Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
August 1,
2007 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in on August 2007
Dorel Inds. reported second quarter sales of $459 million, up 5.3 percent from $435.9 million posted during the same quarter last year.
Net income for the quarter was $10.8 million compared with $17.9 million during the same period last year.
Second quarter results include costs associated with previously announced restructuring activities at Dorel Europe and Ameriwood. Excluding the restructuring costs, adjusted net income for the second quarter was $19.8 million compared to $18.1 million in 2006.
Revenue for the six months was $914.7 million, compared to $886.9 million a year ago. Year-to-date net income was $38.8 million, compared to last year’s $42.1 million.
The company reported that home furnishings sales decreased 12 percent to $105.6 million from $120.1 million during the quarter last year.
July 31,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on August 2007
We’re all too busy all of the time. So it’s only natural that we’d like to pass on some of our work to employees.
Trouble is, we tend to have the mindset that says, “If you want it done right, do it yourself.” After all, how else can we control quality?
Joe Milevski believes you can delegate important jobs to staffers—and ensure that they’re done the right way every time. The CEO and founder of marketing firm JRM Sales & Management (jrmsales-mgmt.com), speaking at Myriad Software’s 2007 Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., presented his golden rule for management: “Delegate unto others before they delegate unto you”—in other words, pass along the smaller pieces of the puzzle so you can focus on the big picture: building your business.
Why Delegate?
To understand the value of delegation, Milevski raised the question, “Why do we hire employees? Is it to add stress to our lives ... or to demonstrate that no one can do things better than us, so we might as well just do it ourselves ... or to diminish our bottom line?”
One of the major benefits of having employees, in his view, is the ability to spread the stress around. “Management maturity sometimes comes with the realization that some personnel can actually do something as well as you—or better,” he said, “and that it gives them a sense of accomplishment at the same time.”
How much of your workload should you delegate? “Nearly everything, as your company evolves,” he said, “or you will always be performing that task—forever.” He added that if you can’t imagine passing on mid-level tasks like ordering, pricing, making deposits, etc., you should look closely at both your employees and your existing systems, because you should be able to entrust such things to others as you grow.
In the cases of owners and senior managers, he said people at these levels should keep very few tasks to themselves. “Signing checks and balancing the checkbook may make sense (for company leaders) in a small organization,” he stated. “However, once you spend more than 60 minutes a day on clerical tasks, your business is delegating to you. After all, who’s working at a high-enough level to take your company higher? Not your clerical people. You are.”
Get Your Ducks in a Row
Before you ask a staff member to handle a task, Milevski recommended seeing to it that each of your workers has a day-timer calendar or other way to track their projects. When you ultimately hand out assignments, make sure the time commitment for each is reasonable. “The goal is to get the task done,” he said, “and teach the associate the importance of meeting his or her commitments.”
He also stressed that you shouldn’t accept ambiguous commitments. Instead, agree on a specific deadline with the employee.
“When delegating,” he added, “take the extra step of asking the associate if he or she understands the task assigned. Just say, ‘So you’re clear on what I need you to do?’ This step is often missed.”
Eventually, you’ll reach the point when it’s time to see if the job you delegated has been completed. It’s a good idea to get regular updates on the job’s progress all along, but deadline day is the moment of truth.
“Don’t let a deadline pass without speaking to the associate,” Milevski said. “Make a point of congratulating the (employee) when the task is completed.”
But what if the job didn’t get done? “Actively listen to the associate’s ‘excuse,’” he said. “It may reveal a deeper issue,” one you can work to fix.
He also stressed letting staffers know you’re just as concerned that they didn’t tell you they were having problems as you are that the work didn’t get done. This will set a tone that you’ll have an open door if there are difficulties with future assignments, but also send a clear message that you want things done on schedule.
