Retail sales associates are often the first and most personal point of contact between a furniture store and a customer making a purchase. No amount of online research can take the place of that first interaction when a potential purchaser walks into the store with the intent, or at least the possibility of intent, to make a furniture purchase.
At that moment and for each moment that follows, the RSA plays a critical role in projecting a retailer’s brand. Whether a dealer is perceived as warm, welcoming and helpful or aloof, manipulative or just-out-for-the-money can all be conveyed by that first interaction with the consumer.
For consumers shopping a furniture store, the RSA is a critical differentiator, offering knowledge, expertise and, in some cases, a confidence boost to consumers who may aspire to the beauty of an Architectural Digest home but have no idea how to get there. Anyone who’s ever asked a question of a big box associate only to have the answer read to them from the side of a carton knows the value a top-notch RSA brings to the equation.
That value has never been more important. At a time when every door swing is hard to come by, the importance of turning browsers into buyers is critical to a furniture retailer’s success.
That is why this year, for the first time, Furniture Today is launching a program to celebrate the best RSAs in the business. The new Retail Sales Awards will recognize the most talented and effective sales associates across the country with the winners to be honored at Furniture Today’s annual Leadership Conference, the longest-running educational and networking event in the industry. This year’s conference will be held Dec. 3-5 at the Naples Grande Beach Resort in Orlando, Fla.
Nominations are currently open.
To ensure that RSAs are competing on an even playing field, associates will be judged against their peers in comparably sized organizations. Two honorees will be recognized in each of five classifications, based on the annual sales of the retail organization in which nominees work.
The nominating classifications are: (retailer organizational sales numbers, not individual RSA sales figures)
- $0 – $25 million in annual sales
- $26 million – $50 million in annual sales
- $51 million – $75 million in annual sales
- $76 million – $150 million in annual sales
- More than $150 million in annual sales
For more information on criteria and to nominate a deserving RSA, please visit furnituretoday.com to fill out a nomination form.
We will have more information about the awards and about the Leadership Conference in the coming weeks. For more information on the event itself please visit leadershipcon.com.
We hope you will join us in Naples to help celebrate these true superstars of the furniture industry.