CordaRoy’s Eric Futrell spins his high-energy sales pitch at the 2024 Summit.
CordaRoy’s comfy bean bag beds capture members’ imaginations and customers’ wallets
By Janet Weyandt, YSN
Debbie Kay, owner of Mauston Furniture & Appliances, had never given a moment’s thought to stocking CordaRoy’s convertible bean bags in her Wisconsin furniture store until she happened upon the company’s booth at a BrandSource Convention a few years back.
First, she was charmed by the sales pitch of Eric Futrell, CordaRoy’s director of new business development and the leading face of the brand for trade shows and buying groups.
“I was walking around the booths and all of a sudden you hear this guy,” she said. “He’s all hyped up about the CordaRoy’s, the mattress on the floor. People would walk over just to listen to him. He’s hilarious.”
Futrell’s high-energy sales pitch might get independent furniture dealers into his booth, but the company’s one-of-a-kind bean bag beds close the deal.
Humble Beginnings
CordaRoy’s was devised 25 years ago by inventor Byron Young in a Gainesville, Fla., garage. Futrell had known Young since high school, met up again after Futrell got out of the Army and they were roommates for more than a decade off and on.
Futrell forged his own career path in furniture liquidations, and in 2000 started working with Young to develop CordaRoy’s. By then it was being sold in mall kiosks and making a name for itself.
The company’s big break came in 2013, when Young appeared on TV’s “Shark Tank.” He ended up going into business with investor Lori Greiner from the show.
Changing Channels
CordaRoy’s began — and remains — primarily a direct-sale operation, with its products available from the company’s website and through online retailers like Amazon. Futrell ‘s contribution has been to develop the B2B pipeline that puts CordaRoy’s products in front of BrandSource members.
Independent furniture stores “are very important,” Futrell said. “Internet sales can fluctuate, but sometimes brick-and-mortar stores hang in there.”
That means showrooms like Mauston Furniture & Appliances, where Kay reaps the benefits of both the novelty of the product and the company’s commitment to working with its customers.
“We do an order at each [BrandSource] show, and then in between,” Kay said. “Once in a while we order one at a time because they will do that for you. They ship quick, so you don’t have to have 100 in stock.”
Gift Bag
Big Sandy Superstore in Ohio has been carrying CordaRoy’s products for about a year, said company president Stephen VanHoose. They do it a little differently at Big Sandy — CordaRoy’s bean bag beds are offered as a free-gift-with-mattress purchase.
“It’s something unique [to] increase our margins on free gifts,” VanHoose said. “The product has been successful. We are surprised by how many customers like to special order the different fabrics. The CordaRoy’s site makes it very easy to direct ship to end customers.”
Futrell has gotten to know many BrandSource members over the years and keeps them coming back with his rapid patter and the ready availability of CordaRoy’s plush, overstuffed bean bags for weary show-goers to try out for a spell. Then he transforms the poufs into king- and queen-sized beds, and the order forms virtually write themselves.
“A person buys our product because it turns into a bed,” he said. “The second, third and fourth reason they buy it is because it turns into a bed. They love the convertibility. We’re the king of multi-function furniture.”
YSN publisher AVB BrandSource is the nation’s largest merchandising and marketing co-op for independent appliance, mattress, furniture and CE dealers.
