In praise of great sales people

Many people fear getting caught out by a sales person, afraid that they will be talked into buying something that they didn’t want and didn’t need.  But they need not worry as this impression is far from the truth as a professional sales person is there to help you obtain a product that most suits your needs.  Great sales people shouldn’t be feared, they should be admired and can make the difference between a pleasurable shopping experience and a nightmare.

But what makes a great sales person?  What qualities do they possess or what do they do to win you over and make that sale?  We recently visited Bensons for Beds in North Shields and were looked after by an excellent sales person, called Amanda and this is how she gained our business:

• Firstly she greeted us warmly and sincerely, remembering that we had been customers at the store before but was not overpowering and certainly did not cramp us.
• She let us know that she was there to help and invited us to look around and try any of the products by lying down, feeling comfortable and getting to know them better.
• When she realised that we were getting interested in one of the products she came over and gave us some more information about it, she listed its features, what it was made of, how long it was guaranteed for, the choice of firmness and why it was just the kind of bed that would suit us etc.
• She engaged us through stories and let us know about the bed’s benefits.  She told us that she had won that very bed in a competition, presumably for being a good sales person, but really this left us with the impression that if it was good enough for her as she was in the trade, then she would certainly recommend it.
• She also told us about how she had been to the factory and had seen how the mattresses were stitched by the workers on the shop floor and the care that they took over their work, leaving us in no doubt that this was a quality product and well worth the money.
• She then attempted a trial close by working out the down payment and monthly instalments which she capped off with an additional small discount and by waiving the delivery charge.

She then stepped away to give us some breathing room and thinking time, keeping a discrete distance just far enough away to be able to answer questions but not close enough to be imposing upon us.  Needless to say we bought the bed which arrived on the very day that was promised (I even got a text to tell me it was on its way).

Amanda was highly skilled in her craft and it felt like she had bent over backwards to help us.  None of what she did was rocket science, none of it was that difficult either but by putting all of these skills together into a single approach made it a pleasure to deal with her, so much so that I wrote to the company to say how good she had been.

Watching anyone with a real skill and enthusiasm for their job is always a thing of beauty and watching a great sales person is no different.