How can you tell if a mattress is right for a perspective customer? By using line of sight techniques we can determine if a mattress is aligning our customer’s spine correctly. When your customer comes into the sleep area, they cannot get a satisfactory feel for a mattress if they only try it for a minute or two. Many customers decide that a mattress is too hard or too soft by pressing on it with their hands for a couple of moments.
By looking at your customer’s spinal alignment, you can determine which mattress will provide proper support.
When determining alignment, focus on the point between the shoulder blades, the center belt loop and ankles. These points should line up when the customer is lying on the mattress. If their mid torso or hips dip too much, they will feel pressure and stretching in the hip flexors or joints and this will make them toss during the night trying to find a comfortable position.
When presenting a mattress, it is important to find a pillow that aligns the neck and spine on the mattress. Find the pillow that feels good to the customer and have them carry the pillow to each mattress they are trying. Once the customer takes possession of the pillow, they may not want to give this up! Just getting your customer to test your mattress with your pillow will improve your pillow sales.
Have you noticed that most side sleepers sleep with their hand under their head or their arm under their head? Making sure the neck is supported will help keep the customer from shifting positions throughout the night.
If a pillow is too tall or too thin, this will lead to tossing and turning. When we stand up straight, the neck and spine is perfectly aligned. If you have a pillow that is either too thin or too thick, it throws your neck out of alignment and causes stretching or pulling in the neck muscles and ligaments. This leads to tension headaches in the morning, neck pain, shoulder pain and can also be a contributing factor to rotator cuff tears and injuries.
Use these techniques and this will give your presentation credibility, which will lead to more mattress sales and greater customer satisfaction.
Next Week: Better or Worse
This series is written by Gordon Hecht and Denny Bradford, Ashley Sleep Directors of Sales. To comment or ask a question on any of the bedding tips in this series, contact Gordon Hecht at
ghecht@ashleyfurniture.com.
Gordon Hecht is a 35+ year veteran of the Furniture Business, starting as a delivery helper in Las Vegas, NV. He has served as a Regional Manager and Director of Training for a large Midwestern chain. Currently with Ashley Sleep division of Ashley Furniture Industries, Gordon travels the East, Midwest, and Canada training retail sales teams on selling bedding and works with store owners to maximize sales. Gordon resides in Columbus, OH with his wife, and has one adult son.
Denny Bradford started in the bedding business as a store manager for a Texas based waterbed dealer. His 18 years of sales and management experience includes directing a seven-store bedding chain and serving as Bedding Director for a Dallas based retailer. Denny covers the Western US and Canada for Ashley Sleep. He resides outside of Dallas, TX with his wife and son.