June 9, 2025 • 60 mins
In this episode, we’re joined by Vernon “RJ” Williams and Tara Day, the powerhouse co-owners of Jacksonville Bedding Mattresses and More. Together, they dive into what it really means to build a business rooted in trust, service, and—most importantly—authenticity.
RJ shares his 10+ year journey in the sleep industry, his passion for helping people overcome serious sleep challenges, and how he balances entrepreneurship with family life and a love for travel. Tara, whose career began after a leap of faith (and a mattress delivery gig), brings unmatched energy, multitasking magic, and a deep love for people to everything she does. With backgrounds in customer service and a shared commitment to real connections, RJ and Tara unpack the heart and hustle behind their brand.
Whether you're chasing better sleep, dreaming of launching a business, or just craving a dose of real talk, this episode will leave you inspired, informed, and maybe even ready for a nap.
👤 Connect with RJ Williams & Tara Day:
✅ LinkedIn (RJ Williams): https://www.linkedin.com/in/vernon-williams-150a11320/
✅ LinkedIn (Tara Day): https://www.linkedin.com/in/tara-day-050400a4
✅ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacksonville_bedding
✅ Website: https://jacksonvillebedding.com/
✅We are proud partners with Mattress Industry Network: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mattressindustrynetwork
✅The Mattress Industry Network's core values are helping others to Build, Market, Sell and Succeed in the Mattress Industry
🎥 Want to create live streams like this? Check out StreamYard: https://StreamYard.CastAhead.net
➡️ Our amazing guests are often booked with PodMatch, a top-quality podcast matching service. For booking great podcast guests like this, we love using PodMatch: https://PodMatch.CastAhead.net
🌐Pete Primeau Official: https://www.peteprimeau.com
➡️ Get Pete’s book, “Miles & Miles Of Retail Selling Greatness: https://geni.us/PetePrimeauMiles
➡️ Get Pete’s book, “Sell A Million!”: https://geni.us/PetePrimeauMillion
The Pete Primeau Show is produced by Chris Stone at Cast Ahead:
#SalesTips #PetePrimeauShow #MattressSales #SmallBusiness #RetailSales #RetailExperiences
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Pete Primo show. It is episode 227 and we are going to talk about
real talk, the power of authenticity.
My friends from Jacksonville Beddon, co-owners, RJ Williams and Tara Day.
Before we do that, we're going to just pay the bills really, really quickly.
(00:24):
If you haven't bought my book sell a million what are
you waiting for 101 tips on how
to get more people in your store
and how to make more money when they get in the store and if you want a sales
book that's a marketing book if you want a sales book i've got one for you uh
miles and miles of retail selling greatness 43 years of what i've learned about selling mattresses.
(00:51):
If you have to do sales meetings, this is three years worth of sales meetings.
So grab this book. It's not just my book. It is a bunch of people.
Jeff Janakavo, Randy Thompson, Scott Vaughn, Brent Betterman,
(01:12):
Justin Trombo. Don't forget Justin. He's my boss.
Oh my lord,
Who else? Oh, I can see his face. Oh, Chris Tahaney. None other than Chris Tahaney.
There's over 10 authors in here. It's not just my book. So grab it.
It's on Amazon and it's like $20 guys.
(01:36):
It's like, it's stupid not to buy a book that could help you close more sales,
could pay for itself on the first day.
Um, and it makes your life as a sales manager and a store owner easier.
The sales meetings are already pre-done for you.
Read a half a chapter, discuss it. Do the same thing next week.
(01:57):
And before you know it, three years later, now you've run out of ideas for sales
meetings. But up till then, you're good.
I'd like to thank my friends at the Mattress Industry Network group, Steve and Greg.
If you want to learn how to build, market, sell, and succeed in the mattress
industry, you got to join this group. So it's, it's super simple. It's a Facebook group.
(02:22):
I don't even know how many people there are in there. Just scan that code. It's absolutely free.
If you want to learn how to market, how to succeed in this business,
how to merchandise, you don't have to sit there all by yourself on an Island.
You know, sometimes being a, being an owner is a very lonely place because everybody
(02:46):
around you, wants something from you.
This community with other owners, and by the way, all kinds of people from the industry,
from owners of stores to RSAs to sales reps to VPs of sales to owners of manufacturing
companies, they're all in here.
So learn how to build, market, sell, and succeed in the mattress industry for free.
(03:11):
Just join the free Facebook group and tell them I sent you. I try to get in
there a couple of times a month.
Chris, thank you for helping my little squirrel brain.
Guys, next Sunday, I'll be in Paducah, Kentucky, and I hope you will be too.
If you haven't signed up yet, sign up,
(03:31):
register today at wingocoaching.win slash 2025 and use code PETE,
all capital letters, 20, 25 to save $200 off.
So that's where me and RJ actually met the very first time in person.
(03:52):
I believe we met at the masterclass in Paducah, Kentucky. It might've been the very first one.
And without further to do, welcome.
Is this on it's on rj good
afternoon my friend how are you pete i'm good how's
tara today good afternoon i'm great thank you thanks for
(04:12):
having us so that's the first time we met right it was lucky at the master class
the very first master class and again i i can't encourage everybody enough to
if you have not participated if you have not gone and even if you have gone
Go back and get a refresher, right?
That masterclass is absolutely worth its weight in gold.
(04:35):
Not just what you learn in the class, Pete, but so much as far as the roundtable
discussions, working with other dealers, RSAs, other people involved in the
industry, and the networking is what really sets it apart from a lot of the other events.
One of the things that happens is you create your own tribe from that masterclass,
(04:55):
right? You meet friends.
You talk to them in between the breaks.
You stay late at dinner. You have conversations at breakfast, before breakfast.
And you spend a couple of days with people that you may have never met before,
but you find out that you have a lot of things in common. You have a lot of challenges in common.
(05:18):
And one of the things that owners for the last 43 years have shared with me, it's lonely.
They don't know who to trust. Anybody that you pay and whether, you know,
whether they're an employee or whether they're a sales rep or,
you know, a VP of sales for a manufacturer, there's some good people out there.
(05:41):
But by and large, most people are in things to benefit themselves.
And a lot of times you're not going to get the straight answers that you really need.
And I think that kind of like leads right into this whole thing about authenticity.
But before we go any further on that, I just want to mention one thing.
(06:02):
You guys have separated yourselves from virtually everybody in the industry,
because not only do you guys go to masterclasses,
but you're members and you're active members of MRT,
Jeff Janakvo's group. And guys,
I don't know if it's $99 a month or $97 a month. $97.
(06:27):
It's $97. I'm a member. I don't see the bills.
Miss Jenny takes care of all the bills, so I don't have to see those things.
But guys, if you're serious about winning in today's marketplace, you got to do two things.
One, you got to go to Masterclass in Paducah, Kentucky.
(06:48):
The other thing you got to do is join MRT.
$97 a month.
And you, number one, have a community.
Number two, you are going to get tools that you could only dream of.
And some of those tools, I mean, you guys are now known as the implementers.
(07:09):
I hope you know that in all caps.
Known at a lot of things, Pete. The, the implementers and, and you guys implement
well, and that's super important, but you know, speed is the most important thing.
I'd rather do something faster and not quite as well than slower and perfect
(07:32):
because you miss when you go slow.
So Scott Vaughn says, that sweater vest screams, I'm a professional salesman.
Terror wins all the time.
So true, Scott Vaughn. So true. I know I had to ask him what color he was wearing today.
Someone called sweater vest are you wearing today? And I'll try to compliment
(07:54):
you versus clash with you.
I don't have quite the extensive collection that he has, though.
You know, Pete, on a serious note, and talking about MRT, talking about Paducah
and the Wingo coaching with Scott Vaughn and Scott Bidwell.
I'm going to be as honest as I can. This isn't a paid advertisement.
(08:14):
It changed our business. It changed our lives.
In turn, by changing our business, it turned our lives. We are way more successful
than we ever could have imagined that we'd be at this point.
Way faster. And a lot of that, and a lot of that, that are due to the tools
from MRT that Jeff Janaka has taught us and has implemented and given to us,
(08:38):
um, that Scott Vaughn taught us the energy, that the, the training at the first
Wingo coaching, um, the marketing from Scott Bidwell and trellis marketing.
I put it like this, Pete, and you're a football guy, right?
If you're a quarterback and you have the opportunity to sit down with Tom Brady.
And have a class, and he's going to teach you how he became so successful.
(09:02):
Tom Brady is undoubtedly, I'm an Eagles fan, but let's be honest,
he's the greatest quarterback to ever do it as of right now.
He's the greatest, right?
Arguably, whatever, but to me, he's the greatest quarterback to ever do it.
If you have an opportunity to sit down with Tom Brady, you take it.
You take it and you listen. And then when he tells you to do something,
you implement it. Why? Because he is the most successful.
Scott Vaughn probably has, as far as a small size store, the most successful
(09:25):
and well-ran small sleep shop in the country.
Jeff Janakobo is not far behind, right? I mean, as far as great stores,
where a lot of the things we're going to talk about today, core values,
right, that they follow and their commitment to not only themselves,
their team, but also their customers.
(09:46):
And we're just so blessed. Again, yourself as well.
I mean, we've learned so much from you, Pete. I mean, we're blessed to have
some really great mentors in this industry.
Sometimes I get frustrated. Pete, you've heard me talk about this off camera
and just on personal calls, that more people don't take advantage of all of
these assets that are available to them.
And that's the best way to start. That Paducah, go to Wingo Coaching, sign up for MRT today.
(10:12):
97 bucks a month is insane.
You'll pay for it within the first week or two, truly. And in addition to that,
you guys, one or both of you, you know what? He did. He squirreled me.
Chris Stone just squirreled me. So mattressretailertoolkit.com.
(10:32):
If you're listening on audio, go to mattressretailertoolkit.com and type in,
Primo, P-R-I-M-E-A-U, you will get the lowest price that is guaranteed,
and I will get a little jingle in my pocket.
If you hate me and you don't want me to get a little jingle in my pocket,
(10:56):
don't put Primo in there.
But if you do want me to get a little jingle in my pocket, put Primo in there.
It doesn't cost you a dime. You get the lowest price automatically.
You guys are always on Win the Weekend, too. You know, that's a – every Friday
at 1 o'clock, it's a free Zoom call. It doesn't cost a dime.
(11:18):
And we have guys like Scott Vaughn, Jeff Janakovo, you guys,
Tim Clanky, Jerry LeCompte.
Chris Nelson. Chris Nelson's always there. Chris Nelson. Yeah.
Sometimes Kylie stops in and says hi.
Sometimes Becky gets on.
Marnie's always there with us Marnie is there
(11:39):
Andy Andy's usually there Andy from Southern California he's there and there's
probably a few others that I'm just forgetting to mention Chris Tahaney gets
on there quite often Jeff jumps on Jeff Janakavo is there almost all the time and guys,
if you could talk to Jeff Janakavo and
(12:00):
Scott Vaughn for free and you pass on it You are
a special kind of stupid I'm sorry I held Scott going hostage at the betting
conference I held him hostage for hours I sat with him Just him and I just talking
And me listening Because when Scott talks you listen I did I sat in front of
(12:21):
him so he couldn't leave the table I was like no you're not going,
Can't go nowhere Scott No the tools they provide are.
It's It's insane to not take advantage of these opportunities.
And I do, I'm so passionate about it because I can tell you it's changed our business.
(12:42):
It's changed our lives. We are at a different position. I can now do for my
family more than I could before.
Tara can do for her family more than she could before, right?
Same amount of effort that we were putting in, just working smarter,
working better with the tools that were provided for us.
And again, it's not a magic trick, right? Like they're gonna teach you.
And what we're going to talk about today is really important and part of this
(13:04):
And it's going to sound almost like I'm saying I don't believe in it But you
got to be yourself when you do it, right?
That's where the authenticity comes in Jeff Janaka can give you every tool in
the book Scott Vaughn can tell you everything, his entire playbook But if you
don't put it to work and put it to practice and implement And do it as yourself,
you're not going to be successful in it.
