Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Mattress Firm Exclusives
Exclusives can be extra components in the product, or extra services not offered elsewhere. Exclusives can be used to encourage a customer to shop with us for a better experience or to get more for their money they would not get in a comparable model of a product elsewhere. People will pay more for service sometimes, but one big advantage we have is most of our products are truly priced at or below other products. The advantage of our services is that most other retailers do not offer what we do, or do not offer as long i.e. low price guarantee.
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So today when I was working on my "exclusives" project, I decided to make it about something I really need. . . new running shoes. I was shocked when I realized that Diana at Famous Footwear was extremely helpful and made it sound like it would be easy for her to fit me for a shoe. When we take advantage of the opportunity we have when our customers call us before they come in or when they first arrive to a Mattress Firm location by letting them know about "OUR EXCLUSIVELY NEW AND EASY" way to shop, it opens up even more windows to begin to mention our other MATTRESS FIRM EXCLUSIVES, continually building value into Mattress Firm!
Exclusives make a place stand out and stay a step ahead of the competition. For example our Comfort By Color is the "new" and "easy" way to save time and narrow down your selection. Also we have our silk and wool, silver and silk, and allercare that are all exclusive just for us. It really helps alot when people hear these things especially if they relate to their specific needs.
-Alicia Leatherwood, Dallas East
What’s Exclusive about our Exclusives?
1. 90 Day comfort guarantee. (Almost every company has a comfort guarantee, so what is exclusive about ours.) First of all we have the top 2 brands in the innerspring business, plus we have the #1 brand in contoured sleep and the #1 brand in personalized sleep, nobody else has sleep number. If the customer’s first selection doesn’t work out we have all of the solutions in our store. Here in Dallas we have the Simmons medallist, which gives us a latex option, so we really have all the bases covered. Secondly, we have our size, with 500 stores, if you move or buy a bed for a college student there is a good chance we have a location where you could set up an exchange in another city.
2. Extra 5-year warranty on Sealy Posturepedic and Simmons Beautyrest (Very few of our competitors offer this.)
However, if a competitor does offer a warranty extension, our company’s size trumps most competitors. An extension of the warranty from the retailer is only good if the retailer can service the product. We have a competitor named Sleep Experts that will extend the warranty on Simmons, however they are only based in Dallas. If the customer moves to Phoenix then Sleep Expert’s extended warranty is totally worthless.
3. Same Day Delivery (Once again very few of our competitors offer this.)
If a competitor does offer same day delivery do they have the Red Carpet treatment? Will they deliver late in the evening? Will they haul off the old mattress? How long does the customer have to wait? Does the customer get to pick their time window? Will the competition refund the delivery charge if the service doesn’t meet the expectations set by the company (ex. Late delivery or failure to roll out a red carpet)? I know that in the Dallas market we have the most customer friendly delivery procedures in the market place.
4. Low Price Guarantee (Almost any competitor has a low price guarantee of 5%-10%) However, most of those guarantees state finding the exact mattress. Our mattresses will definitely have different names because we have EXCLUSIVE, UPGRADED features. However, we will refund 110% of the difference on a SIMILAR mattress, so our customer can get more for their money at Mattress Firm. Once again we are national company so if you move somewhere else and a competitor has a better price we will take care of it for you.
5. Try Tempurpedic and Sleep Number side by side before you decide. The two most highly marketed sleep products in the industry and only 1 place where you can try them in the same store.
6. CBC- allows us to take some of the confusion out of selecting a mattress. The PSE allows the customer the piece of mind to finding the right bed. (There is more about CBC from our group’s blogs)
7. Sealy Exclusives
Posturepedic Signature, Reserve, and Preferred (excluding the Prominent)
A. Silver Silk top—repels dust to cut down on dust mites and the silver also helps reduce mold
B. Silk and Wool—sleep hot, silk and wool will help the mattress breathe better. Guys go try and a Silk/Wool suit vs. a Wool/Polyester blend, you’ll notice a difference. Sleep cold in the winter silk and wool will help with that too.
