What do you think? From emerging trends to the latest business principles, Furniture News is setting out to gauge the trade’s feelings on a variety of industry-specific topics. Today, we’re asking our panel: What do you do on a slow day?
Mike Whitman (Iconography): Testing. Testing new features, testing old ones. Sometimes both
Martin Seeley (MattressNextDay): We generally do know when the quieter times are now, so I’ve learned to be slightly less concerned and go with it (especially after the last two years)
Wendy Martin Green (Peter Green Furnishers): Personally, I seldom have a slow day, but if and when I have time I like to research national trends in interior design in both the commercial and retail worlds. This information provides us with subject matter for our blogs, things to look out for in the shows, a wishlist for buying trips, inspiration for our in-store displays, ideas to develop with our customers, and it keeps us ahead of the curve
Deirdre Mc Gettrick (ufurnish.com): I generally tend to go to my list of ‘when I have time’ projects. My all-time favourite is searching for furniture to understand the consumer experience (it doesn’t even feel like work!)
Huw Williams (Toons Furnishers): I will carry out competitor visits with my trading managers, and look at their ranging and pricing
George Sinclair (Nimbus Beds): Lie on beds!
Neil Barker (Barkers Furniture): Head down, work harder
Rob King (Julian Bowen): Ha, maybe a slower day, but you spend the day preparing for the busier ones
Steve Reid (Simba Sleep): They are rare, but I enjoy and lean into them – often filling time with exercise or having fun with my two boys
Tom Bayliss (Kettle Interiors): Regroup, assess and strategise. Hopefully by doing so it will mean there won’t be many ‘slow days’ in the future
Shane Harding (Highgrove Beds): There’s never a slow day in marketing!
David Kohn (The Multichannel Expert): In ecommerce you’re always searching for actionable insight, but are often too busy to really dig into your analytics. On a slow day I like to look at the tracking tools and statistics that never get enough attention
Shaun Peel (MattressTek): What’s a slow day?
Jade Farthing (Haskins Furniture): As an MD, I don’t think there is such a thing as a slow day. However, I do love to move furniture around and change displays
John Northwood (sales agent): There is always something to do when I’m not on the road – updating customer and data lists, emails, telephone calls, social media postings, watching sales and development videos on YouTube, keeping updated with brands and checking out the competition
Mark Gannon (Sofa Source): Assess our long-term projects – the things that are important, but never urgent
Keiran Hewkin (Swyft): Review our trade accounts and see what we might be missing in the data – and answer the customer service line when it rings, and find out from our customers what is happening
This article featured in the November 2022 edition of Furniture News magazine.
