Blog
Retail
Intended Outcomes
My program, “Sell it or Schedule it”™, is called that because the ONLY outcomes of a selling interaction is to close the sale or to arrange another contact time…in order to close the sale. To either write it up today because the customer is far enough along in their buying process to be able to confidently decide…or they aren’t! In the case of the latter, an appointment will ‘forward’ or ‘advance’ the sale so that you can close it at the next contact.
Anything else isn’t an outcome, but a step …
April Showers Bring May Flowers
As lead times remain long and product pricing and freight continue to rise, we are faced with the question of timing. It’s likely that home furnishings (and I speak to fine quality products here) will never be more affordable than they are right now. And right now is all we have. Now is the time to take action and make decisions.
That thinking needs to start with the sales professional. Waiting favors no one. A client/customer who believes that waiting until supply chain challenges lessen or…
High Point Furniture Market
In the spirit of Spring and the transition and blossoming nature of the season, High Point Market was a welcome respite from the isolation of the pandemic.
It ‘felt’ well attended, both in the buildings and on the streets, and had an old and new quality to it.
Old in the sense of seeing lots of people I have missed in the last couple of years, and the chance to sit and talk about how they and their business have changed.
Old and new in revisiting shared experiences (I got a lot of “You once t…
Process…plus….
Of the three key points, this one is most critical to know in order to direct the interaction to an outcome today – and the only outcomes that count are a sale or an appointment.
Every buyer is somewhere in their buying decision. Where they are and what they have done and what remains to be done will impact what they CAN do today.
Surprisingly, this is the area least explored by most salespeople or considered critical in what outcome can be achieved today. And I assert that not knowing th…
Priorities…plus….
As we did in the first blog of this series (Problems….), we will focus on one element. One element that when added to the others creates something magical.
Priorities are those things that matter most. And there aren’t a lot of them, which is what makes them priorities.
When working with a designer or with a retail customer, ask what the priorities of the project/product are…and limit them to THREE.
Ask: “What are the three most important elements to you?” Then listen and take no…
Problem…plus….
In this series, I am going to share a perspective with you that will have a lasting impact. These three initial points added together create something…something worth sticking around for.
When people have a home furnishings problem, they seek a solution with a designer or with a retail showroom. They come with a problem to be solved or a vision to be realized – or both. It is up to the professional service provider to find out what that is and to satisfy it.
To put this into place,…
Conscious Consistency
Conscious Consistency. I love the way this sounds. It came up in a coaching call (as so many things do!) and I had to write it down.
Conscious. Consistency. Two related but separate qualities that contribute to making new habits. Cool, huh?
Conscious. Present. Mindful. In the moment. Paying attention. Being focused on the action now. Noticing my thinking and how it impacts my actions.
Consistency. Repeating things that work. And again. Noticing how the action starts to become second na…
Me, too…
Habits take time and attention to develop. If you haven’t read The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, put it on your list for 2022. It identifies the elements necessary for creating and keeping new habits.
I think I explore and train others and write blogs because I need to hear the message as much as I need to share it. For me, it helps to combine a new action with a reliable one to build a new habit…. like taking vitamins at night when I put the coffee together for the next day. I can’t do …
Ending the First Month in the New Year
Whew! Month one in and done.
Are you off to a good start? Did you start and stop and start again? Did you hit your target for January yet?
This is a good beginning, whatever the outcome. You are starting a new process and you are completing your first milestone. Take a look at your actions and results and find something to celebrate – even it’s just sticking to the program!
You are likely in this for the long run and not just a quick accomplishment, so slow and steady wins the race.
New Actions in Action
Actions are the only things that produce results. New actions feel awkward at first and sometimes that awkwardness stops us from continuing them.
When you know this might happen, then it’s not a surprise when it does. That’s why you want to keep actions to a very few and repeatable if possible. Feeling awkward lessens with practice. And how we know we are doing something new IS the awkwardness of it…so that is good news!
Have a reasonable expectation of what new actions will produce. Giv…
Categories
- #FillTheWell (6)
- #JodySays (31)
- #SellItOrScheduleIt (21)
- Action plan (35)
- Build Habits (32)
- Coaching (33)
- Qualifying Questions (6)
- Sales Coaches (24)
- Sales Managers (32)
- selling (24)
- Uncategorized (39)
- Achieve (29)
- Interactions (18)
- Opportunities (32)
- Commitment (9)
- Excellence (11)
- Results (27)
- Retail (24)
- sales (28)
- showroom (17)
- #closeratio (12)
- Closing (15)
- managers (5)
- Sketch (3)
- Sketch the space (3)
- sketching (2)
- Small businesses (4)
- communication (14)
- solutions (13)
- Systems (7)
- challenges (20)
- Compromise (3)
- relationships (11)
- Goals (19)
- strategy (14)
- success (7)
- BADAS (3)
- acceptance (2)
- leaders (1)
- team (4)
- Discovery Questions (3)
- Prospects (5)
- Decision Maker (3)
- Organization (4)
- planning (7)
- profitability (2)
- Quality (1)
- Standards (3)
- connecting (11)
- practice (3)
- Objections (3)
- Clarity (2)
- Creating Urgency (6)
- email (3)
- E-Commerce (1)
- #babyboomers (1)
- #millennials (1)
- social media (1)
- marketing (2)
- Consistancy (7)
- consistency (5)
- Designers (2)
- gratitude (5)
- Holidays (5)
- Reflection (4)
- Pandemic (1)
- Change (3)
- Travel (1)
- Family (1)
- distraction (1)
- onething (2)
- Actions (7)
- Structure (1)
- Inspiration (2)
- Setbacks (1)
- Celebrate (1)
- Process (4)
- Resistance (1)
- Mindset (1)
- Furnishings (3)
- Problems (3)
- priorities (3)
- Customer Satisfaction (1)
- Consultative Selling (3)
- Appointments (1)