Here’s How Ashley’s Furniture Lost Me to TheRoomPlace

Your brand perception starts with your culture rather than your design aspect. Take a look at how big brands are making these mistakes.

If you are a prominent business owner or small business owner, you might have come across the word “branding.” You might associate it with “design” and “logo,” but many forget that even though you have a $10k logo, it won’t magically improve your brand image per se.

But I am here to inform and educate you that if you want to close more deals, improve your brand image perception, it must start from within the company, with the most IMPORTANT asset you have—the people.

I could end the article right here, and you would have gotten the information you needed, but let’s dive a little deeper and understand why your employees and team members will shape your brand perception to the public.

You see, even though you slap a $10k logo on your website and in-store, it won’t do much. It might create the wow factor and make it memorable to the consumer. They will learn to associate that image with you and your brand. As they interact with your brand, they will attach an emotion that is associated with it. Hence, the people factor plays an important role in the business cycle.

As we progress, I’d like to add a little personal experience to follow along and see just how important your employees and team members are to your business. They aren’t there to do the busywork. They are there to represent your brand. If they don’t feel connected to the CORE values, it will show in their actions, from how they interact with your customers in-store to the sales reps, and so much more.

How important is this, you might say? In the next few paragraphs, I am going to talk about a recent experience I had when I went out to purchase some furniture for the house between two MAJOR furniture store brands:

Ashley’s Furniture & TheRoomPlace

Both of these companies operate very similarly and serve the same solution to their customers. Both of their in-person stores have dedicated Sales Representatives working the floor as customers walk in. They are there to answer any questions and help find the best solution for finding the right furniture for your home.

Ashley’s Experience

As I walked into the store, I knew from the get-go what I was looking for: a full-size bedroom set. Now, I wasn’t sure which design I would like, but I knew I needed it and wanted to buy it as soon as I found it.

Walking about the place, I found what I was looking for, but I had a hard time getting a sales representative. After a good while, somebody finally approached me and asked if I need help.

“Well, hello there! Why, yes, I do need help. I need a full-size bedroom set and……”

As I turn around, that sales rep just walked away without any warning. (uh-oh, already lost my desire to buy something at this point). About 2 minutes later, she returns with no explanation or apology but proceeds to act as if she didn’t just go incognito on me while I was talking to her.

As we start browsing options, she keeps on insisting and being very pushy on explaining how buying a queen set will only be a few extra dollars a month versus the full that I wanted. Now, I want to say that I did not even mention or objected to the price. All I said was that I needed a full size because of the space I had available. (At this point, as the consumer, I’m becoming irritated because I feel that she’s not listening to what I said that I needed. Help me get a full-size set…NOW, PLEASE!).

At this point in the sales process, I asked her this question. “What do you have in a full-size set that is available in the warehouse and ready to ship ASAP?”

Her response? You cannot tell me because everything is up in the air and I have to buy it first and then see when I can schedule it for delivery. (Disclaimer: During the Covid-19 Pandemic, I managed to purchase a house and furnish it from multiple big brand furniture stores. While a little inconvenient with the delivery aspect and unavailability of furniture due to overselling, I’ve learned that MOST stores can, in fact, tell you what they have available to shop without making a purchase.)

I respectfully tell her that other big brands have been able to tell me what they have and don’t have available for delivery before making a purchasing decision. In fact, she decided to start arguing with me that I am wrong, and I don’t know what I am talking about. (I am actually astonished about how I am being treated at this point.)

At this point, I respectfully tell her that I will be shopping elsewhere to see if they have something available much sooner.

If reading this has made your head hurt about how awful the service was, you understand the financial and long term bad branding this creates for Ashley’s. They lost me as a consumer because of how I was treated, and the life long value they could have gained would’ve been more if they would take the time to train their employees about how to help solve the consumer’s problems.

TheRoomPlace Experience

Same day as the previous experience, I went next door to TheRoomPlace to look for the same thing. Now, the experience here was a complete 180 degrees. Here’s how it went.

As I walked in, multiple sales representatives were waiting by the entrances, eager to assist in any way they could. Before I started looking, I told the sales rep exactly what we needed and asked to see what they had available as soon as possible.

Sure enough, she took me to the computer to look up what they had available now or soon and then proceeded to show me on the floor how it looked and the price it was selling for. At no point did she object when asked about availability, and at no point did she try to upsell me after I informed her it was merely a space size issue.

Within 30 minutes of being inside, I had purchased what I was looking for, and within 3 days, it was delivered to my house and assembled.

Conclusion: The Takeaways

The major takeaway here was the customer experience difference between the two major brands. It speaks volumes about the CORE values that the company believes in. The CORE values of any business set the tone of what the organization believes and its purpose. If an organization is to survive, you need to create a culture representing what those values are. Consumers interacting with your team members can see and feel that energy.

As you take a look at your organization, you may not have the power to decide how the public perceives your brand, but you can control other things such as Design and the People within your organization. The actions you take today will help shape your brand, one interaction, one sale at a time.

Take a look at your CORE values. Who do you serve, what do you believe in, and more importantly, do the people working for you believe those same things? Do they understand WHY those things matter? If the answer is no, you may be losing many customers due to the poor brand image you’re creating due to the lack of culture developed within the organization.