Prospecting for new customers is tough.  They don’t know you and you have no idea how they work.  There are all kinds of hurdles sales professionals have to jump before getting that first sale.  Many times it comes down to persistence and a deep understanding of how you can help the retailer make more sales.  A successful sales person looks at it from the point of view of the buyer and not from the self interested side of trying to sell whatever he or she can.

Recently I saw an email exchange between a buyer and a prospecting sales rep.  Since I was not involved I could look at the conversation trail very dispassionately from both sides. 

On the sales representative’s side of the conversation I saw ET – email throw up.  The email listed everything that was in the rep’s bag with links to a company website to find more info about the product.  Why on earth would an overworked, busy retailer spend half of a minute to do anything other than hit the delete button?  It wasn’t that the email was bad — in fact it was well crafted linguistically.  The big mistake was the email showed no personalization whatsoever to the retailer or why the product that was offered would be important to the retailer.

Additionally I sensed a bit of attitude like let’s just put it all out there and maybe get lucky.  It’s like fishing with everything you can find in the refrigerator.  There may be some right bait in there that will attract the fish you want to catch but there also is a lot of garbage that fish do not want to weed through.  Consequently, all the garbage scares the fish away.

Of course the retailer’s response was curt and to the point of basically don’t waste my time.  He gets lots of other reps presenting product all the time.  Many do the same thing of saying I have a product and you should buy it.  But some reps actually go into his store and tailor a message of a product that he is missing and why he could use it to advance his sales. They do not present everything but go in with their best shot and communicate specifically why it will work for that retailer. 

The professional sales rep may also go to a competitor across the street to sell his or her wares.  But the presentation for that retailer will be entirely different based on customization for that retailer.  It may be a different product line altogether with no mention of the product presented to the first retailer across the street because that does not fit the format of the second retailer. 

If you have something like fabric protection then one size fits all.  Otherwise the presentations need to be customized to the individual retailers so they know you understand their customer and offer an actual solution that will work.

Get started with a retailer is the most important thing you can do.  Everything in your future with that account is based on getting started.  You can’t have the second sale or tenth sale without the first sale.  Spend time and effort figuring out how you can get started with a customer.  What’s your best shot to get in the door?  Focus on that and see where it takes you.

As always feel free to leave positive comments below. 

PS.  Less than three weeks before market.  Hopefully you are getting all your appointments locked down.  One event that should be on your schedule is the IHFRA rep event.  The Furniture Industry Awards Gala is almost sold out so if you don’t have your ticket, send a request for information to ihfra@ihfra.org.

In 1996 “Jerry Maguire” burst onto the movie scene starring Tom Cruise in the lead role as sports agent and Cuba Gooding, Jr. as his client.  A shouted phone call exchange between these two lead characters is memorable even to this day, with Gooding’s character repeatedly saying “Show Me the Money”!

Recently one of my new associates and I had a similar discussion.  Only this is the furniture business and the money is not quite the same as the star athletes.  My associate is new traveling on the road and has some concerns, rightly so, about making enough money to survive travel costs.

To his credit, he looked at the various lines represented and what the potential for each was over a year’s time.  He estimated how many clients he thought he could gather.  He estimated how a customer would be worth on an average monthly basis.  Finally, he took those two numbers and multiplied them by his estimated average commission.  This yielded a guesstimated average monthly check.

On reflection I thought this was a very smart strategy for new and seasoned reps to go through occasionally.  A new rep needs to know what it will take to survive, and a seasoned rep needs to know what it looks like to get to the next level.  If you consider how much a customer is worth, or how much a factory commission is worth to your business, then you have a measuring stick.

What gets measured gets improved.

You set your goals and revisit from time to time to see if you are on track or not.  I do it every quarter reviewing customer performance along with factory performance.  Best done with previous year experience if possible.  Why is it down?  What can we do to improve?  Where does this compare to my budget, and what did I calculate wrongly?

Sometimes things seem to be going great if looking at gross commission dollars, but then you realize one customer is way up and three others are down.  Figure out why those three dealers are down, correct for it and your business will be the better for it.

If you go out day after day without a financial objective or plan, how will you know if you are digging yourself into a hole or achieving your maximum productivity?  Just a little time and effort upfront will Show You The Money!

As always feel free to leave your positive comments below.   Thanks

There’s a very old sales joke about two sales reps attending one of their fellow sales rep’s funeral.  While discussing their friend, one rep says to the other “Wasn’t that terrible about Joe?”  The other rep says “what did he have?”  His friend answers “North and South Dakota”. 

Yes, I have North and South Dakota as well as a few other more populous states.  In those states along with several other “Flyover” states, there are many opportunities to pick up furniture lines.  There are not enough retailers and definitely not enough reps to give service for every factory.  Someone is always looking for a rep in non-populous states.  Marginal factories are usually looking for a rep in populous and non-populous states.