(13:28):
I'm speechless. That is so good. I mean, guys, we've got all kinds of people
chiming in. Marnie is in the house.
Marnie Kirby is in the house. Thank you for being here, Marnie.
And hitting random buttons because I am so excited to see you all.
That's great. I love to see Marnie. I love her content.
(13:50):
Yeah, her content's great. And Glenn from Texas Mattress, Absolute Truth.
Thank you, Glenn. Thank you for being here.
And Andy saying hi to Marnie, I think that's what that is. Hi, Andy. Hi, Marnie.
Chris Tahaney, we all love us some RJ and Tara.
(14:10):
We benefit from our relationships with you every bit as much as you say you do.
You know, thank you, Chris, for saying that so succinctly.
I'm laughing because it's usually me who says things more succinctly.
And he's the one that goes on and on and on. And I rib him about it from time to time.
But thank you, Chris. And I know you're traveling, Chris. So I appreciate you
(14:32):
being here. I love Chris.
Love, I love Chris Tahaney. One of the, nothing not to love.
Nothing not to love there.
Truly. Scott Vaughn, I was there to learn from you, my friend.
See, that's, so that kind of goes, there's a few things.
If you're ever going to really win, you
(14:52):
have to be humble enough to open your heart and open your mind at the same time
and believe that somebody else has something worthwhile that they are saying
that if you implemented it correctly in your business,
you and your customers and your employees could benefit as well.
(15:15):
And I think it takes a certain amount of humility and you just saw it from Scott.
He learned stuff from you and you're thinking, I'm just learning from him, but we're all students.
I think one of the things that we have in common at win the weekend,
no matter who's on there, we're all students. We're all trying to learn from each other.
(15:36):
And I think that's incredibly huge. And I think that's what makes Masterclass special.
People have actually paid money to sit in that seat.
And so you have that in common. You guys have all traveled from different states to be in that seat.
And that tells me that you want to win in the worst way.
(15:58):
Chris, I missed what you pulled up. I'm sorry.
Karaloa training. Two of the most authentic people are in the house, RJ and Tara. Yes.
Love our relationship with Caraloja. I mean, great people, truly.
Not plugging a brand, but man, they are fantastic to work with.
Love those guys. You're allowed to plug anything you want. No, I'm being honest.
(16:23):
Again, I'll say this all day long in front of anybody. They are one of the greatest
companies that we have a pleasure of having a relationship with.
They have had our back since day one and continue to build with us and grow
with us and believe in us. And I mean, we're surrounded by really good people, Pete.
I mean, truly, we're blessed. And part of that is recognizing that,
right? Like, we surround ourselves with really great people.
(16:45):
We work with you, Pete. We work with Chris Tahini.
I don't want to say Steve Houck, so we work with 3Z. You know,
we work with Patrick Wolf, guys that in this industry, Matt O'Brien,
I mean, who really care about not just the business, but small retailers in
particular and retailers of our size and building a better industry for the future, right?
(17:06):
Because all of this can go away. We're all out of luck, right?
We're all out of business right we all are part of the same team
building together like you said for other masterminds on
fridays to win the weekend we're all over the country right we
all take from each other we learn from each other you have
some of the best minds in falads in
in classes he's an mrt i mean why
(17:27):
is the same guy he pms me he messaged me he's
a vice president of exclusive furniture top 100 what like
my mind's blown p like that's it's amazing
to me how he says he's the vice president he's a lot more than that of course
he is fawada is he's the same kind of a guy genius as as you as jeff and as scott um you guys.
(17:57):
I've met every one of you guys in the same places when the weekend master class and mrt.
You guys are all showing up in the same places and you guys are all givers.
So speaking of this, what kind of led to this whole thing was I noticed that lately you have,
(18:18):
I'm not going to say come out of your shell because I don't think you live in
a shell, but I think you have become much, uh,
much more dynamic in speaking out.
And it's a beautiful thing to watch because you guys do need to speak out and
you guys do need to be heard. You have a lot to say.
(18:41):
You have a lot to say about thankfulness.
You have a lot to say about mentoring.
You have a lot to say about authenticity.
And that has been absolutely driving your business.
And there's this thing that people have and I want you to address this.
(19:03):
Both of you um when we
don't know something all we want to do is kind of get up to speed
and know it and then like there's no personality there is this is vanilla thing
this fake little sales robot thing that answers questions ask questions but
(19:24):
there's nothing there there it's just.
Vanilla. And we're so afraid to be ourselves because somebody may not like us.
Well, this is what I say to that.
Tough crap. Who cares? I can attract more people by just being myself than I
(19:47):
could ever be by being some textbook robot thing that sometimes we get sucked into.
And you know, either people are going to love you or they're not.
And if they don't tough next, I can guarantee you that if you're going out there
with authenticity, that you're going to attract your tribe, your people more
(20:12):
strongly than you're ever going to lose.
You're going to lose five or 10%, but you're going to gain so much more.
And the connection will be so much stronger that they won't want to buy a mattress
at any other store except your store because they love you.
They love your personality. They love who you are.
(20:33):
And there's too many people out there afraid to be who they are.
Coach me up. Pete, I mean, you hit it right on the head. One of the first things
I want to speak on is, right?
Authenticity in theory sounds great, but often implementing and putting into
practice is tough, right? There's fears.
People are afraid. So the first fear is losing customers, right?
(20:53):
We're afraid that, you know, you're going to push away people,
that they're not going to come.
But in theory, you're going to lose the wrong customers. The customers,
you don't want the high-maintenance, low-value customers.
But what you are going to create are fans.
Fans that are going to write customers that want to buy from you,
that want to support you, your values, what you stand for.
(21:14):
And they're also the type that refer people to you, right?
Because they believe what you believe so they're going
to refer their family their friends uh and then
you have the human fear right not being liked as you
said sometimes people are afraid that they're
not going to be liked it happens not everyone in
life is going to like you it's okay it's okay for not everyone to like you this
(21:37):
isn't school we're not in middle school anymore what you don't want is you want
you don't want people to to not like you what you want is your audience to deeply
know you By your convictions and your value You want your audience to know you Right?
That's the most important And then Everyone falls into the fear of playing safe,
You know, just Play in the middle of the card And.
(22:01):
Safety and comfort isn't where growth happens, Pete, right? You got to get out
there. You have to be yourself.
She, believe it or not, I yap a lot, but she has a strong personality.
Tara can only be her. And it shows and shines through. It may not on camera
sometimes because I'm a yapper, but Tara is one of a kind.
And when she's in this store, she's in her zone. She can only be Tara.
(22:24):
There's nobody can look at Tara and say, oh, you're a fake phony person because
Tara is unapologetically Tara all the time. I mean, I think that's a good point
is that I think both of us are dynamic outside of our store and inside of our store.
So who we are on the outside is who we are when we're here. We don't bring a
separate person to work.
You know, who we are in with our families, who we are, you know,
(22:47):
just in interactions with people, we are both givers, you know.
And when we come into our store, that's who we bring in. So I don't know how
to be fake with a customer. I just know how to be me.
You know someone walks into the store i try
to immediately of course make them feel welcome but
i also try to find things that i can connect to them
(23:07):
with on a human level before we even really talk about the mattresses you know
pick up on the little thing if they mention their children have a conversation
about that it doesn't have to be a long one but it can actually be something
oh i heard what you said and we can connect on this level i'm a mom i'm going
to connect with a mom well.
He's a dad. He's going to connect with that. He has an autistic child.
(23:27):
He's going to connect with somebody who maybe has autism or a special needs child.
Pick up on something, you know, use your five senses to pick up on what your
customer's given off and you will have nothing but connection,
connection, connection.
And then we can move into the selling part. You know, that's kind of,
I think, what we specialize in. For sure.
(23:49):
I live by it. Comfort doesn't create movement, right? You got to be yourself.
Being complacent, being just middle of the road, playing it safe.
You look at any great company in history, right? That is a big brand.
They didn't play it safe. They didn't play it comfortable. They took risks. They did great rewards.
(24:10):
Patagonia. Have you ever heard of Patagonia, Pete? Huge company.
Outdoor company. Multi-billion dollar company, right? They're outdoor.
They used to put full-page ads to say, hey, do not buy our product unless you absolutely nude it.
If it's ripped, if it's torn, we can repair it. We can replace it.
You don't need to buy a new one.
They were very upfront about their environmental impacts, all that.
(24:32):
They created raving fans. and now they're a multi-billion dollar company and
never once did they change their core values, who they are, or move away from that.
And I think that is what is key, especially on the small business side, right?
We're not a big franchise with operators and this and CEOs that we got to answer to. We are us.
I'm RJ when you walk in a store, she's Tara, you're Pete, Marnie's Marnie,
(24:57):
you got it. And people could smell a phony from a mile away.
You know how hard it is to act like somebody else. We've all been in positions
where we've got to kind of act a certain way before, and you're trying your best. It's exhausting.
It takes a lot of energy to be somebody you're not.
Yeah, it takes so much more energy to be somebody you're not versus just being
unapologetically you, letting that shine through for better or worse, right?
(25:20):
If you stick to your core values and you stand by them, and your social media,
your marketing, all that has to match in store.
When they walk through that door, If they're not met with the same enthusiasm,
the same person, the same feeling, values that they've seen online,
on Facebook, on Instagram, as when they walk in the store, Pete, it's all for nothing.
(25:44):
Yeah, 100%.
You better not disappoint from your advertising.
Stu Segura says, I can spot a fake in the first five minutes,
and I do not have X-Man powers.
Can't fake a vibe. That's true. You can't.
School, bro, most of the kids I went to high school won't give me a shot.
(26:08):
Can't let it get to you. Yeah, 100%. Some will and some won't, brother.
And it's not personal. Don't take it personally. RJ had to teach me that.
You know, sometimes you're just not going to be the right fit for that person.
I mean, I'm strong sometimes. I'm a little heavy. I'm a little loud.
I'm a little, you know, obnoxious, but that's okay. You know, just a little bit.
(26:32):
But I also, you know, you're just not getting a fake version of me.
I just don't know how to do it any other way but me.
But, you know, someone once told my son that he wasn't going to be everybody's
cup of tea, but that he would find those people, you know, that, that are.
And sometimes, you know, you might be a little too much for a customer.
And I'm not saying that sometimes you got to reel that back in because you do,
(26:53):
you got to rein it back in sometimes if you can.
But you will find that there will be some customers that may,
you know, may not get you, may not get your vibe. You may not get what you're putting off.
It's true. There's a, there's a quote I always like to say, Pete,
and it's authenticity is your competitive advantage, right? When you're not
building authentically, you're not building a brand, you're building a costume.
(27:16):
And that's a quote I like to say all the time.
You have to be yourself, right? Because at the end of the day,
we're responsible for everything that goes on around us.
And that's all that we can be responsible for. We have to do it.
At the end of the night, I got to look myself in the mirror.
I got to look at my wife, my children, and know that I did my very best that
day to be the best that I can be.
(27:37):
Not just in business, but also in life. and that's who we are.
You know, we do a lot for the community.
Sometimes we don't even, most of the time we don't advertise.
I gotta be honest with you.
It's kind of just a personal thing that Tara and I have always been.
But that's who we are. It's just who we are.
We didn't start something just to say, hey, Jacksonville Bedding donates to
(27:57):
this charity or something. No, we were doing it long before Jacksonville Bedding
could afford to donate to anything.
We were already doing it because that's the stuff that we enjoy doing.
That sweater vest looks good, by the way. Just see that one?
I've seen them all.
Stu had something else Chris what else did Stu have,
(28:21):
I used to work as an IT supervisor for a boss who was a dick people would laugh
at his lame jokes I could never do it,
no and that's why you work for yourself you're unemployable me too uh,
(28:42):
Natalia Abdin, what strategies have you found effective in ensuring consistent
customer experience? It's a great question.
