The FAM Podcast with Mark Kinsley

After 25 years as a Human Resources Executive, Dale Kreienkamp heard the words no employee wants to hear, " Your name is on the list ." Those six words signaled his involuntary departure from a company he had spent the better part of his career investing in, and to his new status of unemployed.  Undeterred, Dale went through the normal stages of unemployment grief (which, as he tells us, is a real...

Mark Quinn said it best, "We don't want retailers to survive. We want them to thrive."  In this week's episode, we reveal the name of our new book, "Come Back to Bed: Attract More Foot Traffic And Make People Fall In Love With Your Store. " As your Sleep Industry Guides , Dos Marcos has traveled the mattress universe looking for tried-and-true foot traffic drivers. Over the years we've gathered do...

During his childhood, Wes Roberts lived in a hotel in Devil's Lake, North Dakota. Early on, Wes' dad taught him and and his legendary cousin, Mattress Firm co-founder Harry Roberts, the rules of the schoolyard—keep out of trouble, but know how to throw the first punch.  After learning the ins-and-outs of the hotel business, Wes began bartending and, eventually, opened up a bar  he operated for thi...

Our guest today is Gui Peres. Born in Brazil, Gui came to the United States at age sixteen as a foreign exchange student. He loved the USA and eventually made his way here full-time, landed a job at a startup called Ergomotion, and now he's their Global Sales Director. And he happens to live a few miles from Oprah and Prince Harry.  In this week's episode, Peres tells us how Ergomotion is using re...

It's the continuation of last week's episode, where we interviewed the founder of Austin's Couch Potatoes, Brian Morgan. If you haven't heard part 1 of this two part series, go back and grab a tissue as you do. It's an episode too good to skip.  In this week's episode, Brian starts off with explaining how he and his team had to pivot during the initial onset of Covid19. He discusses making over on...

To get lunch, Brian Morgan used to order pizza during homeroom and sell it for $2 a slice to his classmates. In college, he sold plus-size lingerie on eBay and in 2010 he launched a church at Ground Zero in New York City. The founder and owner of Austin's Couch Potatoes is passionate about meeting the needs of people and building a business around those he brings into his ever-expanding family. It...

Brad Parker is the founding partner of Doorcounts and the CEO of a six-store chain of La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries located in the Portland, Oregon area. In the episode, we trace the origins of the first door counter back to Peter, a Russian transplant who spoke no English and put together an innovative ticker to monitor how many people walked into Brad’s stores. You’ll find out how Brad’s team bec...

Charlie Malouf is the CEO of Broad River Retail,  a top 50 retailer operating 24 Ashley HomeStores in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. He's purpose driven leader whose focus on culture and people shines through in his business.  The associates at Broad River Retail are called Memory Makers and the company holds an annual event called "Purpose 8/28" where they invite leaders to inspire...

Dr. V has become a well-known figure in the mattress industry, even earning Furniture Today's Retail Giants of Bedding award in 2018.  The one-and-only Alan Vonderhaar recounts his early days going from the waterbed world to landing a job at Miskelly's —and eventually putting on a lab coat to create the character that became the face of Miskelly's mattress for the past 25 years.  At 22 years old,...

Keith Moneymaker is the bearded Crossfitter with a big heart who’s selling sleep and changing lives in North Carolina. Moneymaker (yep, that’s his real name) is president of Sweet Dreams Mattresses & More with two locations in Southern Pines and Sanford, North Carolina. After Hurricane Mathew devastated parts of the Carolinas in 2016, Keith noticed months and months had passed and many familie...

During a live speech at Furniture Today’s first ever virtual Bedding Conference, Mark Kinsley and Mark Quinn recorded a podcast and gave the audience two big takeaways for 2020. You win in the transitions — and during transitions (like this one). When a customer steps out of their car and walks to the door of your store, that’s a transition. After a shopper selects their mattress, there’s a transi...

Nectar's founders Ran Reske and Eric Hutchinson talk about how one the fastest growing bedding brands on the planet is moving into retail — and doing all they can to drive foot traffic. Nectar's creative advertising and product positioning has made the brand a standout in the crowded direct to consumer space. In this  interview, you'll see how this explosive D2C brand is picking  partners and inve...

