Customers have access to various choices for each category of furniture,

Tag : furniture manufacturer
I have written this manual as a way of thanking the many repswithout whose intervention I could not have learned the features ofthe many products I sold as a retail furniture salesperson. Anyonewho has sold furniture in retail stores over a period of years hasprobably had two or more reps that either had a poor knowledge oftheir products or had poor teaching skills. I too had a few ofthose inept reps.
However, I had more reps that not only knew their products well,but also knew how to teach others what they knew.
The aim of this manual is to make reps more effective by adding tothe teaching techniques they already know. I am, after all, aprofessional teacher, having taught a great variety of subjectsboth in high school and in college.
The many years of teaching have made it quite clear to me that thebest teachers are side-by-side learners, just as the bestsalespeople are side-by-side buyers. Teachers that might feelinsulted by being called side-by-side learners have to admit theyhave not learned it all. The tragedy of those that think they havelearned it all is that they most probably have. But the ultimatetragedy of teachers that think they have learned it all is that byhaving stopped learning about their subject, they have lost theirability to excite their students.
Once when I was teaching in a high school, one teacher explained tome that the reason he was no longer learning more about his subjectwas that he already knew more about his subject than most of hisstudents would ever learn. I agreed that he probably did, butquickly pointed out that the real reason why he should be learningmore about his subject was in order to be excited about what he wasteaching. I have long felt that what our young students lack in ourschools are teachers excited about their subject matter. I feel thesame about salespeople. The vast majority of them are not excitedabout selling. Therefore, the vast majority of them cannot excitetheir customers.
The aim of this manual is to help reps become more effective bybecoming more proficient at what they do. Proficiency andexcitement make wonderful partners. In short, the aim of thismanual is to make reps more professional.
Introduction

The purpose of this manual is to provide the manufacturer's reps with one more means of working closely with furniture retailsales people that sell their manufacturer's products. In truth, itis the retail salespeople that do the selling of the rep's productsor services to the consumer. Therefore, ultimately, reps cannot besuccessful without their retail salespeople.
Thus, anything less than a close working relationship between repsand their salespeople will inevitably result in a significant lossof sales for both. For this reason, we chose to call this manualSelling by Proxy.

The urgency for this working relationship is based on a logisticnecessity. It is logistically impossible for the solitary rep tosell enough products to meet the manufacturer's required quotaswithout the help of retail salespeople. Yet, it often happens thatthe working relationship between reps and salespeople leaves muchto be desired. Perhaps this is so because, alas, it is too easy forthe relationship to become one-sided, as each side goes about itsown business in a manner some sociologists call Gesellschaft, arelationship based on an impersonal agreement instead of theGemeinschaft, a relationship based on a personal agreement.

In practical terms, then, the purpose of this manual is to helpreps cultivate a Gemeinschaft or selling partnership with theirretail salespeople, a partnership grounded on mutual business goalsthat help both sides perceive that the best way to realize thosegoals is to work closely and caringly with one another. In orderfor this partnership to function well, the working relationshipmust be based on the often mouthed but seldom understood, and evenless practiced, concept of win-win. Too many define win-win as bothsides winning.
While it is true that both sides win, too few of us perceive thatwin-win means that both sides win at a higher level than each sidemight have attained by going it separately. In short, a win-winrelationship works on the basis of synergism.

The GEMEINSCHAFT or selling partnership we are presenting in thismanual cannot be attained unless both partners buy into eachother's goals. After all, that is simultaneously the best way toattain one's own goals. After all, each one of us is instinctivelymotivated to work within the psychological principle of "What's init for me? (WIIFM) The paradox of the win-win philosophy ofselling is that it unselfishly operates within what on the surfaceof the words, "What's in it for me?" would appear as a selfishphilosophy. Actually, in order for the win-win philosophy to beeffective, it must avoid every trace of selfishness, if each sideis to attain its highest goals.

Reps and salespeople both must understand that by going at oneanother's jobs separately, their relationship at best will be aparasitic one that feeds on another's life system without providingany benefit to that life system. Such a relationship is always onein which the used party rids itself of its user the firstopportunity it gets. How different, for example, the symbioticrelationship between bees and flowers: The flowers provide the beeswith the essential pollen for honey, and the bees in turn providethe flowers with their essential cross-pollination.

But the real worth of a symbiotic relationship between reps andretail salespeople is the enthusiasm it promotes by workingtogether. At the same time, it helps to prevent the indifference ina one-sided parasitic relationship aptly implied in the Koreanexpression, "The flea never asks the dog in what direction it isgoing." In a symbiotic relationship, reps and retail salespeople,despite each side's individual goals, somehow manage to share acommon direction.

While this manual, as its title shows, is directed at themanufacturers' reps, it would be a sad mistake were one to takethat title to mean that retail salespeople need this symbioticrelationship less than their factory reps.

One final note before we get into the units that show how todevelop that symbiotic relationship. The ultimate satisfaction thatawaits reps that work hand in glove with their retail salespeoplerests on a much higher plain than that of a mutual financialremuneration alone. We have only to watch the expression on thefaces of professional players that have just lost a play-off or achampionship game through a lack of teamwork to see the ultimatedejection of the losers that know they have lost more than money.How different the dejection of the losers from the exhilaration ofthe winners as they celebrate the triumph of having won together.Our hope is that this manual will help reps and retail salespeopleexperience such exhilaration again and again.

Unit One: The Elements of a Good Sales Meeting

All reps agree that successful sales meetings with their retailsalespeople are key to promoting successful sales. To besuccessful, a sales meeting must have key elements in place. Let'stake a look at these.

A. Specific Objective: A Sales meeting must have a clearly specific objective. Toaccomplish this, the rep's objective must be neither general normixed. The one detracts from a successful meeting because what isgeneral is seldom exciting. The other causes confusion. The way tokeep a meeting exciting and free from confusion is to have aspecific objective. For example, the rep might focus on specificways to increase the sales of premium bedding, or of selling moreadd-ons, such as a table pad or fabric protection, or of pointingout the unique features of a given product or service, such ascredit features and policies.

