Do not ask any of these questions at the outset. Normally, the first actual question is whether the furniture is for use in her own room. If the answer is "Yes," she is likely to acquaint you at once with her ideas, if she has any well-defined preferences. In the absence of such a lead, take her at once to an attractive suite, never at either extreme of your bedroom patterns.
The ideal starting point is an open-stock pattern, complete both with beds and with a full assortment of cases. If she is at all interested in this suite, probably she will tell you at once that she cannot use all the pieces. This naturally will lead to information as to the size and character of her room, its woodwork, walls, and floor covering, whether it is to be used by two people, and if so, whether she prefers a full-size bed or twin beds.
LIMIT NUMBER OF SUITES SHOWN
In any event try to gain a fairly clear idea of the room, particularly of its size and available wall spaces, before you show a second suite, as this information will help you to cut down selling time. In the absence of a voluntary and positive statement, do not ask how many pieces she wants. Once on record, she may stand pat; otherwise there always is the chance, even if she plans to use only three pieces, that she may buy a full suite, using the extra piece, if necessary, in another room in order to get a pattern that particularly pleases her.
Bedroom suites are so much alike in general appearance, and usually displayed in ways which so thoroughly rob them of individuality that it is dangerously easy to show too many. Baffled by the prolonged attempt to compare a multitude of minor details and to picture a long succession of suites in her own room, the average customer may be expected to become confused, lose confidence in her own judgment, and decide either to "think it over" or to "look further."
Partitions, dividers, and model rooms speed up the sale of bedroom furniture because they make it possible to preserve a more marked appearance of individuality among the suites thus separated. They serve also to confine the buyer's attention to the suite under consideration, and to reduce the likelihood of confusion and indecision by enabling the salesman to show only such suites as promise to be acceptable. For the same reasons the box method of arranging an open bedroom floor usually is to be preferred to arrangement in rows. The exact method of boxing must be determined by the location of floor columns and the number of pieces shown in a suite.
BUYERS DO NOT WANT TO SEE ENTIRE STOCK
It is important to limit the number of suites shown to the minimum necessary to effect a sale. Obviously, this is possible only in the degree that we learn enough about the buyer's tastes and the details of her room in the earlier stages of a sale to keep away from all unsuitable merchandise. Most women do not care even to look at unsuitable merchandise. They want to see the right thing, measured in terms of fitness for their own purposes and use.