I am co-owner of The Natural Mattress Store based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Was wondering how to be considered for membership. We manufacture our own line of natural and organic mattresses and have six retail showrooms.
I emailed and got no response and was wondering how you select companies for membership?
We have been in business since 2007 and have thousands of very happy consumers. Would you please consider us for membership or at least have someone take a look at our products.
Thanks for taking the time to register and post on the site.
There are a number of criteria that I use for deciding on the membership here that include both objective and more subjective or “best judgement” criteria.
The objective criteria include the knowledge, experience, and service of the manufacturer or retailer and looking at their mattresses to make sure they meet the quality and durability guidelines here (which your mattresses certainly do) and that the information on their site is relatively accurate and factual.
Some of the more subjective or “best judgement” criteria I use include asking myself what I would say on the forum about a manufacturer or retailer and the mattresses they make and how they compete with others that I would consider to be among the “best in the industry” based on all the parts of each person’s personal value equation that may be most important to them. While prices do play a role in this … price is only one of many things that may be part of the “value” of a mattress purchase and by itself isn’t the most important criteria.
You can also read a little more about the qualifications for membership here and here but I don’t generally “seek out” members and membership is more of an organic process that happens over time as I get to know some manufacturers or retailers better (and of course they get to know me as well). With newer manufacturers or retailers that are less than 5 years old (or in some cases less than two years depending on the experience of the people that are behind the company and the specifics of their mattresses and their market) it’s less likely that they would be invited to become members quickly until they have a little longer track record and I come to know them a little better (and I know this wouldn’t be an issue in your case because you have been in business for longer than that) but in the end an invitation for a retailer or manufacturer to become a member really comes down’ to a “best judgement” choice based on what I learn about them over time (including from our conversations) and based on sharing the values, ideals, and goals of the site.
Having said all that … I generally spend about 12 - 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year with answering the posts on the forum (which are my first daily priority) and with all the ongoing research and the other activities that are part of maintaining the site and staying up to date with the many ongoing and constant changes or developments in the industry, I haven’t had the time available to be able to talk with many of the manufacturers or retailers that have asked about membership here (there are about a dozen or so that I haven’t yet had the time to talk with some of which date back for quite a number of months).
I have also been working for many months (actually years) on some additions to the site that I originally envisioned which will be happening over the course of the coming months as well that will free up a great deal of my time and that will allow me to expand the reach and scope of the site and also provide me with the time to talk with the many other manufacturers or retailers that have inquired about membership (or may inquire in the future) in a much more timely manner.
I apologize that I haven’t replied to your emails yet but I have seen them and I would certainly love to talk more with you about your company and mattresses and about membership here. Quite frankly sometimes I struggle between just replying “I’ll get back to you at some point when I have the time available” (which carries a “tone” of disinterest) or not replying at all (which has no “tone” at all but also implies disinterest) but I can assure you that I will reply … even if it ends up taking much longer than either you or I would otherwise hope for. This certainly isn’t an indication of lack of interest … only of lack of time.
While it may still be a few weeks as I slowly catch up on some of the backlog regarding the membership here … I would certainly love to talk more with you.
You probably know this but you are also already listed as one of the better “options or possibilities” in several of the local forum lists here and here and here.
Thanks again for posting here … and once again my apologies for taking so long to reach out and reply to you.
I will educate myself on your process and hope to be considered in the future. If your ever in the SF Bay Area I would love to give you a tour in any of our showrooms and talk about our consultive non pressure sales environment and our products we offer.