BOODAKIAN AND MAHFUZ FORM MERA CONSULTING SALES TRAINING FIRM
WINCHESTER, MA and NASHUA, NH -- MERA Consulting has been formed by Steve Boodakian and Sy Mahfuz.
The consulting firm offers customized seminar programs for both retailers and wholesalers. The one-day events help develop product knowledge, sales skills and stronger customer relations.
Boodakian and Mahfuz are both high-end Oriental rug retailers. They have been life-long competitors, but they are also share a friendship and love for the rug business that transcends competitive pressures.
Both men were trained by their fathers, but they recognize that the traditional family-operated Oriental rug store is going away, according to Mahfuz. "MERA Consulting will train the next generation of Oriental and area rug experts across the country, " he said.
"The business today is in department stores, furniture stores, carpet stores, home fashion centers. But it's rare to find people in those places who have good product knowledge or know the right approach to selling Oriental and area rugs," Mahfuz said.
MERA cusomizes its programs to suit the specific needs of its clients, said Boodakian. All the seminar programs have a two-pronged purpose:
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Education.
The course includes information about such constructions as hand-knotted, hand-tufted, machine-tufted and machine-woven; how to identify various rug patterns and countries of origin, and how to discern quality, age and value.
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Sales Training
Sales people are trained to incorporate knowledge into a consultant-style approach with customers. "This approach sells more rugs and generates more return business," said Boodakian. "It involves knowing the clients' tastes, how and in what rooms the rugs will be used, developing trust and being prepared to be the expert that many Oriental and area rug customers need."
MERA seminars are broad in scope. They can be tailored to retailers, manufacturers and importers, according to Boodakian and Mahfuz.
"Importers know their traditional base, the rug specialty store, is a dinosaur, and it makes sense to them to offer our training to their customers. Better salespeople sell more rugs,€VbCrLf said Mahfuz.
Steve Boodakian is president of Koko Boodakian & Sons, in Winchester, MA. He is a Certified Rug Appraiser (CRA), a member of the Luxury Marketing Council; a founding member of the New England Antique Rug Collectors, a past trustee of both the Oriental Rug Retailers of America (ORRA) and the Oriental Rug Dealers of Massachusetts. He was named National Oriental Rug Retailer of the Year in 2000.
Sy Mahfuz is the owner of Persian Rug Galleries, in Nashua, NH. He is a Certified Rug Appraiser (CRA), a past trustee of the Oriental Rug Retailers of America (ORRA); and was named National Oriental Rug Retailer of the Year in 1999. That same year, Persian Rug Galleries was named Retailer of the Year by the NH Chamber of Commerce Executives. In late 2004, Persian Rug Galleries also became the first Karastan Gallery showroom in the United States.