It's a really good question. So, again, by being us, we don't really,
we have systems in place, but more like procedural systems, right?
(29:03):
We don't look at every customer the same who walks through the door because guess what?
Everybody is different. So if we see a mom walking through the store with two
kids in tow and they're running all over the store,
we're probably going to interact with her a lot differently than we are as far
as a husband and wife who come in with a button-up shirt and tie and they're,
you know, waltzing around looking for a particular brand.
(29:24):
One of the things we do is really on our follow-up is where we're the most consistent with everybody.
Everybody gets a handwritten thank you card, right? And that's something that
we learned a lot from Jeff Gianocomo, the follow-ups.
We do these right here We stole this directly from Jeff Janaka Thank you,
sir Everybody gets a cup They get a gift basket, a care package Right?
(29:46):
So we follow up every couple You know, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months We do consistent
follow-up with them Because a customer is not just a customer When they get a sale, right?
Like, that's not where the interaction ends They are a customer for life They
are ones that you have procured And created a fan of and now they are part of our family.
(30:07):
And we wanna make sure that they know that all the way through not just the
buying process, to delivery, to the comfort, to their next bed and their referral
when they're talking about, hey, I know somebody who sells mattresses.
We wanna be their people.
We wanna be, as Jeff would say, their guy.
So we try to create that experience from the moment you walk through and even
(30:29):
before with our social media. You guys see, I post silly stuff.
I'm not afraid to show who i am i post behind the scenes reels of me messing up on my social media.
I post all that stuff why because that's that's really me i'm a goofball i like
to have fun i like to laugh and if you can't laugh at yourself what's the point
right so yeah and i think it's important to know that that it's not always the
(30:52):
customer that's going to buy in that moment a lot of times more than,
you know, a lot of times we are,
we non-sell more than we sell sometimes in that moment.
When you can tell a customer's just not there yet, we encourage them to shop around.
But here's our card. If you have any questions, it doesn't matter.
If you're in another mattress store and you have a question about our mattress
(31:14):
compared to that mattress, or is this mattress a good mattress,
we will 100% answer a question for you without you feeling the pressure that
you need to buy something that day.
So, I mean, that's another thing that we do that is just non-pressuring them to buy.
And a lot of times that ends up turning around and becoming one of our customers.
(31:36):
Might be later that day, could be another day or a couple days later.
Yeah, and we don't use authenticity as a sales tactic.
It's a commitment, right? It's how we build loyalty. It's how we build fans.
So, we're not using it for a strategy to make more sales.
It's who we are. It's how we believe And what we'd want to be treated like You
know One of the things we're most proud of Is if you look at some of our reviews
(32:00):
We get reviews that are lengthy Right?
Without prompting them We get really lengthy reviews About not just what they
bought But the experience of what they bought And we, Tara and I Our goal always is,
You could send your mom here, your sister here, your mother,
and they're going to get treated the same exact way as if I want one of my family
(32:21):
members to walk in our store.
And we try to do that with every single person who walks through our door.
And I think also one of the other things that we do is we look at each other
and we say, or we'll call each other and we'll say, did you just read that review?
I can't believe that review. It was, it's very humbling.
We are very grateful. We are very thankful. Look at that.
(32:43):
That's a fake review. do you can go to that one star it's okay yeah you
can go to that one star we don't mind and you'll see that's a that's an honest
to god that's it you can read it person's only left one review
ever it's a fake review which is fine we
have some one stars pete right because guess what we're vulnerable right vulnerability
is part of being authentic to a point right we we make mistakes things happen
(33:03):
everybody you you raise your hand if you've never made a mistake or we're all
human and that's okay in business tara and i i can't tell you how many times
we've ordered the wrong bed.
I can't tell you how many times we've cost each other money, right? It's okay.
It happens. It's how we correct them, how we fix them, and how you move forward.
And with customers as well, have we ever made a mistake with a customer? Of course.
(33:24):
We've had customers where we've made mistakes, leave a five-star review saying,
hey, they ordered the wrong bed. If something happened, they took care of it, they made it right.
And that's a huge part of what we do. I'll see posts on some of these mattress
industry groups and they're talking about, oh, I did this. What should I do, you do the right thing.
You know what to do. You don't have to, if you have to ask somebody else what
to do, you do the right thing. Do what you would want done if it was you in that same position.
(33:48):
And that's how we treat all of our customers. Yeah.
That's super powerful. It's easy to say and hard to do.
And I was never so proud of my wife when, um, she was,
basically lost money for our company because one of our manufacturers wouldn't
(34:10):
exchange something, so we did.
And I said, I'm really proud of you.
You didn't even call me. She goes, nope. She goes, I've heard you say it so
many times that we do the right thing.
And that's what makes us different. Everybody says it.
Very few people live it. Ask us how. And that's what we do. And that's who we are. We're different.
(34:37):
We're not like everybody else. And I think that is exactly what you're saying.
And my friend Justin Trumbo has a funny thing that he, I was complimenting him
about Henry, the diamond-crested unicorn.
Want to talk about authenticity, about somebody who's a real person?
(34:58):
There's a real person who truly cares about other human beings, right?
And Justin told me the conversation he had with him.
And this is absolutely brilliant. And Justin, if I'm getting this wrong,
chime in and tell me I'm wrong.
Any one of our customers, if they're ever at market and they're not doing something,
(35:22):
would we take them out to dinner? Of course we would.
So if we're willing to drop a few hundred bucks on dinner to take one of our
dealers out, why wouldn't we drop a few hundred dollars to help them service
their customers so on that stuff,
henry doesn't have to call justin henry's been
(35:43):
told just make our customer happy that it doesn't matter if it costs us money
that it's part of being in business that's you know what we do and who we are
and so i i think that ties in nicely where are we with your cards have we gotten
through half of them yet.
(36:03):
Uh, I don't even know. That's his brain over there. I don't know.
On the cards? On your cards. Yeah.
On your wall over there. Oh, no, we're... So, I don't need the cards.
They're just there in case we need to, um... He's got his own brain.
He's good. He doesn't need cards.
Yeah, yeah. It's me that apparently needs to have ESP to be able to do what's in there. I don't know.
(36:25):
Scott Vaughn. It's not like we don't talk about this stuff every single day.
We really do talk about it, and we don't... We're the same way.
If it's, we don't ever call each other and say, hey, you need to fix A,
B, or C. Take care of the customer.
The customer's always going to win out.
I mean, RJ ordered the wrong Helix for somebody a couple weeks ago. It just costed $1,200.
It was fine. It's all right. Guess what? The customer got the right bed, though. It happens.
(36:49):
What are you going to do? Mistakes happen. I'm not free of error.
Ever, Pete. I make mistakes every day.
Yep. I make one in about two minutes. Give me a chance.
Just give me a second. Call me a human. You're the wrong color. I'm just human. Yeah.
And that's something that we're very real about. And I think that's why our
partnership works so well, right? Everybody's like, oh, we partners, oh, this and that.
Tara and I have always said from the very start, the business comes first.
(37:13):
Before what she wants, before what I want, it has to be about the business and
what's good for the business and what's good for our customers, right?
Part of our business is the only part of our business is our customers,
right? Is the people who walk through the door.
Forget beds, right? The beds are secondary. if we got to take care of the people
first, right? People believe and they want to buy into people before anything.
(37:35):
We've all been to a store where you walk in and you're like,
this is the most amazing experience ever.
Man, and you may not even want to buy what they have, but you're tempted to,
or you do to make a decision based off of how you were treated in that store
versus walking into a store where they have exactly what you're looking for
and it's a miserable experience, right?
You go into a restaurant, they may not have the best pizza in town,
(37:56):
but man, every time you go in there, you're treated like family.
Versus the place down the street where the pizza is just a little bit better,
but it's a miserable experience, you're not going.
And you're not telling anybody, right? You're going to tell everybody,
oh, my God, you got to go over here. You got to go to Pete's Pizza.
It's the best pizza town. Man, they treat you like family in there.
Create fans. Create people that want to tell people about you, right?
(38:19):
When you say create fans, it takes me back to Chicago.
As a young CERTA sales manager, And there was a guy that wrote a book called Create Raven Fans.
Ken Blanchard. It's a great book. And this guy was the most unassuming speaker ever in the history.
(38:42):
I mean, I'm used to guys like Zig Ziglar, you know, like Powerball of Energy.
They come up on the stage. This guy was not that.
He was so down to earth. He was so funny.
Funny, and it was hilarious because I remembered everything he said.
And before he got into business, he was a professor.
(39:08):
And do you know how he locked me in?
He said, at the beginning of every semester I taught, I told everybody in the class they had an A.
And then I told them exactly what they have to do to lose a grade.
But you started off with an A and I'm like, I like this guy. I got an A.
(39:31):
I got an A finally, but Ken Blanchard Raven fans, uh, really great stuff.
And I'll tell you, I was really blessed to be with that company.
That was when Bob Sherman had one factory before he bought all of certain.
And before that merged with SSB, obviously, um, He would bring guys like this
(39:56):
in to speak to us, and it was very, very, very powerful.
Ramsey, hey, congratulations, brother, on the baby.
If you can go back to your younger self when you started your business,
what would be the top three things you would tell them to do and not to do in
(40:21):
your business? Thanks in advance. All right.
I'll start on the things you want to do.
Sign up for MRT, right? Number one.
So MRT, Pete's, of course, Win the Weekend, Scott Vaughn's training, 100%.
(40:42):
Go invest in your business. Invest in people who want to see you succeed and
are going to help you succeed, right? That's number probably one and two.
Number three, surround yourself with good people, right? Surround yourself with
people who want to see you win, authentically win.
Not just say it, right? Not just the fanfare, you know, people on the side,
(41:02):
the fair weather friends. people who authentically want to see you do the best
that you can do every single day.
Tara's a motivator for me, always has been. When I'm at my worst,
health-wise, she's always saying, hey, you can do this.
I believe in you, right? It's just a relationship we have.
And I'm so proud of her accomplishments, I tell her all the time.
And sometimes, Tara, I'll be honest with you, we have a weird dynamic.
(41:23):
I'm so outgoing and over the top. And Tara, sometimes she feels a little left
behind because I'm so out there.
And I tell her all the time, Tara, none of this, right? I can't go to these
conferences. I can't be on here.
If you're not here doing what you do every day, we're both pulling on that rope
at the same time in the same direction.
It's around yourself with people and a person or whoever it is,
your team that want to see you succeed in a real authentic way.
(41:49):
And then the third thing is buy How to Sell a Million by Pete Primo on Amazon.
And go hit Pete Primo's catalog on Amazon.com for $20.
Which, not only have I read Three or four times I've read your books I've read,
(42:09):
of course, Jeff Janakavo's books I read She listens to a lot of podcasts She
reads as well We constantly read,
And I told you on that second book I don't know if you remember this I said
on the next book you write, I'm getting a chapter And I meant it And I'm going
to earn a chapter in that next book I said it to you,
(42:30):
I'm going to earn a chapter All right. So those are three things to do.
Do you have three things not to do? Not to do. I'm trying to think.
Don't leave plastic on the beds. I'm just kidding. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, don't try to play it safe. You know, one of the things that we fell in
a rut was trying to be everything for everyone, right? It's impossible.
(42:53):
And when you're doing that, you're not giving your all.
You're not giving your true authentic all. You're not being true to yourself.
And if you're not true to yourself, you can't be true to your customers.
When you're trying to fill every gap, every hole, let's not fool yourself when
you're selling two $300 beds, you're not really doing anyone a favor, right?
(43:15):
You're not selling good sleep. You're not fixing the problems that they have.
So that would be my number one, right, is to not try to be something for everybody.
Find your niche. Find out who you truly are. Stick to your core values and commit to them, right?
Commit to them and stick to them. And I also think you cannot, don't pull back.
(43:36):
Like say you have an advertising system in place. You're planning on spending
X number of dollars every month. If it's slow, don't pull back.
