It is said that death and taxes are the only two things that are certain in life. Here’s another: If you live in the U.S., somewhere near you there’s a mattress sale going on offering the lowest prices of the year. Indeed, there’s never been a better time for you to buy a mattress.
Guaranteed!
In fact, one would have to be a real loser to pay full price on a mattress, a feat I’m not even sure is possible.
The mattress industry has long had the sleazy sales practices of car dealerships and electronics stores, where haggling and discounts are baked into the sales process. For most people, buying a mattress is a crap shoot based on perceived comfort while lying on a bed fully clothed in a retail store. The real-life experience on a mattress might differ considerably sleeping on one. Moreover, who really understands, or even cares to learn, about the finer points of foam, innerspring, and adjustable air mattress technology?
Growing up in Toronto, my family was blessed when it came to mattress buying because we had a friend in the business. His name was Howard, and when we needed a mattress, we simply called Howard and deferred to his judgment about what was best for our needs. My Los Angeles cousins were similarly blessed. They had Uncle Earl, who was also in the business and would get the family a considerably better deal than a retail store’s lowest price of the year.
Sadly, Howard passed away years ago and Uncle Earl has retired, leaving the Starkman clan to fend for ourselves. Fortunately, there’s my tech savvy cousin Rob, my go-to person for any purchase costing $10 or more. Not surprisingly, I’m in constant communication with Cousin Rob.
I recently shared with Cousin Rob that my chronic back pain had flared up again, which I attributed to the very high-end mattress I acquired a few years ago having lost some of its form and function. It was the same mattress purchased by Cousin Jesse, a nuclear engineer who launched a company focused on quantum physics, so understanding mattress technology for him was a walk in the park. I chose my mattress brand because I trusted Cousin Jesse’s technical judgment.
A year ago, Cousin Rob bought a Sleep Number bed, and he shared that several other persons we know, including a friend who only buys the very best, also owned one. Even Cousin Jesse, not one to waste money, had ditched his mattress for a Sleep Number bed. Without exception, Cousin Rob told me that everyone he knew who bought a Sleep Number bed raved about the product, including Cousin Jesse.
Cousin Rob and I are as different as night and day. Cousin Rob loves technology, and he embraces it. I’m a technophobe who regards technology as a major source of stress, as too often it fails or frustrates me. The tech gods punish me mercilessly because of my refusal to worship at their digital altars.
Not surprisingly, when Cousin Rob demonstrated the impressive functionality of his Sleep Number bed, my immediate thought was imagining all that could go wrong. The firmness of the mattress can be customized, and the base can adjust the positions, raising the head or the legs, and if you prefer to enjoy the sensation of zero gravity, both at the same time. Then there’s the bed’s sensors, which can determine a person’s quality of sleep and other health-related information. Buying a tech-laden mattress controlled by an app in my mind was just begging for more abuse.
But my back pain was worsening, and desperate times call for desperate measures. Cousin Rob agreed to accompany me to the Sleep Number store in upscale Santa Monica, as he knew I’d be intimidated by all the technology and determining the best Sleep Number bed for me.
Meet Joshua – My Sleep Number guide
Great salespersons know how to immediately connect with their customers. Joshua, the sales rep who greeted us, did Dale Carnegie proud. He volunteered that he was from Charleston, South Carolina, and that he was excited to work with Cousin Rob and me. Joshua had a smile almost as wide as Santa Monica and it was immediately clear that he loved his company and its products. I took an instant liking to the guy.
As luck would have it, the July 4th sale had been extended, and the sign on the window assured me “the lowest prices of the season.”
Sleep Number has about a half dozen bed systems to choose from, and the first task at hand was to take them on a test run. Joshua determined that my ideal sleep number was 35. The bed I liked the most also was one of the costliest but given that roughly one-third or more of my remaining vibrant life possibly would be spent lying on it, I didn’t want to be penny wise and pound foolish.
I was especially impressed with the zero-gravity function, which in addition to being incredibly relaxing relieved some of the back pain. I couldn’t wait to take delivery, but Joshua said the earliest date was July 30, four weeks later. Sleep Number is based in Minneapolis and its manufacturing facilities are impressively in Utah and South Carolina. The company doesn’t promote its Made In America manufacturing, but it should.
Although Cousin Rob cautioned me that Costco’s sheets are as good as any on the market and cost considerably less, I opted to buy Sleep Number’s sheets and pillows. Joshua was honest about being paid on commission, and I wanted to support him.
I left the store feeling good about my pricey purchase, and perceived Sleep Number as a premium company focused on delivering stellar customer service.
