ViewIT Technologies Inc.

Having Trouble Closing Deals?

Try Using An Effective Sales Tool

by Robb Swybrous

It's 6 p.m. on a Friday and your normally busy furniture showroom feels a lot more like a library. It's been a slow week, slow month actually and you're feeling the burden of having to make a significant sale by closing time to meet your weekly goal. You haven't hit a target this month and aren't feeling too confident about ending the streak.

Another monotonous hour passes before opportunity knocks when in walks a 30-something couple looking for a leather sofa and love seat combination. You go through your normal sales routine - you've done it a thousand times or more - and they seem interested but not quite ready to commit. You remind them about your store's easy payment plan, interest-free financing, cash-back options, multi-year product guarantee and just about every other honest- to-goodness closing technique you know. You're connecting with the customer, you can feel it but the couple just isn't ready to deal.

And, in what seems to be more a part of your routine lately than you prefer, they decide to pass. "I think we'll go home and measure again, just to make sure it fits," they say. Confidence shaken, you encourage them to return and as they exit your showroom you wonder what more you can do to close sales? Is it your technique? The product? Your sales approach?

According to expert sales trainer Leslie Carothers of The Kaleidoscope Partnership it may be none of those issues. Whether you're an experienced consultant or rookie salesperson, what you might lack, she believes, is a tried-and-true sales tool - something tangible you can hold in your hands and use to bolster your closing ratio.

"You need a sales tool to jumpstart your creative imagination which is, after all, what consumers perceive as adding real value to their relationship with sales consultants," she says. "A room planning tool that allows the consultant and the consumer to work together to plan her room is a great way to facilitate this exchange as it helps her see - within the context of her own room - the different layout options that are available to her and gets a natural, real conversation started without her feeling pressured into a premature solution."

Carothers' knowledge of sales techniques and sales tools in particular has been gleaned from more than 20 years spent in the retail industry. She currently owns The Kaleidoscope Partnership, which provides creative design sales training for the home furnishings industry through on-site training and licensing opportunities.

Through her extensive experience, Carothers has come to realize that any advantage you can gain as a sales representative is valuable, and it's not just new salespeople who could use a little assistance every now and then.

"I find the biggest obstac le for most salespeople in inc reasing their sales is their lack of confidence. Any tool they can use to help them gain confidenc e, which in turn helps gain the customer's trust, is a huge boost," she says.

The most effective sales tools, say retail experts, are ones that allow salespeople and their customers an opportunity to see first-hand how furniture will look and fit in their space. First finding, then using an effective sales tool properly can mean the difference between closing sales and closing up shop.

"(These tools help) because they get the customer involved in the process," adds Carothers. "Often, the consultant can see that a certain arrangement isn't going to work. With (the use of an effective space planner) they can show them that. It really alleviates objections and means you don't have to argue with a customer. It clearly helps them understand what the space issues are. It helps you explore multiple options quickly."

The market is rife with options from magnetic design tools, cut-and-place paper templates and even computer-assisted spaceplanning programs, which work effectively to design space. A quick Internet search using key words like spaceplanning, design tools and interior design confirms this. Experts agree you need to do some research, pick the tool that works best for your needs and learn how to use it properly.

Robb Swybrous is the marketing manager for ViewIT Technologies Inc., a Canadian-based company that manufactures and sells The Board™ line of space planning systems.

For more information call WHFA at (800) 422-3778.