Retailers rely on variety of methods for communicating benefits of credit
Marc Barnes -- Furniture Today, 12/26/2006 7:00:00 AM
Customer approach touted as most important*Also see Financing works best as a tool for selling
HIGH POINT -- When it comes to selling financing services, many retailers are finding that the way they teach the salespeople to approach the customer — either through direct training or by the store's culture — counts the most.Tommy Miskelly, a partner in Miskelly Furniture in Jackson, Miss., said that it's important that salespeople remember that they are there to sell furniture, not financing.'We try to make the furniture the star of the show and have the financing be, 'Oh by the way, we not only have great furniture and great prices, but here is a way that you can get it, enjoy it now and pay it out over a length of time,' " he said. "That is the closer — we really use it more as a closer."At the Ashley HomeStore in Henderson, Nev., store manager Dan Mercatante said that he trains salespeople to build the sale based on mentioning the value, the discount pricing and no-interest financing, in that order."We have seven to 10 seconds," he said. "If you give a two-minute speech, you have lost them. The last thing you say is terrific pricing and no-interest financing terms. They will remember the last thing that is said to them."At Goldstein's Furniture and Bedding in Youngstown, Ohio, chief financial officer Gary Rose says his store has had success in guiding customers to an automated credit kiosk to fill out a credit application in private. "They came in to buy a sofa and now they find they can buy an end table or a recliner to go with it," he said. "We try to make it so that it's no payment or a small affordable payment and they decide, 'why not get it now?' "
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