Abbey Carpet and Floor and Floors to Go held their annual convention and expo together for the first time this year in Phoenix, Ariz. Feb. 23 – 25. Under the banner of “Partners in Excellence,” Abbey leadership combined its membership for a weekend of education, networking, flooring, and fun.
The event kicked off with speakers from the Abbey leadership about the success of 2018, as well as new suppliers, Peerless, Anderson|Tuftex, SLCC Flooring, and HRI Rugs, new exclusive private label collections, and new online marketing tools. Following, Keynote Speaker, Connie Podesta kept the audience laughing with her stand-up comedic presentation vis-à-vis different customer personalities and how to adapt sales techniques based on a person’s personality “shape.” Podesta helped retailers find their “shapes,” and then showed them the characteristics of each shape to help cater to those customers on the sales floor. “If you’re a square or triangle, you won’t sell to a circle in your normal way,” Podesta said. “Circles need a minimum of seven to eight minutes of pointless small-talk. And in those seven to eight minutes, they’re deciding if they trust you or not. If they don’t trust you, they won’t buy from you.” How do you tell what shape a customer is? Ask them! “Ask the customer how they want the session to go and give them two options,” Podesta suggests. Giving a customer two options lays out a framework for how a consultation will go, and gives sales teams a template to work with. After general session, the Phoenix Convention Center hosted several educational sessions, including product-driven breakouts lead by partner-companies and sessions on technology, digital marketing, and tax reform.