Comments for The Lively Merchant

Comment on Does The Furniture Business Have Anything In Common With The Bus Stop? by Ben

Ben — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:08:54 +0000

This definitely hit the nail on the head!!! With us too..

Comment on Hiring Digital Retail Furniture Employees by Mike Root

Mike Root — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:43:04 +0000

Excellent post with plenty of content. Thanks so much for sharing your insights.

Comment on Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda? by Joe

Joe — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:22:38 +0000

Russell’s families magazine has been a source of great information for a long, long time because of this kind of thinking. Salespeople who obtain customer contact information must also respect privacy, trust, and confidentiality. Follow up contacts have to be by permission only – you have to earn the right to stay in touch with customers. They have to expressly give you permission to do it for it to be valued and for you to receive a deserved benefit. To earn this permission, you have to do things for them that they value. This is how you build a broad base of potential future customers.

Comment on Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda? by Russell Bienenstock

Russell Bienenstock — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:53:24 +0000

A similar topic came up this morning in a discussion with one of our salespeople. FURNITURE WORLD Magazine sends out email blasts for manufacturers and industry suppliers to a list of 7,000 e-subscribers. Our software keeps track of the email addresses of those subscribers that “open” the blasts, but we would never share or use this information. If our readers think enough of an offer, they will respond. If not, it is their choice. We are thankful for the fact that they gave us a shot at convincing them to buy. – Russell Bienenstock, Editor/President.

Comment on Protected: Forum by David Lively

David Lively — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:41:27 +0000

Comment on Do you get personal? by TheGrok’s Not to Miss Posts for the Week of November 6th, 2009

TheGrok’s Not to Miss Posts for the Week of November 6th, 2009 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:45:46 +0000

[...] Do you send out emails to your customers? What is the best time to send emails? But David wants to know if you get personal with your customers! [...]

Comment on Buy Me Some Peanuts and Crackerjacks by Mary Frye, HFIA

Mary Frye, HFIA — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:07:47 +0000

David, change is alarming and doing what you’ve always done and what you know how to do is somehow comforting. However, you don’t get different results if you don’t change methods. When you are lost in the woods, going in circles will mean that you stay lost. Making the changes that you recommend makes sense but sounds uncomfortable. If I owned a store (I don’t but I know a lot of people who do) how would I find out how my customers and those I want to be customers want to find out what I have for them? How I like to get information about things I need or want to buy isn’t a good reference point because I’m at the point in my life that I don’t need more things and I think I know who I want to business with…however, as I type that, I remember that I’m thinking about going online to look for new rugs for my kitchen and the ones that are being replaced were bought in a store. So there you go – I may not be as set on who I want to do business with as I thought. However, to communicate with me electronically, a retailer would need to get my permission to email me at work because after being on the computer all day long in the office, I don’t get on the computer at home unless I have to. The home computer is my husband’s domain and he’s not likely to tell me about something from a retailer unless he knows we are in the market for something. Marketing decisions are tough ones.

Comment on What does the lady say? by Dick Andrews

Dick Andrews — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:06:39 +0000

We have used NPS now for nearly a year and it does make a difference. Our people are sharper, I’m sharper and we look for ways to surprise our customers favorably. It’s a bit of a game but we celebrate when we get those 90’s which are tough. Dick Andrews, Andrews Furniture Abilene, Texas

Comment on “Three firms partnering for e-Showroom program” from FURNITURE|Today by alex farguson

alex farguson — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:31:22 +0000

There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points in Features also.

Comment on “How To Make Your Website Really Sell” Entrepreneur Magazine interviews The Lively Merchant by Joe

Joe — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 01:31:25 +0000

Well done David!