Trailblazer, Delancey, and Pike models have the Posturetech Plus coils which will conform better than a regular posturepedic while providing better pressure relief.
8. Simmons Exlusives
Classic and Worldclass
Allercare—helps reduce allergens such as dust mites and mold.
Michael Newcomb
Team You callin’ me Yellow—Dallas East
For my portion of the "Exclusives Project" I decided to check out some of the leaders in other retail markets to see how they drive business in by using the phone. Sear's, Macy's, Border's, Best Buy, and Circuit City are 5 examples of why we should be proud that we work at Mattress Firm. The only place that came close to an Exclusive was Best Buy with their money back guarantee. I'll be honest, I've utilized this service but hasn't everybody? There was no Personal Electronics Evaluation or Electronics By Color; same day delivery just made the sales guy laugh (it was a LOL by the way). They didn't carry anything that stood out or couldn't be directly compared to what Circuit City had, with this kind of market I'd have to believe that the motivation for buying one of these products would be price and not what it can do for you. Now compare that experience to the Exclusives we have that Michael Newcomb listed just a few posts before this. If any of those places took a page from Mattress Firm's book they would truly make competition irrelevant, as we are in the process of doing.
James Famigletti
The Really Really Ridiculously Good Looking Blue Team
Our comfort by color program is an exclusive for Mattress Firm's customer. There are very few bedding companies that would spend millions and millions of dollars just to make customer's shopping experience easier, faster, and less complicated. I see a lot of ads out there that just concentrate on price, and not on their customers. I feel that this is our top exclusives, and it will enhance our brand and confirm our message that its easy to get a great nights sleep.
203-Kimberly Tran
Relating exclusives to the customer by info attained from the PSE
We learn a lot form our customer by using the PSE. And if you actually apply this info on your presentation they will see WHAT specific exclusive feature(s) our bed has that makes it perfect for them and one they can't find anywhere else.
Customer says they sleep hot: Great thing about our Sealy beds are their EXCLUSIVE Silk and Wool cover. This blend works well together to help keep you warmer in the winters and cooler in the summers. Our Sealy True Form beds have an Outlast in the cover that acts as coolant as well, even to the touch it's cooler.
If customer has back problems: I see that you're a side sleeper. Let me show you a couple of our Simmins and Sealy's that have EXCLUSIVE features as Memory foam and/or Latex. Memory foam conforms when you're on your side, allowing pressure relief that will put your back at ease and help eliminate those back issues. Similarly, latex offers pressure relief with a more bounce back support.
Customer with allergies causing restless sleep: All of our Simmons have a special EXCLUSIVE feature called Allercare. It self replenishes and helps reduce those alergens that are causing you to toss and turn throughout the night.
Likewise, all of our Sealy's have silver silk in the covers to keep your mattress bacteria free so you are able to sleep healthier and through the night.
Brittany Herwig
You callin me yellow-Dallas East
In today's economy, consumers are looking for bargains. That's the great thing about recessions - companies are trying to recover losses in inventory by moving product, generally at a lower price. Consumers know that and search for deals and bargains and anywhere they can save a dollar. We already have the lowest prices so it's a matter of selling our everyday bargain that's even better with our Semi-Annual Sale or Veteran's Day Sale, etc. But if we don't mention it and we don't sell it with enthusiasm, then we are hurting ourselves!! Just look at our competitors - we know that Sleep Experts and Giant have exclusives on their products! And some of those are really good exclusives, too (extra layer of latex - lumbar support - you have to admit these are good selling points). However, when I called both of them, neither of them mentioned their exclusives even when I went fishing for it. That means if I tell every customer that I talk to on the phone about our exclusives at the same or lower price than our competitor, then they will know that the best deal is at Mattress Firm.
