Store employees do rep jobs
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, April 21, 2003
Englewood, Colo. — American Furniture Warehouse is experimenting with a new strategy in which some of its own employees act as full-time manufacturer's representatives for lines on the Top 100 company's floors.
American has assigned employees Dave Dumcomb and Lieha Huggins to positions it calls preferred factory reps. Each is responsible for six furniture lines, making sure product is displayed properly, is in-stock and is backed by extra parts, among other things, said Jake Jabs, owner and president of the nine-store Colorado chain.
While the employees are on American's payroll, participating manufacturers are expected to pay a sales commission of up to 1% of the annual retail sales increase of the lines in the stores.
Having a dedicated representative visiting all stores every week and attending to each line improves the look of the showrooms and is good business for the manufacturers, Jabs said.
"We get so much traffic that our sofas can get trashed," he said. Damage occurs, pillows get lost. Preferred reps keep the living room groups fresh, make sure product is in stock, and maintain swatches and swatch racks. With case goods, they keep up with cosmetic maintenance — making sure drawers don't stick, for instance, and that beds are made up sharply.
As displays start to look tired or worn, the reps arrange for fresh samples. They also make sure that the right occasional tables stay with the right upholstery groups and that room settings are properly accessorized.
The preferred reps also hold regular sales training meetings for American's salespeople and help get art, tear sheets and other advertising materials as needed.
In essence, Jabs is aiming for the kind of attention he believes is lacking from most manufacturers' sale reps, particularly from companies that only do a few million dollars in annual retail sales at American. He is encouraging many of his suppliers to use the preferred reps plan to assist or replace the reps who call on his store.
"The bottom line to the manufacturer is their stuff sells better," Jabs said.
In Denver, many suppliers of promotional to midpriced furniture are calling on just one dealer, often American Furniture, yet their reps often cover too much territory to give American the attention it requires, he said.
"They're not geared to service accounts like us," he said.
The program began in March and is an offshoot of an effort Jabs spearheaded years ago — encouraging some of American's biggest suppliers to provide a full-time sales representative dedicated to his stores. Simmons was the first to sign on, then Kemp, later joined by Lane, PeopLoungers and GuildCraft of California.
In each case, as soon as the rep position was established, "our sales took off," Jabs said.
At the same time, Jabs said he knows it doesn't pay for all lower-volume suppliers to have a full-time rep in his stores, which is why his new system makes sense. American gets individual attention, while the smaller suppliers only pay a small commission based on the increase in business.
Early this year, Debby Mitchell, the wife of American buyer Tony Mitchell, created her own version of this system when she arranged to be American's full-time rep for four factories that pay her salary. It worked so well, Jabs decided to create the new in-house program based on the idea.
He declined to name the factories participating other than his own Loren Mitchell upholstery company. ("Believe it or not, they agreed to this program," he said.)
And it's too early to say if it's working. American had nearly $300 million in furniture, bedding and accessory sales last year, but business has been a little soft lately, with a recent blizzard shutting down its stores for three days.
"But it's definitely a good program," Jabs said. "I honestly believe in it, and they (suppliers) save money too."
