USING STYLE APPEAL IN SELLING
We may use style appeal in selling furniture of any quality except the poorest to customers of any level of taste except the lowest. The salesperson should have some appreciation of the importance and dignity of furniture, and a fair working knowledge of the forms, materials, and ornament of the several period styles.
HOW FURNITURE KNOWLEDGE IS SPREADING
We must remember three things:
1. All furniture is derived, however remotely, from earlier forms and therefore can be identified with a style appeal.
2. American women have become style-conscious in matters of decoration.
3. The home-furnishing art is studied in colleges and secondary schools; books dealing with it are widely read; at least 25 million persons read national magazines which devote space to it; hundreds of newspapers publicize it; powerful agencies are actively engaged in widening popular knowledge of it.
WHAT SUCCESSFUL STYLE SELLING INVOLVES
In order to enhance the desirability of an article through an appeal to beauty of design or style, we must cause the customer to see in it something desirable which she has failed to see for herself. To do this we must be able to notice this "extra something" ourselves, and to convey a clear and interesting picture of our observations.
Many never see more than a part of the sales possibilities of what we have to sell. Our merchandise is as common to us as an old shoe. We are prone to forget that its forms are the result of age-long processes of development, its ornament the heritage from an immemorial past. Often we forget its romance, its quickening appeal to the imagination, its promise as a way to richer and more stimulating life. To us a chair is a chair, and a rug is just another rug.
You will sometimes find it effective in building up appreciation of a fine machine-made rug to tell how much time would have been required for weaving alone had it been made by hand. Count the number of tufts per square inch; multiply by 144 to get the number per square foot; then by the number of square feet in the rug, divide the total by 2,500—the average number of knots tied by a Persian weaver in a full day's work—to arrive at the number of working days. Make a few of these calculations based on rugs of standard weave and size at your leisure, and remember the results for use when required.
To equip yourself to emphasize style in furniture, first go through your stock carefully, and identify the style of all pieces that are accurately reproduced or closely adapted from historic designs. It may surprise you to learn how many pieces can be definitely assigned to one of the historic styles.
The ideal way, of course, would be to have each piece styled and marked by the manufacturer; this may come in time. Another way would be to have the style names agreed upon by the entire sales force, after discussion, and marked on the tags, so that everybody will be telling the same story. But if no definite plan is used, study the stock by yourself. After all, the man who wants to travel ahead of the crowd must expect to do some pioneering, and you will be the one to profit.
Every clever oriental-rug man realizes the sales value of an identifying name. He knows that women particularly like to know the name or weave of a rug and any facts connected with its design, because these things make them feel more assured in buying and give them something to talk about pridefully to their friends.
In presenting your furniture under its historical names, be careful not to make claims you cannot establish. They will expose you to the ridicule of a well-informed buyer, of whom there are many.
Never say that a piece is a reproduction unless really it is. Say that it is "in the style of" or "inspired by," or "derived or adapted from," or "a present-day adaptation of," or "a twentieth century interpretation of" the style to which you have assigned it. Having said this, proceed at once to give it whatever additional importance or value you can draw from your knowledge of the history, personalities, or practice of the period. Do not lecture but try to dramatize your merchandise.
The highest use of language is pure self-expression. Only your choice of words and expression can give your customer kinship with what you feel. An encyclopedia of information is not of itself complete customer service when you are dealing with style, period, color, harmony, and satisfaction.
DRAMATIZE YOUR MERCHANDISE
Suppose, for example, that you want to sell an ordinary loose-cushion sofa in blue velvet, with machine-carved cabriole legs, rolled arms, and straight-lined back with curved ends.
It is easy to say, "Here is a handsome, well-made sofa in blue velvet. Just the right thing for your room; the price is $95."
But it is almost as easy, and in many cases far more effective, to say, in substance: "This, as I understand it, is what you may have in mind. There is nothing striking or extreme about the design. Notice the graceful curves of the cabriole or f scroll legs, which are completely adequate to hold up the heavy body; note how those same curves are echoed in the arms and suggested in the back, so that the whole piece reveals harmonious lines. This sofa expresses the quality of repose which makes it so important in the properly furnished modern home." Or, suppose you have a reproduction of a Chippendale ladder-back chair. With 9 possible buyers out of 10, it would be foolish to try to sell such a piece through the bald statement that it is a beautiful Chippendale chair.
