sales

The home furnishings and home improvement industries have been drinking from a fire hose for the last year. Lots of showroom traffic consisting of people who have been staying home…and using their tired, broken, uncomfortable furniture much more than they used to. And they have been buying like crazy!

August traffic lessened a bit. Maybe vacations, maybe their houses are getting full, maybe they have COVID. Whatever the reason, less traffic didn’t necessarily equal less written business, as those…

Mask, no mask?

Social distance or get close enough to talk?

As the pandemic rails on and showrooms manage incoming opportunities, the ability to communicate while wearing a mask remains tricky.  It’s hard to read full facial expressions, to hear people who speak softly behind a mask, and to repeat once or twice to be understood. 

It’s helpful to the customer (for their comfort and information) to initiate how the interaction will go…and if someone needs to repeat what they said, it’s understo…

Q2 2021

For sales associates and leaders everywhere

 Q1 2021 is now behind us. If you hit your quarterly goal, congratulations! If you missed it, check your performance statistics and you will find what was insufficient that kept you from  hitting your target.

The obvious challenges most retail and trade showrooms are facing right now are supply chain shortages and insufferable lead times. This is what the remainder of the year will look like, so it’s critical that we manage what we can contr…

I started this project about a month ago, although how much time it was going to take to complete the project remained an unspecified mystery. Since this was the first slipcover I ever made, I spent time researching HOW to do this so that the result would be respectable. The ticking stripe fabric was a couple of years old, because I originally thought I would have someone do the work for me. But the pandemic arrived and my travel schedule slowed…

19.    Retaining current customers is 6–7 cheaper than acquiring new ones

It’s not a new sales enablement statistic, but it’s just as true today as it was in the past. It’s cheaper to keep your current customers happy than to spend time finding new ones.

Salespeople

Is follow up a scheduled part of your weekly sales actions? Do you ask ‘What’s next?’ with each sales opportunity that closes? Like asking for referrals, staying connected with current clients is low hanging fruit (I dislike that phr…

#13     

It’s crucial for sales reps to be easily accessible. Having active social media profiles is a great way for your reps to connect with prospects and customers.

Salespeople Put this action on your weekly calendar and don’t rely on memory or instinct to guide you to do this. Talk to other salespeople (in other industries, and in different B2B or B2C sales positions) about what they are doing and what they are achieving with socia…

Self-discovered information is becoming the norm for product research and purchasing decisions. Your company needs to have targeted and relevant sales materials that are easy for customers to find.

Salespeople This is true for B2B sales and B2C. The prospect no longer relies heavily on the salesperson for information where there is much to be found online. And researching online is such an integral part of the buying p…

10. Mobile sales make up 30% of all US eCommerce

Making website material mobile-friendly and having trained salespeople ready for web sales is crucial to your bottom line. If you’re not keeping up with the mobile and tablet movement, you will be left behind.

Salespeople

Consider getting a second line on your phone so that your customers can call you, or become facile with your tablet so that you can use it for sketching, web searching your competition, scheduling appointments, etc. If you aren’…

Customers who contact you via your website expect a quick response. Leads and questions that come through your site need to trigger a response instantly within your sales team.

Salespeople This role isn’t a fit for EVERY salesperson. They need to be skilled in technology, persistent in their communication and closely tied to the marketing department so that they can participate in creating responses that are…