I have written about this before when looking at my occupation. There are fewer young people coming into the sales rep industry even in a family business. The commissions factories pay often do not cover the cost of travel and time away from home. Just like the competition for furniture retailers is often not other furniture retailers, the competition for talent is also not necessarily confined to just our industry. If you are a factory reading this, you need to keep in mind that the very reason for your success is merchandising and sales. You need to pay competitively for both or lose talent to other industries. If you are a retailer who depends on salespeople, realize that the good ones always have options. Whether they be inside sales or factory salespeople who call on you, the better you treat them the more likely they will want to stay engaged.
The first question my factories have asked is how long will Emmet stay involved. He loves what he does. He has cut back over the last several years to help make room for Jay, but he has agreed to help out wherever needed as I figure out our new direction. We have a wonderful office staff that will expand their responsibilities to take care of many of the service issues. Many of you have probably talked with Cristie for any call in orders and service requests. She will be the key point of contact for all things service and can be reached at support@furnituresales.biz. Lisa also is expanding her roll with our Internet servicing. Not only pure play retailers that Jay worked with, but also all the brick and mortar retailers aggressively beefing up their websites, Lisa is your contact at sales@furnituresales.biz. We have also recently hired a couple of reps (Lynn Lloyd and Sarah Meyer) to help with training and representation, with Cozzia and Karavaan, in some of the northern and western regions