“The beauty is that now we are making recommendations with science and technology rather than throwing a dart and saying, 'Yeah, that works'. There is not one customer who tried it and has not been wowed.”
On Black Friday 2020, mattress veteran Matt Smith opened the first Snooze Mattress Company location in Pueblo, CO, USA. He wanted to create a shopping journey to help his customers find the best mattress, so he sought technology to help. He discovered the REVEAL® Mattress Recommendation system by XSENSOR Technology.
The system lets salespeople recommend with authority: "The beauty is that now we're making recommendations with science and technology, rather than throwing a dart and saying 'yeah, that works'."
The system enabled quick training, removed personal bias, and gave credibility to RSAs (retail sales associates) buying advice. Today, if someone comes in with a sore back or a medical condition, the salesperson and the customer can feel confident they have found the right mattress to help accommodate the issue and ensure a good night's rest.
“This is the best purchase made for my store by far. From day one, the system made it easy for my customers and sales team.”
Owner Matt Smith was a mattress store manager for 18 years. While managing a store, he opened and operated a fitness center and a spa, retiring from the mattress industry for just under two years before getting back into it. Matt used a leading-edge body assessment technology at his fitness center, Styku, to help clients better understand their bodies and focus their efforts.
Seeing first-hand how technology can help people make better decisions by personalizing their understanding of their bodies, Matt wanted to create something similar to help demystify the experience of purchasing the right mattress.
Challenges
What Matt knew from selling mattresses is the central problem of RSAs everywhere: how do you recommend the right bed? Recommendations typically were informed by a salesperson's personal bias about what mattress they liked best. Other times, recommendations were driven by the product offering the highest commission, which may not necessarily be the best mattress for a customer. Another challenge Matt had was training his new sales team, who needed to gain experience selling mattresses.
Solution
While at the Las Vegas Market in 2019, Matt discovered REVEAL and recognized it as precisely the solution he imagined. As a Nationwide Marketing Group buying group member, Matt purchased the Dream Map branded arch system for his flagship store.
Results
- ROI (return on investment) in one weekend: The Dream Map system was paid for in its first two days.
- 85% close rate; all high-end mattresses.
- 70% upsells of adjustable bases and custom pillows.
- 100% of the sales team loved it, giving them confidence and credibility.
- Rampant referrals.
Aside from getting ROI on the system on opening weekend, the REVEAL system also lets salespeople recommend with authority. They also used REVEAL in their sales presentations: "We don't let you buy a mattress without being dream-mapped," Matt said.
There was also a considerable number of referrals. Dream Map gave customers a big ‘WOW’ that ensured repeat business: "A big part of our sales is recommendations from people who've bought from us. They tell friends and other members of their family, 'I sleep better than I've ever slept, you have to go there!'"
Impact
Matt says, "Anyone who tries the system tells everyone they know about it." Case in point: a recent customer had a friend about to buy a new mattress from a competitor. He insisted that before his friend bought anything, he should get 'Dream Mapped' at Snooze Mattress first, even if he bought a mattress at the original store.
The man went to Snooze and was pressure-mapped. It resulted in a $10k sale and a satisfied customer.
While the policy at Snooze Mattress is for RSAs to present the ‘good, better, and best’ mattress options for those mapped, they find that people almost always select the most expensive ‘best’ option - precisely what happened with this referral customer.
