SPECIAL FEATURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Lauretta Converse

Do you have a great store? Take a few minutes answering the following questions to find out just how good your store really is for futon shoppers. Learn what you can do to make their experience in your store even better. Sharpen your pencil and let’s go!

1. When customers visit your store, they are:
a. greeted warmly and offered assistance;
b. allowed to browse before being approached;
c. left to themselves- if they want help, they’ll ask.

2. Customers get their first glance at futons:
a. in your store’s front window;
b. in a gallery visible from the entrance;
c. at the back of the store.

3. When speaking to customers about frames, your sales force is able to:
a. introduce shoppers to the features of different mechanisms and manufacturers;
b. educate customers about soft and hardwoods, and domestic and imported woods;
c. tell about the features of both wood and metal frames.

4. The futons on display are covered with:
a. a high-end cover, featuring a stylish, updated look;
b. an attractive, neatly fitted cover;
c. what, you don’t like muslin?

5. While browsing your sales floor, customers enjoy:
a. upbeat music carefully chosen to reflect your target customers’ tastes;
b. a favorite radio station of the person minding your store;
c. the sound of silence.

6. Futons are displayed:
a. in room-like settings;
b. together with coordinating end tables and coffee tables;
c. like bowling alleys.

8. Your showroom is dressed with:
a. lamps, attractive pictures and other accessories that are changed frequently;
b. pillows on the sofas and flower arrangements on the tables showing some attention to detail;
c. a clean, neat but modest presentation.

9. Futon ensemble prices at your store are:
a. marked on a price tag as shown, along with prices of mattress and cover step-ups;
b. marked on a price tag as shown;
c. available for the asking.

10. To assist customers, your salespeople:
a. inquire first about customers’ needs and intentions;
b. can offer a modest degree of information about futon options;
c. can direct customers to information offered on the price tag.

11. Because of the selection of futons you offer, you are able to:
a. offer shoppers value and quality at a wide range of price points;
b. offer at least one futon ensemble for most consumer preferences;
c. offer minimal choices because futons are a side-line in your store.

12. Displays in your store are given a fresh, updated look:
a. a few times each season;
b. with each season;
c. whenever you are able to get to it.

13. In your futon store, customers are offered:
a. a full line of mattress options and can try out each one;
b. many mattress options, but they aren’t clearly identified or are not all on display;
c. three mattress options- good, better, best- and can try out each type.

14. Your sales people:
a. have a futon sofa bed in their home;
b. genuinely endorse futon furniture;
c. can tell customers of the advantages of futon sofa beds over traditional sofa beds.

15. Lighting is used:
a. as a spotlight to showcase merchandise you need or want to move;
b. liberally to present a bright store;
c. insufficiently in some dim areas of the sales floor.

16. To encourage repeat customers, you:
a. hold special preview sales exclusively for previous customers;
b. send them promotional mailings;
c. aren’t really sure who has been to your store before.

17. Customers can take delivery of their futon purchases:
a. immediately- you have inventory right at the store;
b. from your warehouse, within a day or two;
c. after you received the next order from your supplier.

18. If a customer has a problem with a defective frame, your policy is to:
a. offer them a replacement product;
b. replace the frame if it is still under warrantee;
c. offer no returns, but you will help a customer find parts.

Scoring the Quiz

To see how your store measures up, score the quiz this way. Treat yourself to three points for every question to which you answered "A". Reward yourself with two points for every "B" answer. Give yourself one point for every "C". Then total up your points for all eighteen questions.

If your score is above 45, you have a terrific store! Your customer service is likely to be professional, knowledgeable and able to guide shoppers through the potentially difficult process of selecting futon components. Your store is merchandised in such a way that is likely to exceed your shoppers’ expectations. With such a high degree of selection, service and attention to detail, your store raises the perceived value of futons everywhere.

If you scored between 45 and 25, you are on the right track. Your salespeople are proficient and helpful. The overall appearance of your store shows noticeable efforts towards placing futon furniture in its best light. More extensive employee sales training and a keener focus on enhancing the settings of your merchandise are improvements that will likely please your customers.

If you scored below 25, you provide shoppers with an experience that meets their basic requirements with minimal choices offered in a modest setting. Consider helping your customers see the quality and value of futon furniture by offering a wider product selection and by displaying futon furniture in settings that will help shoppers picture a futon in their home. Well-trained salespeople will help close the sale!

FL

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Design Your Own Price Point: Dream on Futon’s Innovative Customer-Pleasing Strategy

Shopping for futon furniture can be tricky and cumbersome. First, there is a frame’s size, style and finish to choose. Then there’s the mattress choice to consider- foam, cotton, thick, thin. Top that with a myriad of cover fabrics to scroll through. Customers can feel swamped.

At Dream on Futon, however, shoppers have it a bit easier. Here, Nancy Taylor reduces futon shopping hassles by using an innovative approach. She calls it "Design Your Own Price Point" and here’s how it works.

Empowering Customers

Like many other futon specialty stores, customers can come into her store and browse among the twenty-four futon frames on display. But what makes it easier for these shoppers is Nancy’s information-packed, clearly-illustrated brochure that guides customers through their options.

This 11 by 17 inch black and white brochure features a photograph and price of each frame. It lists each mattress and cover price. In a helpful box at the end of the brochure is a mini worksheet called "Your Futon Set" where customers can total up the prices of components they choose. Nancy helps customers by circling and highlighting the brochure to mark things that caught their eye on the sales floor.

"This way," she claims, "I am not choosing the price point. They are. And this way, shoppers can’t complain about my prices." Her strategy is all about empowering customers.

The brochure is laid out roughly the same as the store, from most expensive to least expensive. "I put my most expensive futon set in the front of the store, and people come in and get sticker shock. But then they get over that and see what they can afford." Frames here run from $99 up to $749.

Nancy Taylor has owned Dream on Futon for eighteen years and has actually been using a brochure to complement her sales approach all along. “But it has gotten more sophisticated and refined over the years,” she remarks. A big step came about a year and a half ago, when she started producing it digitally.

What is involved

"I rarely use manufacturer’s photographs," she says. Instead, she uses a digital camera to shoot pictures of the futon frames and lays out the brochure on her computer using PageMaker software. She does the design work herself, but also works with a graphic designer.

"Having a graphic designer that is technology and e-mail savvy is a must," she advises. "We e-mail the brochure back and forth all of the time. Otherwise, it would be too time-consuming." While Nancy could do the entire process herself, time is a hugely limiting factor. "It’s a matter of time," she says.

What it costs

The brochures are large and printing them can be expensive. Nancy recently invested in a printer so that she can make her own copies. She was having them reproduced at a copy shop where the bill came to over $300 a month. With a leased copy machine, it now costs her $120 a month plus the cost of paper. That’s a steep savings. She figures the brochures now cost her $.43 each.

"Still, they’re not cheap, but you’ve got something to give to your customers and it’s something nice that they are not going to throw away right away." She considers her store a destination store, which eliminates many casual browsers. Still, she can give away anywhere from five to twenty brochures a day.

In essence, her customers walk away with a handy, easily-accessible mini-catalog of the futon components offered by Dream on Futon. With this guide in hand, they can easily and comfortably select the trio of components that works perfectly with their needs and budget. Kudos to Nancy for taking some of the hassle out of futon shopping!

FL

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