Mattress Firm (www.mattressfirm.com) is one of the largest and most successful specialty bedding companies in the world. It offers sleep solutions, including conventional and specialty mattresses,
as well as bedding-related products. The company has grown to become one of the largest and fastest-growing retailers in the nation. The company operates more than 560 stores in 38 markets nationwide and carries the top mattress brands. From the very beginning, the company, which hires only college graduates, set out to be a different kind of mattress retailer, focused on creating a unique shopping experience.
According to Edith Botello, featured at the beginning of this chapter, the biggest differentiator between Mattress Firm and its competitors is the sales process. As Botello puts it, buying a mattress can be overwhelming: How do you know which one is the best if all you see when you walk into a store are dozens of white rectangles? At Mattress Firm, sales reps make it simple for their customers to pick out their mattress without trying out every single bed. The process invites customers to get fitted for a mattress, just as with suits, shoes, and gowns. This is done through the company’s Sleep Diagnostic System, which asks the customer a series of questions about their sleep quality and then measures their weight distribution and postural alignment. The system then recommends a type of support and eliminates 80 percent of the beds in the showroom. Taking the risk out of buying a mattress by letting customers know what mattresses are best for them is something that only Mattress Firm offers.
How can ethical aspects of selling come into play in Botello’s job as a retail salesperson?
One example would be that sometimes salespeople have the opportunity to write up a sale where they would get credit, but have not earned the right to do so. At times, customers shop around and end up at the same store and want the same product that was offered to them previously. In such a case, the customer may request the particular salesperson who helped him or her previously. If that salesperson is not there, the new salesperson could choose to not give her/him credit. Another example might be a customer who tries to get greater price discounts by making untrue statements about a competitor’s price offering or shopping around at different Mattress Firm locations in order to get the lowest possible price. In many cases, however, the salesperson will recognize this behavior and act accordingly.
Being ethical is a core value at Mattress Firm. New hires are made aware of Mattress Firm’s expectations from the beginning of their employment to ensure that they are ethical with their customers and other salespeople. Mattress Firm’s Code of Conduct is a guide to the general principles that permeate the employees’ relationships with customers, business partners, and, last but not least, each other. The Code goes far beyond compliance with laws and regulations. It is also a set of practical instructions to help employees in their day-to-day work. It explains, for example,
how to manage potential conflicts of interest and how to report suspected violations of the rules.
At Mattress Firm, several policies and elements in the incentive compensation system exist that also help to safeguard ethical behavior. The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) dedicates an entire section to commission sales and how to handle different situations such as team selling,
ticket trading, SPIFFS, bonuses, and so forth. For example, the commission system encourages sales reps to hold the line on price concessions. National sales contests are also audited to ensure ethical behavior. The SOP and Employee Code of Conduct are housed on the company’s intranet and are available to view at any time.
Questions

1 Put yourself in Edith Botello’s place as a sales representative who is selling mattresses.
Can you imagine situations in your job that might challenge your ethical conduct?
2 For retailers such as Mattress Firm, what are the major areas that should be covered in a company policy on ethics?
3 Revenue-based incentive compensation plans, by their very nature, pressure sales representatives to generate high sales, which might cause unethical sales practices. How could an incentive compensation system be designed that stimulates sales generation, but safeguards ethical sales behavior at the same time?
4 Imagine you are a salesperson for Mattress Firm, just like Edith Botello. A customer walks into your store and, after awhile, shows great interest in a specific Tempur-Pedic.
When it comes to the price, the customer mentions that your competitor across the street offered him exactly that mattress at a 10 percent lower price than Mattress Firm. You have some doubts that this statement is actually true, but you do not want to disgruntle and compromise the customer. How would you react?