If it's real good, buy it and flaunt it
By Michael Greene -- Furniture Today, October 14, 2001
Here I am, again, yakking to you on the official opening day of market, and I don't even know if you're at market or running around the store trying to put out one of your daily fires.
However, I do know this is not a typical market with the usual whoop-dee-doo. But what I have to say are the same things we've yakked about together for about 50 markets. Namely: What are you going to do at market this week, or what are you going to do if you're not here?
To paraphrase a famous quote: The question is not what your industry's market can do for you, but what you can do for your industry's market.
And your answer is: Bubbila, go get those guys with the nets! This time your Mike-e-e has truly blown his gasket! Does he expect me to stroll into every showroom and put down an order? Would that save my country? Would that help my country recoup? Ol' Swami, you've blown it.
Yes, I've blown it. I've blown it loud and clear, but not in that tone. When I say "your industry's market" I'm talking about your market. Because without it we'd be ready for the junk heap: No market; no display. No display; no research. No research; no new ideas to entice consumers and their plastic cards.
Your first concern is to see if what the idea gals and guys have been sweating out for months has super pizzazz that will help turn consumer heads. Secondly, to have an open-to-buy frame of mind: If it's real good, buy it and flaunt it. You would be doing it for yourself first and then for your country.
And finally, as one of my buddies told me the other day, have an "open-to-hear" attitude. Listen to industry winners. Seek them out and listen to what they have to say. They are targeting the 95% of Americans who are working and not the 5% who, unfortunately, are not. And they are targeting the former customers of hundreds of former competitors who have been blown away in the wind.
Finally, finally, if you're not at market for good reasons, remember that a call puts you in touch with what was cooking in High Point. Any rep worth his or her salt knows the true score and can render a valuable report. After all, at no time was there a market that had everyone cascading into North Carolina.
And finally, finally, finally, get going. You can't sell walls, so stop staring at them. Nothing has changed. You didn't build your business by crying; you built it by buying. And the Almighty still helps those who help themselves.
Thanks, again, for listening.
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