Like don't think that that's the time now to put your foot off of the gas because
it's like, oh my goodness, you know, don't live in, I guess I live my life like this too.
Don't live from a place of fear. Fear, yeah. Don't let fear drive your decisions.
Don't let fear of not, fear of missing out, fear of this. Don't let fear drive
(43:59):
your business decisions.
Or any decision right you got it
don't pull back on your advertising don't
play it safe and don't try to be all things to all
people anything else yeah don't stick around people who don't want to see you
succeed get rid of the dead weight just in life right not only business but
(44:20):
in life if you have people that are dragging you down bringing you down and
we all know those people a lot of them are disguised as people who you think
care about you or pretend to care about you when it's good for them.
Get rid of the dead weight, right? We're only as good as the people surrounding us.
Yeah, they're not cheering for you. They're cheering against you.
And if they're not cheering for you when you're not there in their presence, right?
(44:42):
They have to be cheering for you when you're not around or when you are down.
I can tell you Tara's looked at me many times and she goes, hey,
listen, you can do this. I love you. I want to see you healthy for you and your kids.
You got to get better, right? And that's not an easy thing to say to somebody.
It's not. I know it's not easy for her to say that. It probably is because she
knows I'm receptive of it.
But that takes something to say that to somebody When you care about somebody
(45:02):
and you love them And you see that they're not at their best And you want to see them at their best.
I know in her heart she's cheering for me When I'm not here When I'm not in
front of her It's on her mind and she's thinking about me And that's why I surround
myself with those people That's why Pete,
I'm at your call every Friday Because I know truly That's the type of human
that you are That you're actually rooting for This isn't,
(45:26):
Listen, you're not getting rich off of this Pete Let's be honest, right?
This is because you care about this industry and you care about human beings.
And that's why I'm so, when I say things to you and you're like,
you're overly confident.
No, I'm not. I'm telling you truly how I feel about you and I'm so thankful
to have you and this industry is so blessed to have you because you actually, you give a damn.
(45:49):
And that means so much. When there's a world of people who don't and just want
to sell it, you actually care.
And that means more than you'll ever know to a lot of people,
including myself and I know Tara and a lot of other people. And I mean that truly.
Well, there's a rule. Never interfere with somebody when they're complimenting you.
True. Well, and that Friday call sets your intention.
(46:11):
If you're taking that time and that energy to get on that call on Friday afternoon
and just, it's kind of like that big huddle that you have right before.
I'm not a big sports person, but you know, that big huddle you have before you
go out and you build everybody up, you're building each other up and you're
setting your intention. I called in from a cruise ship. I don't want to miss it.
I hate, when I've had like Dr. point. She'll know. I tell, I say,
I don't want to miss Friday.
(46:31):
Like that's my biggest fear is missing a Friday call, right?
Because he learned from so many people. Yeah.
Glenn, Glenn has a comment. Please talk about the move to the new facility.
I want Parker to hear this part, scary, but worth every penny.
Yeah, this is really important.
Very much. This, this move to this new place.
(46:54):
So it's really funny. I was telling RJ this this morning. I think I passed over
the weekend, like all 10 places that we didn't sign.
And we were super close to signing one before we did this one.
For some reason, this just, when we drove up here, this one felt right.
And this move has been, I mean, we have exceeded even our own expectations of
(47:19):
what we would do here. We could not have picked a better location.
It was scary, though. It was scary. Like, it was scary. Financially, it was.
Yeah, we took on a big chunk of financial responsibility that was more.
And you've got to take that leap of faith.
Again, you can't lead from fear. If we'd have led from fear,
we'd have been dead over on the place that we used to be. We'd fizzled away.
(47:43):
This is just what we had to do, but we had to set our intention and say, okay, let's do it.
It's now or never. Pete, we started off in a warehouse.
When I tell you warehouse, I mean blue-flowered mattresses, recycled mattresses, you know, refurbs.
We started off in a warehouse with plastic on every single bed.
I mean, it was a disaster, right? We didn't have a computer.
(48:06):
People wanted to finance through LTO or something.
We sent them away or paper. We sent them home to do it.
I mean, this isn't like an overnight. We're not overnight successes.
I can tell you that. We've worked our butts off really hard, right?
And some of that's luck. Again, I don't say that to be humble,
but not only did we change locations, right? That was a huge part of it.
(48:26):
And again, a financial, I wouldn't say risk, but with that change came our mindset change.
With that came our change in growth. If all that put together,
the going to the classes, the learning, the following our mentors,
guys like Jeff Giannako, Jerry LeCompe, who I absolutely love and doesn't get
mentioned nearly enough.
Is not just a super bright when it comes to the business, but one of the nicest human beings ever.
(48:51):
And truly somebody who inspires me and pushes me behind the scenes.
I can't tell you that guy's like, he's just, I love Jerry.
I love Jerry and I'll sing his praises to Tony Catanza.
Guys like that, unsung heroes that don't get mentioned sometimes,
but believed in us before we ever had a reason to believe in us. Keith.
(49:14):
Keith, yeah, Keith Elwinger, another unsung hero and a guy that nobody outworks
in this industry. The guys believed in us and said, hey, these guys can do it.
You guys can do it. We're going to help you do it.
And we're going to watch you guys grow and blossom. And I'll say this,
and I don't say this to brag or anything.
March, we had our best year, best month ever, right? March was fantastic for us.
(49:38):
April was really good. We had a little hiccup in the middle of April,
but at the end we pulled through.
And then last month, I am not ashamed to say, we absolutely killed it,
right? just her and I we didn't just we smashed the.
Any previous record we were up 312 percent
year over year for for may of last year 312
(50:00):
percent with two of us only two of us in the store seven days a week
and again i don't say that to brag i say that in the most humble way but i'm
i'm proud of that and that's that's not just our accomplishment that has that's
your accomplishment like you know the last book you say this isn't just my book
that's chris tahini's that's jeff janocobos that's scott vaughn's got bidwell's success,
(50:21):
A1 Marketing we use here, Caraloja, Bed Gear,
all of these people coming together, Avocado and Patrick Wolf,
that's everybody's success.
Because without a great team around us and great vendors, Sleep Tone,
all these guys dream for it, it doesn't come to play. It doesn't happen.
And I'm conscious of that, and I'm so appreciative of that. And we find a responsibility,
(50:46):
and I hope other retailers do too. I feel responsibility every time I come to
the store and I come to my place of business.
I have a responsibility to my vendors, to the team that I work with and what I work with.
To do the very best I can for them, whether it's for King Coyle,
Avocado, Stearns and Foster, Helix.
(51:09):
I have a job that they believed in us.
And now I want to show them that why that was a good decision.
And I want to do that for not only them, but for my customers as well.
Every single day. That's my goal.
Jeff Janakovo says, let's go. All earned.
I'll tell you something about Janakovo. I've known him for a long time now.
(51:34):
He does not give out compliments willy-nilly. Love that guy.
So when he says something like that, that's very powerful.
Congrats to his team, by the way I apologize, congrats to his team,
For their killer May, well earned, with everything Going on,
you were talking about resilient,
With everything going on in his life But it goes to show you,
(51:57):
and again I don't want to get personal, but I seen his Facebook post last night
About his sons and stuff It goes to show, that's because they have a leader
Right, and Jeff Janakamo Not just in business, but as a human Being and a man,
That his family can obviously depend on Without question and that just that
Talks to his character and anybody who Knows jeff knows that that guy is when
(52:17):
You think character you think jeff janocobo I love him to death love him love
him Love him go birds Go birds,
Well i love all you guys and There was a there was Um chris uh you've You've
had a comment up there Or a question Um.
Naftali, what scares you more in this business, failure or being misunderstood?
(52:44):
You've talked a lot about grit and resilience. What personal experience shaped
that mindset the most for you?
I could answer this, but I'm not. I don't want to be misunderstood.
I think that for me, I mean, those two are equal failure.
But for me, my own personality, I won't get deep into it, but I've had a lot
(53:05):
of years of being misunderstood or not being able to, in my personal experience, being authentic.
And I will be, if I'm not going to be authentic in this, this is our baby.
This is everything that RJ and I wanted it to be and more.
So I think that, again, with this being a talk about authenticity,
(53:28):
that's where we're not going to fail because we're authentic.
It's not an option, Pete.
Failure is not an option for us, but I definitely don't want to be misunderstood.
You know, you get a lot of customers who come in here and they maybe aren't
the happiest because they haven't had the best experiences in previous mattress
stores. And we're here to change that.
We're here to change how their shopping experience is.
(53:50):
So, I mean, I think that's what... Pete, I'll tell you this.
My mindset is always this way, right? I don't like to lose.
I'm not going to lie to you. I'm a poor sport and I don't like to lose.
It's been that way my whole life. I wrestle my whole life. Fly, Eagles, fly, baby.
You fly, Eagles, fly, right? You got that. I mean, that's in your DNA,
man, if you're an Eagles fan.
I grew up, you always say you grew up a poor kid in New York.
(54:13):
I grew up a poor kid. I'm one of nine who grew up in projects in North New Jersey.
I don't say that to be some one-liner in a show or a movie.
That's where I grew up. You can, 475 Fisher Avenue, Nealer Avenue,
and there's people watching that grew up right next door to me right now,
so they know I'm not lying to you. I grew up in the projects.
It wasn't a great place for kids to be, Pete. I don't lose, and I refuse to lose, right? and,
(54:35):
What I mean by that isn't about making a ton of money, right?
It's not about being, oh, I got to be the most successful. When I say I'm not
going to lose, that means I'm not going to ever change who I am to fit into
a norm, to fit into what society thinks is best.
I got tattoos all over me, right? I probably shouldn't be selling mattresses
as expensive as we do, right?
But I'm going to, right? Because I actually care.
(54:57):
I care and I'm always going to be so losing is not an option.
And growing up, that lifestyle is probably what gave me the grit and determination
to never, ever, ever want to not win.
I've seen a lot of things, I'm sure, like most of us have.
But I can tell you this, I'm never going back to that, ever.
And if I got to stand outside holding a sign at four in the morning and work
(55:21):
seven jobs to do so to make sure my family is taken care of,
then that's exactly what it's going to be.
Uh rj you're making me cry i want you to share the story about your dad,
about his injury and how soon he went back to work yeah um man yeah um here's
(55:43):
the truth so again nobody ever worked as hard as my dad my dad was a factory
worker his entire life um.
At almost 60 years old he he was he my
dad wasn't educated again factories when we moved
to florida we moved because of my mom's mental health uh he was
already an older man at that point wasn't really florida's more
(56:06):
of a younger thing he worked in factories he was a dishwasher when
he passed away p but about a year before that close to
60 he fell off scaffolding as he was working a second job
that's almost 60 years old and broke his back
in two places um i
got the call of course he's in the hospital and within three
weeks he was back at work up on scaffolding not
(56:30):
because he was healed and not because he could but because he
had to um yeah me
and my dad didn't always see eye to eye but i'll tell you this pete nobody
nobody ever worked as hard as that
man did and uh he deserved better you know
he did yeah I um I have the same thing in common not that same exact story but
(56:53):
my dad worked very very hard and on his best year ever he didn't make half as much as I make in a month.
Ever. And if he could have lived to have seen this, I mean, I would have loved
(57:14):
to buy him a house because he deserved it.
Anyway, Chris Tahaney had a comment.
I hope every single retailer in the world watches this episode.
The passion, excitement, and enthusiasm out of these legendary owners that found
their life calling is inspiring. Wow. Yeah, it is.
(57:36):
We're blessed to have each other here today. Fawad, let's go Vernon Williams.
Let's go Fawad. Hey, RJ. Let's go Fawad.
Jeff Janakovo says, and thank you for the kind words. Appreciate you for that.
You know, I'm going to say this, RJ, somebody that says something nice to you,
(58:03):
it's always nice to hear.
It always touches my heart.
But when somebody you admire says something is nice, it means a lot more.
And I don't think you realize how much you're admired.
(58:24):
You guys are rising rock stars in this industry.