Can a mattress kill COVID? Dos Marcos chatted with team members from Serta Simmons Bedding about their new HeiQ Viroblock™ technology. On the show you'll hear from Sheri McGuire, Vice President of Advanced Technology, and Gregg Schweir who is Head of Innovation with SSB.  SSB partnered  with Switzerland-based HeiQ Group to create the antiviral mattress. HeiQ Viroblock technology has previously bee...

Get ready to feel the Burn! TSI's John Burn unveils new research showing how consumers have changed and how that'll impact mattress retailers.  What are the big trends? The concern for safety and security is shifting to a permanent behavior. The number two factor leading to shopper conversion is the combination of RSA quality and shopper privacy.  You'll have to listen to discover the number one f...

As consumer mattress demand takes on a runaway-train-pace,  manufacturers are experiencing supply chain problems. Spunbond material used for fabric-encased coils is being gobbled up for the medical PPE used to guard against coronavirus. Leggett & Platt has moved to a needle punch product that's more expensive and many suppliers are facing similar raw materials issues.   Foam, fabric, and sewin...

How do mattress retailers reclaim their position as experts in their marketplace? Jeff Giagnocavo's new book has answers and action items. Jeff is the owner of Gardner's Mattress & More in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He's authored a new book called 7 Habits of Super Successful Mattress Retailers . It's a short book designed to be read in about an hour and put into action immediately. Jeff says ma...

Luis Lopez started his furniture and mattress business from an 8x8 booth at a swap meet outside Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Over time, he quadrupled his booth space and built up a loyal customer base. One day, his friend watched (mouth wide open) as Luis wrote a $10,000 ticket.  By the way, Luis didn't start speaking English until he was 18 years old. And while he was getting his furniture business st...

In part one with Andrew Gross, we talked to the bedding veteran about the best business book you've never read. It's called New Lanchester Strategy . Gross introduced us to a framework for how to think about market competition. In part two, Andrew discusses how to apply the principles of warfare to gain market share.  How do you operate if you're the dominant market player? Well, it's different th...

Andrew Gross is a battled tested bedding veteran who held an EVP position at SSB and was a board member and SVP of marketing for Serta. During his time at Serta, the brand moved from #3 to #1 while doubling EBITDA. He and his team introduced iComfort gel-memory foam, widely considered the most successful new product in category history and ultimately a profitable $500MM+ franchise. When Andrew tol...

Rob Stott hosts the Independent Thinking podcast , brought to you by Nationwide Marketing Group. In this episode, Rob turns the microphones around on Dos Marcos to get their thoughts on astronauts, post-COVID business recovery, and the future of retail.  Be sure to subscribe to the Independent Thinking podcast on iTunes , or wherever you get your audio fix. It's packed with great content dedicated...

As the mattress galaxy continues to shift, Sealy retakes the number one spot on Furniture Today's list of top mattress manufacturers.  According to Furniture Today, "Serta suffered an estimated 20% decline in shipments, which dropped to $1.205 billion, and it dropped to the No. 3 spot on the list." The Top 20 includes: 1. Sealy 2. Simmons & Beautyrest 3. Serta 4. Tempur-pedic 5. Sleep Number 6...

David Sax is a journalist and author whose written for the New York Times and Business Week. In his fourth book, The Soul of an Entrepreneur , "the award-winning business writer dismantles the myths of entrepreneurship, replacing them with an essential story about the experience of real business owners in the modern economy." In this episode, David introduces the core question: Why am I doing this...

Losing a loved one is incredibly painful.  Unfortunately, Mark Quinn lost his mother last week. Dee Quinn was a magical lady who was full of love and incredibly positive. She cared deeply for her family and friends and that love was on display during services that celebrated Dee's life.  In this personal episode, Dos Marcos talk about why connections matters so much and how thankful Quinn is to al...

This one is so good, we unlocked the vault and brought it back for a replay.  In this Season 5 kick-off to 2020, Dos Marcos sit down with Jesse Cole , owner of the Savannah Bananas . He wears a yellow tuxedo. His players dance and go on dates during games. Parking penguins. Grandma beauty pageants. A breakdancing first base coach. It's all part of the Savannah Bananas "Fans First" experience. Jess...

"Tremendous carnage, fallout, damage done to the industry. And it will really be a resurrection—and hopefully a portal to that new digital landscape we've been talking about for 20 years."  Futurist Doug Stephens is working on a new book: Resurrecting Retail: The Future of Business in a Post-Pandemic World. We didn't want our audience to have to wait on the book, so we invited Doug on the show to...