B. Need Awareness: Reps must be aware of their retail salespeople's needs. Like allpeople, retail salespeople feel all five of Maslow's needs: basic,security, social, ego, and self-actualization. The rep must betuned in at all times to the frequency of the levels of thoseneeds. Reps need to realize that their salespeople tune in to theirown levels of needs. Their salespeople more often than not tune into a frequency and level of needs at variance with the frequencyand the level their reps tune in to. Reps, without abandoning theirown objectives, must work hard to help their retail salespeopleattain their objectives. Otherwise, reps will find their messagedistorted and garbled by the static caused by being on the wrongfrequency. At the same time, retail salespeople must be willing torespect the frequency within which reps are obligated to operate,by arriving at a mutually beneficial compromise.

The most practical way for reps to tuned in to the frequency oftheir retail salespeople is to engage them in dialogue. Forexample, reps should make it a point to ask their salespeople whatthey would like to get out of sales meetings. Reps who fail to askthis of their salespeople will find it difficult, if notimpossible, to hold sales meetings on the same frequency as that oftheir salespeople. For reps to assume to know the retailsalespeople's frequency is to invite the kind of sales meetingsthat benefit neither reps nor retail salespeople.

Would it not be more productive for all concerned to hold the kindof sales meeting that meets the concerns of the retail salespeople,especially when those concerns, if not addressed, will prevent theactive participation of the salespeople? And even if a rep happensto have correctly assumed the retail salespeople's concerns, wouldit not be more productive to discover those concerns from thesalespeople themselves. After all, when a rep happens to assume thesalespeople's concerns correctly, much like the proverbial blindpig that occasionally stumbles upon an acorn, knowledge throughassumption does not bring with it the respect that genuinelistening through clarifying and confirming does. All human beingsyearn to be listened to, writes Michael Nichols in his book, TheLost Art of Listening. It follows that all salespeople yearn to belistened. The corollary to Michael Nichol's words is that listenerstend to be listened to much more often than non-listeners arelistened to. Reps that regularly listen to their salespeople willmore regularly be listened to.


The following are some of the concerns reps might address in theirmeetings. What part of their products are the salespeople weakestin? Which customer objection do they need help with the most? Whatspecific problem is discouraging the salespeople the most? How canthey best
apply product features to actual selling situations on the floor?

C. The right approach: A wise man once said: "You tell me, I forget. You teach me, Iremember. You involve me, I learn." Seldom does learning takeplace, and even less does buy-in take place, when the salespeopleare not involved in the rep's sales meetings. By involving at leastone or two of the salespeople in the meeting, the rep can always beassured of at least one thing: Those involved with him will comeout of that meeting having learned something. In addition, thoseinvolved will probably buy into the objectives of that meeting,simply because the rep involved them. More than one surveyconducted to rank the factors that motivate employees revealed thatthe number one and two motivating factors were being appreciatedfor work well done and being in on things. Being in on thingsrequires involvement.

Paradoxically, the method of involvement is not as important as theinvolvement itself. The rabbi who stated that God would ratherlisten to someone sincerely stuttering his prayers than to somespeech teacher insincerely reciting his might have been referringto this paradox.

Also, the involvement of salespeople in sales meetings must bemotivated by a keen awareness of the different abilities of eachsalesperson. Some salespeople are good at preparing charts, othersat demonstrating features, still others at talking about theirrelevant sales experiences. People do best what they are best atdoing. The best reps know how to draw upon these individualdifferences.

D. Interesting & Exciting: Make your sales meetings interesting and exciting. An author oncestated that it's not growing a great potato that makes a greatpotato chip. It's how you slice it. Reps must find a way to "slicethe potato," to make sales meetings exciting, captivating,intriguing. They must practice what one author calls the 3 K's:Katch 'em, Keep 'em, Konvince 'em. That author wasn't troubled bymisspellings. He knew the wisdom of Mark Twain's words: If youcan't spell a word in at least two ways, you lack imagination.


E. The Agenda. One of the easiest and most effective ways to Katch, Keep, andKonvince 'em is to prepare and hand out an agenda, and then followit. Little is more frustrating for those called to a meeting thanan agenda that is not followed. The attendees end up feeling likesomeone who has just been served something at a restaurant he orshe didn't order from the menu. On the other hand, store owners andmanagers should not arbitrarily and suddenly subtract from the timethey allotted the reps to conduct their sales meeting. Doing sosends a negative message to the salespeople regarding theimportance of the sales meeting.

F. Know when to close. A meeting without a close is like a story without an ending. Weall know the agony of attending sessions in which the speaker nevermade his or her main points because he or she simply ran out oftime. That is generally a sign of poor preparation. This does notmean that the rep must be an absolute slave to the agenda in a waythat discourages questions from listeners. Only when a question isclearly unrelated to the subject at hand should the rep leave itunanswered. Even in that case the rep should say, "Please see meafter the meeting. I'll be happy to go over that with you." Afterthe meeting, the rep should make sure he or she does just that.

G. How to maintain control of:

1. The Quiet Person. With the quiet person ask questions in rotation or give the quietperson some responsibility like preparing the training props. Or,after the meeting, you might spend a few minutes on the floorgoing over the main features of your product with the quiet person.Also, you can try an open-ended question or two to help stimulatethe quiet person's input.

2. The Talkative Person. This type tends to frustrate the rest who didn't come to hear thiswordy person. It can help if you assign this person the job ofknowing specifics about your products. Specifics should not take along time to cover. Interrupt the talker's comments with statementslike, "That's a good comment. Let's hear what the other salespeoplehave to say about that." Wordy persons like to hear themselvestalk. When they see that their comments simply serve to give theirfellow salespeople a chance to be heard, they tend to shift toless, but more productive, talking.

3. The Negative Person. Negativism tends to become endemic. Whenever this type brings up a negative comment, calmly and kindly ask him how he or she wouldhandle the situation. As a rule, negative people do not bring upcomments with the intent of being problem solvers. When asked tobecome problem solvers, negative people tend to be less negative.

4. The Classroom Clown. This type will do anything to get attention. If left uncontrolled,the classroom clown will destroy your sales meeting. Give thesetypes an assignment to keep them too occupied to play the buffoon.ou might also try the following strategy. Walk up to this kind ofsalesperson before the meeting and say: "I need your help. How canwe get the most out of this sales meeting? Any ideas?" Thisstrategy can help put the clown-type in a
position of feeling responsible. By feeling responsible, theclown-type also gets a feeling of self-importance and attention,the very things most clowns are really looking for when they playthe buffoon.

