Attention fellow business owners: How well do your employees know and understand your services/products? This is a fundamental question that carries a great deal of weigh because it can directly affect your level of customer service and ultimately, your bottom line in profit, when selling to your customers. I’m sure most business owners would like to think their staff is well versed in effectively selling to their clients. Yet, in many cases, they are not.A woman told me she had gone into a new furniture store just outside of Bonita Springs to purchase a sofa she had fallen in love with. She had visited the store three times prior in order to inspect the sofa, get it’s dimensions, and speak with a salesperson regarding the price. During these multiple visits, she was told as a selling feature, that the sofa could be separated into individual sections to maximize on her space requirements.

Since this was important to her, she wanted to see how it actually looked separated before she finalized her commitment. It was during her 4th and final visit she decided to buy the sofa, provided it was easy to split into sections. Since the original salesperson wasn’t on duty during this particular visit, another one had offered to assist her but quickly ruined the sale by telling the customer the pieces couldn’t be separated on the show floor.

The woman was shocked and literally told the salesperson she would lose the sale if she couldn’t demonstrate how to separate the sectional, since this was its major selling point. The saleswoman became agitated and said she didn’t know how to separate the pieces, even if they were allowed to do so.

Even after speaking with amanager, the customer was told the employees were not allowed to separate the pieces. This woman’s experience demonstrates the lack of training (and thinking) among some employees. Both sales and product training are necessary to provide the level of service customers need in order to make a purchase and return for future business.

This poor lack of training and lack of communication among the staff resulted in a lost sale and a frustrated customer. The good news is the customer went to The Florida Leather Gallery on 28701 S Tamiami Trail in Bonita Springs and received the opposite treatment from her last shopping experience.

She commended the staff on their knowledge of their products in addition to their helpful attitude in demonstrating the features of their furniture and matching her needs to the right type of sofa. By properly training your employees, you can be assured they can effectively handle customers’ questions while successfully assisting them in meeting their needs. Role-playing various customer scenarios also assists in the staff thinking on their feet and developing the skills necessary to properly deal with customers’ objections.