Please don’t think we’re presumptuous when we say we know your needs. We do. Because they were our needs, too. As owners of independent retail stores, we walked millions of miles in your shoes. You don’t need to explain how hard it is to raise a family and run the company and pay the bills and hire and fire people - because the soles of our shoes are still dusty from walking down your road. Today, we only offer services that we already spent our own money on. Let’s start talking about your better life.

1. Today’s Situation
The independent Retail store is being
pressured from every angle, and they are in a
fight for their very livelihood.
Import Merchandise National Chain Growth Healthcare Costs
Technology Changes Fuel Surcharges Employee Turnover
Margin Erosion Financial Management Inventory Costs
Generational Changes Consumer Expectation Educational Failure
Advertising Costs Media Options Changing Consumer

2. “IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT.”
The world is in a time of SOCIAL, POLITICAL
and ECONOMIC upheaval.
Generational Transfer
Tensions worldwide
The “China factor”

3. Why Are We Here?
• The internet changed the speed by which information
moves.
• The day this happened, most of what we all knew about
furniture retailing changed.
• Ms. Jones has access to information that enables her to
become an expert before or after shopping our stores.
• With information came demands, with demands came
expectations and with expectations came failures –
• and some new successes.
• Organizations that care for Ms. Jones are the only
companies that will thrive in the coming decades.

4. THE FORK IN THE ROAD
For the Independent Retailer

5. Who is The Lively Merchant?
• 1996 Ohio Retailer of the Year
• Two time Furniture Today “Beyond The Top 100” furniture store
owner
• Processor of over 100,000 Fortune 500 comment cards using our
proprietary database and mailing system
• Personally responsible for $500M of in-home furniture deliveries
• What you Say –vs. – What you Do
• Expertise in the Furniture Industry
• Business and creative writers
• Customized relationships
• Experienced “in the trenches” team members
• National Company serving clients with sales volume from $750k to
$165m in retail sales
• Technology driven

6. Research
“Any road will get you there if
you don’t know where you
are going.”
Yogi Berra

7. Research
Your customer knows you,
but do you know her? With
Persona-fied, you can…
Persona-
fication
8 sections, custom personas, 100’s of pages -
specific to each market.

8. Research
Our Discovery process will uncover the felt need of your customer and
provide you with the ammunition necessary to speak and act in a way
that turns them on. Truly creative creative direction positions the
customer as an active participant in your story.
Discovery
24 pages, many hours, one story

9. Research
Buying media is a lot like
buying a used car. Everything is
negotiable, and it’s rarely fun.
Media Analysis
Our professional relationships
have been built nationwide
since 1987 in partnership with
R&A Marketing. We have
proven time and time again to
get our customers more bang
for their buck, even after
paying our fees.

10. Research
Focus Groups
General - Overall performance rating of the operation in terms of all sectors of the company
Sales - Sales process and efficacy
Merchandising - In general and/or by category (e.g., bedding, leather, case goods, upholstery, etc.) including category acquisition, floor
layout, etc.
Financial - Including financing, credit, price, sales, etc.
Logistics - Operations, personnel, process, procedure, etc.
Customer Care - Service, personnel, processes, satisfaction, etc.
Marketing - Ad review and response, new material introduction, etc.
Frequent Buyers - Any of the above categories as applied to repeat/frequent buyers
Former Buyers - Any of the above categories as applied to customers who patronized the company in the past but who have not recently
returned.
Missed Buyers - Any of the above categories as applied to customers who have patronized the company, but decided not to buy
Untapped Buyers - Targets potential customers from competitors, outlying demographics, etc.
Generational - Targets specific age cohorts (e.g. Gen-X, Seniors, etc.) in terms of buying preference
Registered Complaint - Targets buyers who have found the company’s processes or procedures to be lacking

11. Research
Competitive Analysis
Sun Tzu in the 6th century BC defined strategy as quick and appropriate
responses to changing conditions, not merely working through a to-do list.
Planning works in a controlled environment, but in a competitive
environment, competing plans collide and creating unexpected situations. We
work with a variation of tactics to put your business in the winner’s circle,
leaving your competitors in the dust.