5. The Braggart. This type irritates his fellow salespeople by constantly talkingabout his sales ability. You can significantly cut into thisperson's habit by presenting scenarios with tough sellingobjections and by having this person tell the group how he or shewould answer these objections. Then ask the group to rate his orher performance fairly and constructively. Braggarts are ofteninsecure. They therefore use their bragging to cover up theirinsecurity.
When you conduct a meeting, practice the Golden Silence rulewhenever you are tempted to answer your own questions because youfeel no one else in the meeting is going to respond. Instead, givethe group at least 10 to 12 seconds before answering your own question. Those 10 or 12 seconds may feel like 10 or 12 minutes,but stick to the Golden Silence rule.

In general, regardless of the types of personalities you encounterin your sales meetings, always encourage the free exchange ofideas. An effective way to do so is to avoid using the singular when you invite their ideas. Note the difference between thefollowing examples: What is your idea on this matter? The singular word idea soundsmanipulative because it appears to invite the salespeople to echothe rep's idea. What are your ideas on this matter? The plural word ideas invitesthe salespeople to bring up their ideas). Another effective way to encourage salespeople to bring up theirideas is never to follow up your open-ended question with animmediate closed probe. For example, avoid the following way ofasking for the input of the salespeople: "How do you think weshould handle this problem of overselling? By learning more aboutour product?" The immediately following close-ended questioncancels the preceding open-ended one. In follow-up sales sessions, make it a habit to encourage thesalespeople to give examplesof successful sales and what they didto make them successful. Always ask them to be specific. At thesame time, make it a habit to encourage the salespeople to commenton the kinds of objections they encountered in selling your productand how they handled those objections. Whenever the discussions get off track, point that out. You mightsay something like the following: "While what you have pointed outhas some interest, we're getting away from today's agenda. So thatwe can get back on track, let me ask you . . .?"

Note: The suggestions offered above for handling these difficult typesmust not come off as punitive or vindictive. For better or worse,these different types of behavior will probably continue to befound within the sales staff. You need to find a way to motivateeach type to sell more of your product. Attacking them won't helpthem do that. Involving them in meaningful ways will.

Conclusion: Successful sales meetings are not a matter of luck, but ofpreparation meeting up with opportunity. Salespeople respect repswhose meetings show preparation.



Unit Two: Spiffs and Quotas

A. Spiffs:
The most productive reps know that salespeople tend, consciously orunconsciously, to sell fewer of the products of those reps theycare less for and vice versa. Put another way, most salespeoplehave an uncanny way of believing in the products of the reps theyare fond of.

While all reps seem to realize this to some degree, too many repsdo not strive to win that fondness at all; they try to buy itthrough spiffs.1

For better or worse, the practice of giving spiffs to retailsalespeople for selling assigned lines of a product is much moreprevalent in the bedding industry than in any other. The intent ofthis unit is not to condemn that practice. Besides, I doubt that mycondemnation or anybody else's will make a perceivable change inthe practice of giving spiffs. Nevertheless, I feel that repsshould keep the following in mind.

Fondness won by money is as reliable as our shadows. While thesunshine of spiffs is present, the shadowy fondness continues. Butas soon as the spiffless clouds return, the shadowy fondnessdisappears. In the long run, there "ain't" enough spiffs to goaround to keep up with the shadows. The moral? Don't bank too muchon spiffs to win the fondness of your salespeople. Instead, do thethings that are more substantial in their eyes: Spend time withthem in the stores, teach them specialized product knowledge, andhelp them with their selling skills. In this way you won't just wintheir fondness. You'll also win their respect.

B. Quotas

Using quotas as incentives is often abused not only by reps, butalso by owners and their store managers. Every rep should read TomPeter's In Search of Excellence, especially the chapter thatdiscusses quotas. In that chapter, Tom Peters advises how to usequotas effectively. Foolish companies, he contends, actually usequotas to discourage most of the salespeople. How so? By setting upquotas so that only ten percent of the salespeople consistentlyreach their quotas, while ninety percent consistently fail to reachtheir quotas. In other words, the very quotas meant to producewinners end up leaving the ninety percent seeing themselves aslosers. How different, Tom Peters continues, the results of thosewho set quotas to leave the ninety percent seeing themselves aswinners. Wise owners and managers, insists Tom Peters, stack thedeck in their favor. To start with, they set quotas low enough sothat even the ninety percent believe they have a chance of reachingtheir quotas.

But, some might argue, what good is there in setting quotas thatlow? At this point, Tom Peters adds a point of view that hit meright between the eyes. The primary reason for setting quotas is toleave salespeople seeing themselves as winners.


Note: I have not been able to trace the origin of the word spiff.Most dictionaries define spiff as a verb, but not as a noun. As averb it means "to spruce up." The use of the noun "spiff" seems tobe a coinage of the retail industry to indicate a gratuitous amountof money awarded salespeople for a predetermined performance of onekind or another. Thus a "spiffed" mattress is one whose value isspruced up in the eyes of the salesperson.

Salespeople who believe in themselves tend to sell more than thosewho do not. Logically the purpose of quotas ought to be to motivatethe ninety percent that consistently fail to reach their goals. Theway to do that is to set the goals low enough so that the ninetypercent begin to look upon themselves as winners. After that, amanager can begin to set the goals a little higher until graduallythe ninety percent begins to look upon itself as winners.Understanding this means understanding the psychology ofmotivation. How sad but true the words of one author who said thatwe eventually understand the obscure; the obvious takes us a littlelonger.

Unit Three: Professional Presence

Significant progress is always the result of actions taken on thebasis of new insights. Other words for insight are illumination,enlightenment, and revelation. I like the word insight because itimplies a looking into oneself. Revelations, illuminations andenlightenments imply the intervention of outer powers that somehowshed light on or remove the veil of mystery surrounding something.Insights suggest individuals have to look within themselves for theanswers.

New insights cause us to see new possibilities for action that cantake us to new levels, that is, to step off the plateau ofmediocrity. For as long as we are content to walk along PlateauAvenue, our lives will continue to be level and flat. Such walking,however comfortable, cannot possibly take us to life's richerdiscoveries at the top.

Insights come rarely even to the best of us, and they seem to comemost rarely of all regarding this thing called professionalpresence. Hold a seminar on how to dress professionally, forexample, and what you'll mostly hear from some participants arestatements like the following: "That's all fine and good, but Idon't want to overdress." Or you'll hear, "People don't care howyou dress as long as you treat them right." Or you'll hear the onethat irks me the most: "That's all right for some professions, butnot for mine." These and others are the statements you'll oftenhear, reeking from the smell of half truths.

