Category: Featured

Since 1983 DeWoolfson Down has been sewing and finishing European quality down comforters, pillows and feather-beds using all-European white goose down fills and the world’s finest down proof fabrics. DeWoolfson Down products are produced and shipped from their factory and retail store in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

DeWoolfson Down became a customer of Retail Control Systems in the early 2000, installing Counterpoint V7.  RCS has had the pleasure of working with Richard Schaffer, President and CEO, and Susan Bracewell, General Manager, at DeWoolfson Down with Counterpoint V7 for the past 15 years!

Recently DeWoolfson Down decided it was time to upgrade their system to NCR Counterpoint Version 8.0.  With opportunity, always comes change, and like most customers Richard Schaffer of DeWoolfson Down had concerns about making the transition.

Here is what Richard had to say:

“We had concerns at first, but the upgrade was a seamless and efficient process with no disruption to our business. Much of the prep work was done overnight or on Sundays, so we didn’t skip a beat!

Even though there were alternatives in software, we rejected the idea of going anywhere else. The main reason for our choice to upgrade Counterpoint with RCS was our great relationship. After 15 years of great service and a product that has grown along with us, why would we not? The team at RCS paid great attention to detail, provided thorough training and great follow up even after the conversion.

What made the process easy and efficient was the fact that we were fortunate enough to have Susan Bracewell and her 15 years of experience with Counterpoint. Susan became the front person for the conversion and installation on our end.  She attended the training, helped with set-up, and then carried the information home to train our employees!

The only thing we would have done differently is to have done it all earlier. We sleep better at night because we know Counterpoint [V8] is a more secure system from an internet safety perspective, a solid environment and a more stable product – particularly in the way it handles credit cards and other sensitive data.“

When asked about the benefits they have noticed since the upgrade, Richard and Susan were happy to share the following:

“When we first set up Counterpoint V7 all those years ago, one big problem was printing. Fast forward to today, there is virtually no printing set up with SQL [Counterpoint V8] since it is all Windows based printing.

Our end of day functions used to be done manually, but it is all automated now. We don’t have to do anything – credit cards settle automatically, posting is done automatically, and backups and routine maintenance are programmed to run automatically. This is a timesaver for everyone, which translates into cost savings for the company.

Recently, we needed to find a specific customer with a specific tax code, which wouldn’t have been possible in V7. We were able to zero in using the enhanced V8 reporting capabilities. There is a wide array of information available. The ability to modify and customize fields in Counterpoint V8 is tremendous.

The accounting interface with QuickBooks is phenomenal! Journal entries are interfaced directly. The setup was quick and easy with RCS modifying what we needed. It’s all done with the click of a button now.”

Richard shares his wisdom with fellow business owners:

“Sooner or later, everyone will have to upgrade their software… When they do I suggest they designate the right person in their company to lead the transition.”

If you happen to be traveling in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina or traveling the Blue Ridge Parkway near Grandfather Mountain State Park, RCS and DeWoolfson Downs invites you to stop by their original retail store.

For more information of DeWolfson Down visit their website at DeWoolfsonLinens.com.

Any seasoned Sales professional knows that improving conversion ratios is the best path to success. Even so, it has been the most elusive item to achieve. Why is that? The only answer here is to look at what you actually have in your control as a Sales rep or team to improve the conversion ratio. In my view, there are two ways to look at this:

Better Tools or Better experiences delivered by people that represent your products (in this case, the Sales people).

Let’s focus on the latter – What your Sales professionals can do to improve the conversion ratios by asking what they have in their control:

• The Need: No Sales person has ever succeeded by creating need. Instead, it is only by bringing existing need out into the open and matching their solutions to it really well that they win
• The Product: Sales people might give feedback to the Product Team. However, they rarely are in control of the product. The choice they have here is to choose a company with a product they really believe in – one they feel they can sell well as it meets or exceeds prospects needs.
• The Relationship: Sales people have almost 100% control of how they choose to build a relationship with the people they are trying to sell to. Whenever we do have control, there are tactics and strategies that can help us be successful.

Since the relationship is something we can truly manage as Sales individuals, let’s take a closer look at it.

Why You Should Focus on Relationships

Many Sales people find themselves in the commodity industry which means they’re selling a product that is marginally different than some competitors. This makes differentiation of the product alone very challenging. In addition, it’s hard to improve conversion ratios based exclusively on a product development strategy.

One of the oldest truisms in Sales is:

‘People buy from people’ (extended version: ‘People buy from people they trust’)

This means that, if we are able to get people to experience a deeper level of trust in us, we should be able to dramatically improve chances of winning business – no matter how competitive the deal is. Trust, for example, comes from successfully building a meaningful and relevant relationship. Therefore, if you and your sales team invest in developing a skillset that will allow you to build these types of relationships in rapid ways, the result will be significantly increased conversion ratios. In summary, by focusing your team’s ability to develop and maintain meaningful and relevant relationships, you can impact the success of your company as well as your own.

– Jason Beaton, Media and Marketing Engineer at RCS

You can hear more about this and other topics at our Retailers Workshops!