It’s All In The Story!

In today’s retail environment, it is all about the story you tell that creates the excitement in the customers mind that will cause them to buy from you. Every company has a story that is unique to only that company. Usually the advertising does a great job of telling the story — the question is do the salespeople convey the same message that is displayed in the advertising?

When you are thinking about going to Disneyland or Disney World, their advertising conveys the message that it is the Happiest Place on Earth. All the employees have a mission of making a Disney property the happiest place on earth. When you check into a Ritz Carlton Hotel — you expect a high level of professionalism and a great sense of eloquence. Employees of the Ritz Carlton are not allowed to say the word “yes” — they are required to say the word “certainly”. Just that one word “certainly” displays eloquence and professionalism. Should you rent a car from Avis — if the employees of Avis are not trying a little bit harder we are disappointed with the experience. One particular vacation company advertises, “Having the time of your life.” You can bet that the employees of this company do everything possible to ensure that their guests have the time of their life. In retail furniture, the same holds true — just from a couple different perspectives, your story and probably more importantly the customer’s story. We will explore both in this article.

What’s Your Story
Selling Yourself And Your Company!
It is becoming increasingly more important to sell yourself, your company and your branded lines. Telling your story or a company story just might be the edge that you need to close the sale. The story should be phrased as 15 to 20 words highlighting the competitive advantage that you, your company or your branded line offers. With competition increasing from others in your industry, the Internet, and other areas where customers can spend their disposable income, selling yourself, your company and your branded lines is essential.
I believe that it is more important to sell yourself and your company than it is to sell your merchandise!

I suggest that companies should have a brainstorming session with their employees and come up with the top 50 or 60 reasons why a customer should buy from you and your store as opposed to buying from the competition. When discussing reasons “why” these could also be called competitive advantages or unique selling propositions (USP). Then take these top 50 or 60 reasons and convert them into 15 to 20 word company stories. For example, a competitive advantage of being independently owned might translate to a company story that sounds like: One thing we are very proud of at ABC Furniture is that our store is independently owned meaning that the owner is also the buyer and all of the furniture is hand-picked for the finest quality and value. Meaning that as a customer you will receive the highest quality at a great value.

It may come down to what you do not say that will make the difference between a sale being made or lost!

Another reason it is so important to tell your story or company stories is that the difference between making a sale and not making a sale may come down to what you don’t say as opposed to what you do say. For example, let’s say one of your competitive advantages is that you offer free delivery or free fabric protection. During the sales presentation, you forget to mention the free delivery or fabric protection. The customer doesn’t buy at your store, then they are shopping at your competition and the competitor just happens to mention that they offer free delivery and/or free fabric protection. Who gets the sale? Probably the competition because they mentioned the added benefit of buying from them and you simply forgot to mention that particular company story. Thus a lost sale. Company stories do not necessarily have to be things that you offer that no one else does. They are simply reasons why the customer should buy from you, spoken in terms of a customer benefit. I assure you that if you sell yourself and the store you will find more people buying from you simply because not many of your competitors are proactively selling themselves rather than just the furniture.

It's the extra information that will allow you to focus on the emotional side of the purchase.

The professional will ask the questions, get the answers, respond to the answers and develop the type of relationship that will get their clients to trust them. Additionally, a professional will not only respond to the answers to the questions, but will respond to the extra information that they receive through the process of the needs assessment.
This is where the trust is developed. Trust is essential in order to sell your customer on dealing with you.

Trust is established and relationships developed in conversing about the emotional side of the purchase or in the customer’s story.

Let’s say a customer is remodeling their living room, dining room and looking for new patio furniture. Through asking questions, we find out that the emotional reason behind the purchase of all this furniture is that their son is graduating from medical school and they are having family and friends fly in from all over the country to attend the graduation party. The party is going to be held at their home and some of the relatives are staying at the home as well. In this situation, I would certainly spend an enormous amount of time talking about the party, the family and friends, where they are coming from, what college the son graduated from, what his plans are for the future, etc. In other words, spend an enormous amount of time on the emotional reason why the customer is buying furniture and this is where the customer will feel that they have had the experience of a lifetime in purchasing furniture from you. Anybody can show and sell furniture. The professional develops relationships with their customers through sharing in life’s special moments and on the emotional excitement the customer has in making the purchase.

