In the FAM’s exclusive research with Nationwide Marketing Group, we asked people if they’ve suffered from new sleep issues since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While more than half said no, 36% said yes, which presents a huge opportunity for sleep retailers.
It may seem like a small percentage, but it’s about the scale—the pandemic has affected people around the entire world.
Even further, in a SleepScore survey by Sleep.com, 86% of adults said their sleep quality dropped during the pandemic.
So what does this all mean?
It means a second chance at Covid for the industry.
It’s been established that Covid isn’t going to just disappear. And even if herd immunity or mass vaccination slow it down, like the flu, Covid is here to stay.
For mattress retailers, that gives you a chance to talk about Covid and how it relates to sleep. You can sell certain products based on people’s newfound knowledge of hygiene. Think of all the mattress covers you can sell!
But really, if someone does get covid, where are they going to spend that time? In bed.
When they are and they realize how uncomfortable their current bed is, they’ll be coming to your store to look for a new mattress. And there’s will be many opportunities to upsell or cross-sell when you talk about health and Covid.
Covid also presents an opportunity for conversation, which as every good mattress salesman knows, is the key to finding and keeping loyal customers, regardless of if we’re in a pandemic or not.
But with Covid affecting everyone differently, you can hear about their sleep struggles, particularly the ones that arose recently or during the pandemic. Once you get the conversation going, the customer is more likely to tell you what they need and why.
Then you can explain how great sleep improves the immune system. In laymen’s terms, tell the customers that during sleep your levels of adrenaline, noradrenaline, and prostaglandins are low, which helps with the creation of the almighty T cell—a type of immune cell that fights viruses like the flu, HIV, herpes, and cancer cells.
The science is complicated, but explaining this to them in an easy-to-understand way is important to the conversation. You don’t want to make the customer feel stupid, but you also can’t assume they know what everything is you’re talking about. That goes for science experiments and mattress sales.
Connecting health to covid is just the start. You also need to tell customers why the mattress is relevant to the conversation.
Is it a copper mattress that offers protection from bacteria? Does it have a built-in sleep tracker that lets you know how long you slept and if it was good or bad sleep? Is one particular mattress better for back pain or neck pain?
The better you can explain why a mattress is connected to better sleep—and therefore better health—the easier it will be to not only sell a customer, but also get them exactly what they want and need.
There are few positives to Covid, but one for our industry might be that people are more aware of and interested in their health. If we can communicate the connection between sleep and health, that’s a win for the mattress industry.