12. Research
Mystery
…ASK MRS. JONES?
Shopping
For less than a couple of hundred
dollars a month, business owners will
have access to the single most
important number that doesn’t
appear on their financial statements.
Traceable, trackable scoring will help
them identify troubling trends and
recognize departments and individuals
who are doing the job right. And
shortly industry benchmarks will be
established.

13. Advertising
“Let's gear our advertising to sell
goods, but let's recognize also
that advertising has a broad
social responsibility.” Leo Burnett

14. Advertising
Budgeting
Your CPA and CFO might fall out of their
chairs when you show them your pre-
planned annual spending plan for
advertising. We know because it
happens all of the time. Our ad
calculator and experience provide
reason for marketing. We like
accountants because we stay away from
WAG planning.

15. Advertising
Any media will work if you know how to
use it.
Planning
We do!
Whether sprinting or marathon running
we
plan advertising to get you across the
finish line first.
We plan for minimum of 6 months at a
time, and adjust monthly based on
retail conditions.

16. Advertising
Every media rep claims to have
the “right” customers for you.
Let’s be transparent: they earn
Media Selection
their commission by selling you
ad space. We will never take a
penny of commission from any
media source and because of
this we are freed up to provide
you only the best advice.

17. Advertising
Strategic planning lets you get back
to business while we implement
your plan. We’re so sure there’s
smooth sailing ahead, we even
Implementation
offer you a money-back guarantee:
at any time, for any reason, if you
are not completely satisfied, you
can pack your bag and move on.
There are no fancy contracts, no Over
legalese – just a road map and a full Budget
tank of gas!

18. Advertising
Big Impact Sales Promotions
Our copyrighted 47-point how-to manual
is worth its weight in gold. During the last
22 years we have tested and retested high
impact sales using three different
liquidators (you’d know exactly who we
meant if we named them). Turns out they
are all about the same: Expensive! Like
everything else we do, big commissions
are not for us. Our flat fee and your hard
work are all it takes to do up to three
month’s worth of business in about six
weeks

19. Creative Services
“Where did you get that dress?
It’s awful… and those shoes,
and that coat!
Geeeezzzz!”
Airplane-1979

20. Creative Services
Copywriting
Did you hear that door slamming? It was
the sound of your customer leaving as
you promoted product, price and terms
over and over and over. Today, your
customer wants to hear your authentic
story. We can help you discover your
story as well as tell it.

21. Creative Services
Direct Mail
You should stand out among
all the other screaming
businesses in your market.
Copying the last letter or post
card promotion you saw is
rarely the formula for your
success. We create “one off”
compelling copy and graphics
that will make your customers
respond.

22. Creative Services
Client developed Circulars
Print ads must engage the mind and
imagination quickly. It’s best at
moving merchandise with short-term
offers. The impact of your print
advertising needs to be at peak
heights. Rarely will you have more
than one time to convince the
customer using print. Learn how and
when to use it most effectively, and
stop spending money just because
“that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

23. Creative Services
Newsprint Ads
Print ads must engage the mind and
imagination quickly. It’s best at
moving merchandise with short-term
offers. The impact of your print
advertising needs to be at peak
heights. Rarely will you have more
than one time to convince the
customer using print. Learn how and
when to use it most effectively, and
stop spending money just because
“that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

24. Creative Services
Some believed “video killed the radio
star,” back in 1984, but we know nothing
could be further from the truth.
Radio
Scientifically humans are wired to live in
their imaginations. Our copy and
production techniques surprise Broca.
(Look it up, but beware.) Ads proceed
directly to the decision making part of the
brain. Let us tell your find and tell your
untold story. If you don’t chicken out we
know mountains might move.

25. Creative Services
Looking like a homemade hokey in
TV your television commercials is not
the independent stores owners’
badge of honor. Be afraid of a
local cable rep whose commission
check depends on convincing you
otherwise. We exclusively use
Final-Cut Pro, the state of the art
movie editing software, for each
of our customized spots. While
vacationing across the country
you will not see your spot playing
is some other guys market. We
create each spot one at a time for
maximum impact. You’ll be
surprised how little it costs to look
like a $1,000,000 bucks.

