Protect-A-Bed Adds New Roles and Refreshes

Furniture World News Desk on 7/15/2018

Protect-A-Bed recently announced that it is expanding the sales team to support growing demand across the business. New faces and improved sales structure brings energy and excitement to the business.

“Much of the industry has seen flat to negative performance so far in 2018, however Protect-A-Bed and our retailers have experienced many positives this year. We’re moving to grow our team to accommodate our positive outlook,” says John Rachid, President of Protect-A-Bed. “We’re focused on selling an entire program, and once our partners bring this approach aboard, it accelerates their growth.”

In late 2017, Protect-A-Bed brought Senior VP of Sales, Keith Mackey aboard. An industry veteran, Mackey has spent over 30 years in furniture and bedding, with extensive retail experience, he had a vision for his team at Protect-A-Bed. “This company represents tremendous opportunity not only for retail partners but for everyone we bring aboard. I took personal responsibility for building a team that could deliver the support and expertise our retailers and the Sleep Necessities business needs.”

In order to provide the right strategic partnership for retailers, new positions have been added to the Protect-A-Bed sales team, while key performers have been positioned for ideal support. Below is a list of new hires and roles ranging from regional to traditional sales positions.

Garrett Leach, Senior Manager – National Retail Accounts (New Hire)
Garrett’s background includes over a decade of sleep and retail sales and a family-owned furniture business. He most recently hails from Serta Simmons Bedding, where he worked as a strategic account and territory manager over 6 years, driving growth across the bedding industry. Garrett will focus on helping buying groups and national licensed retailers grow their retail basket as well as oversee our national independent representative sales force.

Keith Burrell, Regional Sales Manager, Northeast (New Hire)
With over 25 years in furniture retail and management, Keith Burrell knows the necessity of incremental sales. His strategic insights focus on helping retailers make choices that lead to consistent cart growth and long-term gains.

Rachael Smith, Regional Sales Manager, Central (Promotion)
After working closely with sleep retailers for 4 years and becoming an authority on growing the retail basket through direct training as a Protect-A-Bed Sales Trainer, Rachael moved to the role of Regional Sales Manager. Since that time, she has forged new relationships and infused energy into existing partnerships by diving into sales and store tactics that create highly profitable incremental sales.

Tom Stiffler, Regional Sales Manager, West Coast (New Hire)
Coming from a strong furniture and bedding account support background, Stiffler puts people first. His approach to each new partner varies, but always ends with doing what is right for their business. This approach has helped spur growth and sales throughout a variety of retailers while strengthening existing business.

Dana Elsbury, Regional Sales Manager, South East (New Hire 2018)
With over 25 years in the industry, 14 years at Serta and SSB, Dana knows the value of selling a complete sleep system. She is dedicated to turning her retail partners away from discount-focused sales, instead positioning them as the sleep experts that consumers seek.

REM-Fit

Vincent Passanisi, Territory Manager (New Hire 2018)
Vincent has served at both Sealy and Ashley Sleep, accumulating the expertise that helps him support the ever-growing list of REM-Fit Brand Stores. His knowledge of the sleep space and how consumers shop provides the tactical insights that drive more sales for REM-Fit Brand Store owners.

“In constructing this team, we have taken great care to select some of the industry’s top talent and really focused on selecting candidates with deep knowledge of retail”, says James Bell, CEO of Protect-A-Bed. “It’s this knowledge and insight that will allow them to help our retailers grow throughout the remainder of 2018 and beyond.”

Las Vegas Furniture Market attendees are invited to suite B-900 to meet the team in the 9,000 sq. ft. Protect-A-Bed and Rem-Fit showroom. For more information on the company and to schedule an appointment, visit https://www.protectabed.com/resellers, call 866-297-8836 or email robert.young@protectabed.com.

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More about Protect-A-Bed: Protect-A-Bed is focused on providing a clean, healthy and comfortable sleep environment for every home. With more than 30 years of experience in bedding protection product development, over 1,800 SKUs in 40 categories, multiple awards, and a presence in 48 countries, Protect-A-Bed is recognized as a worldwide leader in mattress protection, accessories and sleep technology innovation.  Protect-A-Bed products are available online and through select retailers. For more information, visit www.protectabed.com.