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Articles - Selling More on the Retail Floor (Part 2)

by Christine Doyle Adams

This is the second in a continuing series of sales-related articles by Christine Doyle Adams of Concept Design Group and General Finishes. This article will address the initial approach to a customer to establish the sale cycle/ An international speaker, Chris has recently founded Concept Design Group, a web design and services company, and will be offering affordable web services to the unfinished furniture industry. Chris can be contacted at or 800-700-3695.

We left off in the last article at the information gathering point of the sale. Please read this article here. The following techniques are enhanced if you first establish positive communication with the customer. However, if you could only learn one phase, it would be information gathering. As we said in that previous article, a basic rule of sales is “seek to understand first…then you will be understood”. It took me years to figure out that basically that meant that I should open my mouth only to ask questions for the first half of the sale. After I had gathered enough information, I realized that I would be able to talk about the customer’s needs (not mine) in the customer’s language (not mine). Your objective as a sales person is to determine the customer’s needs and prescribe a solution.

The information gathering stage of the sale is often called “qualifying the customer”. Most research in sales concludes that the higher the sales person’s volume of business, the more thoroughly they qualify. The pros don’t just make more sales, their average income is often 2 or 3 times that of the average sales person. On the other side of the coin, most customers cannot articulate exactly what they want – they “feel” and “see” their way through a sales. For example, a customer might come into a store to “see” if anything appeals to them, and will leave if they do not. Good sales people know that most customers have not defined the solution to their problem, they can only feel the need for something. They might have an opinion, but at best, they have come to an expert (you) to prescribe a solution!

So you start by seeking to understand! You must learn everything you can about the customer. The easiest and quickest way to make a sale is to take the time to do a good job of qualifying. You will reduce objections later on. Even if late in a sale, you find you cannot solve a customer’s problem, you will have still spent less time than if you had not qualified. And you will never go home wondering …..”could I have sold that person something?”. Basic qualifying includes such questions as:

1. Who will be using the furniture?
2. Where will the furniture be used?
3. What will the furniture be used with?
4. How will the furniture be used?
5. What furniture are they using presently?
6. What do they like about their current furniture?
7. What don’t they like about their current furniture?
8. Do you have any ideas about what furniture you want?
9. Why?
10. Have you seen anything you like?

Remember to use the customers name fairly frequently, make eye contact and listen carefully when they respond. One of the best car salesperson I ever dealt with was an extremely concentrated listener, and if we ever “bumped words” or started talking at the same time, he would immediately look at me and say “Yes, what was it you were saying?”

Use a clipboard on the sales floor. Please, you do not have to memorize the questions! I spent my entire sales career in many industries with systems and checklists, often kept on a clipboard in front of the customer. Write down the above 10 questions (and any other favorites) in your own words with space for an answer in between each question, and carry the form you have created on a clipboard. Then write down the customer’s responses. They love your interest and will feel more confidence you. They don’t know you care until they know you care. Students would often ask me, “Chris, did you really use a checklist, even after all those years. You just rattled off all the questions from memory!” And the answer is an emphatic yes! Using the checklist allowed me to have fun with customer, to joke around, to really listen. I was never worried about forgetting a question. Your notes also ensure that you have asked all the proper questions and in the right order. After your first question or two, you will have uncovered needs the customer was not even aware of. Many times when I have worked with a couple, one spouse might admonish the other spouse that they are going too fast for “Chris to write the information down”. This is called engagement, when the customer starts getting involved and setting the same pace as you do, indicating that some rapport has been established. Often customers were curious and asked me what I was writing. I simply gave them a copy of the form, telling them that I have a series of questions I always ask everybody– frequently they would jump ahead of me to give the information I was seeking. It was really quite funny – the more open and candid I was, the more the customer followed along. And just in case you plan build your business through referrals, you can keep the form on the customers file for future reference. Have room on the form for basic information such as email, address, phone numbers, etc.

A good qualifying form that combines some of the questions from the last issue’s article might look like the following. Start with this one and then modify the form to suit your selling style. (a downloadable MS Word copy is available at www.conceptdesigngroup.net)

Get your customers engaged in several senses as soon as possible. You can involve sight by showing them furniture. Auditory senses are involved in the question and answer process. Move them to a kinesthetic (feeling) mode by having them sit, or touch the finish. Have your customer help you draw a diagram of the room they want to furnish. Just pullout a piece of paper or carry graph paper on your clipboard, ask the customer to describe the room and just start drawing. Sketch the approximate position of doors, windows, etc. Try to make it look as unplanned and as spontaneous as possible. Don’t be afraid to experiment with this technique – it works, it works, it works!

As a last note, zeroing in on a “qualified” customer does not mean that you trample over someone to get on to a better prospect. Any person that walks in that store may buy next year, two years from now, or may know someone to refer to you. Always sell now and sell to the future.

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