Such statements merely prove that mediocrity dies hard and fightsall attempts at being dislodged from the security of being average.No one has perceived this better than Stewart Emery, a psychologistand consultant of note, who wrote: "It is remarkable how muchmediocrity we live with, surrounding ourselves with daily remindersthat the average is acceptable. Our world suffers from terminalnormality. Take a moment to assess all the things around you thatpromote your being 'average.' These are the things that keep youpowerless to go beyond a limit you arbitrarily set for yourself.The first step to having what you really want is the removal ofeverything in your environment that represents mediocrity, removingthose things that are limiting."

There is not a rep alive who doesn't instinctively know that hecannot make an exciting impression on potential store buyers andmerchandisers and salespeople by being less prepared than the repswith whom he competes every day. But not enough reps instinctivelyknow that each one of them either dresses to win or dresses tolose. Robert Pante, author of "Dressing to Win," insists thatclothes always make a statement, create a mood, or leave animpression. He goes on to say that you can't impress somebody ifthat somebody feels you look terrible.

"Ah, but you can overdress," is the common objection you might hearat this point, as though the objective of this unit were to get therep to overdress, or as if overdressing were a common fault amongreps. Look about you and you will see that is simply not so.

But since we have brought up the subject of overdressing, RobertPante has the best observation on it: "If your clothes speak louderthan you do, you are overdressed.

Dress appropriately for your own industry, of course. How do youknow you are dressed appropriately? Go to the authorities on thesubject, especially the most current ones. They may not beinfallible on the subject of dress, but they are the most reliable.If you wanted to know how best to train a racehorse, you'd go to ahorse trainer, not a bookie.

The following reference materials can serve as guides on thistopic.

1.New Dress for Success, John T. Malloy.

2.Dressing to Win, Robert Pante. Although this book is not gearedto the selling profession as
such, it too has some valuable tips.

3.Successful Style, Doris Pooser.

4.The Professional Image, Susan Bixler. She has excellentsuggestions for all professional
workers. Her latest video, Professional Presence, put out byAmerican Media is a must.



Unit Four: A New Symbiotic Role

Traditionally the role reps have taught retail salespeople thefeatures and benefits of their products with an eye to having themperceive the advantages of their product over those of thecompetition. While such a role is understandable, by itself itfails to prepare retail salespeople for selling. It fails becausethorough product knowledge, as vital as it is, consistently fallsshort by itself. For while the goal of retail salespeople - and ofall salespeople - may be to provide the customer with theinformation needed to make the best buying decision, their rolecalls for an ability to apply the professional selling skillswithin the dynamics of selling, as taught in Achieve Global'sProfessional Selling Skills seminar: The opening, probing,supporting, and closing - and something I've developed more fullythan that seminar has - handling the intervening customer'sobjections as implied needs. For unless salespeople see that everycustomer objection is an implied need, they will tend to overcomeobjections rather than to support the need within those objections

Moreover, salespeople must see the selling skills as workinginterdependently, dynamically, and synergistically. The sellingskills on any seminar's charts are static. In the actual sellingprocess the skills must be dynamic. Therefore memorizing one'slines won't do it. As Hank Trisler points out in his No BullSelling, the trouble with memorizing our lines is that customerskeep on forgetting theirs. The answer to handling the dynamics ofselling is to use the skills synergistically.

Not only that, but professional salespeople must understand thatattitude, selling skills, and product knowledge reach their highestlevel of productivity only when the three work interdependently,dynamically, and synergistically.

All this makes sense only to those salespeople that see sellingwithin the complex psychological factors that consistentlyfluctuate with each new buyer. You can never jump into the sameriver twice, quipped Heraclitus, the ancient Greek philosopher ofchange. Every buyer enters the store with his or her unique set ofneeds. This complexity stems from the unique set of circumstancesthat always surround every buyer's needs.

Unit Five: The Importance of Specialized Product Knowledge and Howto Teach It.

It is a sad fact that the longer many salespeople have sold on aretail floor, the more they tend to put down product knowledge bylabeling it as irrelevant "nuts and bolts. It is easy to explainwhy this is so. When first introduced to them, all salespeople areexcited about the features of their products. Why do they lose thatexcitement in a short time? I believe they lose it becausecustomers rarely inquire about those features as they enter thestore. For example, in all my years of retail selling I have neverheard a customer's opening words remotely resemble any of thefollowing: I'd like to see your sofas with drop-in-coils. Show me a chair with finger-jointed corner blocking. Take me to your mattresses with six-turned coils. Show me one of your tables with a sixteen-step finish. Show me one of your five-ply veneers. Are the dowels on your chairs fluted? Are any of the drawers in your dressers triple-doweled? I'd like to see some Posture Tech coils. Does your upholstery have UFAC tags?
It is true that most customers visit home furnishings stores tocreate beautiful and functional rooms. That does not mean thatretail salespeople should not know their products inside and out.That's because failure at this most basic level sends a negativesignal to potential buyers.
If salespeople lived to be the age of Methuselah, they'd likely beasked such questions a couple of times at most. The only featurescustomers ask for - and rarely at the very start of the sale - arethose they heard salespeople mention in another store, such as thefollowing: How many coils does this mattress have? Is this fabric treated? Is this solid wood? Is this real wood? Is this leather or vinyl? Is this foam non-allergenic? What kind of warranty does this have?
Note that all these questions imply the customer's concern aboutsome fear about the product's ability to perform. Why do so manycustomers have fears about products? Because most of the customershave had sad experiences with products that failed to perform theirlevel of expectation, an expectation strengthened by somesalesperson that either intentionally or unintentionallyexaggerated the ability of a product to perform. (I'll pass overthose salespeople who understate their product's ability toperform, that is to say, those salespeople who undersell theirproducts out of ignorance or indifference).

Customers with sad experiences of products not holding up areunderstandably skeptical and, therefore, approach each newsalesperson feeling mad, sad, scared, or with all three of thoseemotions, as Michael Le Boeuf states in his book, How to WinCustomers and Keep Them for Life. As a result, while most customersdo not enter stores with questions on their lips about productfeatures, you can rest assured they do enter needing satisfactoryproof statements regarding their fears. In short, customers arelooking for solutions. Those solutions lie in the features - theso-called nuts and bolts - of their products. Therefore, reps oughtto teach product features to their retail salespeople, providedthey do so with the following words in mind: You can never knowtoo much about your products, but you can talk too much aboutthem.

