Montage aims to get name out to retailers
By Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, July 4, 2005
Roseville, Minn. — Furniture protection plan vendor Montage Furniture Services is telling retailers how the company differs from competitors in trade ads and a targeted marketing campaign aimed at top furniture and home store dealers.
"There are 20,000 furniture dealers in North America and 19,750 have never heard of us," quipped Alan Salmon, president of 18-month-old MFS, a business unit of Montage Inc. "We've got to get our name out there. I've got 50 reps beating the bushes for us. John Rose, vice president of sales, and myself are working on major accounts. We're going to have our backsides in a lot of airplane seats just getting around doing missionary work."
Montage is up against such established names as Stainsafe, Guardsman, Guardian and Ultra-Shield, which provide warranties against damage to upholstery, leather, wood and mattresses. To Salmon, who worked for Guardian, and Rose, a former sales executive at Stainsafe, the task isn't as daunting as it may appear.
For one thing, Montage is not a newcomer to the protection plan business. Montage Inc. has provided third-party service for companies since 1972, including several Fortune 500 companies in various industries. One area of expertise has been home furnishings. Since 1983, Montage has handled over 4 million calls from consumers with home furnishings questions or problems.
Since the company decided to develop and sell products under its own name, the industry has been supportive, according to Salmon. "Many retailers have been delighted to hear of a new, alternative source for furniture protection plans, as there have been some serious deficiencies in the overall level of service provided to the market in the last two or three years," he said.
"We felt there was a real opportunity to offer the market what was most lacking — good, fair, honest, fast service," said Salmon. "(Retailers) don't need protection plans with more bells and whistles. They need someone to fulfill the promise the customer was already getting. Service has been pretty awful for the last two or three years."
MFS has eliminated things that "cause the most grief to consumers and therefore to dealers," including the five-day rule, which requires consumers to report problems within five days and is the No. 1 reason for service denial, he said.
When a piece of furniture is damaged beyond repair, warranty companies generally will replace it, but not always with a piece that matches others in a group. "We don't think that's what the consumer thought she was buying. We replace all matching pieces," Salmon said.
In addition, Salmon said Montage doesn't just give dealers a credit on their account when they have to order replacement furniture under warranty. Instead, MFS pays the retailer quickly after receiving an invoice on the furniture replacement, he said.
Salmon said the furniture protection business has morphed into a service business rather than selling the "juice" sprayed on furnishings to protect them. "Good service is all about managing the gray areas effectively — the black and white are dead easy," he said.
Montage has two customer service centers, one in Roseville and one in Milbank, S.D. Its customer service representatives get 250 hours of training before they go solo on the phone with customers. There's no quota on calls taken or length of time allowed for calls, so the environment is less stressful and turnover is under 10%, versus typical call center turnover of 50%, Salmon said.
"Our attitude is that we'd rather spend 15 minutes making one customer happy than 15 minutes making three customers unhappy," he said. Calls typically are answered in 30 seconds or less, and 83% of service orders are completed in customer homes in 10 days or less.
Salmon said the industry is listening to the company's message. "We have been opening new accounts at a healthy clip," he said. "We've really built a solid account base. We see plenty of opportunities to grow our business."
