Greetings Floor Dealers!
“You’re quote is $1,500 more than the other flooring store.”
Jimmy, a floor dealer from North Carolina that I coach, stood in his showroom listening patiently while his customer complained about his “high” price. When he finished, Jimmy politely replied, “Well sir, let me save both of us a lot of time. I don’t think we’re going to be the right flooring store for you. You see, we have the highest prices in the county. Have a nice day.” He turned to walk away, but before he got three steps the customer said, “Wait!”
Jimmy smiled…turned back around…and closed the sale.
And He didn’t lower his price by one thin dime.
Now, this is so counterintuitive, so opposite of what you often hear, that even the thought of uttering those words to a potential customer can cause floor dealers to sweat profusely and reach for a handful of sedatives. However, once you have the power to do this, you never, ever have to justify your price, dicker, or haggle. (Nice!) You now have the power to instantly disarm a price-shopper from their most powerful weapon. Think about it: once you’ve told them you’re the most expensive, what else are they going to say? It actually presents an opportunity to have a little fun. When price-shoppers pull the “I can get it cheaper down the street” ploy, they are used to sales people collapsing into an intimidated puddle of goo as they cave in on price. But when you don’t cave—when you cheerfully agree that, yes, you charge premium prices and you’re not about to budge—they look more thunderstruck than a slapped simian. Priceless!
I teach members of my Flooring Success Systems Program that the Holy Grail of overcoming price objections is having successfully created an environment where you can look a price-shopper in the eye and unapologetically say, “We have the highest prices in town.” And still get the sale.
I can almost hear the howls of protest from some dealers, crying out in anguish that people in their market only care about cheap price; that flooring is so commoditized that people think they can get the same thing anywhere they go; that the only thing that matters nowadays is price. To those dealers, let me relate a story.
Many moons ago I owned a successful carpet cleaning company. What do carpet cleaning companies do? They suck dirt out of fabric. Talk about boring. Talk about unromantic. Talk about commoditized. Talk about something that cannot possibly be sold at premium prices because consumers think they can get the same thing anywhere they go. Yet we were the highest priced in town. I made sure of it. If I found out another cleaning company was priced higher, I’d raise my prices. And if a prospect tried to beat us up on price, my staff was trained to tell them we were the highest priced in town, and we almost always got the sale. Sometimes I would be in a prospect’s home and I’d see a flyer on their table advertising a whole house of carpet cleaning for $69, and my quote would be over $300. I’d still get the sale.
If this can be successfully done selling “dirt removal,” then make no mistake: it can absolutely be done when selling flooring. I know and coach many floor dealers who, right now as you read this, are proving every day that it’s possible to charge premium prices in any market, whether big city or small rural town. So howl all you want.
How in the world is this possible? The secret is this: you must create a zero resistance selling environment. And that’s the topic of my next installment.
To Tons Of Customers!
Jim Augustus Armstrong is The “Coach”
Jim Augustus Armstrong is the President of Flooring Success Systems, a program that equips dealers to double their profits, cut their work hours in half and beat the boxes! Many dealers have totally transformed their businesses and their lives for the better after joining Flooring Success Systems.
See what real, live dealers are saying!