Also, reps should teach product features as solutions to customerconcerns. Once reps are aware of these concerns, they shouldsupport them with personalized benefits, and then work to win thecustomers commitment. To do all this, reps have to have thenecessary selling skills. Let's take a close look at the first ofthese skills - probing.

Unit Six: The Skill of Probing - A Threefold Process.

Every customer enters the store with specific needs as well asspecific circumstances surrounding those needs. Salespeople need tohave a clear idea of what the customer is looking for and why he orshe is looking. Experienced salespeople tend to admit that theygenerally find it easy to find out what the customer is lookingfor: a recliner, a dinette, a lamp, etc. Were selling only a matterof finding out what the customer is looking for, selling would berather easy. All they would have to do show only one sofa, onerecliner, one dinette, one set of bedding, etc. But because the whysurrounding the what is usually complex, selling too is complex.

The what and the why of the customer's needs should never beassumed or guessed. Salespeople should never reduce selling to agame of chance, unless they have no intention of succeeding.Therefore, selling calls for probing.

There are two kinds of probes, open and closed. Any timesalespeople use a yes-no question or ask for specific informationregarding such things as size, color, fabric, length of warranties,delivery date, etc., they are using a closed probe, as illustratedin the following examples: How many chairs do you need? What color? How much were they asking for the sofa you saw at that store? Which one do you prefer? Is this your first time in our store? Do you need the box spring and the frame? Are you interested in our 60 days same as cash? What particular style are you looking for? (Note that contrary towhat some authors say about this kind of probe, it is not an openprobe.) Is there a particular style you're looking for?
It should be clear that the closed probe is effective, among otherthings, for finding out the what of the customer's needs. It isless effective for finding out the why. To find out the why, thesalesperson should use open probes. Open probes encourage thecustomer to talk freely about the circumstances surrounding his orher needs. The following examples show how open probes encouragecustomers to talk freely about those circumstances:
Would you mind telling me what's really important to you in yournext dining room set? What happened when you used that other fabric protection? Tell me the mood you'd like to create in that living room. What exactly do you mean by "My sofa's had it"? Something seems to be keeping you from making this purchase. Mindsharing with me what that is? Mind telling me why that's important to you?

Both open and closed probes are essential to selling, just everybird requires two wings to fly. The following exercise should provehelpful in pointing out the need for both types of probes.

Directions For Holding A Probing Role Play: Form groups of two participants each. In each group of two haveone participant be A, the other B. Have A probe B with closedprobes alone regarding the what and the why of what A is lookingfor, and then have B do the same with A. Next reverse situation.Have A and B use open probes alone. Finally, allow A and B to useboth kinds of probes. The results of this entire exercise shouldpoint out the need for both open and closed probes.

Qualifying: Qualifying consists of interpreting all the information arrived atthrough probing with the aim of setting up a selling strategy. Inother words, the salesperson finds out the what and the why of thecustomer's needs in order to qualify the customer. On the basis ofthat qualifying, the salesperson develops a selling strategy orplan of action.

A Selling Strategy: Selling without a strategy is like sailing the seas without acompass. Without a strategy one's chances of getting to where he'dlike to get aren't very good. Yogi Berra stated it best in hisinimitable style: "If you don't know where you're going, how willyou know when you get there?"

Simply stated, every customer wants to end making the best buyingdecision. To help us define "the best," we should remember what wemay have learned in school: Every adjective has three degrees ofcomparison: positive, comparative, and superlative, as illustratedin the adjectives good, better, best.

Earlier we mentioned that if all customers were interested only inthe what without the why, selling wouldn't exist at all. A storewould have only one item for each category of furniture. Therewould be no need for customers to do comparison-shopping. Becausecustomers have access to various stores and to various choices foreach category of furniture, they end up choosing only what theyconsider to be the best. Eventually most customers, with or withoutthe help of a salesperson's selling strategy, end up buyingfurniture somewhere. The problem for salespeople is that unlesstheir customers consistently buy from them, they'll soon be out ofa job. Only those salespeople with a selling strategy canconsistently make it easier for the customer to choose what isbest.
Unit Seven: How to Set Up a Selling Strategy

Step One: Preconditioning

At first sight, preconditioning might appear to be another way ofassuming. It is not. Assuming is arriving at conclusionsprematurely without first getting the facts. Preconditioning helpsmake customers aware of the common differences among a specificcategory of furniture.

For example, bedroom furniture tends to have common or genericdifferences, like those that appear in the following list.

Mirror: (landscape, trifold, pier unit)

Chest: (drawer, armoire, lingerie, chest-on-chest)

Headboard: (headboard-footboard, headboard alone, bookcase, postswith canopy)

Dresser: (drawers, drawers with doors)

Finish: (stained, painted, natural, lacquered)

Surface: (solid, veneer, print, high-pressure laminate)

Style: (Queen Anne, shaker, oriental, Early American, modern)

Wood: (oak, pine, maple, pecan, cherry, walnut, rattan)

Other categories of furniture could be similarly illustrated.

Salespeople ought to become skilled at preconditioning because ithelps to eliminate drawbacks down the road. Often, customerspresent salespeople with the following drawbacks well into thesale, drawbacks salespeople might have prevented had theypreconditioned the customer:
Does this come with an armoire? Does this have a chest instead of the armoire? What other fabrics does this come in? Is that the only kind of mirror it comes with it? What other colors does it come in?
Why demonstrate a bedroom set without first finding out what kindof bedroom set the customer's heart is set on buying? Why show apillow top mattress only to find out later that the customer isagainst pillow tops? There are enough unforeseeable drawbacks inselling. Why should salespeople allow themselves the kinds ofdrawbacks they might easily have eliminated by preconditioning thecustomer?