And it's really obvious to me, I've been around for 43 years and I have loved watching this growth.
And I know you're never going to stop growing. And that's the most exciting
part. You guys are both students.
(58:44):
What you are now is literally a shadow of what you will be because you're never
going to lose your hunger.
And everybody that's watching, there's a real lesson there.
Be hungry, be humble, be thankful.
And for God's sake, be yourself, be authentic.
(59:07):
I mean, you got two great examples with RJ and Tara who are themselves unabashedly.
And you need to do that too for yourself as a human being and as a business
owner. You need to do that for your business.
Well, we have run out of time, my friend. I could talk to you guys for hours
(59:29):
on end and not ever get tired of it.
But anything you'd like to say as we say goodbye?
In the great words of Dr. Seuss, be yourself, everybody else is taken.
Amen. We're in the weekend this Friday. Make sure you're there with us.
If you're not, we're going to get them, Pete. We're going to get them. All right.
(59:53):
Love you, buddy. Appreciate it. Thank you for having us. Thank you for having
us. Love you. Take care. Bye.
Music.
Welcome to the Pete Primo show. It is episode 227 and we are going to talk about
real talk, the power of authenticity.
My friends from Jacksonville Beddon, co-owners, RJ Williams and Tara Day.
Before we do that, we're going to just pay the bills really, really quickly.
(00:24):
If you haven't bought my book sell a million what are
you waiting for 101 tips on how
to get more people in your store
and how to make more money when they get in the store and if you want a sales
book that's a marketing book if you want a sales book i've got one for you uh
miles and miles of retail selling greatness 43 years of what i've learned about selling mattresses.
(00:51):
If you have to do sales meetings, this is three years worth of sales meetings.
So grab this book. It's not just my book. It is a bunch of people.
Jeff Janakavo, Randy Thompson, Scott Vaughn, Brent Betterman,
(01:12):
Justin Trombo. Don't forget Justin. He's my boss.
Oh my lord,
Who else? Oh, I can see his face. Oh, Chris Tahaney. None other than Chris Tahaney.
There's over 10 authors in here. It's not just my book. So grab it.
It's on Amazon and it's like $20 guys.
(01:36):
It's like, it's stupid not to buy a book that could help you close more sales,
could pay for itself on the first day.
Um, and it makes your life as a sales manager and a store owner easier.
The sales meetings are already pre-done for you.
Read a half a chapter, discuss it. Do the same thing next week.
(01:57):
And before you know it, three years later, now you've run out of ideas for sales
meetings. But up till then, you're good.
I'd like to thank my friends at the Mattress Industry Network group, Steve and Greg.
If you want to learn how to build, market, sell, and succeed in the mattress
industry, you got to join this group. So it's, it's super simple. It's a Facebook group.
(02:22):
I don't even know how many people there are in there. Just scan that code. It's absolutely free.
If you want to learn how to market, how to succeed in this business,
how to merchandise, you don't have to sit there all by yourself on an Island.
You know, sometimes being a, being an owner is a very lonely place because everybody
(02:46):
around you, wants something from you.
This community with other owners, and by the way, all kinds of people from the industry,
from owners of stores to RSAs to sales reps to VPs of sales to owners of manufacturing
companies, they're all in here.
So learn how to build, market, sell, and succeed in the mattress industry for free.
(03:11):
Just join the free Facebook group and tell them I sent you. I try to get in
there a couple of times a month.
Chris, thank you for helping my little squirrel brain.
Guys, next Sunday, I'll be in Paducah, Kentucky, and I hope you will be too.
If you haven't signed up yet, sign up,
(03:31):
register today at wingocoaching.win slash 2025 and use code PETE,
all capital letters, 20, 25 to save $200 off.
So that's where me and RJ actually met the very first time in person.
(03:52):
I believe we met at the masterclass in Paducah, Kentucky. It might've been the very first one.
And without further to do, welcome.
Is this on it's on rj good
afternoon my friend how are you pete i'm good how's
tara today good afternoon i'm great thank you thanks for
(04:12):
having us so that's the first time we met right it was lucky at the master class
the very first master class and again i i can't encourage everybody enough to
if you have not participated if you have not gone and even if you have gone
Go back and get a refresher, right?
That masterclass is absolutely worth its weight in gold.
(04:35):
Not just what you learn in the class, Pete, but so much as far as the roundtable
discussions, working with other dealers, RSAs, other people involved in the
industry, and the networking is what really sets it apart from a lot of the other events.
One of the things that happens is you create your own tribe from that masterclass,
(04:55):
right? You meet friends.
You talk to them in between the breaks.
You stay late at dinner. You have conversations at breakfast, before breakfast.
And you spend a couple of days with people that you may have never met before,
but you find out that you have a lot of things in common. You have a lot of challenges in common.
(05:18):
And one of the things that owners for the last 43 years have shared with me, it's lonely.
They don't know who to trust. Anybody that you pay and whether, you know,
whether they're an employee or whether they're a sales rep or,
you know, a VP of sales for a manufacturer, there's some good people out there.
(05:41):
But by and large, most people are in things to benefit themselves.
And a lot of times you're not going to get the straight answers that you really need.
And I think that kind of like leads right into this whole thing about authenticity.
But before we go any further on that, I just want to mention one thing.
(06:02):
You guys have separated yourselves from virtually everybody in the industry,
because not only do you guys go to masterclasses,
but you're members and you're active members of MRT,
Jeff Janakvo's group. And guys,
I don't know if it's $99 a month or $97 a month. $97.
(06:27):
It's $97. I'm a member. I don't see the bills.
Miss Jenny takes care of all the bills, so I don't have to see those things.
But guys, if you're serious about winning in today's marketplace, you got to do two things.
One, you got to go to Masterclass in Paducah, Kentucky.
(06:48):
The other thing you got to do is join MRT.
$97 a month.
And you, number one, have a community.
Number two, you are going to get tools that you could only dream of.
And some of those tools, I mean, you guys are now known as the implementers.
(07:09):
I hope you know that in all caps.
Known at a lot of things, Pete. The, the implementers and, and you guys implement
well, and that's super important, but you know, speed is the most important thing.
I'd rather do something faster and not quite as well than slower and perfect
(07:32):
because you miss when you go slow.
So Scott Vaughn says, that sweater vest screams, I'm a professional salesman.
Terror wins all the time.
So true, Scott Vaughn. So true. I know I had to ask him what color he was wearing today.
Someone called sweater vest are you wearing today? And I'll try to compliment
(07:54):
you versus clash with you.
I don't have quite the extensive collection that he has, though.
You know, Pete, on a serious note, and talking about MRT, talking about Paducah
and the Wingo coaching with Scott Vaughn and Scott Bidwell.
I'm going to be as honest as I can. This isn't a paid advertisement.
(08:14):
It changed our business. It changed our lives.
In turn, by changing our business, it turned our lives. We are way more successful
than we ever could have imagined that we'd be at this point.
Way faster. And a lot of that, and a lot of that, that are due to the tools
from MRT that Jeff Janaka has taught us and has implemented and given to us,
(08:38):
um, that Scott Vaughn taught us the energy, that the, the training at the first
Wingo coaching, um, the marketing from Scott Bidwell and trellis marketing.
I put it like this, Pete, and you're a football guy, right?
If you're a quarterback and you have the opportunity to sit down with Tom Brady.
And have a class, and he's going to teach you how he became so successful.
(09:02):
Tom Brady is undoubtedly, I'm an Eagles fan, but let's be honest,
he's the greatest quarterback to ever do it as of right now.
He's the greatest, right?
Arguably, whatever, but to me, he's the greatest quarterback to ever do it.
If you have an opportunity to sit down with Tom Brady, you take it.
You take it and you listen. And then when he tells you to do something,
you implement it. Why? Because he is the most successful.
Scott Vaughn probably has, as far as a small size store, the most successful
(09:25):
and well-ran small sleep shop in the country.
Jeff Janakobo is not far behind, right? I mean, as far as great stores,
where a lot of the things we're going to talk about today, core values,
right, that they follow and their commitment to not only themselves,
their team, but also their customers.
(09:46):
And we're just so blessed. Again, yourself as well.
I mean, we've learned so much from you, Pete. I mean, we're blessed to have
some really great mentors in this industry.
Sometimes I get frustrated. Pete, you've heard me talk about this off camera
and just on personal calls, that more people don't take advantage of all of
these assets that are available to them.
And that's the best way to start. That Paducah, go to Wingo Coaching, sign up for MRT today.
(10:12):
97 bucks a month is insane.
You'll pay for it within the first week or two, truly. And in addition to that,
you guys, one or both of you, you know what? He did. He squirreled me.
Chris Stone just squirreled me. So mattressretailertoolkit.com.
(10:32):
If you're listening on audio, go to mattressretailertoolkit.com and type in,
Primo, P-R-I-M-E-A-U, you will get the lowest price that is guaranteed,
and I will get a little jingle in my pocket.
If you hate me and you don't want me to get a little jingle in my pocket,
(10:56):
don't put Primo in there.
But if you do want me to get a little jingle in my pocket, put Primo in there.
It doesn't cost you a dime. You get the lowest price automatically.
You guys are always on Win the Weekend, too. You know, that's a – every Friday
at 1 o'clock, it's a free Zoom call. It doesn't cost a dime.
(11:18):
And we have guys like Scott Vaughn, Jeff Janakovo, you guys,
Tim Clanky, Jerry LeCompte.
Chris Nelson. Chris Nelson's always there. Chris Nelson. Yeah.
Sometimes Kylie stops in and says hi.
Sometimes Becky gets on.
Marnie's always there with us Marnie is there
(11:39):
Andy Andy's usually there Andy from Southern California he's there and there's
probably a few others that I'm just forgetting to mention Chris Tahaney gets
on there quite often Jeff jumps on Jeff Janakavo is there almost all the time and guys,
if you could talk to Jeff Janakavo and
(12:00):
Scott Vaughn for free and you pass on it You are
a special kind of stupid I'm sorry I held Scott going hostage at the betting
conference I held him hostage for hours I sat with him Just him and I just talking
And me listening Because when Scott talks you listen I did I sat in front of
(12:21):
him so he couldn't leave the table I was like no you're not going,
Can't go nowhere Scott No the tools they provide are.
It's It's insane to not take advantage of these opportunities.
And I do, I'm so passionate about it because I can tell you it's changed our business.
(12:42):
It's changed our lives. We are at a different position. I can now do for my
family more than I could before.
Tara can do for her family more than she could before, right?
Same amount of effort that we were putting in, just working smarter,
working better with the tools that were provided for us.
And again, it's not a magic trick, right? Like they're gonna teach you.
And what we're going to talk about today is really important and part of this
(13:04):
And it's going to sound almost like I'm saying I don't believe in it But you
got to be yourself when you do it, right?
That's where the authenticity comes in Jeff Janaka can give you every tool in
the book Scott Vaughn can tell you everything, his entire playbook But if you
don't put it to work and put it to practice and implement And do it as yourself,
you're not going to be successful in it.
(13:28):
I'm speechless. That is so good. I mean, guys, we've got all kinds of people
chiming in. Marnie is in the house.
Marnie Kirby is in the house. Thank you for being here, Marnie.
And hitting random buttons because I am so excited to see you all.
That's great. I love to see Marnie. I love her content.
(13:50):
Yeah, her content's great. And Glenn from Texas Mattress, Absolute Truth.
Thank you, Glenn. Thank you for being here.
And Andy saying hi to Marnie, I think that's what that is. Hi, Andy. Hi, Marnie.
Chris Tahaney, we all love us some RJ and Tara.
(14:10):
We benefit from our relationships with you every bit as much as you say you do.
You know, thank you, Chris, for saying that so succinctly.
I'm laughing because it's usually me who says things more succinctly.
And he's the one that goes on and on and on. And I rib him about it from time to time.
But thank you, Chris. And I know you're traveling, Chris. So I appreciate you
(14:32):
being here. I love Chris.