That doesn’t mean a sales rep in those states or any other for that matter should try and represent everything that is thrown their way.  This undermines a rep’s effectiveness in a couple of ways.

First, if you have product from high to low, you will have to call on every single customer in the territory.  Talking to a designer is different than working with a dirty window store.  I am not saying you can’t do both but it takes a special kind of rep to understand the nuances of each.  There are different demands and expectations from both retailers.  Even though they both are in the furniture industry, one store wants the furniture delivered in two weeks so he can make a “tax money” sale while another has no idea what tax money has to do with furniture and why anyone should expect furniture in less than 12 weeks special ordered.

Second, a retailer that buys your high end special order eight way hand tied sofa is not going to turn around and buy your $199 promotional bunkbed line.  It just won’t happen unless they have massive showrooms with clearance centers, and those stores are few and far between.

Third, a retailer expects you to know your product, and why they should be interested.  The more lines you carry the less you can know about each.  I remember years ago when I was a retailer, a seasoned rep walked our showroom floor with me looking at various bedroom offerings.  We got to one vignette and he commented on how nice the group was.  I told him I’m glad he liked it since his company had sold it to me at market.

Here’s a few thoughts on deciding what’s in your bag:

1.        Have a mix of product that is synergistic.  Mrs. B is famous for saying “Sell to the masses and live with the classes.”  My dad taught me that at an early age and we have always sold product on the low to medium price side of the spectrum.  However, I know several excellent reps that have done a tremendous job with higher end lines selling to designers and design centers.  I don’t know many that are successful selling both.

2.       Another solution for some is to become a specialist on a type of product.  For example, there are accent and accessory only salespeople.  They can concentrate on just selling to one type of buyer.  I have also seen this with a successful case goods sales rep who can’t or won’t sell upholstery (and vice versa).

3.       Become a specialist on a certain type of customer.  Reps have geographic territories so this begins to narrow the customer base.  But you should narrow further to the type of retailer your product serves best.  We concentrate on Top 100 customers.  Our associates concentrate on mom and pop independents.  My son concentrates on internet accounts.  Sometimes the same lines but many times different lines for different customers.

4.       Only put things in your bag that you can represent with enthusiasm.  If you cannot get excited about the product how in the world are you going to get someone else excited about selling the product.  If you are just selling a product because it comes with a dealer base, you will be disillusioned over time. 

Furniture is an awesome product that makes people’s lives better.  Don’t just put something in your bag because you can.  Make sure it is right for your retail customer base, make sure it is synergistic with everything else you sell, and most importantly make sure you are excited about selling the product.  If you can accomplish all of that you will be successful.

Going into market, make the decision to reexamine all the lines you represent.  If the potential is not good, if things have changed for the worse, or if you aren’t interested in the products, make the personal decision to look at market on how you can change your package for the better going forward.  As always feel free to leave your positive comments below.

Adapt to a mobile world to keep online sales booming. Consumers increasingly browse and buy on their phones or tablets. Soon, if not already, many retailers will get more web traffic from mobile devices than from PCs.
Updating store websites to display well on phones will be vital. If you don’t want your business to be left behind, in the shift to mobile, make your site mobile ready. Buyers using phones, as opposed to PC users, are more likely to abandon an order if a product is hard to view or payment method is cumbersome on their device.
Monitor mobile traffic using a free tool called Google Analytics. Low cost services, that cater to small businesses such as Weebly, Squarespace, etc. to help make mobile-friendly upgrades.
Beer,

Markets are a fascinating attribute of the furniture industry.  If a retail buyer truly wanted to go to a market every month they could.  There are less than 70 days into the new year and already there have been major trade shows that home furnishings retailers have attended including Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas Market, FMG (Buying group) trade show, Tupelo Furniture Market, Guadalajara Furniture Show, Brand Source / TRIB show (Buying Group), High Point pre-market and there are probably several smaller ones not mentioned. 

That’s one trade show every ten days and the list does not include any overseas travel for trade shows in Asian countries.  This week for example was pre-market when various dealers go to High Point, NC and work with vendors in a more casual format to develop or tweak future product offerings.  With the fast pace of April market, pre-market allows retailers to have more meaningful discussions with key vendors.  Very few retailers go to pre-market but those that do are generally meaningful accounts.

The furniture industry is so different than many others because everyone is out at markets it seems.  Other industries are content with one major introduction market a year.  The furniture industry evidently means many more markets.

Consider then that a buyer has plenty of opportunity to see new product with or without you presenting them anything from your bag of samples.  There are two very important considerations for reps based on this observation:

1.        There are markets every month if you want to be in front of customers.  Be judicious in picking which markets you are going to go to because they all cost time and money.  Showing product does not guarantee success.  Getting customers to look at the product and want you to follow up is what generates success.

2.       There is a reason why a buyer does not want to talk with you every week.  They are too busy looking at your sales competitor’s product at another market… or at least you should consider that as a real possibility.  In order to get your buyer’s attention you need to break through the clutter and capture their attention.