Hopefully, the jobs you delegated were done right—and on deadline. If so, Milevski suggests you seize the opportunity to build on this momentum by delegating more to your employees. “Set them up for success—allow them to demonstrate to you how good they can be—and their results may surprise you,” he said. “Most (of them) want to be more responsible and more recognized for their work. But most of your workers can complete their current tasks and seamlessly add more ... depending on the dynamics of the tasks and the growth of your company.”
Recognize Human Needs
Milevski listed common factors that can contribute to unsuccessful delegation, including:
• Extensive stress and conflict, causing employee discomfort.
• Lack of respect for leaders.
• Dwelling upon mistakes, while strong performance is viewed as “just doing the job.”
• Poorly developed systems.
• No team spirit.
• Nonexistent accountability.
• Lack of support (supplies, training, leadership, time) for employees.
• No opportunities to grow in terms of responsibility, skill development, education or salary.
To avoid such pitfalls, he said, you should strive to create an environment in which:
• Communication is clear and consistent.
• People understand their jobs and how performance is measured.
• Improvement plans include employee support (training, tuition reimbursement, pay increases).
• Policies and procedures are consistent and well-documented.
This drive to meet your workers’ needs for organization, leadership and recognition will have two major benefits: they will look forward to coming to work in the morning, and your customers will enjoy the experience of shopping in your store.
Strength in Numbers
Having a well-defined management team is one characteristic Milevski cited as being essential to well-run stores with effective delegation. “A good solution supported by the team (is more likely to) get implemented than a great decision supported by one person,” he stated. “Encourage team members to openly give their input with no danger of being shot down.”
However you grow your business, a positive environment developed along these lines will bear fruit in motivated, skilled employees who will graciously accept delegated assignments, give you ongoing feedback on their progress, and finish each job correctly and on time, every time. HFB
July 31,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on August 2007
A lot of furniture retailers find themselves filling a number of roles for their customer base, and when it comes to training their sales personnel, manufacturer representatives bring insights that can help retail floors perform better not only for the owner, but also the vendor.
Take Garden City Furniture, for example. The Garden City Beach, S.C., store is smack in the middle of a very traditional market, but one that also caters to vacation home owners seeking more casual styles by virtue of its coastal location.
“Right now we’re selling a lot of outdoor looks, but we also have customers who are looking for the traditional plantation bed,” said Garden City President Dianne Ray, whose father founded the business almost 30 years ago after opening his first store in Conway, S.C. in 1947. “Reps need to do their homework on individual stores and know what products are important to us.”
In Garden City’s case, that’s a diverse mix of product that ranges from Bernhardt and Ekornes at the high end to beach resort looks reflecting its market on the Atlantic Coast. Reps’ ability to train the folks on the showroom floor to sell their product, though, varies greatly among Ray’s vendors. That’s why she’s a big proponent of a rep training program through the International Home Furnishings Representatives Association.
“The difference between reps who’ve gone through IHFRA’s training program and those who haven’t is night and day,” she said. “Reps who have (been trained) ask the right questions about how they can better assist their customers. Their time is as valuable as ours, and I highly recommend to reps that they take advantage of that program. You can tell when a rep knows his or her lines. Some of them really study the line and are good at it, but some have too many lines in their bag, and it shows.”
Training the Trainers
Leslie Carothers is founder and principal of The Kaleidoscope Partnership, a national creative designer sales training and strategic consulting firm for retailers and manufacturers based in the Sarasota, Fla., area. She currently is training Hooker Furniture Corp.’s sales representatives and working with the International Home Furnishings Representatives Associa-tion on that group’s certification program for furniture sales reps.
She sees plenty of room for improvement in the way manufacturer sales representatives approach their training role for what she refers to as “retail sales consultants,” or RCSs.
“The typical ways for sales reps to grow a territory are first, to open new accounts, which creates distribution issues; and second, pushing product on the floor,” Carothers said. “The smart way to increase a territory is the hard way—to develop a relationship with the retail salesperson who’s on the retail floor.”
Carothers pointed to the typical retail salesperson, who has a variety of vendors to show shoppers in their showroom.
