I had the pleasure of setting down with Edwin Shoffner, CEO with Mattress by Appointment for BusinessOpportunity.com’s very first Podcast that will be released on our new Digital Platform very soon.  Here is the transcript from that call for our regular RSS feed subscribers who get all of our posts first. 

I’m Kevin James Culp and this is our Mattress by Appointment CEO Interview.

Kevin James Culp [00:00:02]

The focus of our call today is to highlight your opportunity Mattress by Appointment, which is one of the best home service businesses to start, so people, as they’re driving and listening to our podcast, or live streaming, can better understand that you really can make anywhere from 75-150K through your business opportunity in the first year.

Thanks for being part of BusinessOpportunity.com‘s platform both on pod-casting and streaming.  Future interviews, by the way, will incorporate video, so we’ll be sitting down with many folks, such as yourself, a second time to launch that.

In the meantime, let’s dig into a few questions if you don’t mind. Can you tell our listeners, shoppers, and blog readers a bit about what you do?

Edwin Shoffner [00:01:23]

Sure, Kevin, my name again is Edwin Shoffner, and I’m the president and CEO of Mattress by Appointment Corporate, which is headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina.  We are a licensor seeking licensees—people who come to BusinessOpportunity.com wanting to own their own business.  We offer a turn-key mattress retail business.  However, it’s completely different than a traditional retail store.  Just as the name of our company says, we are selling mattresses to consumers by appointment.  You’re not in a high-rent, traditional retail location for eight to twelve hours a day hoping and praying consumers will come to buy a mattress.  You’re also not using traditional advertising—which is incredibly expensive.  We offer a very low cost, high traffic, and high closing ratio solution to traditional mattress sales.

We have 300 current active owners/operators within Mattress by Appointment operating under our license agreement.  The average Mattress by Appointment owner/operator works between 25-35 hours per week on their business.  Their annual gross revenue is between 250,000-350,000 dollars a year.  After you take out the overhead—costs of mattresses, rent, and advertising, etc.—the average owner/operator earns between 95,000-115,000 dollars a year working 25-35 hours per week.  All 300 active locations are willing to speak to people interested in Mattress by Appointment.

KJC [00:04:00]

That’s fantastic. Wow, that was very detailed.  You got to at least 6 of my questions. Thank you! How does someone know if they have what it takes to own their own business?  Can you speak a bit about the types of people that fit your ideal Mattress by Appointment owner/operator?

ES [00:04:27]

Great question, Kevin.  I’ll tell you who were seeking.  First and foremost, we’re wanting to find somebody who would like to re-balance their life.  Somebody who’s currently working 40, 50, 60, or 70 hours a week and working nights, weekends, and holidays.  They’re working their tails off, yet most likely earning between 40,000 to 60,000 dollars a year for all that effort.  We want somebody who is willing to work hard.  Their effort and hard work usually double their current earnings.

The ideal candidate doesn’t have to be in sales; however, they need to have good time management.  We want somebody who’s willing to wake up every day and follow the instructions of our business plan.  If someone puts in the five to six hours a day, five days per week, they’ll be successful in this business.  It really is a very regimented schedule.  The owner/operator must grab the bull by the horns and treat this like a job.  They can’t be distracted because they’re at home.  Each day, they need to wake up and say, “This is my job.  Today, I’m going to do my advertising, schedule appointments, meet people at my location, etc.“

We will provide all the tools, but we need somebody that is willing to follow a turn-key, business model.  I would say, the ideal candidate has a ‘Type A’ personality in following instructions, yet is enough of an extrovert that they can be talkative with customers from all walks of life.

Last, but not least, we need someone that is consistent.  You can’t show up to work every three days.  The owner/operator needs to hit the basics of business once a day.  We’ve been in this business a long time, so we know consistency, day in and day out, is what gets the best results.

KJC [00:07:35]

That’s very great advice.  You’ve mentioned several times that this is a packaged business opportunity, can you touch on some of the marketing strategies that have helped the business grow?

I’ll be honest with everyone listening, most business opportunities don’t come with instructions.  Often, there is not someone, like yourself, Edwin, that is there to explain what it is they’re doing.  This is often the point of failure to reach the next step in business for people, even if they’re well-intentioned.