The Principle of Three

Experienced salespeople know full well that the longer theselection process continues on the sales floor, regardless of thecategory the customer is looking for, the less the likelihood thatthe customer will make a buying decision.
Here's an interesting paradox. Customers prefer shopping in storesthat provide a wide assortment of choices; yet they do not enjoyworking with salespeople who give them a tour of that wideassortment. The sooner salespeople can zero in on three sofas, forexample, the sooner they can win the customer's confidence. Thenumber three is based on the three terms of comparison; good,better, best. But salespeople should set up the threefoldcomparison so that customers can easily perceive the "best." Forthat to happen, salespeople must develop the habit of being able toqualify just what features the customer is particularly lookingfor. But in doing so, salespeople should be especially careful notto assume that price alone is the outstanding factor. Price aloneis seldom the deciding factor in a buyer's decision, especially ifthat price fails to provide the benefits that moved the customer toshop in the first place. That consideration was what probably movedauthor Chuck Reeves to write the following in his book, "Never TakeMoney From a Stranger: "In the history of recorded time, nocustomer has ever said 'You're price is too high,' and meant it."It was probably the same consideration that moved Zig Ziglar tocome up with his classic close: "Sir, doesn't it make sense to paya bit more and get what you really want, rather than to pay a bitless and not get it?" Down deep in their pocketbooks and pursescustomers know that when they buy quality they cry only once!

The principle of three should become the principle by which allsalespeople set up their selling strategy, while they keep thefollowing in mind. A selling strategy rarely comes naturally tosalespeople. It is the result of practice, practice, and morepractice.

Unit Eight: The Skill of Presenting or Benefeaturing.

The following are mottoes salespeople should live by: Not shown when told remains unsold. A presentation without a demonstration is only a conversation. Only personalized benefits sell.

Presenting is sometimes referred to as the skill by whichsalespeople provide customers with the information needed to makethe best buying decision. By probing, salespeople uncover thecustomer's most pressing needs or concerns, both positive andnegative, that is, their hopes and expectations as well as theirdoubts and fears. In other words, through probing, salespeople getto analyze the customer's current furniture needs and what it'sgoing to take to support those needs.

In presenting, the salesperson actually prescribes what feature thecustomer needs and how that feature can meet or support thecustomer's needs. Because the customer's needs can only besupported by relevant or personalized features and benefits, I havecoined the word benefeaturing. Both features and benefits areequally important in supporting a customer's needs. While it istrue that customer's buy into the benefit, the salesperson thatfails to demonstrate the feature runs the risk of losing thecustomer's credibility. After all, the solutions to all thecustomer's needs lie within the product's ability to perform. Itfollows then that the customer will be reluctant to accept theproduct's performance (benefit) until the customer accepts theproduct's ability to do so (features).
For this reason, the salesperson should have a thorough knowledgeof the features of his product. Retail salespeople commonly referto these features as specs or, less often, as "nuts and bolts,"especially when they wish to talk down their importance.

But is it really necessary for salespeople to learn each and everyspec? Absolutely! Here's why. To start with, salespeople have noway of knowing which specs customers need in order to solve theirfurniture needs. Let's say a bulk of a man is shopping for the kindof dining room chair to support his excessive weight. Recently hehad purchased some chairs that simply failed to hold up. Let's alsoadd that not long ago a salesperson assured this customer that thechairs he went on to buy could hold an elephant. The customer wasnever shown why except that he was told not to worry because theset had an excellent warranty. Unless the present salesperson inthis scenario can demonstrate the very features that can leave thiscustomer believing that the chairs can adequately support thiscustomer's weight over a period of years, this customer will doubtany such claim the salesperson makes. A warranty alone won'tpersuade this customer to buy, since that would probably increasethe customer's skepticism. Once burned, twice armed. Let's say thechairs this salesperson hopes to sell this huge customer aresample-tested as follows: the factory utilizes a machine thatsimulates the weight of a 250 pound individual rocking a chair5,000 times. The salesperson has a factory brochure that attests tothat method of sampling its chairs. The salesperson reads from thisbrochure and then hands it to the customer to keep. The customerthen accepts the proof and buys the set. Had the salesperson knownevery other feature but the one about the test sampling, thecustomer might never have agreed to buy. The following truism mightbest sum up what we have been saying: It is better to be preparedfor something to happen and then not have it happen than not to beprepared for something to happen, and then have it happen.

Relevant or Personalized Features and Benefits

In presenting, that is, supporting with features and benefits,nothing is more counter-productive than what we like to call theindiscriminate spewing of features and benefits all over thecustomer. Spewing is not too strong a term for this practice, forirrelevant presenting truly nauseates customers. In medicine, onlya quack would prescribe indiscriminately.
Just as professional doctors do their best to match theprescription to the patient's ailment, so too should salespeoplematch each feature and benefit to the customer's need. Customers donot accept unrelated features and benefits. To be effective, thesalesperson's presenting must be limited only to relevant orpersonalized features and benefits.

Unit Nine: Closing - The Skill of Keeping Customers for Life

For lack of a better word to indicate the skill of gaining thecustomer's commitment for life, I'll continue to use the commonlyused word, closing. More important than the word is the habit ofthe skill itself. I remember having heard in a sales presentationthat the vast majority of retail salespeople do not even ask forthe sale once. This is startling when one considers that a NotreDame University study some years ago revealed that the mostsuccessful salespeople ask for the sale an average of five or sixtimes!

Salesperson should ask for the sale with confidence because, as theancient historian Livy wrote years ago, confidence begetsconfidence. Customers do not tend to trust a salesperson that lacksself-confidence. Having said that about confidence, let's considerthe skill of closing, for it is indeed a skill.

While various books on the subject of closing list as many as twohundred kinds of closes, the general steps of closing are notcomplex. The first step is to listen (with mind, eyes and ears) forbuying signals. What is a buying signal? It is a measurable signpicked up by the salesperson, a sign that indicates some degree ofthe customer's readiness to buy. There are, of course, strong andweak buying signals ranging from "Do you accept Visa?" to anobjection like "Let me think about it."

Sometimes the buying signal is in the form of a question like, "Doyou deliver?" and "Does your store carry its own credit?" and othersimilar questions. In that case, you must evaluate the timing ofthe question. A customer who apparently loves on of you productsand asks if you deliver, has given you a strong buying signal. Thesame question asked just after the customer has entered the storeis not a strong buying signal. Unless the customer says I'll takeit, you should seriously consider following a strong buying signalas follows:
Summarize the benefits the customer appears to have bought into. Check for the customer's acceptance of those benefits. Ask for the sale.
In summarizing, the salesperson should go over only the featuresand benefits the customer appears to have bought into. Also, thesummary must be as concise as possible. Note that conciseness isdefined as the omission of all unnecessary words. At times,especially following a strong product demonstration, thesalesperson might skip the mention of features and go over thebenefits alone.

In some cases, salespeople should go into a summary close more thanonce, if that is what it takes to win the customer's commitment.But vary your summary by rearranging the order of features orbenefits. Note the following role play intentionally made easysince its objective is to give an example of how to summarize.

