At Chuck's Furniture, Sales Associates Buck Trends and Try to Give More Meaning to Their Pitch
Morgantown, WV (PRWEB) January 21, 2014 -- Retail has changed drastically over the years. One of the biggest influences has been the moving of production facilities overseas. Products are now made with different materials and in different ways than they once were. With this change, the job of salespeople has become much more complicated than ever before. Many salespeople, rather than taking the time to fully learn about their products, have taken the easy road and use terms loosely and in increasingly misleading ways. Veneered furniture is often referred to as solid wood. Many customers leave stores thinking the bonded leather sofa they just bought is top grain leather. Because of the changing natures of sales, Chuck's Furniture has decided to make a concerted effort immediately to help counteract the confusion this causes.
James Prutilpac, 3rd generation in the Chuck's family, has seen a lot of these changes in his lifetime and has to deal with misinformed customers from other stores comparing unequal goods. Because of how important the furniture industry is to him, we takes the cheapening of words personally. As sales manager, he has recently placed more focus on this issue. It started when a sales person told him that "solid wood doesn't mean anything anymore. The term has lost all meaning."
"A lot of people come into the store with completely false ideas about products they've seen elsewhere. Some of our local competitors are notorious for this. The fact that we carry a higher end, better quality product makes this very difficult. These other sales people will tell customers whatever they want in order to make the sale. If it wasn't so troubling it would be funny the way they contradict each other."
"In one weekend, we had two customers visit us after visiting the same store. One was looking at a desk. The sales person had told her it was solid cherry. The price tag was $249. I told her that there was very little chance that it was solid wood. Anyone who knows about lumber would know that the wood itself would cost the manufacturer almost that much without factoring in building it or hardware costs. The other client was told by the same store that only Amish furniture is made of real wood. All other products are pressed wood. These are two vastly different experiences. We had to fix the past stores mistakes. The terrible part about this is that most customers buy furniture from that store without ever finding out what they've been told can be largely untrue." There are big differences between veneers, solid wood, and pressed wood. One is not necessarily better in all cases and it pays to know what you are buying.
These issues are not rare. A casual look through reviews of furniture stores will find many stories like this. One of the biggest issues involves leather. Traditionally, leather furniture was made of leather. Now there is top grain, split grain, bonded and synthetic. How are customers supposed to know the difference? They should get a straight answer from their salesperson but that isn't always the case.
James believes that, "Salespeople need to hold themselves to a higher standard. It's easy to fall into the trap of simply trying to make a sale. The end of the month might be coming up and you haven't sold enough. Some months are slower than others. Sales associates need to put the customer's needs first. In the long run, this will lead to more success on the sales floor and more trust in your store."
"At the same time, customers need to try and get more information. If something is listed as leather, make sure you know what kind of leather it is. The answer might not determine whether you buy it but it will give you an idea on what the price should be. First and foremost, question your sales person, get more information online or in a catalogue. And then question them again."
For the right information on all of your home furnishing needs, stop into Chuck's Furniture in Morgantown today and let one of their talented associates explain a little bit more than your average salesperson.
James Prutilpac, Chuck's Furniture, http://www.chucksfurniture.com/index.html, +1 304-276-7255, [email protected]
Share this article