If you sell Mattresses, it’s worth taking a look at “Mattresses: Comfort Doesn’t HaveTo Cost You Big Bucks” from the August 2012 issue of ‘Consumer Reports’. It’s based on a survey of 17,500 subscribers who were asked about their experiences with mattress retailers and brands.
The article posits that mattress retailers purposely make the shopping process confusing, and advises consumers to only buy at a deep discount, or after negotiating to avoid getting ripped off. It tells them to comfort test the cheapest mattresses first and, to keep their old boxspring if it isn’t broken. It also states that buying a more expensive set doesn’t correlate strongly with getting a ‘better’ mattress.
It is easy to refute the study’s short-term focus and facile conclusions, but doing this with your customer will take a bit of skill. It’s hard to argue a point with someone who has been told that you can't be trusted. The article sends a message that will likely make the process of helping your customers to find the right mattress more adversarial.
On the bright side, you now have an opportunity to review your sales approach to identify ways to build trust by helping sales associates to communicate truthful and convincing replies to implied needs masked as customer objections.
Toward this end, I hope that you will check out the seventh part of our series,
“Better Bedding and Mattress Sales” in this issue. In it you will find helpful survey research from
GoodBed.com, as well as practical sales tips and techniques that will help you to frame and role-play your responses.
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