“If I’m looking at seven manufacturers who basically do the same thing, whose catalogs will I take off the shelf?,” she said. “I’m going to take the one that’s easy to use, where I understand the price list. ... If the RSC is payed in commission, their time is their money. To the extent that manufacturers reps train (a retailer’s) people to use the available sales tools, they’ll see their orders increasing.”
Problem is, reps earn their living based on how much they sell, not how many seminars they teach.
“Reps need to understand how sales managers and salespeople are compensated within their retail accounts, but the way reps are compensated is not in alignment with supporting in-depth training of retail sales consultants,” Carothers pointed out.
A Changing Role
Karen Sawyer returned to work as a sales representative five years ago after taking a couple of years off when she had children. A lot had changed when she came back to the industry as a rep with upholstery vendor Vanguard.
“As reps, we used to just go into the store and take orders,” she said. “Now retailers expect much more of a business partnership with the rep, and the rep’s training role is an increasingly larger part of the job.”
The importance of that training role, Sawyer said, largely relates to high turnover among retail salespeople.
“We spend a lot more time doing nuts and bolts training, things like what’s involved in ‘eight-way, hand-tied,’” she said. “Vanguard is high-end upholstery, so we work with a lot of smaller high-end design firms. ... The range of experience is vast between newer designers coming in and those who are more seasoned.”
In addition to product education, Sawyer might cover topics such as white-glove delivery or how to handle freight damage with salespeople. Store visits take a lot more time than in the old days.
“You definitely plan your day around a retailer visit,” she said. “You just don’t see the buyer, but spend a lot of time with the salespeople, especially when there’s someone new.”
Carothers believes high retail turnover is a common source of resistance among reps to their training role.
“They’re saying that retail turnover is so high, why should we invest our time in retail (sales) training?” she said, noting that when a retail sales consultant leaves a store, they take a lot of product knowledge with them. “Some retailers won’t let reps work with their salespeople too much because they’re afraid a rep will tell competitors about their good salespeople. ... If you provide a wonderful working environment for your people and compensate them properly, they’re not going to want to leave you. Compensation is one half, and recognition is the other half. A lot of store owners don’t do that second part well.”
Setting Expectations
Retailers need to create clear expectations for the reps they deal with in order to define their training role, which in turn can contribute to a store’s overall operation.
“I run my inventory with them to see what’s selling and what isn’t,” Garden City’s Ray said. “You go through cycles depending on the time of year. Right now is strong for us in outdoor looks. I expect the rep to go through my list of inventory and make me aware if I’ve missed something so I’m not stuck with a lot of inventory.”
New goods and updated samples are a particular focus for Ray.
“Reps need to make sure their selling tools are current, and communication in that sense is as instant as an e-mail, and if you have too many mistakes in that regard, you realize your business is not important to them,” she said. “When we put something new on the floor, we bring our salesperson to the product and find out what they need to know. Those questions need to be listed” for presentation to the rep.
Sawyer at Vanguard likes to pay particular attention to her clients’ new personnel. She’ll keep new salespeople around after a meeting to go over topics she might have mentioned that are old hat for the veterans. Looking ahead, she believes technology will free up reps’ time to concentrate on their training role.
“Answers to questions we’d get on things like order status and stock status—all those little questions you used to spend time on the phone with—will be available online,” she said. “The online customer service aspect frees us up to do other things like training on product knowledge, delivery issues and pricing.”
As far as working with store personnel, a rep’s role boils down in a big way to accessibility.
“Reps need to be accessible, and while I know there are (retailers) that abuse their time, if we’re running a sale on their product, they need to be available,” Ray said. “Consumers nowadays, if you can’t give them an answer, they’ll go down the road to someone else.”
When it comes to training their customers’ sales personnel, Carothers emphasized manufacturers representatives have a vested interest in fulfilling that role as well as possible.
“The retail salesperson has more power than anyone imagines,” Carothers said. “A well-trained salesperson can sell more special orders, and while there are a lot of stores that want to just move inventory, a special order incurs less carrying cost. For those turn-oriented retailers, a well-trained salesperson also sells more out of inventory.”
