HOW TO SELL CABINETS USING THE “CURIOUS GEORGE” METHOD?
We’re talking a little bit about the sales of your cabinets and sales of the design. When your customers come into your showroom, how do you boost your revenue? How do you close more sales? How do you eliminate the competition?
Many times, when a prospective client enters the showroom, they are greeted with a clipboard and a pen. “Here, please provide us with your information including name, emails, budget, project timing, and any other wish list items. Ok, now let’s go look at cabinets.” Sound familiar? It’s so simple to become process oriented that this scenario becomes all too familiar. But let’s take things a few steps further.
When you get into the design work, you can actually get to know exactly what the clients needs are. “Tell me how you feel about this design. How does it look to you?” If somebody comes to you and they are talking about their pets, take that into consideration as you should be able to integrate some usable aspects into your design that will specifically appeal to a pet owner. “Does your pet have long nails? Do they scratch alot?” If the answer is “yes”, I’m immediately discussing woods and finishes with that customer and discussing the durability differences in our products. Or you could ask if they’d like to incorporate a water and food bowl into your island.
There are various ways to dig beneath the surface in your conversation with the customer. This will help you discover prime selling points and cabinet features that are unique to the client. Asking the client as many applicable questions to help yourself paint a picture in your mind’s eye similar to that of the customer’s. I call this the “Curious George” approach to sales. It’s similar to the way a 6 or 7 year old child will ask so many curious questions….since most experiences are still brand new to them.
One of my coworkers asked the other day, “What if we had the curiousity of children and that thought process when discussing a project with a prospective client.” That’s what would make you great at sales, not filling out the clipboard. The customer ultimately wants you to understand their goals, their needs, and what their wishes may be. It’s our job to help them through this process and help them obtain the outcome they expect.
I’m not thinking about making the sale, I’m not thinking about closing the customer. At this point, all I’m focused on is simply helping the customer. I’m simply asking questions and guiding them along the “decision tree”.