26. Creative Services
Web Design
Web Website
& Maintenance
Content Development
Just because everyone else in If your site isn’t working at
your industry “does this way” least as well as your worst
doesn’t make it right. Of salesperson, you should fire it!
course, if your only desire is to Dave Young at Persuasion Pro
look like the Joneses, then we taught us the three most
will take your money and copy important questions for site
whoever you tell us to. We design, and we put them to
prefer to discover your untold work every day. Don’t worry,
story, to develop your there are no technical geeks
customer personas, and write within a country mile of The
compelling copy to all four Lively Merchant. Just retailers
basic personality types. By who speak your language and
using the latest technology we translate it to the folks on the
will work to have you king of other side.
your mountain faster than you
can say, “Shazam!”

27. Creative Services
Point of purchase must engage the
Point Of Purchase
mind and imagination quickly. It’s
best at moving merchandise with
short-term offers. The impact of
your print advertising needs to be at
peak heights. Rarely will you have
more than one time to convince the
customer using print. Learn how
and when to use it most effectively,
and get customers to buy your stuff
even if a salesperson is nowhere to
be found.

28. Creative Services
Brochures
Roy Williams says, “Other than ransom
notes, persuasive writing is the most
lucrative writing in the world.” We agree.
Persuasion is very different than story
telling. We write your company’s need for
advertising as a call to action.

29. Education
“You cannot teach a man
anything; you can only help
him find it within himself.”
Galileo

30. Education
David currently serves on the Board of
Seminars
Directors of the Home Furnishings
Independents Association (HFIA) and has
been a featured speaker at the Las Vegas
World Market Center, the High Point
Furniture Market and Software Annual
User Conferences. From his start as a
salesperson to his latest role as industry
consultant and all positions in between,
David’s wisdom was won on the front lines
and his battle scars have given him a
compassion for helping today’s retail
company owners

31. Education
Newsletters (print & electronic)

32. Education
At least annually we believe
dealers should get together and
learn and share.
Roundtables
This is not typically retail training,
we bring together the finest minds
is education, research, product
development, and design.
Retailers leave with their minds
fully stretched and their bellies
completely full.
All this without being sold a thing.

33. Alliance Peer Groups
“Create Wealth
Together”
Shared vision & principles
Independent yet
Interdependent
Custom designed facilitation
Online data entry
Expert financial oversight.

34. Business Consulting
“Coaches who can outline
plays on a blackboard
are a dime a dozen. The
ones who win get inside
their player and
motivate.” Vince Lombardi

35. Business Consulting
Organizational Development
We have walked many miles in your
shoes. Organizational development is not
just a theory we claim to understand, it is
the difference between our successes and
our failures personally. Make certain the
company providing you with OD has done
more than just teach their beliefs.

36. Business Consulting
Process
Your business process doesn’t have to
sound like a boring textbook from a 1950’s
ninth grade algebra class. You know, the
type of book for filling shelves or starting
fires. This mindset couldn’t be further
from the truth. Together we will write a
procedure manual in the language of the
department. If they speak “office-ese” or
“the warehouse rap,” so should your
procedure manual. This process makes
your dreams of family time a reality.

37. Business Consulting
Being personally responsible for nearly a
Operations
half a billion dollars of merchandise
delivery has shaped our vision. Not
theory, but execution and discipline
gained in the real world are all you’ll hear
from us. The Lively Merchant also uses
the world renowned expertise of The
Bolger Group. Dan has helped me
personally out of more scrapes than many
owners will ever face. Don’t save a penny
and waste a buck in your backroom. You
customer is unforgiving. Your customers
can blog 13,000,000 of her closest friends
in five minutes, so why would you risk
making her angry?

38. Business Consulting
Don’t be surprised by your CPA! You
don’t need to be a financial expert to
Financial
run your retail store, but you do need a
good grasp of the basics. Each industry
has a handful of critical indicators. We
help you benchmark your business
against these indicators. This is not to
rub your nose in what you don’t know;
it is to help you learn what you should
know. Again, just retailers who speak
your language and translate it to the
folks on the other side.

39. Business Consulting
Front Room/Back Room
If you’re inventory is light, you’ll miss
sales. Heavy, and your cash flow is
strained. One simply question holds the
key: would you rather have a warehouse
full of product or a bank account full of
money? For the life of me, I can’t figure
out why this is such a huge problem in
family business. We plan real world
solutions that properly balance this
situation.

40. WHERE FROM HERE?
Let’s take every piece of
the puzzle we learned
here today and lets
make it fit together for
you…