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L&P to promote better sleep on retail tour

By David Perry -- Furniture Today, September 2, 2007

Carthage, Mo. — Bedding components giant Leggett & Platt is taking its message about the importance of better sleep on the road this month for a national retail tour.

On Sept. 17, L&P will launch its first Spring Alive Tour, a coast-to-coast trip that will promote the health benefits of a good night's sleep and outline the role that innersprings play in delivering such sleep.

A delegation of L&P officials and bedding industry consultants will spend five days calling on retailers to educate retail salespeople and consumers on the sleep/health connection. The grassroots tour is a first for the industry, L&P said.

The tour schedule will be released later.

The L&P team includes Mark Quinn, group executive vice president of sales and marketing for L&P's bedding division.

"Research from the Better Sleep Council shows that poor sleep not only directly affects your health, but is also directly related to the age of your mattress," Quinn said. "For years, the industry has focused on the price of a mattress instead of the benefits to a consumer's life. Leggett & Platt wants to help change that message so we can make a better connection with the end user."

Bedding experts slated for the tour include Craig McAndrews of the Innovative Retail Group, who will provide retail sales training. He will meet one-on-one with floor salespeople to share consumer insights from his field research, as well as methods for selling a better night's sleep at the point of sale, rather than focusing on price and product specifications.

"My goal is to help each retail sales associate I meet on this tour have a greater understanding of today's consumer and, more importantly, a better understanding of how to communicate the better sleep story," McAndrews said. "In doing so, they will not only improve the lives of consumers, but they also will deliver a more dynamic experience in the store."

Also joining the tour is research specialist and bedding veteran Kurt Ling, president of Customer Kinetics, who will work with L&P to design and moderate consumer focus groups that explore retailers' specific concerns regarding their customers' perception of the mattress shopping experience.

L&P has created a variety of materials to support and supplement the tour, including brochures, pocket cards and Sleep Kits to help retailers and consumers understand the link between better sleep and improved health.

A Web site, www.LeggettSleep.com, will be launched on the first day of the tour, so that interested parties can follow along via a daily blog and video-log. The site also will enable retailers to order educational materials for salespeople and consumers, and will feature information on innersprings and their "Active Support Technology" story.

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L&P to tour stores to promote better sleep

Aug 23, 2007

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