CUSTOMER: (Seated on a sofa) I really like the way this one sits.

SALESPERSON: I'd like to go over one more time why you find that it sits sowell. What you're really feeling are the 8-way-hand-tied coilsguaranteeing that the coils will not lean and lose their ability tolet you sit comfortably. Also, the high-resiliency foam won'tbottom out the way you said the foam on your present sofa did.

At this point, the salesperson should ask for the sale eitherdirectly with a yes/no closed probe or indirectly with an alternateof choice close.

Directly: Since, as I mentioned earlier, this is a discontinued sofa, let'sset up delivery at your earliest convenience. Which day would bebest for you?

Indirectly: Since this is a discontinued sofa, as I mentioned earlier, let'sarrange one of our free deliveries. Would sometime this week be allright or would you prefer the following week?

Trial Closing
More often than not, the buying signals salespeople receive are inthe form of objections of one kind or another. Here are a fewexamples: I'd like to think about it. It's more than I wanted to spend. When does this go on sale? When does the sale end? I need to do more shopping. I never buy at the first store. What if it doesn't look good when I get it home? I just don't know. I need to bring my husband (my wife). You're very knowledgeable. Do you have a card? Could you write the price down on your card? I'll probably be back. What time do you close? I'm sure I'll be back. Give me your card. I'll be sure to ask for you.
Salespeople should learn to look upon these stoppers, as I callthem, as buying signals that need to be trial closed. What is atrial close and how does it differ from a close? A trial close is away of probing further into the objection. It differs from theclose in that it does not immediately ask for the sale Note thefollowing example:

Customer: I need to do a little more shopping.
Salesperson: You mean so that you can be sure you're making the best buyingdecision.
Customer: Right. You don't buy a dining room set every day.
Salesperson: Absolutely. I'm the same way when I shop for something thisimportant. But tell me something. If there were no other stores toshop, would you buy this dining- room set?
Customer: I'm not sure.
Salesperson: How's that?
Customer: I'm just not sure.
Salesperson: Mind sharing with me just what it is you're not sure about?

Note how far the salesperson took this customer who was about towalk out of the store. Granted, the customer needs to be taken aways yet before the salesperson can hope to hear a strong buyingsignal, but by continuing to trial close, the salesperson has keptthe sale going. Successful salespeople are masters at trialclosing.

Unit ten: Reframing Objections As Needs

Objections are the surest indication of the customer's interest."But," you might ask, "aren't all objections stumbling blockscustomers throw at salespeople to block the sale?" Whethersalespeople see them as stumbling blocks or as stepping-stonesdepends on the salespeople's ability to reframe objections as needsor to accept them as objections. In order for salespeople toreframe objections as needs, they have to infer the need implied inevery objection. Once salespeople do that, they can move on tosupport the need in the objection with the appropriate features andbenefits. The following scenario illustrates this process.

1. Step One: Use a closed probe to confirm the implied need as a stated need.Scenario:
Customer: I'd like to shop a bit more. This is the first store I've been to.
Salesperson: Carole, I imagine you want to do more shopping to increase yourchances of making a better buying decision. (Nodding) Is that it?
Customer: (Nodding) Sure. I don't buy a bedroom set everyday.

2. Step Two: Acknowledge, that is, agree with the confirmed need.

Similar Scenario:
Salesperson: That makes sense. I always shop around before I make a majorpurchase.
3. Step Three: Ask the customer's permission to continue your probing

Same Scenario:
Salesperson: Mind if I help to make your shopping at the next store moreprofitable
Salesperson: (Customer either nods or lets saleperson know by her body languageshe accepts your offer to be of help.)

3. Step three: Thank the customer.

4. Step Four: Remind the customer of the features she accepted earlier, butrelate this to helping her do her shopping at the next store.

Same Scenario:
Salesperson: Carole, earlier you mentioned how much you like the fact that thisbedroom has the very trifold mirrors you have been looking for, aswell as the armoire for your TV and the secret hiding compartmentin the dresser. When you get to the next store, remember what youtold me when you first entered the store. You said a bedroom issomething you keep forever.
Because a bedroom set is a long time purchase, when you get to thenext store, keep in mind all the items you like in this bedroomset, and don't settle for anything less. What else would you liketo ask me before you leave?

Note: Of course, there are other things you might say, depending on theitem the customer is looking for and other circumstances. The stepsoutlined above are meant to help the salesperson win more of thecustomer's time in a way the customer perceives as helpful.
Unit Eleven: Four Kinds of Objections

I. Skepticism

In selling there are four main objections salespeople face,objections being defined as obstacles put up by customers thatimpede their commitment or buy-in. The four kinds are the drawback,indifference, skepticism, and misunderstndings. For decades firstXerox and then Learning International, Inc., now a part of AchieveGlobal, made the handling of these four kinds of objections themainstay of their foremost seminar, Professional Selling Skills, inwhich skepticism and drawbacks are now referred to as concernsinstead of as objections.

In selling, a drawback occurs when the customer insists on thestore's delivering the undeliverable as a condition of thepurchase. Often the drawback has to do either with price ordelivery. For example, the customer insists on a two-week deliverywhen the earliest possibility is an eight-week delivery. Instead,indifference occurs when a customer communicates no need for thesalesperson's benefits. There are two kinds of indifference,objective and subjective. Objective indifference occurs when thesalesperson's probing confirms that a customer has no need for thestore's product.
The salesperson should honor objective indifference instead oftrying in vain to support what is not a customer need. For example,a customer wishes to buy the mattress, but not the box springbecause she intends to use the mattress on a bunk bed. She isjustified in stating she has no need for a box spring. Subjectiveindifference, on the other hand, because it is based either on thecustomer's unwillingness to examine his or her true needs or aninability to do so for lack of information, or both, should not beso honored. Instead, salespeople should further probe intosubjective indifference to help the customer become aware of andadmit to unmet needs.

The third objection, skepticism, occurs when the customer doubtsthe validity of the salesperson's benefits, that is, the customerdoubts a product or service can live up to its claims.

