The best mattress store owners invest in their employees and dedicate their lives to selling better sleep. Yet sometimes even they don’t get enough sleep.
That’s a common problem within the industry, from store owners down to RSAs — they can sell sleep all day, but when it comes time to get some shut-eye, many are not practicing what they preach.
This industrywide challenge is one major reason mattress industry veteran Mark Kinsley, CEO of The FAM, has joined with licensed clinical psychologist Kim Lemke to launch the Drift Sleep Guide Certified Program.
Specializing in cognitive behavioral therapy and sleep science, Lemke has 15 years of experience in mental health and wellness and is the founder of Drift, an organization that consults about sleep topics around the world.
“Drift provides workshops, keynotes and more on sleep so that people can understand the idea that I teach about a sleep balloon and walk away with personalized, customized solutions to their own sleep,” Lemke says. “We have partnered with companies in a variety of industries, including Walmart.”
The sleep balloon she’s referring to is the idea that when people are awake they need to build up chemicals that promote sleep — filling the balloon. For that reason, sleep is a daytime issue, and that’s part of what the Drift sleep program will help teach.
“You have to teach people how to construct their days so that they can use everything that the RSAs know in terms of the mattresses to win at sleep, but they can’t just play fourth quarter — they have to fill that sleep balloon during the day,” Lemke adds. “I use the analogy of a football game. A great mattress and setting up a bedtime ritual are both nighttime things, the fourth quarter. But if you’re not playing the first three quarters, then you won’t sleep well.”
Kinsley and Lemke teamed up after she gave the keynote speech at The FAM’s Sleep Summit last year. Since then, the two discussed the irony that salespeople selling are not sleeping well themselves and created a program to solve that problem.
The program brings together Kinsley’s expertise of all-things mattress and Lemke’s expertise in sleep science, and aims to give people a common language and a simple understanding so that they can sleep better.
A workshop hosted every other month provides retailers and their employees to work through some of the industry’s toughest challenges. For example, one recent workshop focused on bridging the gap between the mattress industry and the sleep industry.
“We know sunlight is one of the biggest things that builds that sleep balloon,” Lemke explains. So RSAs can ask customers when they are getting sunlight, and how much, and they can connect that to better sleep without having to talk about chemicals and REM sleep and things that can be foreign to consumers. It’s how you give yourself a competitive edge.”
Once the Drift course is completed, you’ll receive a certificate that Lemke says can also be used as a competitive edge because when people come into your store they can see the certificate and know that you’re educated about sleep and not just mattresses.
The program has been running for a little over six months now, and the duo have no plans to slow down anytime soon.
“We’re continuing to have open conversations with retailers to figure out what they want and need in terms of sleep education,” Lemke says. “Working with Mark has been a natural partnership and I’m blessed to have connected with so many people in the mattress industry already in a short amount of time.”
