How to sell skis
The Product Patio- The Lost Art of Selling Skis & Boots!
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hey how's it going
welcome back to the product patio i'm
taking a break from dylan leaves
to talk about the lost
art of selling skis and boots there's no
lack of
technology online from your reps
brochures from your managers your
full-timers that are working with you
but technology alone is not enough to
really sell gear
before i go any farther have you seen
the new
gear issue of ski magazine and did you
see what
boot won gear of the year yep
the xt3 from lang men's and women's
it's a lot of reasons we're up about 55
in sales of these boots a lot of cool
stuff
you can find more about that but i want
to point out that gear of the year in
the magazine
your customers are going to read this
they're going to know about they're
coming asking it so even if you don't
carry that boot if you don't carry hinge
cuff boots as
much as maybe some other shops out west
might they're going to come in asking
about it
do your favor watch uh the video
down below about a short little video
give you a quick update on what you can
talk about for the xd3
okay moving along the lost art of
selling skis
there's two words they're going to kind
of be the theme
of this short little video
experiential and aspirational
start with experiential buying gear
you can go to amazon and have pretty
much anything in the world on your
doorstep tomorrow by two o'clock
so coming to a retail shop
is something customers want to do so you
got to make it fun
the experience i mean that's so
important to consumers these days
on where they make their buying
decisions
so think a little bit from their
perspective
a few years ago my theme of my clinics
was be the ball danny
famous quote from caddyshack of course
but i tried to apply it to
putting yourself in the customer's shoes
and what it's like to come into a shop
with a lot of gear
a lot of technology you know we in the
industry every year too we change the
cosmetics we change the names you make
it pretty confusing
it's where you come in you've got to
help steer them through the confusion
because a confused customer will never
buy so when they come into your store
they've got kind of their hand over
their wallet
that kind of salesperson customer wall
is in between there you're going to
break that down but just
first of all you're never going to say
hi can i help you you have any questions
because those are both questions you can
answer no to
not to get all sales 101 on you but you
never want to ask a question
that they can say no to because they see
any questions i help you nope just
looking
you're done you turn around
you can punch out right there instead
yeah it's going to sound cheesy maybe
but hey i live in wisconsin that's what
we do here
get to know your customer hey i'm chip
welcome that's not thrown back for a
little bit because no one does that
maybe ask them hey got any trips planned
this year that's kind of my go-to
uh when i work consumer events like the
chicago ski show
or whatever when someone comes up to my
booth
or comes by my display first question i
ask
how many trips planned this year and
invariably everybody does and they want
to talk about it
who doesn't want to talk about plans you
have have the fun on going on trips
is just planning them so get them
talking about this year is going to be a
little
iffier they're probably driving wherever
they're going but hey they're going
somewhere
so get them talking about their trip get
them talking about where they're going
their experiences you make it more fun
um stay on the roll of sales
techniques you sell the sizzle along
with the steak you got a store full of
steak
get the sizzle going too get it the more
fun the experience is
the less it's about the price unless
it's about do i really need it
don't forget n plus one do you need a
new pair of skis
do you need a new bike you need a new
whatever n
is the number you have right now plus
one
i didn't make that up but it applies
so when someone comes asking for looking
for skis you start talking about where
they're going
we have a wall full of some great
all-mountain skis
the m-pro 99 from dynastar is one option
someone comes in and they may have not
bought skis for a while
even 99 millimeters i ski it
tyrol basin buck hill afton alps i take
my one trip
up to indian head maybe mom bohemia
uh why do i need a 99 underfoot
well it may not be for that everyday use
you know
99 underfoot is okay for
day in day out when you have the good
day
it's spectacular that's where the
aspirational comes in
you want to sell gear for when they're
at their most favorite spot
when i'm trying to sell skis oh i'll ask
what kind of runs you ski on so what
kind of skis you have now
you know make a conversation of it get
them talking about themselves
you know you all have your own style of
selling at least you should
so work on that work on you know just
getting to know people
and not all of you are in this job for a
career
this is kind of a stepping stone you
work in a ski shop for a couple years
and off
something you never know who you're
going to bump into and meet working in a
ski shop
so look at that as a chance to kind of
network a little bit for yourself
so you're talking about where they ski
so they're backing up a little bit
have any truth playing this year yeah
we're heading up to vail over christmas
