David Perry — Furniture Today,
Today’s topic: Answers about questions.
Overview: Questions are a basic tool of the trade for the successful bedding sales associate.


The selling process starts with questions designed to build rapport, and ends with the most important question of all: Will you buy this mattress from me? In between are questions that enable the savvy sales associate to zero in on the customer’s needs.

Challenges: Asking the wrong question at the wrong time can cost you a sale. Even an innocuous-sounding question such as “How much do you want to spend?” can have unintended consequences, such as putting a cap on how much the customer might spend. And you don’t want to pepper your customer with unnecessary questions, either. In addition, some customers aren’t very talkative.

Opportunities: This is how sales associates make friends, influence people and close the deal. The opening questions help the effective sales associate establish a bond with the potential mattress buyer. That bond provides a secure environment that is conducive to sales. And it enables the sales associate to comfortably tackle the critical questions: Who is this bed for? What is wrong with your current bed? What comfort level are you looking for?

Strategies for success: Ron Wolinski, a veteran sales trainer who is now a vice president for Profitability Consulting Group (www.ProfitabilityConsulting.com), refers to questions as “probes.” He says there are two types: Open and closed.

Open probes, or open-ended questions, invite customers to share their concerns, in their own words. They allow customers to express their values, experiences, emotions, needs and opinions. These types of questions help get the selling ball rolling.

Some examples:
* What’s important to you in a mattress?
*  Who is the sleep set for?
* How did you sleep last night?
* How do you feel when you get up in the morning?
*  What kinds of problems are you experiencing with your mattress?
*  How many hours of sleep do you get regularly?

Note that none of those questions can be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” That is the characteristic of open-ended questions. They invite the customer to speak about a given issue. And there is a powerful benefit here: As customers talk about what is important to them, the sales associates begin to become consultants in the mattress-buying process. They show they care by the questions they ask.

But what if the customers don’t open up with these open probes?

In that case, Wolinski says, it is necessary to shift to closed probes: Questions that are answered with a yes or a no, or from among specific choices that are offered.

Some examples:
*  Is brand name quality important to you? (If the answer is no, the sales consultant can talk about whatever brand he or she favors.)
*  Have you experienced backache from your current sleep set? (A “yes” to that question can lead the sales associate to focus on bedding with strong support characteristics.)
*  Do you find that you can’t sleep at the edge of the mattress because of sagging? (A “yes” there can lead to a discussion of beds with superior edge support.)
*  Does your mate disturb you when he/she changes sleep positions? (This can lead to a discussion of beds with strong motion separation characteristics.)

But closed probes are not just for customers who don’t volunteer much information. They are also critical in zeroing in on the type of bedding best suited to the individual consumer.

Some examples:
*  Would you consider trading up to a king-sized mattress?
*   Do you prefer a pillow-top or a tight-top mattress?
*  Does this mattress feel more comfortable to you than that mattress?
With the answers to those questions in hand, the sales associate has narrowed the choices and is focusing on a few key beds.

Now the sales associate can move on to a final question or two in a trial close. Some examples: When did you need delivery? Do you want me to check our stock? Positive answers there indicate the sale is close at hand.