Negotiating The Mattress Price Minefield

Getting The Best Mattress Price.

If you don’t learn anything else from this post, plant this deep within in your heart.

THE PERCENTAGE DISCOUNT IS MEANINGLESS!

I don’t care if the salesman claims that the mattress is 99% off, it is meaningless if the starting price has been inflated. All that really matters is the final price. Imagine if Mattress Store #1 is having a giant mattress sale and everything is 50% off. You find a mattress you like for $500 that was supposedly $1,000. You go to Mattress Store #2 and find a comparable mattress set for $450, which is 30% off of their regular price. Which would you choose? Believe it or not, I had customers pay more because they thought they were saving more!

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Unrealistic Mattress Price Expectations

A gentleman walks into the mattress store and is promptly greeted by the salesperson. After exchanging names and pleasantries, they begin to discuss his mattress needs. It turns out he is looking for a California King set, good quality of course, for himself. His budget…. $500.

Let me be really frank for a moment. NOTHING exists of any quality in a California King for $500. There may actually be a product available at that price, but I would suspect it would be of horrendous quality, re-manufactured or used/clearance. And even that would be doubtful since Cal King sizes are usually a special order product and often cannot be returned.

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Black Friday Mattress Sales

If you find yourself needing a mattress, this may be a very good time to shop. The week leading up to and through Thanksgiving, retailers are spending gobs on advertising and promoting all sorts of mattress specials. Per earlier blogs, the savings may not change that much from the rest of the year, but there is something else in play.

CHRISTMAS

For those commissioned salespeople who get paid monthly, what they sell in November directly impacts their paycheck just before Christmas. In other words, they are hungry. November is a very depressing month until the final week. There is a whole lot of pressure to hit the monthly goal, earn bonuses and sell enough so the little ones at home will have a happy holiday.

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Veteran’s Day Mattress Sale

To all my readers who have served in the Armed Forces I say thank you for your service to our country. And a special thank you to the families of wounded veterans and those that paid the ultimate sacrifice. America is eternally grateful for your sacrifice.

Friday is of course Veteran’s Day and probably the biggest mattress sales weekend of the fall. If time permits, do some shopping around before committing the dollars. There will be a whole lot of hype surrounding the sales event, but don’t fall for it. Find the right mattress that fits YOUR body and THEN seek out the best value for your money.

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Columbus Day Mattress Sale

Columbus Day is the holiday we celebrate Europeans first landing in the Americas. What this has to do with mattresses and sleep is anyone’s guess. But it is for some a three day weekend, so why not have a mattress sale?

A quick review of the sales events at various mattress retailers reveals a smorgasbord of options.

“Free” Box Springs Sale – Make sure you ask what the price is for just the mattress. There is nothing free in this world.

“Mismatch” Sale – I have never understood how any company, unless it is grossly mismanaged, could end up with a surplus of boxes. Always verify that the mismatched box is the identical quality of the regualr box. Often it is inferior, which could cause problems down the road.

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The Germaphobe Mattress Shopper

I like to provide real life examples of both good and bad customers and sales people. Yesterday, I had the chance to visit a store and witness a doozy.

A couple came in supposedly shopping for a mattress. This particular chain has a pretty good system for matching customers with the correct sleep solution. The husband was agreeable, but the wife refused, saying she would not lie on any mattress because she was a germaphobe and scared of bed bugs.

The salesperson was flummoxed at first, but recovered quickly. He turned his attention to the husband and began the process of finding the right bed. Meanwhile, the wife, with arms tightly crossed in a defensive posture, wandered around the store looking at prices.

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10 Things I Would Change About The Mattress Industry

Improving the Mattress Shopping Experience

1. Get rid of the Discounters – For some reason it seems that everyone who once sold used cars suddenly decided to enter the mattress industry years ago. Nothing is more frustrating to consumers than having to “haggle” over mattress prices. Thankfully the Internet, and more competition is slowly making this antiquated selling process go the way of the dodo. A trained monkey could discount. There are much more important things to helping someone get a good night’s sleep than “taking another $100 off that set, if you buy right now.” Consumers are getting smarter and realizing that if the retailer can suddenly cut the price in half, then just maybe they were already priced too high. And most likely, you will never, ever get a good value in a place that only emphasizes discounting an inflated price.

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