Furniture Retail Tip #6 From Grandpa Mike-e-e! at 90 - Quality Salespersons Make Strangers Happy

Quality salespersons in retail furniture stores sell themselves first. Their quality ideas follow. When I was a ten year old skinny kid and wanted to sing Gilbert and Sullivan's Lord High Executioner part in the "The Mikado" with the school glee club the teacher turned me down for the part because when I turned sideways my 65 pounds disappeared.  And at thirteen when my older brother's kid had a bar-mitzvah and they lifted me onto a kitchen chair to sing the Torah blessings I turned sideways and my 70 pounds disappeared.

At 18, I sold myself as a tiny bedding retailer and manufacturer. At 19, I sold myself as an assistant and secretary to the V.P. of Purchasing of the Tootsie Roll Corporation and at 24 I sold myself as Director of Personnel for its 500 employees. I turned sideways very slowly.

In 1946 I joined my suddenly widowed sister as President of her tiny retail company on Long Island and stayed on for 46 years creating custom designing for over 20,000 children's bedrooms. Yes! I sold myself over and over again and believe I made those 20,000 "kids" and their parents happy.

Have you ever thought about what makes an individual a happy salesperson? Good commission? Getting rid of ancient inventory? Pleasing your boss? Making a job steady? Yes! All the above.

But the happiest, happiest salesperson and the best, best salesperson is the individual who makes other people happy.   "Other people" meaning the customers. Happy for being pleased. Happy for being sold by a stranger who cares. Happy, that it's not just the price that seems fair but that the caring is free.

Which reminds me: It was part of our selling procedure to visit the "kids" bedroom after a sale was concluded with a deposit. In this instance the pieces purchased was a twin headboard, night table, dresser, mirror, desk and small armoire. But when I saw the bedroom I thought that the armoire would crowd the room even though there was space for it. I suggested to the family: dad, mom and the sixteen year old teenager that we cancel the piece.
Before I left, the "Dad" got me in a corner and exclaimed: "Are you nuts, Mike? What kind of a salesman are you?  There goes a chunk of your commission."

"Not important, Mr. Tuff. Now that I've seen the room I really think we'd be crowding the room with the armoire. In my book, a teenage bedroom calls for Four S's: sleeping, storage, study and an overall solitude space-area for thinking. The armoire fits the room but crowds the thinking function. Let's try it. If necessary we can still add the piece and my commission.

"And come to think of it, you really should take a good look at the layout of the double closet interior, in the room. I think you can pick up a chunk of free storage."

Of course, a sale always makes the big boss happy. But it's the whole transaction between the customer and the salesperson that counts. Including the customer smiling when they say "We'll take it." And your knowing that they'll be back again after they tell their neighbors and jealous relatives what a "good time" they had spending their hard earned cash.

Yes! The whole sales event can be an everybody pleasure... including the company's accountant.

Thanks for listening.

Grandpa Mike-e-e! at 90

Got a question? Got a comment? Great!! E-mail: grandpamike-e-e!@furninfo.com