National Furniture will employ salespersons for it’s retail sales facilities.  These individuals will be trained professionals in the furniture market.  They will be taught the specific niche that the company’s brands fill in the market and will learn how to carefully identify the needs of customers, and to recommend the most appropriate products.  The management will remain in constant contact with it’s sales force, because they will be continually in contact with customers.  The customer feedback received from the sales force will provide valuable insight into new products and services.

The retail personnel will also be taught how to follow-up on leads they receive.  As inquiries come in from prospective clients (whether homeowners or business professionals), the retail staff will send direct letters to these persons offering a consultation and a written, customized assessment of their furnishing needs.  Upper level clients will prove to be exceptionally responsive to this strategy.

However, the rise in popularity of interior design consultants will make the job of the company’s retail sales personnel more difficult than merely selecting furniture based on a customer's request.  Customers will often come without a specific request in the hope that their personnel will not only recommend a type of furniture based on their description but will actually be able to describe options in furnishing strategies to them.

Thus, National Furniture has committed to training each of it’s retail personnel in advanced interior design and decor planning and will advertise their expertise.  Since interior design services are in such demand in the area, it is expected that these strategies will work together to produce a substantial number of leads, both for the interior design consultants and for the retail furniture sales force.

Further, in order to effectively monitor and respond to potential changes in customer needs and wants, the company will provide for a customer feedback mechanism.  With every sale of furniture or interior design assistance, included will be a business reply postcard asking the customer to provide information pertaining to their satisfaction with the products or services they have been sold and with the company itself, as well as the customer’s plans regarding furniture or design needs in the future.  Similarly, these evaluation cards will be made available in showrooms along with their products.  The company has plans to evaluate responses to the survey in order to more effectively serve it’s customers and to strategically plan the future of the business based, in part, on the feedback the customers provide.

The following table (Sales Targets) displays data for National Furniture projected sales: