Before I dive in I want to tell you about two really great guests we had on the Dos Marcos Podcast recently. Brad Parker owns a 6-store chain of La-Z-Boy stores in Portland, Oregon, and Charlie Malouf owns a 24-store chain of Ashley stores in North and South Carolina. These guys are both incredible business people that are doing a lot of things right so if you want a chance to listen to a couple of industry veterans talk about how they drive their business, click HERE to find links to those episodes. You won’t be sorry!

ALSO…Mark Kinsley and I have our first book coming out in December so if you want to sign up now, the first 100 people to get their copy will also receive DOS shot glasses so you can enjoy your favorite brand of tequila, which happens to be the official beverage of the Dos Marcos podcast. Sign up TODAY, just click HERE…it’s easy!

You’re at the airport and in a hurry to make it to your connecting flight but you have a problem. Your gate is at the other end of the terminal and you don’t have a lot of time. You see a moving sidewalk that will help carry you through the crowd and get you to your destination much faster so do you take it? Or do you just walk through the terminal pushing past the other travelers and risk missing your flight home?

Right now we have a HUGE opportunity that very few in our industry are taking advantage of, and that is making the connection of sleep to our personal health. The Mayo Clinic says, “Yes, lack of sleep can affect your immune system. Studies show that people who don’t get quality sleep or enough sleep are more likely to get sick after being exposed to a virus, such as a common cold virus. Lack of sleep can also affect how fast you recover if you do get sick.” Do you think this is relevant to your customers shopping for a mattress, sheets, pillows or adjustable bases? HELL YES IT’S RELEVANT especially right now. So why is it we aren’t making this a much bigger deal as an industry?

When you look at the landing page of your website are you talking about how your products can literally improve a person’s Sleep Health which can improve your ability to fight off a virus? How about your selling process, have you incorporated that idea into your conversation with the consumer? Do you talk about sleep health in your brochures or in your social media channels?

There is a moving sidewalk right in front of us that will give us some extra momentum to carry us to our destination and cut through the clutter, but we are choosing to stay in the slow lane, fighting the traffic just like we always have. Why?

I love a good gut check so try this one out. If McDonald’s got a call from their research and development people saying that eating one Big Mac a day would help to improve your immune system so you could fight off a virus, would their marketing message change? I bet it would.

One of the most important issues facing people today is their health. They fear for the safety of their family and are looking for every way possible to protect themselves and we have a product solution that is totally relevant to that conversation, so why aren’t we having it? (This is a miss for me also. We haven’t changed anything with the websites for Spink and Co or Sherwood either so we have to figure out the right way to address the opportunity.)

Remember that we are in a fight. Not with each other, but with new cars, vacations, wood floors, and painting the house. The consumer has a limited amount of disposable income so where are we on their list? We move up on that list if we can make a compelling case and using sleep health to frame our conversation with the consumer makes sense. I think that consumers would appreciate a little education on how sleep can help them live their best lives don’t you?