It is your responsibility if you are going to be successful in this business to make the most of the opportunity market provides for new revenue.  Here are a couple of ideas you can do to make sure you are maximizing the potential.

1.        Change your mindset from expecting people to come into to see you at market because your factory sends out lots of marketing or advertises in the trade papers.  Assume rather that the buyer is easily forgetful and has way too many distractions (like other markets) on their mind.  Expect that it is your responsibility and no one else’s to get the retail buyer into your space.

2.       Don’t depend on one media to get the buyers attention. See in person before market, call on phone and leave message, email with info, write a letter, drop off an invitation, text or anything else you can do creatively including a combination of all of the above.  If the buyer does not remember you or does not put your space on their shopping list it is highly unlikely they will come into see you at market.  Don’t depend on chance.

3.       Understand how your product will be good on dealer’s floor and communicate that message with intrigue such that the buyer wants to come find out about what you have to show.

4.       Start enough days in advance of market that your information reaches the buyer in time that they can build a visit to your showroom into the schedule.

Certainly there are more ways to get people into market and other considerations.  But in the next five weeks is critical that you get to work and start talking up market.  People who never went to market before may be going for the first time.  If you don’t ask you don’t know.  Hope this helps your market planning purposes.  As always feel free to share any of your market success ideas below along with other positive comments.  Talk with you next week.

Last week I discussed basic sales techniques that would be helpful to be successful as a sales person.  Mindset, product knowledge, factory positioning and the like are first steps but they could apply to any product in any industry.  Today let’s explore how to position your products in the marketplace.

There are vendors in the marketplace that are very good in placing their products in every avenue where customers may look for their products or even where they won’t look for it.  Do you ever consider that your product might go in a grocery store, because there is furniture sold along with cans of soup?  Or how about a garden center right next to the spring tulips? 

How does this apply to you?  Think outside of the box as they say.  Look at the product you sell and figure out every way in which you can try and find an outlet that may be interested in selling your products to the end consumer.  If you have a promotional item like a cheap recliner maybe you can convince the local grocery store to run a Fathers Day ad of Buy One Get One Free.  Or if you have a high end accessory or accent item, maybe you can convince the garden center to sell it right along with their floral decorations.

There are four things to consider when positioning your products in the marketplace.

1.       Know your product better than anyone else.  If you don’t know your product and think your product is the best offering in the marketplace, how can you possibly convince someone else to buy it.  Find out how your product stacks up against all others and play to those strengths.  A cheap recliner is great for promotions.  A massage recliner is great for aging baby boomers. A Lift recliner is great for gradually aging folks.  How ever you decide to position your product and accentuate its benefits will be one determination of your success or failure in getting the sale.

2.       Know your competition.  Your customer is looking at every offering they can from all vendors so you have to assume a competitor will have shown your customer what similar offerings they have to yours.  Are you a value in comparison?  If not, why not?  Sometimes the difference is actually better for the retailer.  Easy example is out of a domestic warehouse with weekly fulfillment versus containers with 90 day fulfillment.  You get the idea.  Make sure you are competitive or make sure the buyer understands why the lowest price might not be the best price.  And if you can’t get there, then sell them something else that is competitive and don’t waste their time on a product that is not a value in your eyes.  Finally, you may find out that a competitor has tied up distribution in a marketplace on a “hot” collection.  If you have a similar offering then the other store in town probably would like to see it.  Don’t miss those opportunities.

3.       Know your customer and why they need what you sell.  How many times have you gone into see a buyer without first walking their floor?  How can you possibly tell them how your product will work for them if you have not shopped their floor to see why your product will be a better offering than what they currently sell.  Do you know what their competitors offer and how your product will be a better offering than what their competitors offer?  Do you know the retailer’s mark up and advertising strategy so you can determine how they will price your product on the floor?  Will your offering look like a value to the consumer on this floor?  If you sell out of a warehouse and the retailer only buys containers, you might be the best option for this retailer.  Don’t waste their time or your own if the pricing difference will be large.

4.       Know the marketplace you are selling in to.  Last furniture market I was in one of my spaces and I worked with a gentleman who I had never met, sold or even tried to sell before because he was a much higher price point than the lines I offer.  But I occasionally shopped his floors looking for opportunities.  It so happened that at market one of my lines came out with an item that would be good on his floor.  When he came in, I introduced myself and told him what I knew about his floors and why this new offering would be a good fit.  I apologized for not reaching out to him in the past but I really had nothing I could help his specialty stores sell in my product mix until now.  He appreciated the honesty, the fact I knew his stores, and valued his time (as well as my own) by not wasting his time in presentations of products that would never work for him. 

Hope this helps you relook at your products, your customers, your competition, and the marketplaces you are selling.  Next week I am going to go off script talking about market preparation.  As always leave your positive comments below.