To Train or Not To Train; That is The Question

I know this blog is self-serving. I know my main goal is to sell my books, or at least it is one of my main goals. But I can’t help remembering the year 1975, when I was first introduced to the furniture industry. 

My brain was awash with confusion. I did not understand enough about the industry to comprehend the answers to the mysteries of the business. I didn’t even know enough to identify the questions to ask because I didn’t know what I didn’t know. It took years to get it. But slowly, after asking countless questions of my boss, reading the trades, having what seemed to be thousands of conversations with people I believed were in the know, I began to grasp the intricacies.

Even the language of the business seemed foreign. I remember someone asking me what I thought of the “casegoods” selection. I thought, “What’s a CASEGOOD?” Recently, I saw a high profile retailer speaking on a nationally televised documentary. He was showing the TV audience one of his stores and began talking about his assortment of casegoods. I thought, he uses the term as such an ingrained part of his lexicon, and the audience has not a clue of what the term casegoods means; and if the general viewing public doesn’t know what it means, how does a new entry level employee understand it?

I don’t presume to be the last word on furniture retailing and I don’t pretend to be the ultimate expert. But, after well over thirty years, one does learn a few things. Back then, there was no resource to go to gain a foundation, nothing to read that might provide a starting point, a place to begin. That is why I wrote the book set, “Furniture Industry 101”: to provide a foundation and a place to start.

To those reading this blog that have been in the industry awhile, I would like to suggest that you go back in time and recall how long it took to get a handle on the business. My guess is that your remembrances are very similar to mine.

Of course, this blog is self-serving. Without question, I would like people to buy my books. But more than that, buy the books or not, I would like senior level executives of retail furniture companies to recognize the value of training and orientation to the future of their companies. Not just sales training for the sales associates but business and leadership training to entry-level managers and supervisors. I appreciate that some retailers have done just that, and I for one, applaud them. I would hope, however, that those that haven’t might do so and begin initiating real, formalized training programs for their new people. I just don’t think that throwing them into the water and letting them sink or swim is prudent, good business, or fair to the employee.

It really isn’t that complicated or difficult. Buy my books or don’t buy my books to help orient new employees. But, recognize the need for training in a formalized approach and you may be amazed at how much faster they become productive if they understand the big picture.

Visit my Web Site at www.furnitureindustry101.com.