Steve Bennett is dapper, confident and well educated in the art of sales.  

He spent 12 years on the retail side as a salesman for Patio One, which now has three stores in the Houston area. In 2002, he moved to the wholesale side and became a factory rep for Summer Classics, covering Texas and Oklahoma – two states brimming with oil and oil-slicked cash.

The following article is based on a training guide for retail salespeople that he wrote and delivers. It covers the period from the entry of the customer into the store until the order is signed.

It’s a game of inches

Change is constant, e.g., the recent recession certainly changed our industry. Many patio dealers went out of business, and there was some consolidation on the manufacturing side. It also damaged the consumer base. The consumer now is more cautious than ever on major purchases – especially discretionary purchases. Even the wealthy consumer – our customer – is more thoughtful and less impulsive when parting with her money.

We have to play the game better.

Al Pacino played a role as the head coach of a struggling NFL team in a movie called “Any Given Sunday.” In a motivational speech to his downtrodden team he encouraged each player to understand that football is a “game of inches.” He went on to explain that every effort, by every player, on every down involves inches.

Every block needs extra inches, every run needs extra inches, every stretch for every pass needs extra inches – and the inches will determine whether it’s a win or a loss.

It may seem strange but I believe this “game of inches” is perfectly analogous to our business. The winning retailers in our business understand they must have an intelligent game plan to counter the competition. They also understand that execution is everything and training is constant.

Training should not be viewed as an event; it should be viewed as a process.

In the simplest analysis, we have two tasks. The first task is to get the customer in our store; the second task is to close the sale. Neither task is simple, and both require a comprehensive and practiced game plan.

Getting Them in the Store

When a customer walks in our store it’s not by accident. Most likely it was the result of numerous events or impressions. Early impressions are key; they can be either positive or negative. Those impressions may have started on the Internet (we must embrace the Internet, not fear it). When they Google “patio furniture,” we need to pop up, and then our website must be exciting and welcoming.

The customer may have first seen our store as they drove by, so it must be clean and inviting. They may have first seen us in a TV, radio or print ad, therefore all our messages must impart the desired impression to our core demographic.

We must reinforce everything with Social Media. Before the customer enters our store they will have done considerable research on the Internet and research on our local competition. They are forming an opinion and have not yet been in our store. Please don’t doubt me on this: Every day retailers lose customers who have never entered the store.

Now something critical may happen; the customer may call us before deciding to come in. This phone call is our first sales opportunity. I have seen store staff “bothered” by the ringing phone; I get bothered when it doesn’t ring. Our staff needs to understand that the phone call could be our last real opportunity to make a positive impression and get the customer to actually come in to the store.

Game of inches.

The Customer Opens the Front Door

Clearly we all need to understand and appreciate the value of every customer who walks in. That simple action is the result of winning a difficult fight for every potential customer – and it’s not inexpensive.

Now the customer has walked in and it’s show time. This is the most important impression so far. Hopefully, they are wowed by an exciting and colorful display of furniture; hopefully, there is great mood music playing in the background; hopefully, they are quickly, and warmly, greeted by a tastefully-dressed and groomed salesperson.

Someone once said, “Well begun is half done.” Wealthy consumers decide very quickly if they are in a place where they can do business, no matter if it’s a Lexus dealership, a jewelry store or a patio shop.

If we have begun well, we are half done at that point.

The customer is now in the hands of our staff, and the staff is everything. The store may be in a great location, with great furniture lines and a great business/marketing plan, but all will be lost if the staff is not trained to move an educated customer from the front door to an invoice on the counter.

After greeting them, they’ll frequently say, “Oh, may I just look around?” At that point you should say, “Sure, take a few minutes.” Give them a quick verbal map of the store indicating where they might want to walk and look. Then say, “I’m going to catch up to you in a few minutes because you’re going to have some questions.” Their answer is always “OK.” When they do, they are giving you permission to join them. Otherwise you really didn’t have that permission.

When you join them, ask them a lot of open-ended questions; every answer will help you eliminate some of the inventory, and as that occurs, you begin to get focused on what they really should buy. It’s important that you take ownership of putting them in the right set, because they don’t know.

So take ownership of the process by steering them toward something that’s proper, then find something within that group that they really like. Asking open-ended questions is fundamental.

We know that casual furniture is a “consumer discretionary” purchase and it’s purchased with discretionary income. Everyone must have food, shelter and clothing, but luxury patio furniture is purely discretionary.

To close this type of sale requires Trust and Value. Much of the trust has already been created by the impressions mentioned before. Now the behavior of the staff is critical. The well-heeled customer will quickly determine if the staff is knowledgeable and, more importantly, if the staff has empathy for the customer’s project.

Trust: We must not give the customer the typical “museum tour” throughout the entire store, wandering among dozens of displays. The usual response here is, “Gosh, you have a beautiful store with so many choices. Thank you.” The truth is, they were overwhelmed with the complexity of making the correct choice and went back to the Big Box and bought a simple set.

The better process is to ask multiple open-ended questions about the project: Tell me about your project; is your taste traditional or more contemporary; tell me about your intended use of this furniture; tell me a little about the area you are furnishing; tell me, tell me.

Armed with this information our salesperson can eliminate most of the inventory and focus on two or three good ideas. This does two things: 1) it helps create Trust; the customer will feel she is in the right store (the salesperson down the street probably gave her the museum tour), and 2) it also helps to focus on two or three sets, which will prevent that total sensory overload.

Value: By definition, specialty retailers will have higher price-points than the Big Box stores and national retailers. The value of higher price-points must be demonstrated and substantiated. The wealthy buyer expects this; they want the best, but will not pay one dollar more than they believe it’s worth.  

Features and benefits along with details on materials and construction may be boring, but must be explained – every time. This will not only differentiate your product, it will also support your price-point and help create trust in the salesperson as a professional.

Creating trust and value are key elements in selling discretionary items, however, within those elements is another dynamic: the staff’s willingness to engage the customer in dialogue. Every store has had this happen. A customer enters and says, “I just want to look around.” The salesperson says, “OK,” so the customer makes a loop through the store and leaves saying, “Thanks.” They saw some high price-points and left not knowing the difference. That’s a complete and costly failure!

I suggest there is virtually no history of success in trying to sell someone without talking to them! Remember what it took to get them in the store? Engage them when they do enter!

Once trust and value have been created and they’re sitting in the correct set (they like it and it’s correct for their use), exchange names. If you have not already done so, you will find that this is a very powerful tool. Use their names immediately and often; it establishes a casual bond.

Now the moment of truth is near; don’t talk past the buying signal. Many weaker salespeople keep talking after the customer has offered an important buy signal and lose the sale. The customer will finally ask for a business card and announce they have to go home and measure. A stronger salesperson will recognize the buy signal: Is this in stock? Do you deliver? How long will it take to get this set with the custom fabric? Etc., etc.

The stronger salesperson will quickly answer the question, try an add-on, and write it up. It’s really not complicated.

Game of inches.