Here in the first paragraph I already gave you an example of one technique, which is called “Redefine”. You could answer any question with:

“The issue isn’t (x), it’s (y) and that means…”

x is the topic you are talking about and y is the topic you want to talk about.

Here an example that you probably could try today: “The issue isn’t the price per square foot, it is the total cost of ownership where this product beats XY Box Store easily. Have I explained the warranty already?”

Another great technique is “Awareness Patterns”. Awareness patterns include words like: “notice”, “realize”, “experience” and “see”. These are very powerful words because they are presuppose to be true.

I could make a statement and say: “this carpet has the best value in the market place”. Now you could argue with me about if this is true. Now let’s change the statement to a question: “Do you realize that this carpet has the best value in the market place?”

Whether you answer “yes” or “no”, you are reflecting on the “realization” of the value. If you answer “no”, I could start to explain the great value to you and maybe I am able to overcome issues you might have.

Understand the power of words. NLP is not the problem solver for everything, but to know a few patterns could help you to become a more successful sales professional.

Think about Christmas… Or your spouses birthday… You go shopping, looking for a gift. You go into a store, and after a few minutes of browsing a helpful salesperson approaches you. After a little small-talk and your generic description of your gift-idea, the sales person tries to determine which product to show you: “How much did you want to spend?”, he asks.

“Around $300”, you might answer. So the salesperson shows you a first item, a second item, but eventually you leave, because you just started shopping and you still want to check out a few other stores. The products you saw you could get anywhere.

You hesitate, you cringe, you buy

Eventually, at the third store, the salesperson is asking you about your spouses taste, about other products she owns and loves until he understands what she would really LOVE. He puts an item on the table that would be the perfect gift – but has a $500 price tag. You absolutely love it, and you know she would too. You hesitate, you think about the balance on your credit card. The salesperson describes the excitement of your spouse when she will get the gift. You cringe… and then you pull out your credit card and buy it.

Did this ever happen to you? Have you been in a situation where you stretch yourself to get what you really wanted? We often go shopping with something pictured in our mind with a reasonable amount to spend on this item. That works perfectly until we stumble upon something that’s beyond the “reasonable” amount. That is when we have to re-adjust our mindset.

Do you think customers who come in the flooring store are so much different? They come to your showroom with a certain number in mind. This number might be completely unreasonable for what they really need or want — especially when you look at the fact that most customers don’t have any idea what flooring should cost.

No shortcuts allowed

Many salespeople believe it is smart to ask early in the conversation about the budget or how much they want to spend. Their idea is that they want to limit the amount of products they have to show the customer by narrowing the choices down by the budget. When you get her budget, let’s say $2,000 for the bedroom, you’re done. It is going to be very hard for you to show an item that goes beyond that number without looking pushy. It will also look as if you don’t listen, or you have to start your presentation with “But this product would…”. If you can eliminate the word “but” from you sales vocabulary you will be much more successful.

Needless to say, it is much smarter to narrow the choices down by determining the customers needs and wants. There is no shortcut for proper and successful selling. Ask questions and listen, then present the product that fits the customers needs. See what the reactions are and sell the best carpet you can.

As we wrote in this newsletter many times before: it is easier to sell down than to sell up — when a customer has seen what she could or should have, it becomes tough for her to settle for anything less than that.

Don’t ruin the opportunity

Every customer that walks into your showroom is willing to stretch her budget if you give her the opportunity to do so. If you show only items at or below what she thought is her budget you take away her opportunity to get the best product.

To download our Retail Sales Resource click here

Here a few tips for cross-selling:

1. Mind your timing
Cross-selling doesn’t work well when you haven’t yet sold anything. When your customer made his/her first buying decision, she was ready to buy more. If you offer too many products at the same time, you dilute your customer’s attention and might end up selling nothing at all.

2. Stay relevant
Only offer products and services that are directly connected and make sense for her. Unrelated suggestions can damage your credibility and it might seem as if you aren’t listening.

3. Have a plan
For every product in your store you should have a list with products and services that might be good additions. You can have signage in your store to support cross-selling (advertise rugs in the hardwood area).

When was the last time your server at your favorite burger place did NOT ask you if you would like to “Super Size” your meal? As much as we recommend “selling down” (see our Retail Sales Resource Vol. 2), during promotional periods, we have to sell up.

Promotions are done to drive traffic to the store. If both the manufacturer and the store participate in the advertising, they can be very successful. Anyway, promotions and advertising bring customers to the doorstep — not further.

Promotions work

It is our job in sales to ensure that the store, window decorations, entrance and showroom are in such good shape that the customer is actually pulled into the store.

Most promotions are price-driven and urge the customer to act now so as to not miss out on the unique opportunity. For us, as sales people, this is a dilemma because these customers will ask for these low-price (and unfortunately low-margin) promotional products.

The problem (and opportunity) in the flooring business is that most customers have no idea what flooring should cost. This is not a purchase they do regularly. So the promotions that work best are price aggressive — which always brings the dilemma that the advertised products are not only low-price, but often of less quality than other products.

