Harry Morningstar, owner of Furniture Market in Waynesboro and Schier's of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania decided to take the entire sales staff to the last High Point Market in North Carolina for three days. The stores were closed to customers during the excursion.
The group also toured a Klaussner plant, so that salespeople could benefit from learning about all the factors involved in manufacturing, quality control and distribution. One of the sales people even tried her hand at assembling a sofa.
At market, the staff was grateful for the experience meeting many manufacturers, view their displays, and of course make a wish-list for purchases.
While closed, Schier's Furniture advertised that the store was closing for a buying trip to purchase "new and exciting styles," followed by a store-wide sale.
Newspaper ads pictured a policeman standing guard along with the headline "No one in the store."
Mr. Morningstar noted that, "Employees are the single most important component in the mix of the store assets that affect productivity. So I'd say good business leaders have a goal of inspiring and preparing their staff to create the best workplace productivity and knowledge of their retail furniture store organization."
