Lynch Sales Company

Nowell's Contemporary & Scandinavian Furniture

Quality, Service and Value Since 1905

Cary, NC

February 7, 2008

Joe Connolly
Lynch Sales Company
161 Ottawa Ave. NW.
Suite 300-F
Grand Rapids, MI 49503

Joe:

I called you last November because I’m in the process of buying out my business partner. To make it happen, I needed to generate considerably more cash than we usually have on hand. Lynch came highly recommended, but I still had a few reservations. We’ve all heard stories of outside sales companies running roughshod over the stores by which they are hired, leaving the retailer, his regular staff and his customers much the worse for wear. I’m very pleased to say that this was not the case with Lynch.

Our month-long remerchandising sale ended four days ago and I’m only now coming up for air. I never thought it possible, but we’ve had more business during this sale than I can handle. From January 1 through February 3, we sold over one and a quarter million dollars worth. To appreciate the magnitude of this accomplishment, you must remember that we have a single 18,000 square foot shop with less than three quarters of a million dollars of inventory. In 2007, we didn’t reach this level of sales until June 14. As if that’s not enough, we maintained gross margins of 49.4%.

Initially, I feared that the salespeople brought in to supplement our regular staff might over-promise and misrepresent us, leaving me to clean up a mess afterwards. It didn’t take long to realize that these folks – Denise, Kent, Sharon, Rhonda, and most of all, our conductor, Doug Dowell – were true professionals. They quickly learned the product and the “Nowell’s way of doing things,” and made every effort to represent us well. In fact, since they left, I’ve had more than one customer complain because their favorite sales person is no longer here. In the end, not only did Doug and his crew do an excellent job during the sale, but my staff and I learned a great deal from them about sales techniques, merchandising, marketing and more. We came out of this not with problems to solve, but with new tools to build our business.

My colleagues keep asking me, “What’s the catch? There must be a downside to this.” Frankly, for me, there have been two serious problems: First, selling 5 ½ months worth of furniture in one month is easier than actually delivering it. Next time, I’ll hire extra warehouse and delivery staff. (To be honest, Doug recommended this up front, but I thought he was being overly optimistic.); second, the partner that I’m buying out threatened to call off the deal because we now have so much money in the bank. I kid you not. I think we’ve worked it through, though, and we’re scheduled to close February 14. Wish me luck.

Best regards,

Jerry Nowell
President