SmallBusinessNewz

My wife and I went shopping for a new bed over the holiday weekend, which just happens to be a big time for furniture sales. We went to a couple different furniture stores, both of which had friendly and helpful salespeople. In fact they were both so friendly, it really brought to mind my recent article about befriending customers as I watched them reach out and do just that.

Good Sales Practices

We had our baby girl with us and they commented on how cute she was, etc.  The guy at the second place shared a couple of brief anecdotes about his experiences with babies. He didn't get annoying about it though. He made it clear that he was there to help us. He explained their pricing system, and how they had "the best prices in town", and he left us to shop for a while.

After browsing the majority of the store, we came across a bed that caught our interest. The sales guy took notice as we lingered around the bed, and he came over to assist us again. He then pointed out a couple more that we had not made it to yet that were in a similar price range, and we were quickly able to establish that there were three beds at this store that we were interest in.

Not Ready to Settle Yet

We weren't ready to settle yet though. There are plenty more furniture stores around town, and we thought we would shop around some more. The friendly salesman told us to ask for him if we came back (presumably so he could get his commission), and we told him that we would do so. While driving through town the next day, we spotted a sign for a mattress sale at a different place. The beds we were checking out didn't come with mattresses, and quite frankly, the store with those beds didn't have much of a mattress selection.

So we decided to stop at this new place. This store probably had the best prices I've ever seen on mattresses. As we were testing out some of the different models, we found one we liked, and expressed some interest in it, but we told the sales person we wanted to talk it over between ourselves. She left us to ourselves, and when she returned, she knocked a hundred bucks off the already great price (without us even attempting to negotiate for a cheaper price). That pretty much sealed the deal, and we purchased it.

The Need Arises

Now we had a mattress and no bed. Getting a bed just became a higher priority. We thought back to that second store with the friendly salesman and the three beds that we liked, and decided to stop beating around the bush, and just go back and get one of them. It's not exactly that we took the guy's word for it that they had "the best prices in town", but they were the best we had seen so far, and we needed a bed, so we went back.

When we got there, a different salesperson was there to help us. I had to kindly explain to her that we had promised to ask for the other guy, so she went and got him, and while we were waiting, we decided on the bed we wanted. He came to help us and we closed the deal.

The Point to All of This

If I haven't bored you away from the article yet, let's look at some takeaways here - factors that led to our purchasing decision.

1. Holiday Sales

2. Befriending (not annoying) the customer

3. Signage Indicating Sale

4. Discounted price beyond current sale

5. Need (our need to buy the actual bed to complete the package)

These are pretty much all topics I have written about in the past, but it is interesting to see them in a real life scenario (which is why I also say to be on the lookout for business ideas and lessons all the time).