At this point, the first three parts, we shall discuss how tohandle skepticism. To start with, it is necessary to point out thatthe skeptic doubts benefits, not features, despite the fact thatLearning International, Inc. states in one of its training manualsthat the skeptic doubts both. In my opinion, that statement appearsto misunderstand the very essence of skepticism, namely, that theskeptic does not doubt the existence of a feature, but its abilityto provide the benefit for which that feature exists. True,customers often don't understand that a feature exists. That is amisunderstanding, as when a customer tells a salesperson, "But youpeople don't deliver in my area," and the salesperson knows theydo. In fact, Learning International, Inc. is the only trainingcompany I know of that has taught salespeople to handle themisunderstanding by first confirming it as a need, nextacknowledging the confirmed need, and then supporting the need withrelevant features and benefits. While skeptics are aware of thesalesperson's features, they doubt those features can provide thebenefits the salesperson claims they can.

For example, a customer needs a durable fabric. The fabric on thelast sofa she bought just didn't last, although the salespersonsaid that since it was Herculon, it would wear like iron. Now shehas found a new sofa she really likes and asks the salesperson:"Will this fabric last?" The sales-person answers; "Lady, it'sHerculon and will wear like iron." This customer doesn't doubt thatthe fabric is Herculon; she doubts that it will give her thebenefit she's looking for. She is skeptical.

How should salespeople handle the skeptical salesperson? In mybook, "Winning Bragging Rights," I pointed out that salespeopleshould never follow the customer's skepticism with a offer proofstatement. That guarantees to put the customer on the defensive. Inits current version of Professional Selling Skills, the salespersonis first directed to "acknowledge the concern" and then "offerrelevant proof," an improvement for sure, but not quite enough. Foras Learning International, Inc. has always taught, acknowledgingshould follow a clear statement of need. But since the skepticrarely includes a clear statement of need when expressing a doubt,the salesperson must be savvy enough to imply the skeptic's needfor a proof statement. Therefore, the steps I propose in handlingskepticism are as follows:

(1) Use a closed probe to confirm the implied need, (2) acknowledgethe confirmed need, (3) support the need with the proof statementor statements. The following role play based on a customer'sskepticism regarding a bedding manufacturer's lack of arecognizable brand name should prove helpful:

CUSTOMER: I never heard of Primavera mattresses.
SALESPERSON: What I hear you saying is you're looking for a mattress whosequality and service you can depend on, right?
CUSTOMER: (Nods. The nod confirms the need).
SALESPERSON: (Acknowledges) Paul, I look for the same things whenever I shop.Let me show you why you can depend on Primavera's quality andservice. (Salesperson then offers the appropriate proofstatements).

Note how different this approach is from the one that shoots thecustomer with the proof statement and thus belittles the customerfor never having heard of Primavera. Instead, the approach Isuggest starts out by winning the customer's agreement on a need,the very stuff that all selling relies on. Then and only then thesalesperson acknowledges that need before going on to support itwith a benefit in the form of a proof statement.

Finally, I'd like to end this article on handling skepticism with arecent observation of mine. I used to direct salespeople to preemptall frequent objections, that is, to bring something up about theirproduct or store service as a benefit before the customer wouldbring it up as an objection. I now believe that the only objectionsalespeople should preempt is the drawback by bringing up thedrawback as a benefit before the customer brings it up as adrawback. I'll have more to say about that in a following unit.

Skepticism, in as much as it most often contains the deep hurt of aprior betrayed trust, should not be preempted. Instead, salespeopleshould use the proper proof statement to handle skepticism.Salespeople should keep in mind that the deeper the skeptic's pasthurt, the stronger the buying signal salespeople will hear once theskeptic is won over. Note I said won over. Too many selling systemsare still using the word overcome. Objections should not beovercome; they should be come over like the hurdles in a hurdlesrace. Moreover, the customer that does the objecting must be wonover.

Read this article again and again until you have mastered theprinciples of handling skepticism. In that way, you won't end upshooting your customers with proof statements.

II. The Drawback

The toughest objection, even for top salespeople, is the drawback.As we mentioned earlier, the the drawback is an unattainablecondition the customer places on the sale. In furniture sales, thatcondition is often based on price or delivery date. For example,the customer says he'll take your dining room set if you candeliver it within two weeks. But the soonest you can deliver theset is eight to ten weeks. That's a drawback. Or, say, the customeragrees to purchase your living room set on condition you lower theprice. But your store has a no exception policy regarding its fixedprices. That's a drawback. Notice, we are not talking aboutconditions you can meet by asking the manager's permission to makean exception.

How should salespeople handle the drawback? For several years Ihave advised my salespeople first of all to acknowledge the reasonfor the need expressed in the drawback. For example, the customerobjects, "But I have to have this set in two weeks. My parents arecoming to visit us all the way from Boston to celebrate theirgolden anniversary. I can't wait any longer than that." Thesalesperson should acknowledge the customer's need to have the setin time for that golden anniversary: "I must admit that in yoursituation I'd want to have the dining room set delivered in timefor so important a celebration."

We now come to the critical part. If the salesperson attempts tofollow the steps taught in Learning International Inc.'s"Professional Selling Skills," that is, "to refocus on the biggerpicture," and "outweigh with previously accepted benefits," thereis the danger that the salesperson will find himself weighing ontwo different scales: the one emotional, the other rational.Weighed against the emotionally based drawback, the "previouslyaccepted benefits" will be featherweights by comparison. Thefollowing scenario should illustrate what I mean.

Customer: But I've got to have this delivered in time for my parents' goldenanniversary. They're coming all the way from Boston.
Salesperson: I must admit that were my parents traveling that far to celebratetheir golden anniversary with me, that would be my first priority.Earlier you said you had to have a table with two extensions largeenough to seat ten, as well as the matching server. Also, this setmeets your stated price point. Given all that and the fact thatyou're not merely renting this set for one very important occasion,don't you think it's better to wait eight weeks and get what youreally want than to settle for something that's available butdoesn't really meet your needs long term?

Logically, the approach of outweighing the drawback by remindingthe customer of previously accepted benefits would seem to makesense. But it forgets to take into account that the drawback isoften resting on a highly emotional scale while the so-calledpreviously accepted benefits are resting on a logical scale. Torepeat, the highly emotional need to have the set in time for theparents' golden anniversary weighs tons; the previously acceptedbenefits, viewed by the buyer as rational considerations, arefeatherweights. My own experience has taught me that every time Ihave used the approach of trying to outweigh the drawback withpreviously accepted benefits, I have failed to get the salewhenever I asked for the customer's buy-in right then. So great isthe customer's emotional need that he or she invariably finds itvirtually im