I would be willing to bet that 90 percent of all furniture purchases are made based on some emotional reason “WHY” the customer is buying!

Get the customers talking about and sketching their home, the furniture that they have had in the past, how often they entertain in the home, their remodeling or decorating plans both current and future, special events they have coming up, their families and their business.

Think about your very best customer. Think about everything that you know about that person. You probably know their name, spouses name, where they live, where they work, their children’s names and ages, what schools they attend, what kind of car the family has, the family pet and so on. Then think about the customer that you did not sell the other day and ask yourself what do you know about that person? The answer probably is not much. In other words, the difference between your very best customer and the one that did not buy from you really comes down to your ability to befriend another human being. Befriending comes from your ability to get a person to open up and talk to you about the emotional reason behind the purchase followed by the emotional reaction that you give them. In other words, you are sharing and caring about the emotional reason behind the purchase and sharing in the excitement of the event.

The Next Best Question
In sales, there is always a next best question! Follow the railroad track of next best questions!

Your ability to communicate through asking questions will have a direct relationship on your success in sales!

Customers will tell you everything you need to know to make the sale, add-on and develop a relationship based on the emotional information that the customer wants to share if you ask the right questions!

The Seven Key Questions
The following are questions that I refer to as The Seven Key Questions. It is my belief that these questions are so important that they should be asked in 99.99 percent of all sales presentations with new customers. Each question has more than one reason behind asking it. See how many reasons that you can come up with as to “why” you should ask each of these questions. Additionally, the questions will allow you to sell based on the reasons the customer wants to buy, create a relationship and focus on the emotional reason behind the furniture purchase.

1. Who recommended our store? This will increase trust in buying from you and it increases the perception that you get a lot a referrals or recommendations. I would definitely want to thank the person giving me recommendations. This is the only time I say do not change the word recommended to referred or where did you hear about us. These words have a completely different meaning than recommended.
2. Who are you shopping for? This will give you a gender and a relationship of the person they are buying for if it is not for them.
3. What have you seen before that he/she/you would love to have? This will tell you what you are up against from a competitive perspective.
4. What brings you in today? This is the transition question from non-business conversation to business conversation.
5. What is the special occasion? This question will give you the emotional reason behind the purchase to enable you to share in the emotional excitement of purchasing new furniture.
6. What is important to him/her/you in selecting a _________? This is the most important question in sales. The answer to this question allows the salesperson to sell based on the reason the customer wants to buy as opposed to the reason the sales person wants to sell.
7. When is the special occasion? This question will allow the salesperson to put urgency to the purchase.

In most selling situations one of these questions will be your next best question in determining your customers’ wants, needs and desires. Thus, allowing you to sell the customer based on telling your stories and in sharing in the special stories that the customer has that, they are hoping to share with someone. I know that someone is you.
When a customer comes into a furniture store today, they are not looking for furniture — they are looking for a place and a person from whom to buy the furniture!

Author, trainer, consultant, and speaker Brad Huisken is president of IAS Training. Mr. Huisken authored the books “I’M a salesman! Not a PhD.” and “Munchies For Salespeople, Selling Tips That You Can Sink Your Teeth Into,” he developed the PMSA Relationship Selling Program, the PSMC Professional Sales Management Course, The Mystery Shoppers Kit, The Employee Handbook and Policy & Procedures Manual, The Weekly Sales Training Meeting series along with Aptitude Tests and Proficiency Exams for new hires, current sales staff and sales managers, along with the new Weekly Internet Sales Training Series. In addition, he publishes a free weekly newsletter called “Sales Insight” For a free subscription or more information contact IAS Training at (800) 248-7703, info@iastraining.com, www.iastraining.com or fax (303) 936-9581.

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