We provide Sales & Product Training to the Rug and Home Furnishing Professionals & Industry Groups:

​

The MERA Group has an innovative approach to sales and product training.

We know what it takes to understand the customer's needs.  Our unique anecdotal approach allows us to connect with your team and help them think like a customer.  We work with trade associations, retail, professional and hospitality clients of all sizes – any organization that can benefit from better client service.   We show you what it takes so that every customer leads to another.

​

We provide your team with tools and techniques that have proven effective for us for

over 40 years.  Our unique anecdotal approach will transform them from good to great 

and help to:

• Boost their confidence

• Understand the value of your brand

• Know their product

• Under promise and over deliver

• Dance with their customers​

• Make every customer part of your sales force

​

Industry Specific Education:

Rug & Home Furnishings Professionals —

Does selling rugs have you tied up in knots€?

It€'s not what you'€™re selling -€“ it'€™s how you're selling it.

The demand for area and Oriental rugs has never been stronger. But the sales process for them, especially for finer-quality handmade rugs, is much different than that for any other floor covering. It takes more time, much more product knowledge, and depends on careful listening and building trust.  If you get it right, you'€™ll make more money.

To get it right, call MERA. We focus specifically on your challenge "“how to sell rugs"€“ and our sessions provide your salespeople with a thorough education that includes:

• How rugs are made

• Patterns and materials

• An historical perspective

• Natural product variations

• Judging and comparing quality

• ​

From the phones- to the sales floor- to the delivery guys…everyone is in sales.

 

We then train and motivate them to:

• Listen properly

• Ask smart questions

• Develop customer trust

• Increase profit with add-ons

• Sell the whole house

• Get referrals

• Follow-up

We also focus on business imperatives important to you as an owner, including:

• Building your reputation

• Enhancing your selling environment

• Setting yourself apart from the competition

• Generating after-the-sale dollars

• Marketing more effectively

MERA educates and energizes your entire team, instilling greater product knowledge and increased confidence. The result is more effective selling, and a better bottom line.

If the turn on your rug inventory isn'€™t what it should be, call MERA. We untie the "Nots"€.

​

Area Rug Importers and Wholesalers You're no longer in charge!

Back in the days when the rug business was supply-driven, you were the boss. But the customer calls the shots today. The person you're selling to is being told by the folks with the rugs in their living rooms what they want, not what they'€™ll take.  You now have to constantly innovate with color, design and even quality to stay current with the marketplace. You have to deal with the explosion of knowledge available in almost every home.

You are also selling to fewer and fewer traditional dealers. The rug business is now in

flooring centers, furniture stores and big-box retailers, where it's rare to find people who have sufficient product knowledge and have mastered the approach needed to sell Oriental and area rugs.

You can meet these challenges with MERA.

We know the business inside and out, especially from a retail perspective. We know what it takes to put a rug on someone's floor. MERA can help you:

• Understand the relationships between suppliers, retailers and consumers

• Learn why consumers are now in charge, and how to win them over

• Listen to your retailers and build partnerships with them

• Provide your retailers with training and support

• Educate and motivate your sales team

• Minimize price in the sales equation

Knowledgeable, confident salespeople sell more rugs. If you want to maximize your sales, have MERA help. We know the products. We know the processes. We know how to increase your market share.

Take back control of your market, with MERA.

​

Insurance Adjusters —

Insurance Adjusters & Legal Professionals face unique problems every day. The MERA Group provides information to help you make better, more informed decisions when

working with your clients. If dealing with fine rugs has you "tied in knots" we can help.

​

Insurance professionals, even those with high net worth clients, see relatively few Oriental and Fine Rug claims over the course of a year. We see hundreds.

Simply stated, MERA’s goal is to provide you with the tools to make you stronger and more efficient and our comprehensive seminars will help you make an informed decision on how to proceed when you are faced with Fine Rug losses.

​

Seminars focus on:

• What are you looking at?

• Gathering info

• Triage

• Repair and Restoration Options

• What to expect in a Professional Report

• Case Studies

• Q & A

​

Legal and Professional Groups —

• Attorneys- Trusts & Estates and Litigators

• Insurance Companies

• Design Professionals

• Restoration Franchises

If you deal with Fine Rugs on any level and need a speaker or custom workshop at meeting, seminar or industry conclave, call MERA.

We speak to groups of all sizes at regional and national franchise gatherings, trade shows, association conferences, and professional meetings.

Our Clients have included:

• Oriental Rug Retailers of America (ORRA)

• Americas Mart University National Oriental Rug Show- Atlanta

• Karastan National Dealers Conference- Colorado

• Adjuster’s Roundtable of Boston

• ASID New England Chapter CEU Courses

• Amica Insurance Adjuster’s Workshop

• NH Furniture Masters

MERA sessions are different from others you may have heard. They aren’t cookie-cutter. They are industry specific and tailored to our audience

​

MERA sessions entertain. They educate. They motivate. And they’re filled with information you need to succeed.

​

For Legal and Professional Groups and organizations, we provide speakers, and custom workshops designed to motivate, educate and entertain.

​

If you’re an industry group doing anything with rugs, we help put the romance and entertainment into your event.

​

​

Learn how we can help you keep your customers from going to your competition.

Everyone is in Sales!  Anyone who works for you who doesn’t know that they’re in sales is

pushing customers to the competition — and costing you business.

• Energize your team

• Boost their confidence

• Prove that everyone is in sales

​​

Sales & Customer Service Training and Motivational Programs

• 90-minute seminars

• Half-day workshops

• On-the floor training

• One-on-one coaching

​​

All MERA Training sessions concentrate on delivering the tools you need to

provide unequaled customer satisfaction at every level of your organization.

​

You want to be the company everyone else has to chase.

Our training seminars and workshops are customized to your unique
situation and are built around:

• Learning to listen

• Knowing your real product

• Dancing with your customers

• Under promising and over delivering

• Understanding the value of your brand

• Making the customers part of your sales force

​

​