Learn to Talk About Color/Texture - 08 Guide

Color is often a major stumbling block in the flooring sales transaction. Make sure your customers know that you recognize the flooring is a fashion item. You can allay their fears and close more sales based on how you can assure them you know about color. Customers are anxious that the color they select may be wrong for them or out of style in a year.

Here are six tips to talking the language with your customer:

• There’s no right or wrong color. Explain that color is all about “you,” the customer, and about expressing one’s personal style. Ask customers what feelings they are trying to create. Serenity? Excitement? The outdoors? Luxury? These are emotional connections. Talking about them illustrates that you understand color and the customer.

• Next, ask about their personal favorites. Find out if they favor bright vibrant colors or pastels and what colors make them feel good. What colors do they have in their clothes closets? The answers are all guides to their personal color palette.

• What’s their favorite time of year? Summer is about bright, cooling colors, winter the warmer tones. Spring brings the outside freshness in. Fall colors lean toward muted tones of brown and orange.

• Different parts of the country have their own palettes, which is why New England colors aren‘t popular in the Southwest.

Learn the difference between cool, warm and neutral colors. Colors like greens and blues are comforting and cool, delivering a sense of calmness to a room. Such colors can be balanced or appear more inviting with warmer colors, like reds and oranges, added to the color scheme.

• Consumers often paint their walls if they’re changing floors, so it’s wise to have paint samples on hand. Locking in wall and floor colors simultaneously makes it less likely customers will shop around.

• Flat or matte floor finishes absorb light and make a room feel cozier. Shiny floors reflect light, making for a feeling of spaciousness. Lighter colors on walls and floors make rooms feel spacious, airy and peaceful. Painting walls a cool, light, satiny color and the ceiling a slightly lighter color also makes for a sense of spaciousness. Suggest a warm, darker matte color, which absorbs light, for a cozier feel.

PRICING FOR PROFIT

Think twice about how many sales you have during the year. Too many and you'll sabotage your effort the rest of the year by conditioning your customers to wait. Frequent discounts tend to strip the value out of high end products--potentially your biggest money makers. Think about having some products that never go on sale and represent a great value all year long.

Don't be hesitant to show new and expensive merchandise to your customers. Otherwise your customers will think you only sell cheap products, and you just might be surprised who is willing to pay more for a truly outstanding product.

Don't box yourself in by asking your customer about her budget, because that expressed limit will make it hard to sell high margin products. Show her what's new and better and let her decide whether the cost is too high.

Make sure you can explain why better merchandise is worth the money. You need to understand all the features and benefits. Once your customer finds something she likes, she'll want to know more about it. The first decision to buy is emotional. After that she needs logical reasons. Install the best products in your own home, and encourage your employees to do the same. Personal experience can provide valuable knowledge to your customer.

Track how sales are matching your goals, decide how much more you want to sell and how you'll achieve the goal.

Hold weekly contests to reward the salesperson who sells the highest quality product at the best price. The goal is to find out how the salesperson got the customer to consider the product and what made the salesperson confident enough to show it.

Print the Article