Back to Bed's key: Sell the right bed
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, April 11, 2005
Villa Park, Ill. — Fast-growing Back To Bed is blazing a path in the hotly contested Chicago-land market.
The 16-store retailer, founded in 2001 by three veterans of the Chicago bedding scene, takes a different approach from many sleep shops.
A veteran sales staff, one of the company's keys to success, makes sure it finds the beds that are right for the customer.
"We have 10- to 15-minute conversations with customers before we let them lie down," said Dean Knobbe, one of the founders, who concentrates on sales training and hiring for the chain. "We ask them about any sleep problems they might have. We don't show them a bed for at least 10 minutes.
"That's tough to do. You need to develop a rapport. If they see you are genuinely interested in what they need, they will give you what you need — a sale."
"We are just trying to do it differently," added Glenn Haneberg, another founder. "We believe customers don't like to shop in sleep shops."
Back To Bed does several things to change that perception. The walls inside the showrooms are painted in warm colors popular with consumers today. The wood-laminate floors offer an inviting cherry finish; the company installs them itself. The lighting eschews the typical office feel and instead adds its own warmth.
The type of lighting is so efficient that the retailer keeps its stores fully lit 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"People ask us, 'Why do you leave the lights on?' " Haneberg said. "We tell them, 'That's why — because they are noticed.'"
"They are standing billboards," Knobbe added.
Haneberg and his team are succeeding in what he calls "the most competitive market in the country."
It's one he knows intimately. He worked at Bedding Experts in Chicago for six years before switching to American Mattress, where he was general manager. Knobbe joined the Chicago bedding scene at Bedzzz in 1985, and moved to Bedding Experts the next year. He was corporate sales trainer when he left that company in 2000.
They were joined by Vito Favia, another bedding veteran, in founding Back To Bed in 2001.
"People ask us if there is room for any more mattress stores in Chicago," Haneberg said. "We say, 'There is room for one more good one.'"
Back To Bed carries two bedding brands: Tempur-Pedic and Simmons. A big Simmons-only retailer, Bed Mart, closed in Chicago in the late '90s, leaving an opening in the market. "There was an opportunity for a Simmons dealer here," Haneberg said.
Added Mike Saliture, a key account executive with the sprawling Simmons plant in nearby Janesville, Wis., "We needed a partner and Glenn and his team needed a partner."
It's been a good fit. "We're partners with the fastest-growing sleep shop in Chicago," Saliture said. "They have a very professional sales staff and they do an outstanding job of selling our products, especially our luxury products, in beautifully designed stores."
"The Simmons team treated us like we were one of their largest dealers before we even came on board," Knobbe said.
"Simmons has great leadership with Charlie Eitel, Bob Hellyer and Kevin Damewood," Haneberg said. "It's got to be the best culture in the industry."
