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L.J. Smith recently added skirtboard and skirtboard cap moulding to the product mix as a service to our valued customers—providing one stop shopping for all stairway components. Our standard ¾" x 11¼" skirtboard is available in 12', 14' & 16' lengths in either oak or poplar. Other species and sizes are also available.
The skirtboard cap moulding provides a decorative transition between the skirtboard and wall. This new addition provides yet another upsell opportunity for you and your customers. Skirtboard cap moulding is available in random lengths in oak or poplar, however, other species are also available.
The L.J. Smith rosette offering has recently been expanded to include a rectangular design. This new rosette will accommodate nearly any of our handrail profiles and may be used for level and rake applications. The LJ-7033 is crafted in many different wood species.
For a copy of our complete catalog, please contact your L.J. Smith salesperson, or call us at 740-269-2221.
LJ. Smith’s continued growth over the past several decades is clearly a result of our leadership role in developing and taking to market new and innovative products and techniques.
Many of our creations were designed to provide stair installers with alternative methods for building stronger stairways. Others were developed to broaden our product offering, providing unlimited design possibilities for any stairway.
L.J. Smith provides many selling advantages over other industry manufacturers and we want to tell you all about them. Call your L.J. Smith salesperson today!!!!
For a copy of our complete catalog, please contact your L.J. Smith salesperson, or call us at 740-269-2221.
This article is reprinted with permission from The Brooks Group
Studies show that most people approach a buying decision with some level of anxiety. They really don’t want to have to make a decision. In fact, a prospect whose opening question is, "How much is it?" is very often looking for an excuse not to satisfy a need or want.
Your job as a sales professional is to help your prospect overcome their anxiety – their desire to avoid making a decision. The truth is, most often they really hope and rely on you to help them do that.
Far more salespeople talk their way out of more sales than they listen their way into. Salespeople who talk instead of listen tend to lose sales because they let their focus slip. They start thinking about what they want to have happen instead of what their prospects want to have happen.
There are two keys here:
- Ask the right questions.
- Listen to their responses carefully so that your next question keeps the focus where it needs to be – on the prospect and what they want to have happen.
For the purpose of this article, we’ll look at what asking the right questions involves by looking at several tips you can use to ask the right questions.
1. Prepare, in advance, the questions you will ask. Every prospect is unique and every selling situation requires some variation, but certain basic questions which come up in every interview can be planned in advance. By carefully planning them, you can make sure you cover all bases and that your wording is precise.
Some examples of prepared questions include: What about the product/service is most important to you? Have you seen anything else on the market that you especially don’t like? What do you most want to have happen as a result of using this product/service?
2. Ask open-ended and indirect questions. Closed questions that call for a "yes" or "no" answer tend to discourage people from talking, to give only limited information, and to set a negative tone.
During the Probe, or questioning, step ask open-ended questions that require prospects to tell you how they feel, what they want, or what they think.
For example you may ask something along the lines of, "How would you describe your current situation (with or without this product/service)?"
The answer will tell the sales professional a great deal – including what benefits of their offering to emphasize.
3. Ask need-development questions. In the Probe step, you want to do more than get the prospect to talk – you want that prospect to tell you what he or she needs. Therefore, frame questions that will give you insights into how prospects perceive their needs.
You may ask, for example, "What would your primary use be for this product/service?"
4. Ask questions that help you identify dominant needs.
Usually there is one overriding need in the prospect’s mind – a need you can pinpoint by asking the right questions.
"What would you most like to change about your present situation?" you may ask. Or, "What would it mean for you if you could improve your current situation?"
This is part one of a two-part series. Look for more tips in our next newsletter.
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