You also emphasized that the owners/operators need to wake up; designate a work area at home; and treat this like a real business.  These people are selling quality products that will be used daily.  Mattress by Appointment comes with a lot of tools.  Could you please explain why that’s important to somebody who is thinking about buying your opportunity?

ES [00:09:27]

Sure.  When we have somebody decide they want to move forward with our opportunity, we help them select their site selection and correctly set up their entity and state’s resales certificates.  We hold ‘New Dealer’ training classes, as well as, biweekly Skype sessions, webinars, and conference calls.  This allows us to teach them how to advertise and what formats we use.  We also offer national sales calls to highlight new products, opportunities, and ways to advertise.

We assign each new owner/operator to the area mentor—a fellow dealer in your state who understands what you’re going through and exactly how to help you.  At our corporate office, we have sales and marketing assistants assigned to each state.  Like the mentors, they’re a great resource for customer service and shipping questions.  We have tons of support to get someone successfully up and running.

I think the biggest thing that makes our owners/operators successful is our Facebook Group.  It gives everyone an open platform to share ideas.  Someone may post, “This type of advertising has been a huge success.”  It works both ways.  Sometimes people will post, “This ad did not work for me.  What advice can you give me?”  It’s a great resource to receive input from 300 other owners/operators 24/7.

It’s funny, it’s not in our business plan, but occasionally someone will post, “Hey!  This guy tried to sell me advertising.  I might try it and run some ads on the back of grocery store receipts.  What do y’all think?”  Suddenly, 115 to 200 people will say, “Don’t do it.  Follow the plan.  Don’t deviate from the plan.”  That’s the big benefits of having a large group to listen to you—everyone always helps walk somebody back from making a mistake.  You’ve got support all around you—the corporate office, your state mentor, and 300 other owners/operators around the country.

KJC [00:13:54]

Wow, what a plethora of information.  Let’s say I was interested and wanted to get more information, and I wanted to speak with yourself or a sales representative, aside from going to BusinessOpportunity.com, what would be the phone number that folks should call?

ES [00:14:12]

Well, I think they should get started through BusinessOpportunity.com, or click on ‘apply to be a dealer’ under ‘careers’ on MattressbyAppointment.com.  You tell us a bit about yourself by answering about 8 questions.  Our automated system will walk you through the process step-by-step.

If you want to talk to a live body, again, the system immediately gives you the contact information for the person assigned to your state.  That person can tell you exactly what cities and locations are available and answer any questions that may come up about the process.

KJC [00:16:01]

That’s perfect.  Edwin, I really want to thank you for taking part in our interview.  We’re going to be posting this on live streaming, podcast, and various other medians to reach a whole new audience.  I wanted to give the best method of contact.  While we were talking, I looked at the automated system.  It will not only be educational but will answer most questions without having to call someone.  Again, thank you very much. We’ll talk soon.

ES [00:16:38]

Check us out on YouTube.  If you look up Mattress by Appointment, you will find between 25 and 35 video testimonials of current owners/operators.  People from all walks of life—men, women, and couples that do the business together.  These are the people that are doing it day in and day out.  If anyone interested wants to hear from a third party, what’s posted on YouTube is a great place to look.

KJC [00:17:20]

Perfect, we’ll post that as well.  That’s a great way to get in touch. Thanks so much for spending time with us today and we hope our listeners and readers will be inspired by your candid responses and honestly.

I wanted to close this Entrepreneur Exchange CEO Edwin Shoffner Interview with a few notes about the call.  Edwin is a straight-up sales person and CEO at the same time.  You can tell he knows this product and business opportunity backward and forwards.  We love their opportunity and think it is in need in many areas.  Learn more about their opportunity by listing their information here.

Interviewer: Kevin James Culp (KJC), Sales and Communications Specialist at BusinessOpportunity.com

Interviewee: Edwin Shoffner (ES), President and CEO of Mattress by Appointment

Source: E. Shoffner, Telephone Interview, August 24, 2017. Please note, this interview transcription has been edited for clarity.