Seeking Advice From Gordon Hecht

From Les, 2/12/2014  2:30 PM

REPLY FROM DON GORDON

Dear Les, The Furniture Godfather accepts your request for information on Sales Quotas.

Retail Furniture is a war-for shoppers, market share, and scarce retail dollars.  Wars are won with good soldiers that are led by great capos. It must be understood that in the war, some soldiers will fall-usually from below par performance, or not following leadership.

When the Godfather sets quotas (think GOALS instead) he makes the sales team an offer they CAN understand.  That means all goals are in DOLLARS and not percent.  For instance- sales goals are commonly noted as $50,000 sales 15% Mattresses, 6% accessories, and 6% in warranty sales

Try talking about $50,000 in sales, $7500 in mattresses, $3000 in accessories, and $3000 in warranty sales. It is easier for capo and soldier to measure and affect dollars sold instead of percent.  Imagine you have a sales person with $6500 in mattress sales with three days left in the month.  It is easier to coach like this “Hey Cheech- you need to sell $1000 more in bedding, or one nice Beauty Rest” , than “Hey Cheech-you need one more percent in bedding, or it’s curtains!”.

Next-do not set a goal unless you are prepared to respond with a negative consequence if your team does not reach the goal.  This includes actions up to termination.  The Godfather normally offers training for the first miss, probation for the second miss and termination on the third. Make sure your team knows this.

In order to make that last part work, the Godfather is constantly recruiting new soldiers before the current soldiers fall or fail. Your syndicate will roll better with being two people overstaffed than two people understaffed.

Lastly-on your concerns about Kindergarten, the Godfather will not condone any school that punishes children from coloring outside the lines.

From Les, 2/12/2014  2:26 PM

Dear Don Gordon, I am trying to figure out the consquences for sales staff not making their quota. I am open to any suggestions. Your servant, Les.

From RCD, 1/30/2014  6:02 PM

Thanks Ron for taking time to send me your kind words. Sometimes I think of our business as a bunch of 50+year old men trying to sell a bunch of 28 year old women. As you said, look through the eyes of your customer and will earn their business.

Best wishes for a successful 2014!

From RCD, 1/30/2014  5:59 PM

Hi Gordon, Just read your article "First Date" in  Furniture World this month. Wonderful! There's been an involved LinkedIn discussion on the very topic. Amazing how the old, "always be closing" philosophy with sales training seems to still be so prevalent in the US. I heard recently that the sale should come as a natural outcome of the relationship, not the goal. Love that!I'm on the design/manufacturing side, but come from a long retail/internet sales background. As a small business on the supply side now, I feel it's way more important for me to see through the eyes of my customers, the retailers, than peruse manufacturing articles. That's why I look for great retail articles like yours! Thanks for writing such concise and easily accessible content. Thanks, Ron

From Dawn, 1/16/2014  8:23 PM

Dear Dawn,

The Godfather believes that you should frame this as a service for your customer.  Often you are expected to deliver perfection in an imperfect world.  As part of the delivery team’s script they need to inform the customer that they want to save customers time and get everything right the first time.

You driver should tell the customer that they will prepare the house for delivery using furniture pads for protection of the floors and doors.  Continue with saying that “Your new furniture has been detailed and inspected to exceed industry standards” and “I am trained to correct any variance from that standard today”, indicating that no waiting for a further service call should be necessary.

Sometimes customers will say “I bought new furniture, and don’t want repaired furniture.”  Let them know that the items being delivered are new, and you are adjusting them to your customer’s satisfaction.