Hey There,
I learned a HUGE sales lesson early on in my career. I started in sales when I was 21, so I didn’t have much experience with… let’s call it… adults? Their careers? Their salaries? I was completely new to the world of adulting.
Part of my job was taking an interior designer out to a clients home and selling them a whole room or home full of furniture. At the ripe young age of 21, the most expensive thing I had ever purchased was perhaps an end table from Ikea. The thought of (at that time) dropping 5-6K on a living room set blew my mind. But that’s what people were doing!
I remember being out with one of my favorite interior designers, Lauren, on a house call. The couple’s house was already done and designed well; but they had purchased it furnished, and it wasn’t their style. They wanted to re-do everything. I took notes and swallowed the lump in my throat as Lauren and the couple started walking through the house pointing out more and more things they wanted to replace.
Before our presentation to the couple, Lauren handed me the list of items she wanted me to price out. One of the items was a pair of pillows for $500+. I. Was. Shook. I threw a fit. There was no way I was going to pitch a $500 pair of pillows. That was wild. Too much. They would immediately hate me and run out of the store offended. Lauren put her foot down and demanded they be left on the pricing because they were the perfect pillows in the perfect fabric and they were literally the glue that would tie the entire room together. She said to me, “Lisa, what might seem like a lot of money to you might not feel like a lot of money to someone else. Everyone has different views based on their income. $500 to them might be like $50 to you. If it’s the right thing and makes them happy they will buy it.”
After Lauren showed them 12K+ worth of furniture for their home (including a pair of $500 pillows) it was my time to present the pricing. I was taught to present the pricing, not itemized, just the grand total with a smile on my face and then shut my mouth and stare them in the eye. “He Who Speaks First Loses.” With sweat pouring down my forehead and a smile plastered on my face, their response after a VERY pregnant pause was… “Wow, that’s it?” and then handed me their credit card.
I walked to the credit card machine to run their card, literally sobbing from the nerves, and shook from what had just happened. I ran their card, came back, and Lauren and the couple were engaged in a conversation about how they had just sold their OIL FIELD in Canada. That being said, I then realized that I had in fact projected my own views of what was a lot of money on this couple. I probably left a lot of money on the table and did a disservice to them by not spending more time uncovering their wants and needs while we were in their house.
I think you know what the moral of the story is here. Don’t be afraid to tell your client what the price is. And don’t make up their budgets for them based on your budget. Rip off the bandaid. It’s much easier to take the pillows off the pricing than to put them on after the fact. It’s always easier to go down than it is to go up. Don’t wimp out.
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Lisa Proeber | Owner, The Middle Six