Love, I love Chris Tahaney. One of the, nothing not to love.
Nothing not to love there.
Truly. Scott Vaughn, I was there to learn from you, my friend.
See, that's, so that kind of goes, there's a few things.
If you're ever going to really win, you
(14:52):
have to be humble enough to open your heart and open your mind at the same time
and believe that somebody else has something worthwhile that they are saying
that if you implemented it correctly in your business,
you and your customers and your employees could benefit as well.
(15:15):
And I think it takes a certain amount of humility and you just saw it from Scott.
He learned stuff from you and you're thinking, I'm just learning from him, but we're all students.
I think one of the things that we have in common at win the weekend,
no matter who's on there, we're all students. We're all trying to learn from each other.
(15:36):
And I think that's incredibly huge. And I think that's what makes Masterclass special.
People have actually paid money to sit in that seat.
And so you have that in common. You guys have all traveled from different states to be in that seat.
And that tells me that you want to win in the worst way.
(15:58):
Chris, I missed what you pulled up. I'm sorry.
Karaloa training. Two of the most authentic people are in the house, RJ and Tara. Yes.
Love our relationship with Caraloja. I mean, great people, truly.
Not plugging a brand, but man, they are fantastic to work with.
Love those guys. You're allowed to plug anything you want. No, I'm being honest.
(16:23):
Again, I'll say this all day long in front of anybody. They are one of the greatest
companies that we have a pleasure of having a relationship with.
They have had our back since day one and continue to build with us and grow
with us and believe in us. And I mean, we're surrounded by really good people, Pete.
I mean, truly, we're blessed. And part of that is recognizing that,
right? Like, we surround ourselves with really great people.
(16:45):
We work with you, Pete. We work with Chris Tahini.
I don't want to say Steve Houck, so we work with 3Z. You know,
we work with Patrick Wolf, guys that in this industry, Matt O'Brien,
I mean, who really care about not just the business, but small retailers in
particular and retailers of our size and building a better industry for the future, right?
(17:06):
Because all of this can go away. We're all out of luck, right?
We're all out of business right we all are part of the same team
building together like you said for other masterminds on
fridays to win the weekend we're all over the country right we
all take from each other we learn from each other you have
some of the best minds in falads in
in classes he's an mrt i mean why
(17:27):
is the same guy he pms me he messaged me he's
a vice president of exclusive furniture top 100 what like
my mind's blown p like that's it's amazing
to me how he says he's the vice president he's a lot more than that of course
he is fawada is he's the same kind of a guy genius as as you as jeff and as scott um you guys.
(17:57):
I've met every one of you guys in the same places when the weekend master class and mrt.
You guys are all showing up in the same places and you guys are all givers.
So speaking of this, what kind of led to this whole thing was I noticed that lately you have,
(18:18):
I'm not going to say come out of your shell because I don't think you live in
a shell, but I think you have become much, uh,
much more dynamic in speaking out.
And it's a beautiful thing to watch because you guys do need to speak out and
you guys do need to be heard. You have a lot to say.
(18:41):
You have a lot to say about thankfulness.
You have a lot to say about mentoring.
You have a lot to say about authenticity.
And that has been absolutely driving your business.
And there's this thing that people have and I want you to address this.
(19:03):
Both of you um when we
don't know something all we want to do is kind of get up to speed
and know it and then like there's no personality there is this is vanilla thing
this fake little sales robot thing that answers questions ask questions but
(19:24):
there's nothing there there it's just.
Vanilla. And we're so afraid to be ourselves because somebody may not like us.
Well, this is what I say to that.
Tough crap. Who cares? I can attract more people by just being myself than I
(19:47):
could ever be by being some textbook robot thing that sometimes we get sucked into.
And you know, either people are going to love you or they're not.
And if they don't tough next, I can guarantee you that if you're going out there
with authenticity, that you're going to attract your tribe, your people more
(20:12):
strongly than you're ever going to lose.
You're going to lose five or 10%, but you're going to gain so much more.
And the connection will be so much stronger that they won't want to buy a mattress
at any other store except your store because they love you.
They love your personality. They love who you are.
(20:33):
And there's too many people out there afraid to be who they are.
Coach me up. Pete, I mean, you hit it right on the head. One of the first things
I want to speak on is, right?
Authenticity in theory sounds great, but often implementing and putting into
practice is tough, right? There's fears.
People are afraid. So the first fear is losing customers, right?
(20:53):
We're afraid that, you know, you're going to push away people,
that they're not going to come.
But in theory, you're going to lose the wrong customers. The customers,
you don't want the high-maintenance, low-value customers.
But what you are going to create are fans.
Fans that are going to write customers that want to buy from you,
that want to support you, your values, what you stand for.
(21:14):
And they're also the type that refer people to you, right?
Because they believe what you believe so they're going
to refer their family their friends uh and then
you have the human fear right not being liked as you
said sometimes people are afraid that they're
not going to be liked it happens not everyone in
life is going to like you it's okay it's okay for not everyone to like you this
(21:37):
isn't school we're not in middle school anymore what you don't want is you want
you don't want people to to not like you what you want is your audience to deeply
know you By your convictions and your value You want your audience to know you Right?
That's the most important And then Everyone falls into the fear of playing safe,
You know, just Play in the middle of the card And.
(22:01):
Safety and comfort isn't where growth happens, Pete, right? You got to get out
there. You have to be yourself.
She, believe it or not, I yap a lot, but she has a strong personality.
Tara can only be her. And it shows and shines through. It may not on camera
sometimes because I'm a yapper, but Tara is one of a kind.
And when she's in this store, she's in her zone. She can only be Tara.
(22:24):
There's nobody can look at Tara and say, oh, you're a fake phony person because
Tara is unapologetically Tara all the time. I mean, I think that's a good point
is that I think both of us are dynamic outside of our store and inside of our store.
So who we are on the outside is who we are when we're here. We don't bring a
separate person to work.
You know, who we are in with our families, who we are, you know,
(22:47):
just in interactions with people, we are both givers, you know.
And when we come into our store, that's who we bring in. So I don't know how
to be fake with a customer. I just know how to be me.
You know someone walks into the store i try
to immediately of course make them feel welcome but
i also try to find things that i can connect to them
(23:07):
with on a human level before we even really talk about the mattresses you know
pick up on the little thing if they mention their children have a conversation
about that it doesn't have to be a long one but it can actually be something
oh i heard what you said and we can connect on this level i'm a mom i'm going
to connect with a mom well.
He's a dad. He's going to connect with that. He has an autistic child.
(23:27):
He's going to connect with somebody who maybe has autism or a special needs child.
Pick up on something, you know, use your five senses to pick up on what your
customer's given off and you will have nothing but connection,
connection, connection.
And then we can move into the selling part. You know, that's kind of,
I think, what we specialize in. For sure.
(23:49):
I live by it. Comfort doesn't create movement, right? You got to be yourself.
Being complacent, being just middle of the road, playing it safe.
You look at any great company in history, right? That is a big brand.
They didn't play it safe. They didn't play it comfortable. They took risks. They did great rewards.
(24:10):
Patagonia. Have you ever heard of Patagonia, Pete? Huge company.
Outdoor company. Multi-billion dollar company, right? They're outdoor.
They used to put full-page ads to say, hey, do not buy our product unless you absolutely nude it.
If it's ripped, if it's torn, we can repair it. We can replace it.
You don't need to buy a new one.
They were very upfront about their environmental impacts, all that.
(24:32):
They created raving fans. and now they're a multi-billion dollar company and
never once did they change their core values, who they are, or move away from that.
And I think that is what is key, especially on the small business side, right?
We're not a big franchise with operators and this and CEOs that we got to answer to. We are us.
I'm RJ when you walk in a store, she's Tara, you're Pete, Marnie's Marnie,
(24:57):
you got it. And people could smell a phony from a mile away.
You know how hard it is to act like somebody else. We've all been in positions
where we've got to kind of act a certain way before, and you're trying your best. It's exhausting.
It takes a lot of energy to be somebody you're not.
Yeah, it takes so much more energy to be somebody you're not versus just being
unapologetically you, letting that shine through for better or worse, right?
(25:20):
If you stick to your core values and you stand by them, and your social media,
your marketing, all that has to match in store.
When they walk through that door, If they're not met with the same enthusiasm,
the same person, the same feeling, values that they've seen online,
on Facebook, on Instagram, as when they walk in the store, Pete, it's all for nothing.
(25:44):
Yeah, 100%.
You better not disappoint from your advertising.
Stu Segura says, I can spot a fake in the first five minutes,
and I do not have X-Man powers.
Can't fake a vibe. That's true. You can't.
School, bro, most of the kids I went to high school won't give me a shot.
(26:08):
Can't let it get to you. Yeah, 100%. Some will and some won't, brother.
And it's not personal. Don't take it personally. RJ had to teach me that.
You know, sometimes you're just not going to be the right fit for that person.
I mean, I'm strong sometimes. I'm a little heavy. I'm a little loud.
I'm a little, you know, obnoxious, but that's okay. You know, just a little bit.
(26:32):
But I also, you know, you're just not getting a fake version of me.
I just don't know how to do it any other way but me.
But, you know, someone once told my son that he wasn't going to be everybody's
cup of tea, but that he would find those people, you know, that, that are.
And sometimes, you know, you might be a little too much for a customer.
And I'm not saying that sometimes you got to reel that back in because you do,
(26:53):
you got to rein it back in sometimes if you can.
But you will find that there will be some customers that may,
you know, may not get you, may not get your vibe. You may not get what you're putting off.
It's true. There's a, there's a quote I always like to say, Pete,
and it's authenticity is your competitive advantage, right? When you're not
building authentically, you're not building a brand, you're building a costume.
(27:16):
And that's a quote I like to say all the time.
You have to be yourself, right? Because at the end of the day,
we're responsible for everything that goes on around us.
And that's all that we can be responsible for. We have to do it.
At the end of the night, I got to look myself in the mirror.
I got to look at my wife, my children, and know that I did my very best that
day to be the best that I can be.
(27:37):
Not just in business, but also in life. and that's who we are.
You know, we do a lot for the community.
Sometimes we don't even, most of the time we don't advertise.
I gotta be honest with you.
It's kind of just a personal thing that Tara and I have always been.
But that's who we are. It's just who we are.
We didn't start something just to say, hey, Jacksonville Bedding donates to
(27:57):
this charity or something. No, we were doing it long before Jacksonville Bedding
could afford to donate to anything.
We were already doing it because that's the stuff that we enjoy doing.
That sweater vest looks good, by the way. Just see that one?
I've seen them all.
Stu had something else Chris what else did Stu have,
(28:21):
I used to work as an IT supervisor for a boss who was a dick people would laugh
at his lame jokes I could never do it,
no and that's why you work for yourself you're unemployable me too uh,
(28:42):
Natalia Abdin, what strategies have you found effective in ensuring consistent
customer experience? It's a great question.
It's a really good question. So, again, by being us, we don't really,
we have systems in place, but more like procedural systems, right?
(29:03):
We don't look at every customer the same who walks through the door because guess what?
Everybody is different. So if we see a mom walking through the store with two
kids in tow and they're running all over the store,
we're probably going to interact with her a lot differently than we are as far
as a husband and wife who come in with a button-up shirt and tie and they're,
you know, waltzing around looking for a particular brand.
(29:24):
One of the things we do is really on our follow-up is where we're the most consistent with everybody.
Everybody gets a handwritten thank you card, right? And that's something that
we learned a lot from Jeff Gianocomo, the follow-ups.
We do these right here We stole this directly from Jeff Janaka Thank you,
sir Everybody gets a cup They get a gift basket, a care package Right?
(29:46):
So we follow up every couple You know, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months We do consistent
follow-up with them Because a customer is not just a customer When they get a sale, right?
Like, that's not where the interaction ends They are a customer for life They
are ones that you have procured And created a fan of and now they are part of our family.