Greetings from India
Sleep Number’s functionality is controlled by an app and Joshua cautioned me that I needed the app loaded on my cell phone when I took delivery. The morning of delivery, I was unable to get the app up and running, which I determined was the result of my email address being entered incorrectly. I called what I thought was Sleep Number’s customer support line.
The call was answered with a recorded greeting from a woman with an English accent saying that I’d receive $100 for dialing the number. Then someone I’m guessing was in India came on the line. He wanted my name and address and then demanded my checking account number so he could deposit $100, which I refused to give him. He promptly terminated the call.
I called back, got the same recorded greeting, and then was connected to someone else I’m certain was in India, and he seemed to be driving in his car. He, too, wanted my name and address, and then pressured me to give him my checking account number, which I refused.
“Why don’t you want to give me your checking account number? he asked. “I want to give you $100.”
“Have you folks never heard of gift cards?” I replied. “I’m not going to give you my checking account number. I just want you to reset my email address.”
The person I spoke with said the company’s systems were down and that he was doing everything manually, hence the delay processing my information. The speaker said he’d connect me to someone who could reset my email address but first he needed my checking account number.
I lost it, and told the guy to cancel my order, which was due for delivery in a few hours. I called Cousin Rob and told him about my horrific experience. He was surprised and reminded me of all the people we knew who raved about their Sleep Number beds.
“Maybe Sleep Number beds have too much technology for Eric Starkman,” Cousin Rob said.
Offshoring Derangement Syndrome
I suffer from a mental illness I’ve dubbed offshoring derangement syndrome. If I call a customer support line for a U.S. company, I instantly become unhinged if I’m routed to an overseas call center. If the call begins with a recorded message, “Due to unusually heavy call volume” I briefly become certifiably insane.
Any U.S. company that offshores its customer support, cares not one iota about its customers. I’ve yet to deal with an offshore customer center where I’ve had a satisfying experience, and I doubt I ever will.
I was shocked that Sleep Number, a company selling pricy beds and mattresses, would outsource its customer support to India. In my fit of rage, I began firing off messages to company officials letting them know I thought their company sucked.
I couldn’t find corporate email addresses, so I sent one nasty message to CEO Shelly Ibach via LinkedIn. Another went to the company’s investor relations team. Another was sent through the chat function on the company’s website, which I figured was overseen by someone in India, so I didn’t bother to wait for a response.
I felt bad for Joshua, as he would lose the sale. I called his store to explain, and the manager answered the phone. I went into a rant about my outrage that Sleep Number would outsource its customer support to India.
“Our customer support is run out of Minneapolis,” he said. “What number did you call?”
“The number on your website,” I replied, and gave him the number.
“That’s not our number,” the manager replied.
Sleep Number’s customer support number is 1.800.472.7185. I dialed 1.800. 472.1785.
My immediate thought: I hope Shelly Ibach doesn’t read her LinkedIn messages!
Then my doorbell rang. Delivery of the bed I thought I’d cancelled had arrived.
An education about bedframes
My delivery driver was named Nick (I don’t remember his helper’s name) and he works for an independent company. Cousin Rob dropped by to support me, as Joshua warned that the delivery folks wouldn’t touch my bed frame and likely some slats would have to be removed. Cousin Rob insisted it would be easy, but I’m not handy, and didn’t want to take chances.
Removing the slats was simple, and we let Nick and his helper do their thing. It took about 30 minutes to set up the bed, and when they were done, the mattress height was almost halfway to the ceiling.
Nick explained that my bed frame had a quarter inch lip on each side, and he had to raise the bed above the lips to make it fit. I asked if he could remove the lips, but as Joshua warned me, he wasn’t allowed to work on bed frames. I wasn’t pleased, although I knew I couldn’t hold Nick responsible.
DeAnna’s stellar customer support
While Nick was assembling my bed, I received an email from DeAnna, who identified herself as a member of the “Office of the Executive Team” asking me for my number and a good time to speak with me. We connected the following morning.
I was embarrassed when DeAnna said she was aware of all the messages I had sent. I explained I dialed the wrong number and apologized profusely.
“You had us quite alarmed that someone asked for your checking account number,” DeAnna said, politely noting that she could find no record of me ever calling customer support.
DeAnna, who is based in Louisiana, blew me away with her product knowledge, training, and professionalism. She immediately understood the issue with the bedframe lips and explained that if Sleep Number started tampering with bedframes, it would open the company to considerable liability. That made sense, although I said it would be wise to advise customers of the potential problem in advance. Deanna said she’d share the information with the management team.
I told DeAnna my zero-gravity function had stopped working. Deanna said she’d reset my mattress settings.
“You’re in Louisiana and you can access my bed in Los Angeles?” I asked.
DeAnna said she could, and within minutes my zero-gravity function had returned. I thought to myself that Sleep Number was the company Elon Musk would create if he opted to disrupt the mattress business.
