Effective sales contrary to general belief is not a secret art. Those who think so will never become good salesmen.
Does the flooring industry have its own different rules in this regard? No, regardless of whether we are talking about the B2B or B2C channel.
For the consumer floor and flooring accessories are specialized products encased in parameters and differentiators. A good understanding of both is the key to properly selecting flooring, subfloor, sill and skirting so that they form a coherent, matching system. Only then will the consumer get the maximum benefit from his investment.
For a distributor retail chain or flooring manufacturer looking for complementary accessories it is often the underlayment that can be a significant source of margin in the overall product range sold. Only then we are able to draw the attention of such a customer to a well-configured floor underlayment offering.
In both of the aforementioned cases a well-structured sales process will play a key role, i.e. one in which we reach our customer in the right places with a properly constructed message. I am aware that in the specialized flooring and accessories industry applying the right argumentation is the biggest challenge. I also understand that specialized knowledge is not enough to formulate the right arguments.
The element necessary for success is certainly an in-depth understanding of our customer’s needs and problems. Only then will we be able to formulate arguments that will be understood and relevant to the other party. This is helped by active listening, asking open-ended questions and skillfully sharing knowledge. This is the ABC of the workshop of a good salesman.
However, a seasoned salesman goes one step further – he is able to arouse unconscious needs in the customer, point out problems that often turn out to be undiscovered sources of many other problems faced by the customer. And then equipped with an offer (not a product!) that is a solution to such a problem or that satisfies such a previously unconscious need. He becomes a hero in the eyes of the Customer ultimately leading to a successful sale and a long-term, mutually satisfying cooperation.
A common sin is the belief in one’s own perfection and focusing on the arguments that the salesman has prepared for himself. Combined with a lack of expertise and a lack of awareness of what problems our customer may be facing, this is a proven recipe for losing.
One could say that as a manufacturer providing the best market flooring solutions, we don’t need to focus on the intermediate links in the sales chain, because we are at the very beginning of it. However, many years ago we understood that our success is directly related to the success of our customers and their retail customers. For this reason our focus does not go to selling a truck or a container of underlays. Our focus is on creating long-term, rewarding business relationships for our customers and supporting their resale.
One important element among the many tools we use on a daily basis to work with our clients is knowledge sharing. In order to share knowledge we must first acquire it and add to it on an ongoing basis. To this end we conduct needs research, observe the behavior of Customers and develop appropriate sales arguments. These arguments which are not useful in a direct relationship with our Customers – distributors, logistics operators or flooring manufacturers turn out to be crucial for our Customers in realizing successful sales of flooring accessories.
The best and proven way to share knowledge is through training. We provide training for both distributor salespeople, logistics operators and salespeople in DIY chains. These are substantive trainings expanding our expertise in the flooring and accessories industry as we are members of the most important flooring industry organizations: EPLF and MMFA but also sales training, providing the right argumentation, pointing out the real problems of our customers’ clients, facilitating effective sales.
Training is also a valuable source of information for us about the market, about our Customers’ Customers and about changing needs and problems at the interface between B2B and B2C. This is how we create synergistic, long-term relationships with our customers and ensure your market success.
This is how we effectively sell floor underlayments, helping our customers to resell them regularly and ensure a satisfactory margin.
Fill in the contact form and our specialists will get back to you as soon as possible!