Protect-A-Bed beefs up team
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, February 25, 2007
St. Petersburg, Fla. — Protect-A-Bed used its third annual convention here to introduce a management team with new roles, review new products for the bedding marketplace, and do some team-building.
The Don Cesar Beach Resort here was the setting for the two-day event just before the Las Vegas Market. Company officials used the event to prep their sales representatives for the market, where Protect-A-Bed made its debut in a permanent showroom in the World Market Center's Building B, showing its mattress and pillow protection products.
Protect-A-Bed also used the event to spotlight a management team in which key players have taken on new responsibilities. The team includes a blend of new and current employees.
Joining the company as vice president of sales is Alan Eisenberg, a bedding veteran most recently with Serta. Eisenberg, who will be based in Florida, will service national accounts and will enable the company to focus on major retailers.
"Alan brings us a corporate culture on the sales side of the business," said James Bell, a Protect-A-Bed principal. "He is also a respected bedding veteran."
Jennifer Hillman, formerly a trainer with Protect-A-Bed, has been promoted to vice president of training and development. "Training is a big emphasis for us," Bell said. "We believe our training programs set us apart from our competition."
The company's 17 trainers, who are not commission-based, teach the features and benefits of Protect-A-Bed products to bedding retailers. Hillman has been with the company three years.
Also in a key new role is Kelly Gordon, who has been promoted to national sales manager for key accounts. Former a sales representative and trainer, Gordon has been with Protect-A-Bed for three years. "Kelly has an amazing rapport with our customers," said Clive Goldin, another Protect-A-Bed principal.
Also promoted is Petra Minoff, who has been with the company three years and started its hospitality program. She is now vice president of hospitality sales. "This area has grown quite dramatically for us," Bell said, "and we feel it will continue to be a big growth opportunity. We will be expanding our sales force."
Presiding over the sales meeting here was Lawrence Hirson, another Protect-A-Bed principal, who said the company is aiming to differentiate its products and its family of brands from the competition.
Among the new products introduced to the group is the FireDefender, a set of fire-resistant mattress and boxspring pads, the result of a licensing agreement with Louisville Bedding. Protect-A-Bed will market that product under the Protect-A-Bed FireDefender name to mattress retailers, a key distribution channel.
"This is a great opportunity for us," Hirson said. FireDefender enables consumers to add FR protection to a sleep set they are not ready to replace.
The company also unveiled a new Protect-A-Bed Super Deluxe line that is designed to meet competition at lower price points. It also introduced its BugOff line of mattress protection products aimed at protecting consumers from bed bugs. The products, which come with "bug-proof zippers," fully encase the mattress and boxspring and keep bed bugs from biting. The products also have a high level of protection against allergens, the company said.
Protect-A-Bed's Elite line of two-sided protection products has been well received by a number of retailers, company officials said.
Protect-A-Bed, based in Haverford, Pa., also has a U.S. office in Glenview, Ill., in addition to offices in nine other countries.
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