This is the time to sell up

To avoid any misunderstandings here: upselling should be done with the customer’s best interest at heart.

Tips for successful upselling

1. Be prepared
Have an upselling strategy: know the promoted products and have a better/best alternative for each single one of them. You could even have signs on the products to promote these alternatives. Have you ever seen Amazon.com’s “What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?”

You can position special in-store offers to help “upselling”. This could be a discount on premium padding with the purchase of carpet, financing, or special service ($50.00 off your first cleaning, etc.), just to name a few. These in-store offers should be limited to the upgrade products and marked accordingly. By using pricing as the leverage for driving traffic into the store, this strategy will allow you to give legitimate reasons for upgrading.

2. Don’t ignore the customers intention
When a customer comes into the store and is asks for the promotional items, you have to take her there first. Never say anything deprecating about the promotional products.

3. Wait your turn
The best time to upsell is when the customer asks for you opinion. It is important to be subtle with your upselling technique, otherwise she will feel pressured and you’ll make no sale at all. Upselling should seem like good service rather than a sales pitch.

4. Be excited
Salespeople should be enthusiastic and excited about what they are selling. Make sure that you know more (and talk more) about the better product. Remember: customers favor the product they feel they know more about (Retail Sales Resource Vol. 12)

5. Make assumptions and suggestions
Have you ever ordered fries in a restaurant and the waiter asked “the large fries?”, while he was nodding? He was a professional upseller and you most likely replied “Yes”, even if you originally planned to order the medium fries. Use this technique only with small upgrades, such as the next level pad, which might change the customer’s final invoice by only a small percentage.

Make your promotion a success

Promotions should not only be measured by how much traffic or sales volume they generated, but by profit as well – for the store and its salespeople.

Remember: the customer to whom you sold the cheap product will not replace it for years, and you have no chance to “upgrade” after it’s already been installed.

Mirroring is actually a way of bonding, we mirror each others body language to create rapport and get accepted. You can build rapport through mirroring the body language, the tonality and also the choice of words. Usually we are not even aware that we’re doing it.

Social studies about body-language show that people who are on the same wave-length and are likely to be experiencing a rapport, will begin to match each others body language and expressions. You can also say they are in sync. By the way, that is also why background music during a date (or in your store) can be effective: both get into the same rhythm

The last time when you went out with friends to a restaurant and ordered…some might have checked “What are you having?” – as they try to mirror their meals.

When you mirror someone it can make them feel accepted and creates a bond. This happens naturally between friends and people of the same status. On the other hand, we’re trying to make a point of not mirroring those we don’t like or strangers.

Don’t make your customer feel like a stranger.

When you watch a baseball game and you see the players warm up and practice, have you ever noticed the weight ring around their bat?

When you ask the players… swinging the heavier bat makes the bat without the weight feel lighter.

You might have the same experience when your at the gym and pick up the 10 pound weight…it feels heavier after working out with the 5 pound weight and then go back to the 20 pound weight…20 pounds feels lighter! 

Perceptual Contrast

You could also call it “subjective” contrast. Whatever you do, whatever you measure, it is always in comparison to something else. And this “something else” determines how we perceive.

Fun experiment: Fill three bowls with water, one hot (not too hot), one warm and one cold. Put your left hand in the hot water, your right hand in the cold water. Wait five seconds then put both hands in the warm water. Be ready for a surprise: your left hand will “think” the water is cold, your right hand will think it is hot.

Contrast and Persuasion

Two social psychologists Zakaray Tomala and Richard Petty applied the principle of perceptual contrast in a study to see how these effects can influence a business decision.

Let me translate their studies into flooring terms… People have been asked to hear a sales pitch about a Tuftex style “Grand Terrace”, but only after hearing a pitch about the Tuftex style “Mission Ranch”…both products are comparable textures.

The message about “Grand Terrace” was always the same: three benefits / features of this particular style. The other message about “Mission Ranch” varied, with less (one) or more (five) benefits of the product.

When the prior style “Mission Ranch” was presented with a great deal of information, “Grand Terrace” was seen less favorable. The opposite was the case, when “Mission Ranch” was presented with less detail, “Grand Terrace” was the clear favorite.

The Results

It seems to be clear that the customers favored the product where they felt they know more about. This is the perceptual contrast in action.

Surprised? Probably not.

But the researchers didn’t stop here. Another group of people heard a sales pitch about Tuftex style “Grand Terrace”, But this time there was not another product presented – the presenter talked about the benefits of a car (let’s say a Mini Cooper).

The Result: consistent with the other study. The “customers” had a less favorable opinion about “Mission Ranch” when they heard a lot of advantages of the Mini Cooper. When there was just very little information, the rating of “Mission Ranch” was much better.

This suggests that the prior information doesn’t need to be relevant to have an impact on your message.

What does this mean for us in sales?

You should have a plan for your sales pitch. A prepared sales person will always outsell a non-prepared one.

Be careful how much “small-talk” you do. This study suggests that you should have enough benefits and features of your product ready to outbalance small-talk about your customers car, dog or garden.