Bedding Today

Patrick Schweitzer, the manager of the newest 1800mattress.com store in New York, is a veteran mattress salesman who finds success with his ears.

"The biggest key to mattress sales is listening to the customer," he said. "The more you know how they feel, the better you can help them. I am a good listener. I developed that skill by trial and error. I probably didn't pick up as much from customers in my earlier days in the business as I do now."

After 10 years of selling mattresses, Schweitzer knows how to help customers find the bed that is right for them.

One way he does that is by comfort selling, taking customers to a colorfully marked "Comfort Zone" in his store at 369 W. 34th St. here. Three Sealy Body Curve Posturepedic beds, in firm, plush and pillowtop versions, are arrayed in the Comfort Zone. The beds all retail at $1,199.

That display helps the customers find the type of feel they like best. "Generally, the customers tell you right away how the beds feel," Schweitzer said. "They say, 'This is too soft' or 'Show me the firm beds.' "

Schweitzer doesn't prejudge customers' ability to purchase high-end beds. And he doesn't bring up the $1,199 price when he leads customers to the Comfort Zone display. "If the customer has been doing their homework, that price is not such a shock," he said. That price is "the perfect place to start," Schweitzer added. "There is a lot of quality in our $1,199 beds."

It's also important, he added, to find the pillows that help customers sleep comfortably. He asks customers if they are side, back or stomach sleepers, and then he helps them find a latex pillow that meets their needs. He makes the case for those pillows by noting that the pillows on the beds in the showroom are generally for display only.

Most of the time, his customers take the pillow they have selected with them as they try different beds. That pillow connection makes a pillow sale much more likely, according to Schweitzer.

1800mattress.com carries a broad range of bedding brands, including several innerspring lines, in addition to specialty bedding lines. Some consumers may have negative feelings about innerspring beds, especially if they felt the coils in their old mattress, Schweitzer said. But he also noted that in some of today's beds consumers can't even tell if the mattress has coils.

The retailer carries memory foam beds by Tempur-Pedic, which Schweitzer described as "a very well-known brand. It's a very unique feel. A lot of people like the way it feels."

The memory foam offering also includes the Sealy TrueForm visco line.

Latex beds, also carried by the retailer, provide a "more traditional feel," according to Schweitzer.

His store is full of mostly queen-sized beds. "Queen is the most popular size," he said. "One advantage of showing queen beds is that if a couple tries that bed, both can try it comfortably."