over easter we're going to jackson hole
or
whatever okay when you're out there you
get them thinking about that when you're
out skiing
out west in utah colorado wherever
where it is where do you gravitate
toward and they'll tell you
green runs blue run they'll tell you
something and in your mind you're kind
of trying to come up with a plan
on what two or the most three models of
skis
you're going to talk to people about
because if you used to start going down
the line
and you start you know going from
dynastar to rossi to volkl to
nordica to blizzard and start talking
about all the skis you have on your wall
it won't be long at all before you've
confused that customer there's a lot of
research
that if you give a consumer more than
three choices
their ability to make up their decision
drops by like 80 percent
so keep it simple you know more you know
about them
the more you can go to that ski wall and
say from what you've told me
about what you like these two or the
most three models
are what's going to really work for you
and what's the number one reason for
buying a new pair of skis
lots of great reasons but one of the
real underlying reasons for buying any
new gear
is to get better at skiing so really
talk about how the new skis
sure it's a 99 millimeter ski underfoot
but it's got a 16 meter turn radius
that's unbelievable you got a wide suv
pair of skis that goes anywhere
spectacularly
but has enough turn radius that in the
midwest it's still fun and bouncy and
high energy and alive as all dns star
skis are but you know that because you
sat
through the previous clinic so it's that
balance
and it's that ability to put them in
their
happy place and you'll have a much
better luck at selling that
gear talk about length for a little bit
and backing up a little bit when you
talk when you kind of narrow it down to
that one or two skis that you think is
right for them
grab that ski and hand it to them again
kind of an old school sales technique
but there's a reason it's old school if
i'm talking to you about skis and i hand
you a pair of skis and you're holding it
you start flexing a little bit
they flex it backwards don't laugh at
them what who cares right
uh you have them holding it it's there's
a little possession that goes on there
make them give it back to you it's
little things like that that gets them
kind of in the in the whole excitement
of it all so make skiing
buying skis fun and you'll have a lot
more success
at closing those sales now we get the
boots a little bit
so the technical side you know you have
a lot of
opportunity for getting information
there and i'm not skipping over that i'm
just
trying to keep this tight because trust
me my attention span is as short as
yours i'm trying to get you through this
in terms of 10 or 15 minutes
um boots same deal
keeping it simple taking that big boot
wall you have
and winnowing it down to two the most
three models
so before you ever start fitting boots
so your customer
wanders up your boot wall yeah i need
any new boots this year
and trust me most consumers dread
the thought of buying new ski boots
because they have a hard time getting
them on
their toes get cold their toenails turn
black their feet get numb
any number of miserable situations that
they just don't
like skewers because they've got poor
fitting ski boots
that's one thing amazon won't do for you
amazon won't fit your boots
won't customize your boots won't tune
your skis
won't take care of the three kids and
get them all set up for the year
that's where you come in the experience
it's a fun environment
keep happy see before you ever sell or
try on a pair of boots
i want to know oh what do you what do
you have now for boots
maybe uh half the time they'll know half
the time they won't no
they're black that's all they know
doesn't matter at that point just keep
moving
what do you like about them what don't
you like about it what problems have you
had with them
get them talking about some past
experiences ah my feet always get cold
follow that away because down the road
in the next while you're fitting
always refer to things about the boot
that make it warm
question i get are these warm boots
well a warm boot is a good fitting boot
because you know that blood goes down to
your toes if this is your foot over the
top of your instep
all the blood's going down your toes
over the top of your instep
if you've got a poor fitting boot and
you've got too much pressure top of your
foot
anywhere along here and you shut that
blood flow off
your toes get cold people think having a
lot of wiggle room is good so they buy
them a little big
throw an extra sock in couldn't be a
worse thing to do
because what happens when you stand up
and lean your ankle when you bend your
ankle like when you're in a ski position
try and put a big bulky sock on stand up
bend your knee and you get all these
wrinkles over your instep
over your ankle little bitty tourniquets
that are shutting off the blood
down your toes so a light to medium
fitted sock polypro wool something that
wicks moisture away keeping your foot
dry is much better keeping your foot
warm
than a cotton tube sock and a rib skate
sock over the top of that
trust me i've seen plenty of that setup
buying a boot too big too roomy wiggle
room that's a good thing right
not really because you're skiing there's
a lot of four and a half movement going
on
