How To Sell Carpet Part 2
A couple years ago I worked with another carpet salesman on a weekend when the department was packed. It was just the two of us and he was ignoring everyone else to focus on one customer purely for the reason that he thought the gentleman was wealthy. The customer was wearing an expensive suit and a Rolex watch. His English was a little hard to understand but he was looking at some very expensive Fabrica carpet and my silly colleague assumed he was going to make a large purchase.
While my colleague was excitedly stalking his customer around the department, trying to decipher his broken English, I was approaching and qualifying each and every other customer in the department. At the end of that hour I had four solid leads and a retainer. My colleague was STILL assisting his single customer after the last customer of mine had left the department. After nearly an hour and fifteen minutes, the gentleman finally said, “Ok, I'll take four of these.” while holding up one of our carpet samples.
“Four? Four of what?” said my colleague looking flustered, a bead of sweat dripping down his forehead.
“Four of these door mats.” replied the gentleman.
“Door mats? WHAT?! These aren't..” then my colleague muttered something naughty underneath his breath. “Sir these are carpet SAMPLES used to carpet HOMES! This is not a door mat store!”
My colleague had just wasted more than an hour unknowingly discussing the finer details of door mats because he hadn't qualified his customer. He would have saved himself as well as his customer quite a bit of time if he'd just asked a few simple questions. I almost died laughing (I know, it was mean but I couldn't help it). I thought he was going to explode when he saw the retainer I'd taken for an entire house of carpet while he was wasting his time. Always qualify your customers.
Once you've qualified your customer, build interest in your products. Know your products well enough to help them find something they love. Help them to visualize the carpet in their home. Get them excited about the idea. Then offer them the samples.
If you can get a customer to become excited enough about a product to borrow samples to view in their own home, then you're doing well. This is good because it gives you a great lead and a reason to call them later. Whenever you loan out samples, ALWAYS follow up a few days later with a courtesy call.
During the call ask them how the samples are working out. Get them to talk about it. Do they like the shades they have? If they're slightly too dark, then offer to send swatches of carpet a shade or two lighter. Use this opportunity to touch base with them and create more excitement and trust. You're not manipulating them, you're calling to offer them assistance.
Hopefully sooner rather than later, they return with the samples and place a retainer to be measured. Unfortunately it's not usually that easy. If you work at the typical carpet store, you'll be running sales nearly back to back. Use this to your advantage. Call up the customer again a few days later to offer them the latest sale.
Often times they just need a little nudge, a reason to come in to place the retainer. Don't be obnoxious or pushy, just be helpful and let them know about the sale. Use this opportunity to ask them if they have any further questions about the carpet. Following up with your customers is one of the most important aspects of closing a carpet sale.
So you've finally taken a retainer, the carpet measure has come back and you've gotten all the specifics ironed out. You've calculated how many square feet they require, itemized any extra charges, and are now waiting for the customer to come in to place the order. All they have to do is pay for it can you've earned your commission!
Hold on a second. Enthusiasm is good, but the hardest phase of the sale is about to begin. First of all, when you call the customer up, never EVER leave the price and square feet required on their answering machine. You always want to discuss the price in person.
If I call up and get an answering machine, I just say something to the effect that the measure is in and that they can come in to order the carpet when it's convenient for them. Customers always anticipate a job costing less than it actually will. If you leave a price on their answering machine without justifying it, they may simply walk and you'll never see them again. But if you're able to justify that price using the measure diagram to show them exactly why they need X amount of carpet, you may save the sale.
Sometimes your customer will come in, do a quick review of the price and say, “Ok, lets do this!” This is when relief pours over you and you smile broadly. However, this isn't what normally occurs. It's usually more along the lines of “1300 square feet?! What the heck man! That is clearly 300 more than I need! And what are theses ramping carpet to tile charges? You never said anything about that! And why do I have to pay to have my grand piano moved?”
This is when you take a deep breath, and then review each an every item as patiently as you can until the customer is satisfied that they're only being charged for legitimate items. They think the square feet is too high? Then go over each and every cut with them. Explain why you can't use every single last piece of carpet or they'll have patchwork seaming. Show them the overage and explain that it can't all be efficiently used while following the industry standards for seaming.
They're upset that you didn't explain every single extra charge that can occur? Hopefully you did warn them ahead of time that there may be extra charges and reviewed a few of the more common ones. Of course there are hundreds of potential extra charges and you can't go over each and every one. You're not psychic, you can't possibly know that they have an oddly formed theater room with curves and lips that need to be carpeted. These require more time to install than regular wall to wall carpet, therefore costing more money.
Most customers are reasonable. If you justify each cost that they were not anticipating, you can often save the sale. Just force yourself to remain calm and friendly. I overheard one customer tell a colleague of mine a few years back, “I don't understand this at all, maybe I should just go somewhere else!” My colleague had lost his patience at this point and was taking it personally. He retorted, “Well, maybe you should!”
Of course I was horrified. The customer did walk and my colleague lost an $8000 sale. All the customer needed was a thorough explanation of the charges. Don't take it personally if they don't understand. They don't do this for a living, we do. They're not attacking you personally, they just need to have the situation explained to them in a manner that they can understand. I could have saved that sale.
Ultimately, after the customer has been measured and you've gone over all of the details including seaming, extra charges, etc.. It's time to let the chips fall where they may. The ball is now in the customers court. Just relax and know that you've done everything that you can do. They'll either purchase the carpet or they won't. You can't force them to buy it.
Don't sweat the sales that fall through the cracks. Everything eventually evens out. For every sale that goes abysmally wrong, like my eager customer who was ready to purchase a huge amount of carpet but was denied credit, you'll have an easy one where the customer comes in, points to a carpet sample, and basically says, “That one!” Yes, that does happen.
Selling carpet is a unique, slow sale that people tend to either love or despise. I enjoyed it because it's not a high pressure sale. It's not something you're going to get an impulse buy from. Selling carpet takes a unique skill set and can be immensely rewarding. It's a fantastic feeling to spend a month working on a huge job only to close it on a Sunday night, right before you take two relaxing days off to enjoy your hefty commission check.
In conclusion, know your products, be honest, and always follow up your customers. Don't sweat the sales that go awry, and have fun. Honestly, how bad can a job be where you're paid well to stand around all day chatting? Enjoy it!
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