By Ron Cooper
Director of Sales and Marketing
Profit Management Promotions
Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail. That’s an old saying in business. But it has to be a new way of thinking for furniture retailers today. Planning is needed to make sure your business is ready for the next five years. Most important, it’s needed to make sure your business can survive in the next five months!
All companies should conduct business planning to keep pace with changing marketplace conditions. (No one can dispute the fact that furniture retailing has changed dramatically in recent years!) Store owners need to objectively assess what’s happening in their markets. And they have to map out a specific plan to address current threats and opportunities. Your plan needn’t be long. But it does need to be focused – with tactics that are measurable. How do you get started?
Try focusing on what we call the “3 R’s” of furniture retail:
Reconfiguring merchandise – assessing your current product line-up to see if it’s in line with current customer tastes … and economics;
Revamping your advertising – focused on using the most cost-effective techniques available today, including social media; and
Retraining (or Replacing) sales staff – to ensure you have the right people today in order to succeed tomorrow.
Today’s take-away: Immediately assess the “3Rs” in your current business. Use the assessment to begin formulating an action plan for the next six months.
About Ron Cooper & Profit Management Promotions: Ron Cooper is director of sales and marketing for Profit Management Promotions – one of the nation’s leading sales promotion firms serving the home furnishings industry. Established in 1985, the company is headquartered in Jamison, Pennsylvania, and maintains regional offices in New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina.
Editor’s Note: Cooper and PMP will hold a seminar at the Las Vegas Market Show on business planning: Monday, January 24 at 1:30 p.m.