We have talked about product exclusivity and the exclusives that are provided by the company, but we haven't talked about one really important exclusive - ourselves! Mattress Firm spends a lot of time, money and effort into recruiting the best of the best and then training them to become even better. So sell yourself!! When you talk to customers on the phone, talk about how you are an expert on the mattresses and can help them find the solution to their needs. Demonstrate your knowledge on the phone and give the customer a meaningful reason to come to your store today. Dale's reason for customers to come in to see him is that he promises the best customer service in the state of Texas. And it works! Especially with the holidays coming up, more and more consumers are going to shop on the phone looking for bargains before hopping into the car - let's brush up on our phone presentations and save our customer's gas money by sealing the deal on the phone so they only have to come see you!
Tiffanie Choate
Blue Team - Dallas-North
Presenting Comfort By Color as an Exclusive to Mattress Firm:
When I was thinking about how I was going to blog about exclusives it was hard for me as well to come up with something. But then I began to think about Comfort By Color and to me that is an exclusive that we as Mattress Firm have. When corporate takes surveys the biggest complaint that she gave us was that buying a mattress was not an easy process. So we have come up with this brilliant idea of making it as simple as picking a color and following your comfort. That even if she comes into one of our stores and the sales associate is assisting another customer; she can easily find her way around the store and start narrowing down her choices.
But it is our job as the "Sleep Expert" to present CBC to her in a way that makes her feel like she really is getting the special treatment that she deserves. All the other mattress stores look the same, a big room filled with white squares, that can cost anywhere from $250 to $7000!! It is something that we all should be proud to have; we have an experience to give her that she is not going to get from any other store! And when she realizes that this way cool experience of CBC she is getting also comes with all of our Firm Guarantees, she is guaranteed to buy from us! But it is our job of doing that every single time a customer walks in the door.
You callin' me yellow-dallas east
What the A-TEAM of Dallas East learned from this project:
-Exclusives and product knowledge alone were not really celebrated by any retailer that we called. For example, I called Sears about an Exclusive White Diamonds Gift Set currently on sale. It was a nightmare to find out more information about it. At first, I was speaking with a support center staff person who told me the prices on the different sizes of White Diamond perfume but did not mention the exclusive gift set. She then transferred me to Fine Jewelry which had nothing to do with perfume. I was then transferred to the perfume counter where the salesperson told me when I asked what the gift set included, “I don’t know…perfume and shower gel, I guess.” I asked her why it was exclusive to Sears, and she replied that she didn’t know. I might purchase just because they did in fact have what I was looking for not because it was exclusive to Sears. If I had been the salesperson, I would've known what the exclusive entailed and mentioned that you could only find it at Sears.
To tie this back to Mattress Firm: It is important that our inside and outside messages match up and are consistent. It is also extremely important to tie our exclusives to our customer's needs.
Laura Townsend and the A-TEAM Dallas East
We talk about Exclusivity, and the biggest exclusive we can have is being excited about our product and our experience. We have CbC, which no one else has! It's something that we have to be including in our phone presentations to get people to come to our store TODAY. It's something that is still new and exciting and the best part is, no one else has it!!!
One of the best places to get a good "experience" is Starbucks. I love going into one that has people who are excited about what they are doing. They're excited to tell you about their new Signature Hot Chocolate! I can seriously spend 1/2 of that and get a whole box of instant hot chocolate. But what makes it amazing is how employees talk about it. It's base is made with Toffee Nut syrup, they're specifically made Hot Chocolate base and topped with whip cream, caramel and sea salt. Delicious? I think so!
I was hearing about the Signature Hot Chocolate before it was even released to the public. Why? Because the employees were excited about it. They made it so irresistable that I had to have one when it came out.
Is it great? Yeah. But what makes it wonderful is the service, the excitement, and the EXCLUSIVITY of the Signature Hot Chocolate. We need to make sure that we are more excited than Starbucks employees because we have something that makes life EASIER for our customers! We have something that promotes health for our customers! And because we're the largest mattress retailer in the nation, we can ask for these exclusives at no additional to the customer. That's better than any hot chocolate, if you ask me.
*Becka, Team Blue of Dallas North*
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