July 31,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on August 2007
Putting together an effective sales meeting is not rocket science. It is a combination of courtesy, common sense and a dose of mutual respect between retail salespeople and a manufacturer’s representative.
Karen Sawyer, a manufacturer rep for Vanguard, said store personnel need to be prepped for a sales meeting, and that even something as basic as punctuality can be an issue.
“There’s nothing more disappointing than arriving at a meeting and the staff’s not there or is coming in late,” she said. “Make sure the appropriate personnel know and schedule for the time of the rep’s appointment.”
Set clear goals for the meeting. Are there particular products that need introduction, or particular people that need more time?
“Advise your rep of new employees,” Sawyer said. “Let the rep know if you have new salespeople on board that might need extra attention during the visit.”
Right Tool for Right Job
Are the right tools at hand for the meeting?
“Has the rep’s vendor shipped a new catalog?” Sawyer asked. “Make sure it’s available to staff at the meeting and not on the loading dock. A lot of times I’ll take care of checking on that and make sure it’s there.”
Dianne Ray, president of Garden City Furniture in Garden City Beach, S.C., believes the “people prepping” of meeting participants is half the battle in ensuring an effective session.
“The reps don’t meet the sales floor personnel every time, but they are welcome to, and they especially need to be aware of new salespeople.” she said. “Talk to them first. I encourage (reps) to speak with each salesperson, because they have the questions and issues about product that customers are asking.”
Ray also suggests including customer service personnel in meetings.
“(Reps) need to find out if the product’s clean, whether there are freight damage issues, and your customer service people need to know who to get in touch with at the factory.” she said. “How is product received after it’s shipped? A thank-you to the delivery staff makes a difference. They need to feel like they have some ownership in your company.”
As far as frequency of meetings, Ray said that’s a function of her store’s track record with a vendor.
“Especially if it’s a new vendor, I try to do a (meeting) every 90 days,” she said. “It takes three good sessions with a rep to really get the meat and potatoes of a line.”
Healthy Attitudes
Leslie Carothers, founder and principal of sales training consultant The Kaleidoscope Group, said a good meeting starts with basics.
“I would have a computer screen available so the rep can show the retail consultant how to use the manufacturer’s Web site,” Carothers said. “The rep has to show how to navigate the Web site, and what kind off information consumers can get before they come into the store so that the retail sales consultant is as well-prepared as the consumers.”
She said that while reps are used to using e-mail and the Web, that’s not the case with a lot of retail salespeople she meets.
“They don’t know how useful the Web can be,” Carothers said. “Make sure the entire staff is up-to-date on (the manufacturers’ Web site). If you want to have a really fun sales meeting, have the rep show the retail sales consultants what’s available on the Web site. Most don’t realize the capabilities these sites have.”
That Web site session is a good set-up for a discussion of samples, finishes and other options. “A good sales rep will do a fact sheet of what a new retail sales consultant needs to work their line effectively—a good rep will give a cheat sheet,” Carothers noted. “Most sales reps are trained to sell to the buyer or store owner, but the RCS is getting those types of questions. Buyers are more concerned with turns and margins. The retailer has to understand what kinds of questions their RCSs are getting asked on the sales floor. The savvy retailer will tell their rep, ‘This is how I want you to arrange the meeting.’ Typically, the retailer doesn’t give direction.”
Retailers must find out what their salespeople need out of a meeting, and should structure the meeting accordingly. What questions do they need answered? Reps need to answer those questions with respect.
“Try to have reps not patronize salespeople,” Carothers said. “There’s this little power game, sometimes, and (salespeople) see which reps care about them. Reps need to pay a lot of attention to their body language and how they’re perceived. That retail sales staff controls that rep’s performance on a store’s sales floor.”
A well-trained retail salesperson also is more likely to stick around to make those sales.
