Yesterday I went to a large area furniture store near Dulles Airport. I did this visit as a favor for my Hancock & Moore Rep, who has had no luck seeing if they would pick up the account. With my retiring and closing The Keeping Room, it is leaving a massive void in the Washington DC Market for Hancock and Moore. They desperately need another dealer in this large Metro area which has plenty of money to spend. So I went there to speak to the buyer, not as a representative (I have no dog in the fight) but to tell them how they could do really well with this brand if they add it to their store. Plus, I have created a large and loyal following in this area for that company that is so easy for them to pick up on. It was 30 miles from my home, but it was a good excuse to get my convertible out and put the top down. This store is a major player in the area, and has many buildings and I was unsure of which one to go into, so I picked the one that had "Designer Gallery" on the storefront. It was very quiet in there - not really any customers, but three women near the main desk. One woman was fully reclined in a chair reading her iPad and glowering at me with an unfriendly face because I obviously disturbed them and as I attempted to explain who I was and whom I was seeking out it was clear I was not getting through to them - at all. They thought I was a Sales Rep and said "You need an Appointment". No - I'm not a sales rep - who buys your leather upholstery furniture? Finally I was directed across the street to another building, where I repeated my case to the people there and again, they had difficulty trying to figure out who I was and why I was there. I'm articulate - I know I am - it just wasn't a concept they could grasp. Finally one person disappeared into the back to seek out the Buyer and was gone for ten minutes. I looked around and - oh my - such cheap furniture, and not really merchandised very well. Finally that person came out and said "everyone was gone and I could come back another day or make an appointment". They still thought I was a Sales Rep. Ugh. I think they just blew me off, actually. Oh well.

The interesting part is not one person in the store that I spoke with ever heard of Hancock and Moore. The one person that was slightly more attentive than the others had been selling furniture for four years he said, and he was pleasant enough - but you could tell he was just there to get a sale. When I started talking 8-Way Hand Tied Spring Decks and Burnished leathers his eyes just glazed over and I could see I had lost him, no point continuing. I left and send a text to my H&M Sales Rep that it was a waste of time, and I didn't think the brand would do well in this store based on the employees and salespeople I saw there. You can't just put premium furniture on the floor and expect the price tag to sell it, that doesn't work. It takes depth of knowledge and some enthusiasm to sell premium product and I didn't see that there. No one even wanted to hear what I had to say!

I really came away thinking how awful it must be for most people to go furniture shopping as consumers. You are presented with all these choices with a sales staff that is somewhat clueless and "politely unfriendly", so you are kind of on your own. That means you revert to doing the basics, which is picking up price tags and wandering around trying pieces out. Here's a leather recliner for $ 599 (pure junk) and there's one for $ 1,599. What's the difference? Dunno - and the sales staff doesn't know, either. No wonder people don't enjoy furniture shopping.

I come home and tell my wife, and she says "You always forget that other stores are not like yours, and you expect more of them when they can't deliver". She's right. Sunday I was at a customers home as their power headrest stopped working on their new Motion Sofa they bought from me. I had my tools and found it right away, a loose wiring connection that was fixed easily enough. The NCAA Women's Final Basketball Game was on so my customer and I watched the final quarter of it talking about the game and how South Carolina was taking it to Iowa. I will miss those interactions.

And I would have fired that employee on the spot for lounging in the recliner glaring at me when I walked in, disturbing her Tik Toks. That is NOT how you ever greet customers.