. Many arent renewing theirnewspaper subscriptions, instead lookingfor free news online. They are also beingproactive about opting in to email mes-sages and newslet-ters they want toreceive, and outof unwantedemail offers.Do not sendunsolicited e-Marketing as itwill end up in your customers spam filtersor worse yet, get reported as spam andyour company will end up on an emailblacklist. Businesses must by law provideopt out options. Proper businesses onlysend emails if the customer grants per-mission. There is no opt-out with old-guard media. Asking permission isnt difficult. Thereare many ways to get customer emailsonline, through entry forms, give-aways(such as a free decorating guide orchance to win merchandise) or in thestore at the point of contact using a sim-ple dialogue such as this:Would you like to sign up as a pre-ferred customer, for free? We will keepyou informed on any orders. And, you willget our exclusive email home stylenewsletter. Of course you will get exclu-sive notice of events not open to generalpublic Some of you may say, Most are goingto say no! Well, that may or may not betrue. What is true is that some will say yesand over time you will create a gold mine.One client of mine reported 9 out of 10email addresses were being obtainedfrom his customers, and that he no longerdoes any newspaper marketing. The next thing I hear from the mouthsof skeptics is, Well, I dont have manyemail addresses, so its not worth it!Well, thats the old-guard in them talk-Ask ForPermissionDont send unsolicited e-Marketing as it willend up in spam filters or worse yet...50 FURNITURE WORLD January/February 20090109 furn world 2:furnworld 1/4/09 4:38 PM Page 500109 profitsystems 49 & 51:Furniture World 1/1/09 10:40 AM Page 51ing. The ideal email audi-ence is an audience ofone. That is becauseemail can be totally per-sonalized and targeted. It isactually easier to start aprogram with fewer emails becauseyou can be sure that email addresses willbe collected properly. The key to successwith e-Marketing is to have smaller tar-geted message batches.A general formula that quantifies thisrelationship between successful e-Marketing and the elements that go intocreating an email message is: Degree of Refined DatabaseSegmentation + Relevance of Campaign To the Target Consumer = Level of Response.A permission based smaller list that istargeted will have much better results thana larger list that was obtained throughquestionable means. But dont worry ifyour list is sub par. There are ways thatstores and salespeople can build greatlists quickly. It usually takes only one tar-geted campaign to pay for a years worthof email media advertising.Permission marketing does not onlyinclude email of course. There is also webmedia. With web media, you can drivetraffic to your web site by allocating a cer-tain amount of your ad budget per monthto target web searches in a defined areaclose to your stores. Through geo-track-ing, advertisers such as Google will listyour site by search term. Google knowswhere your store is through your comput-ers IP address and can direct your adver-tising efficiently to those consumers whoare most likely to buy from you.3. Introduce new media partners:Unfortunately, media reps and some oldfriends youve purchased traditionalmedia from are seldom equipped tomove your company into the future. Theygenerally get paid based on how muchmedia you buy, not on how well it per-forms. e-Marketing companies are fresh.Typically they employ forward-lookingpeople who are marketing, database andtech wise. They have new ideas and areresults oriented. e-Marketing results areknown immediately. This has the advan-tage of allowing savvy marketers to makemid-course corrections to work towardimproved results.Here is one example of a forward-look-ing marketing campaign implemented bya home furnishings retailer (Lets call itXYZ Furniture). Through a custom data-base query, XYZ Furniture segmented itscustomer database to identify outsidedesigners. XYZ then created an email tai-lored to the specific needs of this group.The result was that 90% of the outsidedesigners saw the campaign, and 40% ofthem purchased. Im not saying get rid of all the old. Iam saying that it is time to transfer adver-tising dollars to new media partners thatunderstand furniture operations, how tocraft creative e-Marketing messages, howto build a useful customer/prospect data-base, and how to integrate data, mes-sages and vehicles (including traditionalmedia) into intelligent and result-orientedprograms. For more information on thistopic, read Leslie Carothers excellentFURNITURE WORLD series. Past articlesare posted to the marketing managementarchives on the furninfo.com website.4. Re-allocate resources: So, howmuch money should you allocate to yournew partners? Some other industries arespending 10% or more on e-Marketing,but there arent any rules of thumb forour industry. What matters is that you startin the right way and that you get results. If you are starting from scratch becauseyou need to redevelop your website,depending on your needs, there aredecent options from $300 to $5,000 permonth. If you want to have search enginesbring your listings towards the top ofsearches in an average trading area,expect to invest another $1,500 permonth. Add to this some advanced andintegrated database email marketing soyou can make segmented queries, andyou will probably invest an additional$1,500 in systems and very little permonth. And finally, to make sure that youdo it right the first time, professional train-ing and consulting firms may chargebetween $1,500 and $2,000 per day. All these costs are minimal when youconsider the overall ad budget size ofmost furniture retailers and the hugeopportunity cost of ignoring new media orjust setting up an average website andsending out occasional bulk emails. NEXT ISSUEDetails on how to effectively manageyour database to produce results. How toexecute targeted campaigns, and how totrack results. Until then, explore your options for newmedia partners!David McMahon is Director of e-Commerce and business coach forPROFITconsulting. PROFITconsulting is afull service consultancy and marketingagency that specializes in retail furniture.FURNITURE WORLD readers can contactDavid at david@furninfo.com or call himdirect at 800-888-5564. For more informa-t