Mattress Retailing 101: Should I talk about new fire resistant bedding materials?
How to sell mattresses with new fire-resistant materials
David Perry -- Furniture Today, February 2, 2007
Today’s topic: How to sell mattresses with new fire-resistant materials.
Serta was the first national bedding producer to incorporate new fire-resistant materials throughout its bedding lines. Initially, that company made safety part of its marketing program, but later concluded that effort wasn’t worthwhile.
No other national bedding producers have elected to actively market safety messages, even though some have introduced their own FR bedding lines. Suppliers of FR materials note that safety is a marketing theme in a number of industries — and they don’t see why more bedding producers don’t take that approach.
California was the first state in the nation to mandate that beds made for sale in that state must meet a new open flame flammability standard. A federal mattress flammability standard takes effect in July of 2007.
Challenges:
Some sales associates say that bringing up the possibility of mattress fires is a negative. Most consumers, they say, don’t view their mattress as being unsafe. Introducing a scary prospect into the sales process could spook some consumers, sales associates say. The subject of mattress fires must be handled carefully. A minus: Many consumers don’t want to pay more for new levels of FR protection.
Opportunities:
Some mattresses now for sale in the U.S. have significantly improved levels of open flame protection. Regulators say that offering improved FR protection in mattresses should help save lives. Mattresses with that protection can be marketed as providing state-of-the-art technology that brings peace of mind to consumers. In addition, retailers selling beds with new FR protection can tie in with various public safety groups and causes for social marketing programs.
What sales associates say:
Consumers don’t care about FR protection:
"We sell Serta, the company that has really gone after the fire-resistant mattresses. At first, we thought that FireBlocker would help to sell more beds. We quickly learned that consumers really don’t care. FireBlocker doesn’t sell more beds; it’s just a nice feature that’s there to protect people. Most consumers are still of the mindset, ‘I don’t smoke, so I won’t have a house fire.’ They think that a house fire can’t happen to them and so they have no interest in buying a bed simply because it has FireBlocker. After the customer has purchased the bed and I hand them information on FireBlocker with their sales receipt, they are usually happy to hear that their new bedding has that extra feature, but they certainly didn’t choose one brand over the other simply because we have FireBlocker bedding."
Consumers don’t know about the dangers of mattress fires:
"Consumers don’t have the facts on how many people die in mattress fires. Unless they know someone who died in a fire, they don’t think about it. Customers don’t think about the percentage of people who die in a mattress fire. They think of the bed as their sanctuary."
It could be a negative:
"It’s not something that usually comes up. Sometimes the customer does ask about it, and then I explain it to them. Fire-resistant protection might be looked at as a negative. I might bring it up if I feel the customer will be receptive."
Consumers won’t pay for it:
"Consumers don’t want to pay extra for a feature that they don’t think they need. I constantly have parents walk into my store and say: ‘I need your cheapest twin mattress. I don’t want anything at all fancy, it’s just for my kid.’ When it comes to paying more for something like fire safety, people just don’t want to do it because they don’t think there is a possibility of a house fire."
FR bedding a good thing:
"I believe fire-resistant bedding is an excellent quality for mattresses to have. It has been proven to save lives and to give firefighters more time, which is essential during a fire. All mattress fires do not necessarily start because of smoking in bed. Fires can happen through candles, electrical problems, etc. I am happy to offer people this safety feature."
Attention bedding trainers: Give us your perspective
HIGH POINT – Attention all retail bedding sales trainers: Furniture/Today wants to hear from you.
The newspaper is launching a new monthly feature that will give sales trainers a voice on key bedding issues.
The first installment presents the trainers’ thoughts on new fire-resistant bedding lines. In that feature, printed elsewhere on this page, you will meet four leading bedding trainers.
Here’s a brief look at the four:
Craig McAndrews works for the Innovative Retail Group, which provides a number of services for retailers, including retail training. He has been in the bedding industry for 14 years on both the wholesale and retail side of the business, and has been doing sales training throughout that time. "For the past three years," he said, "I have trained more than 400 retail sales associates on effective communication with consumers at the point of sale."
Gerry Morris is a veteran bedding sales representative who has written two books on bedding: "Spring Training" and "Sell More Beds Guaranteed!" He has been doing sales training for 20 years, but adds: "I don’t claim to be a big know-it-all. I am learning all the time. I tell even the newest associates that by the time I talk to them again, they will be able to teach me something."
Tim Sommer is the principal of SommerTime Consulting, a home furnishings consulting company. He has been doing sales training for 25 years, most of which have been spent in the bedding industry. He was bedding coordinator for HOM Furniture in Coon Rapids, Minn., for many years.
Brett Swygman is director of sales and RSA (retail sales associates) development at Simmons. He has been at Simmons for more than five years, working in the field as a sales representative and then moving into a corporate trainer role one year ago.
These trainers, and others, will be sharing their thoughts on various bedding topics each month on this Mattress Retailing 101 page.
If you are a retail bedding sales trainer and you want to participate in this feature, send an e-mail to David Perry, Furniture/Today’s bedding editor, at dperry@reedbusiness.com.
