February 1,
2011 by in UnCategorized 
By Aggregated Content in High Point on February 2, 2011
from http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z4003658692&z=1250249030
A report from a Charlotte commercial property firm raises the possibility of a deal that could bring the three major showroom buildings in High Point and the rival World Market Center in Las Vegas under one ownership.
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January 31,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on February 1, 2011
Your prospects and customers this year will continue to search for the best deals on the products and services you sell. They will shop price harder than ever before and they will demand more services. That is good news for retailers who are willing to...
- Increase the number of services they provide customers
- Differentiate themselves from the competition
- Sell benefits, not features
- Make it easier for customers to buy from you
Retailers that want to win sales and increase profits this year must also become more aggressive in:
- Learning new and different selling and marketing techniques
- Asking for the sale
- Following up after an offer or sale
- Delivering services that were mentioned
- Never letting a customer walk
Each of these suggestions is as important as the other. But remember that the associate who makes it a point to ask for the sale over and over again is more successful than one who only talks about their products and services.
Back when I owned a furniture store a certain salesman used to call on my. He was terrible in every aspect except for asking for the sale. He never gave me one good benefit to do business with him or the companies he represented.He never once respected my time.He would just show up, open his display books, throw his material swatches on the counter and start asking for the sale.
"You should buy this three piece set in this fabric, this fabric and this fabric," he would say as he turned the pages and flipped the material swatches around. Then, without me saying a word, he would write the three sets down on his order sheet.Then he would move on to another style of sofa, love seat and or chair and repeat the process.He repeated it over and over again until he had filled out his entire order sheet. He never bothered talking about the quality of the products or give me the benefit of asking questions.
When he finished, he pushed the order sheet over to me and said, Sign here!"And you know what?After I crossed out a few of the lines, I ended up signing.I knew I could buy similar furniture from others (sometimes at a cheaper prices). But I was always so enamored that he asked for the sale I always bought from him.
Whenever I trained a new sales associate, I made sure they saw this guy in action. And at the end of the presentation, I'd tell my associate, "When you ask for the sale as aggressively as this man, combined with showing our customers the benefits they receive when buying from us, you will be successful."
Another way to close a sales is simply by listening for the customer to make a closing statement and then write up the order sheet. Just stop the chatter and start writing. Each day I see sales associates who lose sales because they don't know when to SHUT UP.
While shopping one of the big-boxes for a client, I watched a perfect example of losing the sale because the sales professional did not SHUT UP. Here's how it went down:
A woman standing by the store's bathroom toilet display asked the salesperson, "Does this toilet come in rose color?"Immediately the salesperson said, "It comes in rose, it comes in white, it comes in green, red, blue, almond, black, brown, gold...." He named at least another dozen colors. Then, without taking a breath, he opened a book and began to read how the finish was applied and why it would never discolor.This all took a little more than a minute.The women thanked him and left the.As she passed me I asked her, "Why didn't you buy that toilet?"She replied, "He would not shut up and sell it to me."He missed the closing statement. All he had to do was SHUT UP and write it up.
Make sure to listen for the customers closing statements, which is anything the customer says that is positive about your product, service, business or you. Here are a few:
¢ I like that.
¢ That will work for me.
¢ When can you deliver?
¢ My wife will like that.
¢ That's just what I've been looking for."
Bob Janet of Sales Growth Now provides seminars and keynotes to help companies increase sales and profits. He can be reached at 800-286-1203 and www.BobJanet.com.
January 31,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in Furniture Retailing on February 1, 2011
from http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z4001962972&z=1250249029
After 61 years, American Furniture Co. is closing its doors, the store announced today.
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January 31,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in Furniture Retailing on February 1, 2011
from http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z3999308581&z=1250249032
For restaurateur Drew Nieporent and gas station owner John Demeo, New York Citys snowiest January blasted away business that they say wont return.
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January 31,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Rent-To-Own on February 1, 2011
Rent-to-own furniture retailer Rent-A-Center (NASDAQ-GS: RCII) reported fourth-quarter 2010 revenue of $677.1 million, a slight increase over the prior-year period.
Plano, Texas-based Rent-A-Center noted that while same store sales were flat, rentals and fees from its RAC Acceptance business rose $5.5 million in the period.
Net earnings and net earnings per diluted share for the three months ended Dec. 31, were $31.9 million and $0.49, respectively, compared with $43.7 million and $0.66, respectively, for the same period in the prior year.
"We had excellent results in the fourth quarter," said Mark E. Speese, the company's chairman and CEO. "In our core rent-to-own business, customer demand remained strong with our best gain in customer agreements in years and improvement in our margins with our continued focus on expense control. As to our growth initiatives, we accelerated the expansion of our RAC Acceptance business with the acquisition of 158 kiosk locations from The Rental Store and have more than doubled our expected 2011 kiosk openings. We also successfully entered the Mexico market with the opening of five stores during the fourth quarter. In addition to these growth initiatives, we anticipate expanding in Canada, testing other retail concepts and investing in technology in an effort to continue to improve the top line and drive additional efficiencies."
For the 2010 year, total revenues of $2.732 billion were off $20.0 million from 2009's $2.752 billion. This decrease in revenues was attributable to the November 2009 divestiture of dPi Teleconnect, LLC, the company's subsidiary engaged in the prepaid telecommunications and energy business, which had contributed approximately $50.5 million in merchandise sales in 2009. Same store sales for 2019, excluding financial services revenue, decreased 0.4 percent. Net earnings and net earnings per diluted share for 2010 were $171.6 million and $2.60, respectively, compared with $167.9 million and $2.52, respectively, for 2009.
Looking ahead, Rent-A-Center expects first-quarter 2011 total revenues in the range of $745 million to $765 million; same store sales to increase between 1.5 percent and 2.5 percent; 10 domestic rent-to-own store openings; the addition of around 100 domestic RAC Acceptance kiosks; and the opening of about five rent-to-own locations in Mexico.