May 28,
2013 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Markets on May 29, 2013
The Tupelo Furniture Market is boosting its offerings to retailers with a slate of educational seminars.
The Lunch & Learn sessions will be held two times each day during the summer market set for Aug. 15-18. The seminars will be held in Building 1 in the Magnolia Room.
Joe Milevsky and Bob Moorman with JRM Sales & Management, a consulting firm and resource in the furniture industry, have developed seminars designed to provide information to retailers to help increase overall sales, margins and efficiency.
These seminars are free to attendees.
Scheduled seminars currently include:
Exceeding Customer Expectations
This seminar focuses on positioning your company to maximize the potential of every customer that calls or visits your store.
Are you ready?
Is your store ready?
Does your sales floor make it easier for your salespeople to sell?
Do you understand how to truly evaluate and help to improve salespersons' performance?
What are the seven areas of your business that must be consistent? How do you ensure that everyone in your company is customer-centric and on the same page?
Merchandising Your Store in Today's Ever-changing Business Climate
Does your merchandising engage customers through a better understanding of their preference and behaviors?
How should your merchandise lineups be structured?
What does the first 500 square feet near the entrance of your store tell the customer?
How are you merchandising your floor; what's new?
Your product tagging strategy; is it customer friendly?
Your customers; what demographics are you merchandising to?
Merchandising must enhance the customer experience and create environments that make customers want to buy.
Anatomy of a Salesperson
What makes one salesperson succeed while others fail?
What is the magic profile for a strong salesperson in our industry?
Where do I find my best candidates?
Why would top salespeople come to work for me?
How do I increase the probability that I can position salespeople to succeed?
How do I ensure that my salespeople have enough but not too much of my stores' traffic?.
The Mystery of the Budgeting Process
Most independent retailers do not produce an annual budget. Professionally run, successful companies produce budgets and work their budgets to facilitate positive outcomes.
Discover processes that will keep your business safe. Learn how to:
Create and understand how to use a budget.
Establish a chart of accounts that will define company safeguards.
Benchmark your company's performance.
Set reasonable, achievable and detailed financial goals.
Hold management team members accountable for their performance to budget.
Build company initiatives to effect positive financial goals.
Make your profit more predictable.
The Market's schedule of events is available online.
May 28,
2013 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in Advertising on May 29, 2013
from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2332109/Ikea-faces-furious-backlash-gnome-ad-featuring-slaughter-garden-ornaments.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
It was meant to be a light-hearted attempt to sell garden furniture.
But advertisers working for the Swedish furniture giant Ikea clearly underestimated the sensitivities of British gnome lovers.
When their TV campaign showed a line up of the garden ornaments being systematically destroyed they received dozens of angry complaints.
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May 28,
2013 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in Obituaries on May 29, 2013
from http://obituaries.news-record.com/obituaries/news-record/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=165037527#fbLoggedOut
Shannon Marie Kennedy, director of marketing for the High Point Market Authority, died Monday, May 27 following a long battle with cancer. She was 55.
In April, Kennedy shared with us that she was focused on seeing her daughter Erin Ann Moulson graduate from the University of Alabama in May and then ensuring she was settled in the start of her career. Both of those things came to fruition.
A memorial mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Friday, May 31, 2013 in St. Leo the Great Catholic Church, 333 Springdale Ave, Winston-Salem, N.C.
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May 28,
2013 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in Upholstery on May 29, 2013
from http://www.enquirerherald.com/2013/05/29/2503471/united-furniture-industries-expanding.html
United Furniture Industries has announced the company is expanding operations at its manufacturing facility in Nettleton.
The project represents a company investment of $277,000 and will create about 100 new jobs.
The company currently has 400 employees at the Nettleton facility.
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May 27,
2013 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in economic news on May 28, 2013
from http://www.cnbc.com/id/100768979
U.S. consumer confidence strengthened in May to the highest level in more than five years, suggesting Americans' attitudes were resilient in the face of belt-tightening in Washington, a private sector report showed on Tuesday.
The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes jumped to 76.2 from an upwardly revised 69 in April, topping economists' expectations for 71. It was the best level since February 2008
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