EDITOR'S CORNER: Elevator speeches for rvery sales associate.

Every furniture retailer should invest time to craft one great Elevator Speech (ES). An ES explains what your company does, why it’s unique and interesting. It needs to be short enough to deliver to a prospect during a brief ride from the first to the fourth floor. This prospect is someone you may never see again if you fail to captivate, once the bell dings and the double doors open.

Creating a great Elevator Speech is not easy, and rehearsing it is mandatory. Your ES needs to be memorable, giving your prospect a positive feeling about what you do and why they might want to buy from you.

Let’s take this ES idea one step further. Your store is not only about your retail brand, it’s about the brands you carry. Sales associates find themselves standing next to an Up only for a short time. They stop along the way to present products, just like an elevator stops at select floors. Every Up can walk out those double doors at any time... ding! Can your RSA’s quickly explain what makes each product they choose to show unique, interesting and worthy of buying? What if each of your suppliers could supply an ES for their company brand, as well as for each collection they produce? What if your sales associates were armed with this information, drilled it and perfected it?