(石本俊)： A Profile of Freeman Stone Freeman Stone．who graduated frOm Central China Normal Univer耐in the 1980s，has been an English teacher for more than 20 years．He now teaches at a large university in Guangdong Province，with a student body of l 2．000 plus．This is his second book from the same publishers and fulfills a dream of his to help students all over China who will enter the sales professions．
When selling furniture to foreign—ers，it is important to find out the usesfor the furniture before demonstratingor showing individual pieces.For ex—ample，a living room chair may need tocontrast in color or style the presentfurniture in a room.Your customer willtell you what use the piece will serveand you can then make a correct deci-sion about what to show them.D0 notshow too many pieces for a single useas your customer may not be able tochoose between many.It is better toask a few more questions and givethem Iess choices if the choices are thecorrect ones.
Most customers already know whatmaterials they want in the furniturethey want to buy.It is not profitable toshow artificiaI materials to a customerwho is looking for a classic piece.AI-ways enquire about the pieces theynow have in the room where they wishto put the new pieces.This will alsohelp the customer visualize the new piece with their own furniture._f youshow them something that will fit thestyle they already have.That will helpto close the sale with them.
If the customer asks for your sug—gestions about two similar pieces，it isbetter not to discuss price until theyseem to be comfortable with the piece’Ssuitability in the room they intend forit.Then when they are comfortable，you can discuss price.Do not alwayspush for the most expensive piece，butlet the customer choose.Then they willprobably ask if there is any discount.At that point，the sale becomes thesame as any other sale.
Sometimes，given two or morechoices，the furniture customer maychoose the most expensive，for rea—SOnS you are not aware of.Furniture issomething we show off to our guestsand our families.A foreigner may buythe most expensive piece in order toshow their success to others.They arenot always bargain hunting when theybuy furniture items.It is important toallow the foreign customer to talkthemselves into the better pieces.
