We've got the goods and it's time to flaunt it
Michael Greene -- Furniture Today, November 11, 2002
Yes, siree! We, as an industry, are missing the boat.
We've got the goods in every sense of the word, and we're just not flaunting it. And the aggravating thing is that everyone else — and I mean everyone else — that hasn't got a leg to stand on out there in the competitive marketplace is blowing their horns.
As a sage once wrote: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me?"
What am I yapping about this time? I'm yapping about the fact that this home furnishings industry of ours is just jammed-packed with long-lasting value, and we keep it a secret among ourselves. Instead of telling the consumer who we are and what we are, we're out there competing with every here-today-gone-tomorrow merchant by emphasizing the hokus-pokus of low prices, overripe "sales," low-and-no interest and delayed payments.
We march in the selling parade with all the ordinary characters, when we should be leading a quality information parade of absolute, visible, time-tested value.
Come on, gals and guys! Take a good look at your merchandise and merchandising. We've got the goods! And deep down inside, consumers out there know it but don't let us know that they know it.
A family of four goes to a movie, sees a pathetic screen presentation and, amidst the shooting and screaming and eardrum terror, lays down 40 bucks. And they do it about once a week, accompanied by barrels of popcorn, much of which ends up on the floor.
You buy a car that has been romanced to the hilt in slick ads and, when you tear out the last coupon in your payment booklet, it proceeds to disintegrate in efficiency and value.
And with what one hifalutin, gas-guzzling vehicle costs you can furnish a newlywed apartment with furniture that will last three generations and end up as an antique worth three times the original price, and which is clothed with tender love and memories to boot.
The answer? We've got to put our retail furniture presentations into low-key gear with high-gear facts on what is being sold. Floor salespeople need to know, and use, every fact that details the perennial beauty of every piece of visible wood, every bit of invisible construction, every touch of intricate hardware, beveling or veneers.
Why? So the consumer can appreciate, show off and brag about our art to their envious relatives. And, down the road, to proudly hand our work over to their children for another three generations or so of use.
Will sales take longer to close? You bet they will. Will there be more pleasurable, profitable, endurable closings? Absolutely.
Thanks, again, for listening.