Handyman Dave to the rescue
Cousin Rob assured me that Dave, a talented handyman he introduced me to a year ago, could remove the lips on my bedframe. Typically, one must wait weeks to get on Dave’s schedule, but as luck would have it, he was working from home when I called and agreed to come by within hours of me contacting him.
It took Dave more than two hours to get the job done, and it was quite a challenge. The lips’ screws were underneath, and the Sleep Bed was too heavy to move. Dave had virtually no room to negotiate, and he didn’t have a bit that matched the screws. That he pulled off the task rightfully earned him a place in the handyman hall of fame.
I headed over to visit Joshua and asked if he could expedite a return visit to lower the bed. Joshua was headed to Fresno for a couple of days, but promised he’d take care of it while on the road. The following morning Joshua texted me that a delivery expert was scheduled for the following day.
I had hoped Nick wouldn’t be the delivery guy, as I was in a foul mood when he last saw me. He was, and Nick was very gracious about the return visit and having to disassemble my bed in order to lower it.
Sleep Whisperer Shelly Ibach
Superstar employees like Joshua and Deeana don’t get hired by chance. They reflect a sound recruiting and training process and superior HR practices that instilled their obvious love for Sleep Number and their contagious enthusiasm for its products. It all stems from the corner office, which in Sleep Number’s case has been occupied by Shelly Ibach since 2012.
Ibach appears to avoid the media limelight, which is surprising given that she could easily endear herself to the media as America’s sleep whisperer. Surprisingly, little has been written about her, and the little I’ve learned is impressive. Much of the following information I’ve gleamed from this April 2020 article published in Twin Cities Business.
Ibach joined Sleep Number, then called Select Comfort, in 2007 as head of U.S. retail. Five years later, she was named CEO. Retail is an integral part of Ibach’s DNA: Her father, Harlan Radue, ran a power sports store, selling motorcycles and snowmobiles, in Faribault, Minn., where she was born. When the family moved to Albert Lea, he opened a boat store called Radue Marine. As teens, Ibach and her brother opened their own bike shop next door.
Ibach attended University of Wisconsin-Stout and joined Dayton-Hudson Corp. upon graduating in 1981. Not surprisingly for a native Minnesotan, Ibach, 65, reportedly loves snowmobiling and racing cars.
Ibach understood the importance of sleep and its critical health benefits long before it was fashionable. After becoming CEO, she acquired an 18 percent interest in Silicon Valley medical device startup BAM Labs, which had developed sensors to measure heart rate, breathing, and motion in bed to monitor premature babies. Ibach appreciated how the sensors could be incorporated into Sleep Number’s mattresses, and eventually acquired the entire company for $58 million.
BAM’s sensors led to the launch of the Sleep Number 360 smart bed, which makes automatic adjustments throughout the night to keep sleepers comfortable based on real-time biometric and sleep data, then tabulates a SleepIQ score each morning and provides personalized insights that users can access on their smartphone or tablet.
Ibach has proven herself a savvy marketer Some 80 percent of NFL players sleep on one of the company’s beds, although according to Mitchell Schwartz, a member of the 2019 Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, players received a “crazy” stipend and discounts to buy their beds.
Despite her success, Ibach has her critics because Sleep Number’s stock price has badly underperformed. Stadium Capital Management, a New Canaan, CT-based investment firm that is one of the company’s largest shareholders, last year began pushing for boardroom changes. Stadium Capital reportedly had an issue with Ibach’s compensation, which totaled $6.3 million in 2023 and she’s reportedly taken home more than $50 million since becoming CEO. That’s pretty steep for a small cap company Wall Street values at this writing at only $317 million.
Still, I place little value in the collective wisdom of Wall Street. Even Stadium Capital conceded that Sleep Number is “a tremendous brand with a compelling, differentiated product set and an attractive business model.” That success is due to Ibach’s leadership and employees like Joshua and DeAnna, my newfound friends in the mattress business.
I know that Ibach pays close attention to the smallest of details, as Joshua shared he received an email from her making certain my issues were resolved. Delta CEO Ed Bastian might consider seeking a Sleep Number internship.
I’ve had my Sleep Number bed for less than a week, and I’m still trying to figure out the optimum sleep setting. Suffice to say, I’d never again buy a mattress with a fixed hardness, and I’d never purchase a tech-laden mattress from a company that doesn’t have stellar customer support. Despite all the aggravation, much of which was my own doing, I’m already convinced buying a Sleep Number bed was a smart purchase.
Take a bow, Shelly Ibach, Joshua, and DeAnna. Your efforts have garnered Sleep Number the highly coveted Starkman Approved Seal of Approval.