From A Rep's Perspective
Hi, I’m Mike Root, President of Furniture Sales of Mid-America, a furniture wholesale company in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain states that has been recognized by numerous national furniture factories for sales excellence including Salesman of the Year more than 10 times. Recently I was appointed to the Executive Committee of the International Home Furnishings Representative’s Association (IHFRA), and asked to write this blog. I see incredible opportunities for our industry to make a difference in people’s lives. It will be my intention to share with you whatever positive stories I hear from around the country as they relate to the home furnishings industry. True, this is a blog for furniture representatives. But the reality is that we are all representing the home furnishings industry. Therefore I will write to and for reps, but hopefully the message will resonate with all throughout the industry. My perspective is one of a third generation furniture guy. My father, Emmet Root, is still active as a rep after over 50 years. I myself have been a rep since 1994. Before that I was in furniture retail, wholesale and rental for over 10 years where I was recognized by the Small Business Administration as an Entrepreneur of the Year. I was also honored by the Omaha Chamber of Commerce for leading a company as one of the Top 25 Fastest Growing Enterprises three years in a row. I’ve seen just about all sides of the industry, and I love every bit of it. My background of sales and marketing has led the past several years to extended studies in direct response marketing to help my dealers sell more with less effort. Some cost effective promotional items for reps and retailers to help maximize your customer’s value can be found on my website at www.FurniturePromotions.com. I recently co-authored a book “Secrets of Peak Performers: Wealth Creating Strategies from the World’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs”. More information about me or my book can be found on my blog at www.MikeRoot.com. To contact me please email me at meroot@mikeroot.com.
Big Hearted Rep Has Big Marketing Idea for His Retailers
One of the great things about writing this blog is I get guys that reach out to me and have me share marketing tips that are working for them and their dealers. One such case happened today when I got a call from legendary rep Marty Libowski. Marty is always so enthusiastic about everything he does, and so it is with this idea Marty is sharing with his dealers in the Southeast.Usually when I com ...... Read More
Comments (1)My Dad Celebrates 55 Years As A Furniture Sales Rep
This High Point Market will mark my father’s attendance at his 150th furniture show. This includes trips to Chicago, Dallas, Hickory, San Francisco, Tupelo, High Point and Las Vegas. For many years he only had to go to 2 shows a year. But of course recently there could have been as many as 6 shows in year.During those many markets, always as a multi-line guy, he pioneered such future pow ...... Read More
Comments (2)17 Year Industry Veteran Wants to Connect Sales Reps with Factories Looking for Representation
Rob Ash spent 17 years of his professional sales career with Lane and Broyhill before he joined those of us on the multi-line rep side of the industry. It was in that transformation from a single line rep to building a package of factories that Rob had an idea that has turned into RepFurniture.com. He noticed that many multi line Sales Reps are continuously looking for new lines to add to their ba ...... Read More
Comments (1)A Professional Rep's Blog
A couple of months ago I started following a blog written by sales rep Carrie Farmer which you can find at http://carriefarmer.wordpress.com. In my series on innovative reps, I think this is a good example to illustrate extra efforts a professional sales rep can offer to their clientele. For that matter, this is an extra bit of marketing that any business including designers, small or large reta ...... Read More
Comments (0)Furniture Rep Creates Innovative Advertising Programs for His Dealers
There’s a mattress rep in Berks County PA who is paying attention to current events and using these to help his retailers with their advertising. Jeff Giagnocavo is an innovative rep, the type I like to highlight in this column.Jeff is always working on helping his retailers sell more stuff - not just his mattresses, but sell more of all furniture they carry. He knows that if they are suc ...... Read More
Comments (1)Furniture Rep About to Change the Industry
I just returned from Las Vegas where there are definitely some challenges in our industry. Amazingly there was some very upbeat feelings coming out of a pretty good January. I also found some furniture reps taking these challenging times and figuring out how to make something of it. What I plan to do with this blog is to highlight some cool things members of the rep community are doing. My insp ...... Read More
Comments (5)Here is a FREE GIFT that Will Turn Your Business Around
This past weekend my son and I attended the Outrageous Advertising Academy in Orlando Florida. This was a gathering of sharp marketers and entrepreneurs from all over the world, all drawn together on the basis of a new USA Today Best Selling book by my friend and marketing mentor Bill GlazerOUTRAGEOUS Advertising That’s OUTRAGEOUSLY Successful. Bill and I spoke at length on how difficult i ...... Read More
Comments (2)It's A Wonderful Life
I just watched one of my all time favorite Christmas movies, It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s the story of a man who has big aspirations in his school years, but through fate of circumstances has to forego his dreams of conquering the world to help save the family’s building and loan association. He marries, has a family, and is continually without money. He sees his friends leave ...... Read More
Comments (1)Happy Thanksgiving
When times get tough, business gets rough or things just are not going your way, just remember we have a lot to be thankful for. In comparison to many parts of the world, we are an extremely lucky group of people to have been born and raised in a society that admires a work ethic and rewards innovation. With some motivation, we can actually write our own success stories and no one stands in our ...... Read More
Comments (1)So I was hanging out with George Foreman this weekend...
That’s right, my son and I were with the real George Foreman this weekend and I’ve got a picture on my blog to prove it (www.MikeRoot.com). He is a very personable guy and one can instantly tell why he is so well liked. From being a Gold medalist to two time boxing champ to major entrepreneur and pitchman, he has come a long way from his humble beginnings. From a life in the spotli ...... Read More
Comments (1)Ways to Save Money on Your Market Follow Up
The National Rep Trade Association, IHFRA, has developed a number of benefits this last year that are excellent ways for reps to save money on after market follow ups. Since we are all putting presentations together over the next several weeks here are a few of the discounts you can take advantage of as an IHFRA member. FedEx - Make sure you are signed up with Fed EX for up to 26% discounts on sh ...... Read More
Comments (2)It's Wednesday At Market, Where were You?
It’s Wednesday of market and I am flying home on the late flight out of Greensboro. I left Omaha the previous Tuesday so I am anxious to get home. But what amazed me about today is how many customers are still shopping on Wednesday of market and how many reps went home early. Today my father and I had a total of five presentations of which only one was an appointment. If we would have l ...... Read More
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