If you aspire to the title of professional salesperson, know your products and your services. To help others, there is a technical basis of selling that is important to deliver the information and the product performance your customer needs to complete the buying decision. If the prospective customer needs no further information to buy, then she doesn’t need a salesperson—any order-taker will do. Without product knowledge, a salesperson will sound incompetent at best and like a con artist at worst.
To learn about what you sell, take advantage of as many different resources as you can. Read the mill and yarn manufacturers’ product literature. Read your trade journals and attend product seminars. Understand your warranties. Ask questions of your experienced colleagues. Acquire knowledge in interior design. Be able to clarify any details about the features and terminologies that are presented on the face of every sample label. The list goes on. Just as any tradesman knows his trade, you should know yours; this is your livelihood.