ANSWER: Without having an opportunity to watch your salesperson sell on the floor and/or know what some of his other sales statistics are, I am at a little bit of a disadvantage in terms of giving you advice. There are several different spots during his presentations that may be weak, and in turn, are affecting the number of contacts he can close. For example, if he is weak in opening the sale, he may not even be getting far enough into a presentation to have a shot at closing. Let's face it: if you can't open, you can't close.

But, if you will allow me to generalize in this case, I would have to advise that he focus his attention on both probing and the demonstration, with emphasis on probing. Customers buy for two reasons: trust and value. If trust is established, but value is not, the customer probably won't buy. If value is established, but trust is not, the customer may buy. If both trust and value are established, the likelihood of the customer buying is greatly enhanced.

Value is established during the demonstration, but even if you sufficiently convince the customers that the product is right for them, based on their own ideas of value, you won't win. For example, suppose a customer is looking at the most expensive line of bedroom groups in your store. With the tremendous number of features and benefits this fine-crafted group has, you should have no trouble impressing the customer with the value of the bedroom set. But what if the customer doesn't care about the quality of the craftsmanship or the wood it is made of? What if he only wants to know that it's a prestigious set to own; the Rolls Royce of bedroom sets, so to speak? Unless you find this out in probing, and then deliver it verbally in the demonstration, they're going to go from one furniture store to another until they find someone who will tell them that.

This is why the emphasis must be put on probing. Not only do you find out what the customer wants in the furniture they are looking at and why they want it, but trust is built during probing as well. When you ask the customer a question and the customer responds with an answer, the only way the customer knows they have been heard is if you verbally or physically support the answer in some way. You do it just like you do in every day life with your friends. You ask, "How are you doing?" Your friend says, "Pretty good." You say, "Glad to hear it," and your friend knows you heard what they said. Do this with your customers, and they will trust you as well.

So, you see, probing really is the secret to closing the sale. You build trust, and find out the necessary information from the customer to guarantee that the value you established during the demonstration is really perceived as value by the customer. Have your salesperson start there, and hopefully more customers will say, "I'll take it," so he won't have to say, "Will you buy it?" Good luck!

QUESTION: We recently began carrying a new line of bedroom groups in our store that all are at least 25% more than any of our other groups. The salespeople are showing furniture from this group only when the customer practically sits on the bed. When they do go into a demonstration on the group, they appear as if they'd rather sell a less expensive bedroom set. This new price point is really scaring them, and I'm not sure how to overcome it.

ANSWER: This is a common problem in a number of different industries. A new salesperson is hired and can't imagine anyone spending such outrageous amounts on a bedroom set. You know from experience, that this new salesperson's taste level will rise with time, and their idea of quality furniture won't be the least expensive pieces anymore. Unfortunately, you have an entire staff that is reacting in the same manner as a new salesperson. There are three things you should do.

Number one: quit trying to convince them that all the pieces in the line are worth the price tags on them. Just make sure they completely understand all of the important features and benefits. Make sure they have the product knowledge.

Number two: pick several items, and start an impromptu discussion amongst the entire staff regarding how much each of them would spend on each, given the amount of money they earn now. Then ask how much they would spend on each if their earnings were tripled tomorrow. The answers are bound to be different. For example, one person may pay anything to have a Mercedes, while another wouldn't spend a penny over $20,000 on a car no matter how much money they have to spend.

The point to be made by this exercise is that just because you wouldn't buy a Mercedes doesn't mean someone else wouldn't. Just because you wouldn't buy the very expensive bedroom set doesn't mean your customers wouldn't either. You have nothing to lose by showing them more and everything to gain. Let your customers decide for themselves. Don't take away their option.

Number three: teach the sales staff how to break the price of the group down into the simplest common denominator. They will sound more affordable to the customer and less expensive to the salespeople. For example, don't just say the complete group sells for $5,000. Instead say that it is so much a month, based on calculations of financing the cost of the set. You can even break it down further into how much it would cost you per week or day. Customers often don't think they can afford things themselves until they look at a purchase in different terms like this. Have the salespeople memorize these breakdowns of price for every single type and line of furniture you carry. That way, no matter which line they are showing, they'll always be prepared.

If you do these three things, and it doesn't at least begin to solve your problem, we'd better talk. It just may be time for me to come and visit a staff meeting.