(30:07):
And we wanna make sure that they know that all the way through not just the
buying process, to delivery, to the comfort, to their next bed and their referral
when they're talking about, hey, I know somebody who sells mattresses.
We wanna be their people.
We wanna be, as Jeff would say, their guy.
So we try to create that experience from the moment you walk through and even
(30:29):
before with our social media. You guys see, I post silly stuff.
I'm not afraid to show who i am i post behind the scenes reels of me messing up on my social media.
I post all that stuff why because that's that's really me i'm a goofball i like
to have fun i like to laugh and if you can't laugh at yourself what's the point
right so yeah and i think it's important to know that that it's not always the
(30:52):
customer that's going to buy in that moment a lot of times more than,
you know, a lot of times we are,
we non-sell more than we sell sometimes in that moment.
When you can tell a customer's just not there yet, we encourage them to shop around.
But here's our card. If you have any questions, it doesn't matter.
If you're in another mattress store and you have a question about our mattress
(31:14):
compared to that mattress, or is this mattress a good mattress,
we will 100% answer a question for you without you feeling the pressure that
you need to buy something that day.
So, I mean, that's another thing that we do that is just non-pressuring them to buy.
And a lot of times that ends up turning around and becoming one of our customers.
(31:36):
Might be later that day, could be another day or a couple days later.
Yeah, and we don't use authenticity as a sales tactic.
It's a commitment, right? It's how we build loyalty. It's how we build fans.
So, we're not using it for a strategy to make more sales.
It's who we are. It's how we believe And what we'd want to be treated like You
know One of the things we're most proud of Is if you look at some of our reviews
(32:00):
We get reviews that are lengthy Right?
Without prompting them We get really lengthy reviews About not just what they
bought But the experience of what they bought And we, Tara and I Our goal always is,
You could send your mom here, your sister here, your mother,
and they're going to get treated the same exact way as if I want one of my family
(32:21):
members to walk in our store.
And we try to do that with every single person who walks through our door.
And I think also one of the other things that we do is we look at each other
and we say, or we'll call each other and we'll say, did you just read that review?
I can't believe that review. It was, it's very humbling.
We are very grateful. We are very thankful. Look at that.
(32:43):
That's a fake review. do you can go to that one star it's okay yeah you
can go to that one star we don't mind and you'll see that's a that's an honest
to god that's it you can read it person's only left one review
ever it's a fake review which is fine we
have some one stars pete right because guess what we're vulnerable right vulnerability
is part of being authentic to a point right we we make mistakes things happen
(33:03):
everybody you you raise your hand if you've never made a mistake or we're all
human and that's okay in business tara and i i can't tell you how many times
we've ordered the wrong bed.
I can't tell you how many times we've cost each other money, right? It's okay.
It happens. It's how we correct them, how we fix them, and how you move forward.
And with customers as well, have we ever made a mistake with a customer? Of course.
(33:24):
We've had customers where we've made mistakes, leave a five-star review saying,
hey, they ordered the wrong bed. If something happened, they took care of it, they made it right.
And that's a huge part of what we do. I'll see posts on some of these mattress
industry groups and they're talking about, oh, I did this. What should I do, you do the right thing.
You know what to do. You don't have to, if you have to ask somebody else what
to do, you do the right thing. Do what you would want done if it was you in that same position.
(33:48):
And that's how we treat all of our customers. Yeah.
That's super powerful. It's easy to say and hard to do.
And I was never so proud of my wife when, um, she was,
basically lost money for our company because one of our manufacturers wouldn't
(34:10):
exchange something, so we did.
And I said, I'm really proud of you.
You didn't even call me. She goes, nope. She goes, I've heard you say it so
many times that we do the right thing.
And that's what makes us different. Everybody says it.
Very few people live it. Ask us how. And that's what we do. And that's who we are. We're different.
(34:37):
We're not like everybody else. And I think that is exactly what you're saying.
And my friend Justin Trumbo has a funny thing that he, I was complimenting him
about Henry, the diamond-crested unicorn.
Want to talk about authenticity, about somebody who's a real person?
(34:58):
There's a real person who truly cares about other human beings, right?
And Justin told me the conversation he had with him.
And this is absolutely brilliant. And Justin, if I'm getting this wrong,
chime in and tell me I'm wrong.
Any one of our customers, if they're ever at market and they're not doing something,
(35:22):
would we take them out to dinner? Of course we would.
So if we're willing to drop a few hundred bucks on dinner to take one of our
dealers out, why wouldn't we drop a few hundred dollars to help them service
their customers so on that stuff,
henry doesn't have to call justin henry's been
(35:43):
told just make our customer happy that it doesn't matter if it costs us money
that it's part of being in business that's you know what we do and who we are
and so i i think that ties in nicely where are we with your cards have we gotten
through half of them yet.
(36:03):
Uh, I don't even know. That's his brain over there. I don't know.
On the cards? On your cards. Yeah.
On your wall over there. Oh, no, we're... So, I don't need the cards.
They're just there in case we need to, um... He's got his own brain.
He's good. He doesn't need cards.
Yeah, yeah. It's me that apparently needs to have ESP to be able to do what's in there. I don't know.
(36:25):
Scott Vaughn. It's not like we don't talk about this stuff every single day.
We really do talk about it, and we don't... We're the same way.
If it's, we don't ever call each other and say, hey, you need to fix A,
B, or C. Take care of the customer.
The customer's always going to win out.
I mean, RJ ordered the wrong Helix for somebody a couple weeks ago. It just costed $1,200.
It was fine. It's all right. Guess what? The customer got the right bed, though. It happens.
(36:49):
What are you going to do? Mistakes happen. I'm not free of error.
Ever, Pete. I make mistakes every day.
Yep. I make one in about two minutes. Give me a chance.
Just give me a second. Call me a human. You're the wrong color. I'm just human. Yeah.
And that's something that we're very real about. And I think that's why our
partnership works so well, right? Everybody's like, oh, we partners, oh, this and that.
Tara and I have always said from the very start, the business comes first.
(37:13):
Before what she wants, before what I want, it has to be about the business and
what's good for the business and what's good for our customers, right?
Part of our business is the only part of our business is our customers,
right? Is the people who walk through the door.
Forget beds, right? The beds are secondary. if we got to take care of the people
first, right? People believe and they want to buy into people before anything.
(37:35):
We've all been to a store where you walk in and you're like,
this is the most amazing experience ever.
Man, and you may not even want to buy what they have, but you're tempted to,
or you do to make a decision based off of how you were treated in that store
versus walking into a store where they have exactly what you're looking for
and it's a miserable experience, right?
You go into a restaurant, they may not have the best pizza in town,
(37:56):
but man, every time you go in there, you're treated like family.
Versus the place down the street where the pizza is just a little bit better,
but it's a miserable experience, you're not going.
And you're not telling anybody, right? You're going to tell everybody,
oh, my God, you got to go over here. You got to go to Pete's Pizza.
It's the best pizza town. Man, they treat you like family in there.
Create fans. Create people that want to tell people about you, right?
(38:19):
When you say create fans, it takes me back to Chicago.
As a young CERTA sales manager, And there was a guy that wrote a book called Create Raven Fans.
Ken Blanchard. It's a great book. And this guy was the most unassuming speaker ever in the history.
(38:42):
I mean, I'm used to guys like Zig Ziglar, you know, like Powerball of Energy.
They come up on the stage. This guy was not that.
He was so down to earth. He was so funny.
Funny, and it was hilarious because I remembered everything he said.
And before he got into business, he was a professor.
(39:08):
And do you know how he locked me in?
He said, at the beginning of every semester I taught, I told everybody in the class they had an A.
And then I told them exactly what they have to do to lose a grade.
But you started off with an A and I'm like, I like this guy. I got an A.
(39:31):
I got an A finally, but Ken Blanchard Raven fans, uh, really great stuff.
And I'll tell you, I was really blessed to be with that company.
That was when Bob Sherman had one factory before he bought all of certain.
And before that merged with SSB, obviously, um, He would bring guys like this
(39:56):
in to speak to us, and it was very, very, very powerful.
Ramsey, hey, congratulations, brother, on the baby.
If you can go back to your younger self when you started your business,
what would be the top three things you would tell them to do and not to do in
(40:21):
your business? Thanks in advance. All right.
I'll start on the things you want to do.
Sign up for MRT, right? Number one.
So MRT, Pete's, of course, Win the Weekend, Scott Vaughn's training, 100%.
(40:42):
Go invest in your business. Invest in people who want to see you succeed and
are going to help you succeed, right? That's number probably one and two.
Number three, surround yourself with good people, right? Surround yourself with
people who want to see you win, authentically win.
Not just say it, right? Not just the fanfare, you know, people on the side,
(41:02):
the fair weather friends. people who authentically want to see you do the best
that you can do every single day.
Tara's a motivator for me, always has been. When I'm at my worst,
health-wise, she's always saying, hey, you can do this.
I believe in you, right? It's just a relationship we have.
And I'm so proud of her accomplishments, I tell her all the time.
And sometimes, Tara, I'll be honest with you, we have a weird dynamic.
(41:23):
I'm so outgoing and over the top. And Tara, sometimes she feels a little left
behind because I'm so out there.
And I tell her all the time, Tara, none of this, right? I can't go to these
conferences. I can't be on here.
If you're not here doing what you do every day, we're both pulling on that rope
at the same time in the same direction.
It's around yourself with people and a person or whoever it is,
your team that want to see you succeed in a real authentic way.
(41:49):
And then the third thing is buy How to Sell a Million by Pete Primo on Amazon.
And go hit Pete Primo's catalog on Amazon.com for $20.
Which, not only have I read Three or four times I've read your books I've read,
(42:09):
of course, Jeff Janakavo's books I read She listens to a lot of podcasts She
reads as well We constantly read,
And I told you on that second book I don't know if you remember this I said
on the next book you write, I'm getting a chapter And I meant it And I'm going
to earn a chapter in that next book I said it to you,
(42:30):
I'm going to earn a chapter All right. So those are three things to do.
Do you have three things not to do? Not to do. I'm trying to think.
Don't leave plastic on the beds. I'm just kidding. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, don't try to play it safe. You know, one of the things that we fell in
a rut was trying to be everything for everyone, right? It's impossible.
(42:53):
And when you're doing that, you're not giving your all.
You're not giving your true authentic all. You're not being true to yourself.
And if you're not true to yourself, you can't be true to your customers.
When you're trying to fill every gap, every hole, let's not fool yourself when
you're selling two $300 beds, you're not really doing anyone a favor, right?
(43:15):
You're not selling good sleep. You're not fixing the problems that they have.
So that would be my number one, right, is to not try to be something for everybody.
Find your niche. Find out who you truly are. Stick to your core values and commit to them, right?
Commit to them and stick to them. And I also think you cannot, don't pull back.
(43:36):
Like say you have an advertising system in place. You're planning on spending
X number of dollars every month. If it's slow, don't pull back.
Like don't think that that's the time now to put your foot off of the gas because
it's like, oh my goodness, you know, don't live in, I guess I live my life like this too.
Don't live from a place of fear. Fear, yeah. Don't let fear drive your decisions.
Don't let fear of not, fear of missing out, fear of this. Don't let fear drive
(43:59):
your business decisions.
Or any decision right you got it
don't pull back on your advertising don't
play it safe and don't try to be all things to all
people anything else yeah don't stick around people who don't want to see you
succeed get rid of the dead weight just in life right not only business but
(44:20):
in life if you have people that are dragging you down bringing you down and
we all know those people a lot of them are disguised as people who you think
care about you or pretend to care about you when it's good for them.
Get rid of the dead weight, right? We're only as good as the people surrounding us.
Yeah, they're not cheering for you. They're cheering against you.
And if they're not cheering for you when you're not there in their presence, right?
(44:42):
They have to be cheering for you when you're not around or when you are down.
I can tell you Tara's looked at me many times and she goes, hey,
listen, you can do this. I love you. I want to see you healthy for you and your kids.
You got to get better, right? And that's not an easy thing to say to somebody.
