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Highlights from past installments

David Perry, Bedding Editor -- Furniture Today, September 17, 2006

With each installment of Mattress Retailing 101, we are expanding our library of resources for retail bedding sales associates.

Here's an overview of the sales training features available to readers online at www.beddingtoday.com:

• How to close the deal. In this guest column, originally published in our Aug. 28 issue, bedding consultant Tim Sommer shares his insights on a "new school" method of closing. The approach stands in stark contrast to the "old school" approach, which relied on the salesperson making an overwhelming case for why the sale should be made with lists of reasons for buying or not buying.
  In the new school approach, the salesperson takes a direct approach, simply asking for the sale at a logical point in the sale presentation. Sommer recommends this be done with confidence and with eye contact. Nod your head as you ask for the sale, he advises: "Do you want to go ahead and get this?"

• Listening skills pay off when it comes to selling. Originally published in our June 12 issue, this feature discusses the importance of listening. Sharing their opinions were two highly respected bedding veterans, Larry Miller, president of Sit 'n Sleep, an award-winning bedding specialty retailer based in Gardena, Calif., and Ron Wolinski, vice president of Profitability Consulting Group and a veteran sales trainer.
  Miller's suggestions include: "The consumer has a favorite subject, and it's them. Shopping for a mattress is a grudge purchase. Consumers don't want to buy a mattress. But we focus on the consumer. We let them talk about themselves."

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