Simplicity Sofas makes list of top small-business innovators

Cindy W. Hodnett -- Furniture Today, December 11, 2012

Jeff Frank

HIGH POINT — Simplicity Sofas, an upper-end producer and online retailer of ready-to-assemble sofas, chairs and sectionals, has been named to Phonebooth's top 10 list of small business innovators, said owner Jeff Frank. The company is eligible for a $20,000 first-place prize to be awarded Dec. 17.

Simplicity Sofas says its ready-to-assemble sectional can fit through entranceways as narrow as eight inches.

Frank said a five-judge panel selected Simplicity Sofas as one of the top 10 and will make the final selection. He added that one company will also be selected for the People's Choice award based on the number of votes received from the public on the Phonebooth website.

"The People's Choice award will be the first test for our new association with Denise Kenniston and her Web4Retail company," Frank said. "Web4Retail designed our new website and is now spearheading a social marketing program for us using Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and others."

Frank said that the inclusion on the list reinforces the company's commitment to "extreme customer service."

"Our customers don't really get a chance to view most of the innovations that propel the company, ranging from new product development to production systems to marketing to customer service," he said. "They just enjoy the unique products that are designed to fit their small space problems and a customer service experience where it is actually fun to buy furniture and where they know that any problems will be taken care of promptly and properly."

Frank is projecting that sales in 2013 will more than double those achieved in 2012.

"There was never a time when I thought we might fail," he said. "We have a great product line that targets a real consumer need. All we had to do was to figure out how to get people to know that our products existed. After quietly building our customer base through word of mouth, we have recently started introducing ourselves to the general public and the momentum is beginning to snowball."