“We’d decrease turnover if we improved training,” Carothers pointed out. “In my experience, 30 percent of reps do a great job in training, 50 percent are okay, and the rest don’t do it at all. I don’t know of many manufacturers that call key accounts and ask, ‘How is my rep doing?’ It’s the national sales manager’s responsibility.”
Carothers echoed the need to make sure samples are current and up-to-date. “Touch base with the rep to make sure old fabrics are pulled off the rack. Sometimes manufacturers send a list of dropped selections and the retailer doesn’t act on it,” she said. “The rep can’t always visit, but they can send an e-mail to the sales manager that says to pull the sample, and copy the store owner.”
Vanguard’s Sawyer said she definitely sees more of a partnership than before in the business relationship between manufacturer’s representatives and furniture retailers.
“We don’t just come in and take orders anymore, and we can do a lot to help retailers get more sales out our lines,” she said. “We are really partners in this together.” HFB
July 31,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on August 2007
In a challenging business environment for vendors and manufacturers alike, making the sale has a lot to do with attitude. The more a retail salesperson knows about a line and the more he or she knows about the company itself, the easier it is to sell.
While regular store visits from a manufacturer’s representative helpuild that knowledge, some vendors are taking a more intensive approach to teaching retail customers about their products through educational programs that bring dealers to the factory for a couple of days of talking product and getting to know people at the company.
Hickory Chair, American Leather, Classic Leather, Ekornes and others have set up so-called “universities” or “schools” that give the people who’ll sell their goods to consumers a more personal educational experience.
Susan Carroll is a sales and design associate at Mertins Dyke Home, a high-end retailer in Little Rock, Ark., where she’s worked for the past year-and-a-half. She attended Hickory Chair University this past February and American Leather University last fall.
What’s the difference between these types of on-site educational programs and sitting down in a meeting with a sales rep?
“I’m a visual person, and I have an easier time selling things I believe in,” Carroll said. “I want to know that it’s a well-run company, and one that treats its employees well. Those are the kinds of things you can’t get out of a typical sales meeting.”
She came away from both the Hickory Chair and American Leather programs very impressed with both companies.
“You see everything from the ground up, how the furniture is made. It makes everything a sales rep might tell you come alive,” Carroll said. “I got to see how well each company treats its employees. It seemed like they had employees that are hugely invested in the company. They encouraged people making the furniture to speak up, Hickory Chair in particular—they seem to be doing a lot of things right as far as employee input. I appreciate that Hickory Chair went to the guy who runs the machine every day and asked how it could be done better. Both were very positive experiences, and I’d say they help me sell those products better.”
Hickory Chair University is a two-day program. The company provides lodging, food and training to all Hickory Chair dealers that participate in the program. Since dealers will be touring the company’s plant in Hickory, N.C., attire is casual, with participants encouraged to wear soft-soled shoes such as tennis shoes. Jeans, shorts and khakis are all acceptable dress.
The dealer is required to provide transportation to and from Hickory Chair University and pays incidentals, and also for any days’ lodging other than those specified for the event.
After dinner on the day of arrival, the program gets started in earnest the next morning with a welcoming overview and tour of the company’s wood plant.
After a feedback session and lunch with management, the program continues with an upholstery plant tour, more feedback and then an overview of Hickory Chair collections and options.
An important aspect of the Hickory Chair session relates to its EDGE (Employees Dedicated to Growth and Excellence) program. EDGE engages Hickory Chair’s employees to take an active role when it comes to improved cycle times, waste reduction, improved quality and faster shipping.
After breakfast the second day, students get a look at the Hickory Chair Web site, stocking programs and image library. After a chair fabric, leather and trim workshop and lunch with management, participants “graduate.”
A Full Plate
American Leather has run its American Leather University for seven years now. The quarterly program averages around 60 individuals from retail customers, and to date has more than 1,000 “graduates.”
“There are a lot of factories that do this, but they’re often focused on the entertainment aspect,” said Matthew Hayward, vice president of corporate marketing, for American Leather.
