Articles » Furniture Shopping Etiquette
FURNITURE SHOPPING ETIQUETTE or Stop the Surly Shopping!
As you enter a furniture store you may have a tendency to "gird your loins", put on your most menacing face, and assume your best fighting posture! Because you know that within a matter of seconds the "vultures" will be swooping, swirling, descending, blackening the air above with their presence - prepared to not let you have a moments peace as you trod the aisles looking for that perfect purple sofa or the low, sleek console for the new flat screen TV.
The barrage of "What may I show you today?" "Are you looking for anything in particular?" "May I answer any questions for you?" begins to rain like bullets around your head. Your feeling at that moment is "No place to run, no place to hide." "Can I make it back out the front door or should I be persistent in my mission and try to regroup in the restroom? But I know that when I come out "THEY" will be waiting!"
Many shoppers experience these feelings as they attempt to purchase new furniture. And to some degree it is becoming increasingly true as furniture sales decline as a result of online shopping, catalog shopping and, of course, our old friend E-bay.
Need we mention the persistent roller coaster ride known as our economy. Furniture store management responds to these "slumps" by "flooding" the sales floors with more salespeople (in order to not miss the opportunity to work every customer to their last breath or to their last dollar -whichever comes first!). Also if sales are shared by more salespeople then very few sales people will achieve the next commission level and make a bigger pay check. But let's take a look at it from the salesperson's viewpoint.
Did you know...according to most furniture store rules:
You must sign on to the “up list.” There is an "up list" which means
the first salesperson in the store signs their name on an up list, and
the second, and then the third and so on. The first one on the "up
list" is then entitled to "greet" the first customer in the door, the
second on the list the second customer, and so on. (I have actually
seen one sales person who was behind another salesperson in the
parking lot break out from behind, gun their engine, speed up another
parking aisle and ultimately arrive triumphantly ahead of the other
one at the "up list". Just to be first in line. After all it might
mean one more sale by the end of the day!)
You must be ready to greet your “up.” If you miss your up and your
fellow sales people are exceptionally hungry that day, you are just
out of luck and you cycle to the end of the list. You have missed
your one opportunity to make any money during that particularcycle.
Oh, and did I mention, there is no salary supporting you while you are
waiting for your "up". IT IS COMMISSION ONLY. If you are under the
misconception that they are salaried or paid by the hour you are so
very, very wrong. Hence, on a slow day things can get a little dicey!
Tempers flare, and salespeople are ready to pounce on your "up". See,
look over there, I see one now, that one hiding behind that black,
country French armoire!You must stay with your “up.” Of course you are supposed to honor the rules and stick with your "up" (even if it looks like a "dead end up")
and leave everyone else's "up" alone. Well, of course, there are
always those who are sure that the only way to walk through life is to
"BREAK ALL RULES!" So, if you play by "the Rules" and "Mr. Break All
the Rules" has just ambushed your grumpy customer and is proceeding to
tell him every impossible tale of the furniture industry, how are you
supposed to feel about FAIR PLAY? And as he pulls a pen from his neat
little folder to "close" the deal you truly wonder if ethics are
appropriate under these circumstances!You must make your monthly “quotas!” On top of it all there is that
problem called "Keeping Management Happy". God forbid, you lose this
CUSH job that is such a great money maker. One of the easiest ways to
grease those wheels ( as in 'BIG WHEELS' ) is to sell lots of the
leather or furniture protection programs. Furniture stores make beau
coup bucks from those programs. Then you must sell mattresses when
its "mattress month", or sell accessories when it is "accessory
month". And on and on. It's not enough that you have just had the
the best month in sales that you have ever had. "How are your quotas
for this month?" asks Ms. Wheel. "You must make your quotas!"
So now that you have been hoodwinked in the parking lot, beaten to the "up list", have had Grumpy Gus from Grand Junction with an even Grumpier Mrs. Gus in tow glare at your Greeting overtures, you now have to be really on your toes. Because "Mr. Break All the Rules" is still hovering behind that black armoire and doesn't care if "Gus from
Management is responsible for creating a "commission only" situation, not the salesperson. Management has flooded the selling floor to make the salespeople especially "hungry". Management doesn't really care if circumstances are pretty grim for the sales staff; there are always more of them right around the corner! This is becoming an increasingly brutal industry.
The next time you approach the entry of a furniture store instead of "girding your loins" go to the place in your brain where compassion resides. The young man bounding toward you hell bent to score a "touchdown" may have a young wife, a new baby and is desperate to pay the rent; the mature woman moving not nearly as sprightly is primarily trying to provide medical insurance for herself; and the middle-aged guy in a brand new suit just moved here from Wisconsin and he is full of hope that "life in the desert' will be happy, joyous and free!
Remember.....he or she gave you two hours of their time the last time you were in the store, they gave up two "ups" while they were working with you which translates to missing two of their six or eight or ten opportunities that day to make a sale. If you don't ask for them and end up purchasing from someone else, that time was totally without revenue for that salesperson. There is no salary or hourly payment that they are receiving as they are working with you. Their income is totally reliant upon what they have sold; in some cases what has been delivered; and always what STAYS in the customers home.
So, have a heart, folks. Have some manners (remember those 'rules' your mother instilled in you when you were a wee lad or lass). These people have stood on their feet all day (in many stores they are not allowed to sit down), they have greeted you with as much joviality as they can muster, they are really pretty knowledgeable and can help you in the "hunt". They have families, they have bills, they have payments just like you and I. Forgive their tenacity and badgering. Sometimes it is simply desperation. Take a moment, draw a breath...BE A LITTLE KIND.
Written by Kate Fox owner of The Rearrangers. Kate has over 25 years in the design industry. The Rearrangers specializes in assisting in every element of the design process from rearranging with existing furnishings to a complete room by room makeover.
You can reach Kate by phone (520) 991-4522 , (520) 323-7103 or visit her website at: www.therearrangersaz.com