A better approach would be as follows: "Here is an armchair reproduced from one of Chippendale's masterpieces. If you will set it off by itself you will see its extraordinary grace and harmony of line. In this piece we have Chippendale's conception of the ladder back—a very old form of chair expressed in flowing curves which descend rhythmically from top rail to floor. As a chair it is perfect—staunch, thoroughly comfortable, and enduring; it is even more desirable as a work of art. Anyone may well be proud to own it."
This language is not intended to be "stilted." If delivered casually, with no thought of reciting a memorized paragraph, or of delivering a set speech, these ideas will be effective in sustaining interest while, informally, you direct attention to other features. "High-lighting" or dramatizing your merchandise is as difficult as it is necessary when one must guard against failure by enhancing the desirability of the merchandise.
STYLE APPEALS BASED ON PERIOD DECORATION
Your description should not be left to chance or to the inspiration of the moment. Think them out at home or in your free time in the store, and plan just how and when you will use them.
These "high lights" may be based upon history, beauty, and sentiment. To illustrate:
Bedroom Suite Adapted From the Style of Louis XVI.
History.—"In this suite we have a reflection of the last of the great decorative styles developed in France under the Bourbon Kings. Louis the Sixteenth was king of France when our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence. There was great gratitude and admiration for France in those days, which inspired the importation of a good deal of furniture of this style for the statelier homes of America. Washington bought some of it for Mount Vernon, and Jefferson for Monticello."
Sentiment.—"This suite called Louis XVI, named for an era made brilliant by the later courts of France, is reminiscent of the days of Marie Antoinette. Lovers of style and beauty the world over have for decades, even centuries now, looked back to the days of the last lavish escapades of the French courts whenever there is a resurge of the human appetite for the ornate, gilded opulence of color and design that you see characterized in these pieces."
Beauty.—"In this suite we find the slender proportions, fine lines, chaste ornamental forms and delicate grace of the style of Louis Seize. See how skillfully the strength and dignity of these pieces is insured by the straight vertical lines of the frames, and their effect of soft and luxurious ease by the curves of the top rails and mirrors."
Cabinet, Chest, or Dining Suite Adapted From Style of the Italian Renaissance.
History.—"This piece was certainly made in America, and it may have been made within the past 2 months—it is new in our stock. Yet in every line and detail it recalls to us the great age of the Italian Renaissance, when the New World was being discovered and explored, and the Old World made over for the development of modern life."
Sentiment.—"Women, of course, counted greatly during the Italian Renaissance; but they did not dominate the design of furniture as they do today. Note the virility of this design—its straight, vigorous lines, its solidity and strength, its unyielding angles, and its simple, sparse ornament."
Beauty.—"There are times and places when delicacy and daintiness fail to please. For the room that has such a place nothing could be more appropriate and satisfying than this cabinet, designed in the virile spirit of the Italian Renaissance. There is a beauty in straight lines, in strong and noble proportion, in rich dark coloring."
These tabloid statements are of course to be regarded as suggestions, not as models. Make up your own, couched in your own language, and based upon your own merchandise and your own customers. But do not assume that this sort of thing cannot be done in your store and with your customers, or that it is old-fashioned, and of no value. It must be done at certain times if we want to sell furniture in volume and on other bases than utility and price.
TWO CLASSES OF EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMERS
In making a style appeal based upon period decoration you will occasionally encounter customers who belong to either of two classes, both small, but important enough to merit brief mention—
1. Those who express contempt for modern machine-made furniture.
2. Those who have no use for period design and often for the whole matter of style.
Nothing will be accomplished by argument. But the one who scorns style probably does not carry that idea over into his purchase of clothing for himself or of the automobile he drives. In dealing with this type of customer it may be worth while to point out that the machine at least has enabled us to reproduce the truly beautiful pieces of the old masters with their full beauty preserved and to make them available to people of ordinary means. Certainly society could not support the immense number of craftsmen that would be necessary to make good furniture by hand.
Nor is it a question of paying more for style. When one chooses well-styled furniture it is true that he pays for materials and labor, but he gets in addition the distinction that comes from rich historical associations, and aristocratic lineage.