Looking ahead to the High Point Market next month we have to marvel at the unique creativity required to succeed in the home furnishings business – both artistically and entrepreneurially.

History seems to prove that you have to have an artistic affinity in order to succeed at the business. Whenever outsiders tried to muscle their way in they almost always gave up or went bankrupt.

We might have expected that when the food conglomerate General Mills barged in, but even manufacturers already in the home, such as the kitchen cabinet and faucet maker Masco, found furniture impenetrable. Only Interco Inc., a shoe maker, managed a partial success by means of the Broyhill and Thomasville brands it purchased.

Only Rapture Can Create Profits

Small manufacturers driven by artistic rapture are the only ones who can make it out of the start-up phase, and only the most nimble established businesses, such as Ashley Furniture, manage to profitably stay ahead of the trends and the competition year after year.

Ashley’s example teaches us a lot about what passion can do for a company. While cheap imports were driving dozens of small American manufacturers out of business, Ashley managed to expand its market share by determining which processes could be exported to offshore factories and which ones needed to be kept at home.

They even made use of the empty containers they had to ship back to China by filling them with animal hides, grains, or anything else that could defray their cost and feed their bottom line. And by developing their own massive logistics infrastructure, including 900 trucks, they were able to meet customer demand as efficiently as possible.

Only Urgency Can Create Sales

CEO Todd Wanek told the Wall Street Journal that he intends to continue growing the company, which has 460 stores in the U.S. and is now bigger than Lay-Z-Boy and Ethan Allan combined, by more than twice the rate U.S. furniture sales have been growing.

“We want to grow in the 7% to 10% range every single year,” he said, noting that the company has reversed the “Asian invasion” and intends to open 1,000 stores on that continent in the next decade.

Furniture store owners and managers might take a page from Ashley’s playbook in advance of the Market: to them, the most important thing is to get merchandise out of the store and into the customer’s home.

One way they do that is to create a sense of urgency when the customer walks in, often accomplished with sale pricing, “one-day-only” discounts, and promotional financing – such as a six-year payment plan with no interest or fees.

If you can’t match that (few could), Kerry Lebensburger, Ashley president of sales, has a suggestion: rent to own. “You need to be in the rental business,” he told Furniture Today. “You need to be in the monthly payment business.”

Only Highpoint Can Predict the Future

There’s another strategy that may work even better than that, but before we get to it we might take a look at who is buying and what they’re looking for this year.

Housing starts in 2014 finally surpassed a million homes for the first time since 2007, but since most young people still can’t afford to buy most of those homes went to Boomers and GenX buyers. There are a few Millennials in the mix, but it’s not yet their turn to be the center of attention.

No matter how old your customer is, the real skill is inspiring them to identify with your merchandise so they want to incorporate it into their lives.

The Highpoint Style Report makes the fascinating observation that, “Historically, our color and style selections reflect the economy. The use of more color indicates that the economy is trending up and consumers are ready to make bolder choices.”

And since we’re trending upward but haven’t fully recovered, they suggest that a “pop of color” will appeal to most shoppers this year.

Hand-crafted casegoods incorporating feathers, wings and entire birds made of a wide variety of materials are trending very well leading up to the show, as are casegoods with bright lacquered colors and patterns.

In upholstery, forest and indigo make for a sophisticated combination, although navy and green seem to be the most popular. Contrasting fabric with metal creates the visual tension today’s buyer likes, and this goes for outdoor furniture as well because, as Highpoint’s Fall Report explains, this year “durable outdoor materials move in as the comfort of indoor furniture steps outside.”

You’re going to hear the term “Strong Feminine” at the show as well, referring to a restrained approach to traditionally feminine design elements. With highlights of gold and brass supporting the look’s sophistication, Highpoint’s designers say it wouldn’t be complete without at least a few whimsical and unpredictable elements.

And needless to say, as soon as money begins to flow into homemaking it immediately pools around romance. Following the Strong Feminine trend, this doesn’t mean curlicues and lace this year, but rather a warm sense of safety evoking the masculine security of European palaces.

All this is from the Highpoint Premarket, which enjoyed a strong opening despite shipping delays caused by the fierce winter and the labor disputes at Californian ports.

Only Cash Flow Can Make You Happy

If the ultimate sales skill is to inspire, then the ultimate business practice may be getting your merchandise out of your showroom and into your customer’s house – today.

Rent-to-own may be one excellent solution, but it’s not the only way to close a sale to a customer who doesn’t have full payment.

Especially at this time of year, when so many Americans eagerly await their tax returns, you might profit from a tool that turns their wishful window shopping into a sale. Post-recession, most people will not charge anything on their credit card (in fact, most Americans use a tiny fraction of the credit extended to them), and if you can close a sale using a more cost-efficient form of payment you can increase your profit on that sale as well.

So let your customer write a series of checks to be deposited over time – after, for example, that tax refund arrives – so they can take their purchase home today without a credit check, without financing, without interest and without any hassles.

And unlike rent-to-own, where your outlay is secured by the furniture itself and so is exposed to any risk that might arise in your customer’s home (ever owned a kitten?), with a multiple- or hold-check solution you can actually guarantee that you’ll get paid, even if those future dated checks are returned.

So take full advantage of the 2015 upturn. Sell today with no risk to your bottom line. Learn how here.