Participants arrive in American Leather’s headquarters city of Dallas, on a Monday and depart Wednesday night. After a Monday night meet and greet, they spend two long days studying the company’s product, as well as sales techniques of benefit to any line they sell.
Day one takes place at the plant, while the Wednesday sessions are in a classroom setting back at the hotel.
“We know that with a premium brand it’s never the easier sale because of the higher-price ticket,” said Hayward. “A retailer needs more ammunition to make that sale. American Leather University is one of the best marketing dollar investments we make—in the people selling our products.”
The first full day of the program, Tuesday, participants spend all day at American Leather’s plant. There, they tour the factory, study American’s production techniques, and learn how to sell the company’s quality and delivery features.
“There’s a detailed session on just-in-time manufacturing selling techniques with our CEO (Bob Duncan),” Hayward said. “There’s a ‘Living with Leather’ seminar to teach about the different types of leather, how to clean them. We have a number of patents, so we also spend a lot of time on our key features.”
The day’s program also includes a branding class exploring why shoppers pay more for a branded product.
“We feel there’s a lot of value in the American Leather brand,” Hayward said. “We have 720,000 SKUs available in two- to three-week shipping.”
On Wednesday, ALU goes back to the hotel for a day of seminars.
“We bring in a gentleman named Richard Tyler, who’s been ranked as one of the Top 10 sales trainers in the world,” Hayward said. “He teaches the difference between a salesperson and a professional salesperson.”
Tyler’s program focuses on the “science” of sales—approaching customers, finding out their wants and needs, understanding and answering consumer concerns, and finding the right leather for the right lifestyle.
“It’s very unique—he’s not selling American Leather per se,” Hayward said. “He’s teaching an educational program of being a better salesperson.”
Getting Fired Up
Jim Arnwine is president and an owner of Arwine’s Home Furnishings, which has two stores in Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tenn. He’s sent a lot of his salespeople to school sponsored by Ekornes Inc. in Somerset, N.J., to learn about that seating manufacturer’s line.
Ekornes’ sleekly modern Stressless seating is a bit of a surprise in Arnwine’s stores, which carry mostly traditional Pennsylvania House product. He said the Ekornes School gets his salespeople fired up about selling furniture that’s a lot different from most of the stores’ offerings.
“One of our employees at the Chattanooga store just got back, and she was so excited because she thought she knew all about the Stressless line,” Arnwine said. “I’ve been to the schools myself, and I’ve sold that line since 1992.”
Bringing retail salespeople in for manufacturer-sponsored training is a confidence builder, Arnwine said.
“It gives them more confidence after they come back ... even if they’ve been selling a line for a while,” he said. Arnwine particularly likes Ekornes’ division of training into “basic” and “advanced” curriculums.
“If one of our people is selling Stressless chairs, I’ll require them to go to the New Jersey (basic) school before I let them get too far along,” Arnwine noted. “We’d always had the trainers come to the store, but in most cases going to the actual school makes (salespeople) fired up when they get back.”
Over the July 4 holiday sales period, for example, recent Ekornes School participants helped Arnwine’s sell 37 Stressless chairs. His goal for the entire month of July was 100, so the retailer was well on its way to meeting that target after less than a week.
Arnwine particularly likes the intensive role-playing exercises that puts Ekornes School participants through their paces when it comes to moving the product. He also gets some help for the brand’s visibility in the retailer’s markets.
“We have Stressless chairs in malls in Knoxville and Chattanooga, and also in the Knoxville airport,” he said. “We have customers coming in looking for Ekornes, and we want to be ready to help them.”
In fact, the first thing customers walking into Arnwine’s see is a Stressless chair.
Arnwine himself has made a point of going to manufacturer-sponsored training programs.
“Any time we can send people to manufacturers for training, we do it,” he said. “I was an old farm boy before I got into this business, and I’ve learned a lot. I’d been selling Ekornes for a while before I went to the school, and I was surprised how much I had to learn.”