It's not. I know it's not easy for her to say that. It probably is because she
knows I'm receptive of it.
But that takes something to say that to somebody When you care about somebody
(45:02):
and you love them And you see that they're not at their best And you want to see them at their best.
I know in her heart she's cheering for me When I'm not here When I'm not in
front of her It's on her mind and she's thinking about me And that's why I surround
myself with those people That's why Pete,
I'm at your call every Friday Because I know truly That's the type of human
that you are That you're actually rooting for This isn't,
(45:26):
Listen, you're not getting rich off of this Pete Let's be honest, right?
This is because you care about this industry and you care about human beings.
And that's why I'm so, when I say things to you and you're like,
you're overly confident.
No, I'm not. I'm telling you truly how I feel about you and I'm so thankful
to have you and this industry is so blessed to have you because you actually, you give a damn.
(45:49):
And that means so much. When there's a world of people who don't and just want
to sell it, you actually care.
And that means more than you'll ever know to a lot of people,
including myself and I know Tara and a lot of other people. And I mean that truly.
Well, there's a rule. Never interfere with somebody when they're complimenting you.
True. Well, and that Friday call sets your intention.
(46:11):
If you're taking that time and that energy to get on that call on Friday afternoon
and just, it's kind of like that big huddle that you have right before.
I'm not a big sports person, but you know, that big huddle you have before you
go out and you build everybody up, you're building each other up and you're
setting your intention. I called in from a cruise ship. I don't want to miss it.
I hate, when I've had like Dr. point. She'll know. I tell, I say,
I don't want to miss Friday.
(46:31):
Like that's my biggest fear is missing a Friday call, right?
Because he learned from so many people. Yeah.
Glenn, Glenn has a comment. Please talk about the move to the new facility.
I want Parker to hear this part, scary, but worth every penny.
Yeah, this is really important.
Very much. This, this move to this new place.
(46:54):
So it's really funny. I was telling RJ this this morning. I think I passed over
the weekend, like all 10 places that we didn't sign.
And we were super close to signing one before we did this one.
For some reason, this just, when we drove up here, this one felt right.
And this move has been, I mean, we have exceeded even our own expectations of
(47:19):
what we would do here. We could not have picked a better location.
It was scary, though. It was scary. Like, it was scary. Financially, it was.
Yeah, we took on a big chunk of financial responsibility that was more.
And you've got to take that leap of faith.
Again, you can't lead from fear. If we'd have led from fear,
we'd have been dead over on the place that we used to be. We'd fizzled away.
(47:43):
This is just what we had to do, but we had to set our intention and say, okay, let's do it.
It's now or never. Pete, we started off in a warehouse.
When I tell you warehouse, I mean blue-flowered mattresses, recycled mattresses, you know, refurbs.
We started off in a warehouse with plastic on every single bed.
I mean, it was a disaster, right? We didn't have a computer.
(48:06):
People wanted to finance through LTO or something.
We sent them away or paper. We sent them home to do it.
I mean, this isn't like an overnight. We're not overnight successes.
I can tell you that. We've worked our butts off really hard, right?
And some of that's luck. Again, I don't say that to be humble,
but not only did we change locations, right? That was a huge part of it.
(48:26):
And again, a financial, I wouldn't say risk, but with that change came our mindset change.
With that came our change in growth. If all that put together,
the going to the classes, the learning, the following our mentors,
guys like Jeff Giannako, Jerry LeCompe, who I absolutely love and doesn't get
mentioned nearly enough.
Is not just a super bright when it comes to the business, but one of the nicest human beings ever.
(48:51):
And truly somebody who inspires me and pushes me behind the scenes.
I can't tell you that guy's like, he's just, I love Jerry.
I love Jerry and I'll sing his praises to Tony Catanza.
Guys like that, unsung heroes that don't get mentioned sometimes,
but believed in us before we ever had a reason to believe in us. Keith.
(49:14):
Keith, yeah, Keith Elwinger, another unsung hero and a guy that nobody outworks
in this industry. The guys believed in us and said, hey, these guys can do it.
You guys can do it. We're going to help you do it.
And we're going to watch you guys grow and blossom. And I'll say this,
and I don't say this to brag or anything.
March, we had our best year, best month ever, right? March was fantastic for us.
(49:38):
April was really good. We had a little hiccup in the middle of April,
but at the end we pulled through.
And then last month, I am not ashamed to say, we absolutely killed it,
right? just her and I we didn't just we smashed the.
Any previous record we were up 312 percent
year over year for for may of last year 312
(50:00):
percent with two of us only two of us in the store seven days a week
and again i don't say that to brag i say that in the most humble way but i'm
i'm proud of that and that's that's not just our accomplishment that has that's
your accomplishment like you know the last book you say this isn't just my book
that's chris tahini's that's jeff janocobos that's scott vaughn's got bidwell's success,
(50:21):
A1 Marketing we use here, Caraloja, Bed Gear,
all of these people coming together, Avocado and Patrick Wolf,
that's everybody's success.
Because without a great team around us and great vendors, Sleep Tone,
all these guys dream for it, it doesn't come to play. It doesn't happen.
And I'm conscious of that, and I'm so appreciative of that. And we find a responsibility,
(50:46):
and I hope other retailers do too. I feel responsibility every time I come to
the store and I come to my place of business.
I have a responsibility to my vendors, to the team that I work with and what I work with.
To do the very best I can for them, whether it's for King Coyle,
Avocado, Stearns and Foster, Helix.
(51:09):
I have a job that they believed in us.
And now I want to show them that why that was a good decision.
And I want to do that for not only them, but for my customers as well.
Every single day. That's my goal.
Jeff Janakovo says, let's go. All earned.
I'll tell you something about Janakovo. I've known him for a long time now.
(51:34):
He does not give out compliments willy-nilly. Love that guy.
So when he says something like that, that's very powerful.
Congrats to his team, by the way I apologize, congrats to his team,
For their killer May, well earned, with everything Going on,
you were talking about resilient,
With everything going on in his life But it goes to show you,
(51:57):
and again I don't want to get personal, but I seen his Facebook post last night
About his sons and stuff It goes to show, that's because they have a leader
Right, and Jeff Janakamo Not just in business, but as a human Being and a man,
That his family can obviously depend on Without question and that just that
Talks to his character and anybody who Knows jeff knows that that guy is when
(52:17):
You think character you think jeff janocobo I love him to death love him love
him Love him go birds Go birds,
Well i love all you guys and There was a there was Um chris uh you've You've
had a comment up there Or a question Um.
Naftali, what scares you more in this business, failure or being misunderstood?
(52:44):
You've talked a lot about grit and resilience. What personal experience shaped
that mindset the most for you?
I could answer this, but I'm not. I don't want to be misunderstood.
I think that for me, I mean, those two are equal failure.
But for me, my own personality, I won't get deep into it, but I've had a lot
(53:05):
of years of being misunderstood or not being able to, in my personal experience, being authentic.
And I will be, if I'm not going to be authentic in this, this is our baby.
This is everything that RJ and I wanted it to be and more.
So I think that, again, with this being a talk about authenticity,
(53:28):
that's where we're not going to fail because we're authentic.
It's not an option, Pete.
Failure is not an option for us, but I definitely don't want to be misunderstood.
You know, you get a lot of customers who come in here and they maybe aren't
the happiest because they haven't had the best experiences in previous mattress
stores. And we're here to change that.
We're here to change how their shopping experience is.
(53:50):
So, I mean, I think that's what... Pete, I'll tell you this.
My mindset is always this way, right? I don't like to lose.
I'm not going to lie to you. I'm a poor sport and I don't like to lose.
It's been that way my whole life. I wrestle my whole life. Fly, Eagles, fly, baby.
You fly, Eagles, fly, right? You got that. I mean, that's in your DNA,
man, if you're an Eagles fan.
I grew up, you always say you grew up a poor kid in New York.
(54:13):
I grew up a poor kid. I'm one of nine who grew up in projects in North New Jersey.
I don't say that to be some one-liner in a show or a movie.
That's where I grew up. You can, 475 Fisher Avenue, Nealer Avenue,
and there's people watching that grew up right next door to me right now,
so they know I'm not lying to you. I grew up in the projects.
It wasn't a great place for kids to be, Pete. I don't lose, and I refuse to lose, right? and,
(54:35):
What I mean by that isn't about making a ton of money, right?
It's not about being, oh, I got to be the most successful. When I say I'm not
going to lose, that means I'm not going to ever change who I am to fit into
a norm, to fit into what society thinks is best.
I got tattoos all over me, right? I probably shouldn't be selling mattresses
as expensive as we do, right?
But I'm going to, right? Because I actually care.
(54:57):
I care and I'm always going to be so losing is not an option.
And growing up, that lifestyle is probably what gave me the grit and determination
to never, ever, ever want to not win.
I've seen a lot of things, I'm sure, like most of us have.
But I can tell you this, I'm never going back to that, ever.
And if I got to stand outside holding a sign at four in the morning and work
(55:21):
seven jobs to do so to make sure my family is taken care of,
then that's exactly what it's going to be.
Uh rj you're making me cry i want you to share the story about your dad,
about his injury and how soon he went back to work yeah um man yeah um here's
(55:43):
the truth so again nobody ever worked as hard as my dad my dad was a factory
worker his entire life um.
At almost 60 years old he he was he my
dad wasn't educated again factories when we moved
to florida we moved because of my mom's mental health uh he was
already an older man at that point wasn't really florida's more
(56:06):
of a younger thing he worked in factories he was a dishwasher when
he passed away p but about a year before that close to
60 he fell off scaffolding as he was working a second job
that's almost 60 years old and broke his back
in two places um i
got the call of course he's in the hospital and within three
weeks he was back at work up on scaffolding not
(56:30):
because he was healed and not because he could but because he
had to um yeah me
and my dad didn't always see eye to eye but i'll tell you this pete nobody
nobody ever worked as hard as that
man did and uh he deserved better you know
he did yeah I um I have the same thing in common not that same exact story but
(56:53):
my dad worked very very hard and on his best year ever he didn't make half as much as I make in a month.
Ever. And if he could have lived to have seen this, I mean, I would have loved
(57:14):
to buy him a house because he deserved it.
Anyway, Chris Tahaney had a comment.
I hope every single retailer in the world watches this episode.
The passion, excitement, and enthusiasm out of these legendary owners that found
their life calling is inspiring. Wow. Yeah, it is.
(57:36):
We're blessed to have each other here today. Fawad, let's go Vernon Williams.
Let's go Fawad. Hey, RJ. Let's go Fawad.
Jeff Janakovo says, and thank you for the kind words. Appreciate you for that.
You know, I'm going to say this, RJ, somebody that says something nice to you,
(58:03):
it's always nice to hear.
It always touches my heart.
But when somebody you admire says something is nice, it means a lot more.
And I don't think you realize how much you're admired.
(58:24):
You guys are rising rock stars in this industry.
And it's really obvious to me, I've been around for 43 years and I have loved watching this growth.
And I know you're never going to stop growing. And that's the most exciting
part. You guys are both students.
(58:44):
What you are now is literally a shadow of what you will be because you're never
going to lose your hunger.
And everybody that's watching, there's a real lesson there.
Be hungry, be humble, be thankful.
And for God's sake, be yourself, be authentic.
(59:07):
I mean, you got two great examples with RJ and Tara who are themselves unabashedly.
And you need to do that too for yourself as a human being and as a business
owner. You need to do that for your business.
Well, we have run out of time, my friend. I could talk to you guys for hours
(59:29):
on end and not ever get tired of it.
But anything you'd like to say as we say goodbye?
In the great words of Dr. Seuss, be yourself, everybody else is taken.
Amen. We're in the weekend this Friday. Make sure you're there with us.
If you're not, we're going to get them, Pete. We're going to get them. All right.
(59:53):
Love you, buddy. Appreciate it. Thank you for having us. Thank you for having
us. Love you. Take care. Bye.
Music.
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