you stand up a little straight and the
boots big your foot slides right into
the end
toes bang the end toenails turned black
vacation ruined
so having a boot fits you just so it's
really snug
when you're standing up straight feel
your toes about brushing the end as soon
as you get into that ski position
heel comes back in the heel pocket toes
pull away from the front everything's
happy
you never ski standing straight up if
you do
the least your problems your toes you
always hear in that athletic stance
which for the lang is a nice neutral
athletic stance but you knew that
so we're trying boots on uh shell sizing
is a great way
to get past what size do i need
i'd say over half well over half of
skiers have boots that are too big for
them so what you're going to do is
you're going to pull the liner out put
their foot in the shell
slide their foot forward all the way you
all know this but
just kind of recap a little bit toes are
brushed in the end of the shell
bend their knee you should get two
fingers ish
down behind their foot if they're 11
years old and their foots growing by the
week
yeah you can get two fingers with a
wiggle in there
but that's a real good visual way of
showing you what the right size is but
also showing them
that you know what the right size is
because what you want to do is
measure the foot they measure a 26.5
you pull out a 26.5 maybe 25 five
and they see that size and they freak
out oh that's that's going to be way too
small
well in that mindset yes it will be too
small
do the shell size visually show them at
the right size and you can
progress with the with the pro the
process of fitting the boots
uh next keep in mind that i wear a nine
and a half
everything nike running shoe
dress shoe i'm a nine and a half and i'm
in a 25 5
lane i don't have a crusher killer fit
it's just a perfect fit i gotta do some
punching and grinding a little bit
but it's an all-day fit barely buckled
up
it's as good as it gets so don't be
afraid to downsize i mean
everybody will be able to go down a
little bit now you got a high volume
foot low by input there's variables
there's no generalities but
don't assume that if you measure 26.5
don't don't go right to the 26. start 25
five and work your way up
you can never work your way down working
your way up is easy to do
so we've shell-sized we figured out the
right size
put the boot on put it on them i was in
a shop once
just kind of hanging out and shop guy
got the boots and hand it to the
customer
i had to intervene and you unbuckle it
make sure that the little paper down the
toe that luigi and geppetto put down in
there maybe make sure that's
that's out open it all up
unbuckle everything if you notice they
have a real high volume calf
or if you're dealing with a woman with a
low calf muscle
she doesn't have a fat calf she has a
low calf muscle okay
do your best to undo the buckles all the
way unscrew them
all of our catches are on either a
sliding
deal here or you can unscrew and move
them out so do as much work ahead of
time
that you can so while you're down there
fitting you're not
fighting resting the boot because what
they're thinking is
if this guy can't get this boot on my
foot i'm never going to do it so get it
nice and easy
open it up get down your hands and knees
have them keep sitting
point their toe push it right in goes in
easy
then what you do is you buckle that you
buckle the top two buckles and the power
strap first
people want to start the bottom work
their way up problem with that is
where's the widest part of your foot
right here if you buckle the bottom part
of the boot
first tight that wide part of the foot
kind of gets stuck in there and we want
to get it
we want to get back in there so it makes
it tougher to do okay
so top two buckles power strap these two
undone stand up flex three or four or
five times
nice and slow and hard and that will of
course leverage the foot
back in the shell then we go back and
re-tighten this one because it'll have
loosened up
and then we finger tighten the front two
the beauty of a lang boot is
they're anatomically correct shells so
you don't need to crank the buckles to
hold the foot in place just like
you know just finger tight if you're
reefing down these front two buckles
you either have too big of a boot or too
wide of a boot go to a narrow
layer or lasted boot lang makes
virtually all of our boots except for
the lx in
width options 97 and 100
so use them to your advantage so now we
got the boot buckled up
buckles to the outside don't forget
don't want to screw that one up
put uh two boots on ideally but not
always so
put the one on their biggest foot you
measure both feet haven't you whatever
the bigger foot is start with that one
so we got the boot on we got them
flexing next thing you want to do
is tell them how a good boot should fit
never say
how do they feel because they're looking
for negatives they're going to be saying
well my foot move my
this this hurts whatever tell them how
good who should fit you're standing up
straight
feel your toes brushing the liner yep
perfect lean forward
back in the heel pocket toes wiggle yep
have them kind of drive their knee back
and forth a little bit and they want to
feel
for a real snug fit a ski boot as a
transmitter of energy
the quicker or the closer it fits down
to the heel ankle shaft
the more quicker it puts that ski on
edge
if they give you any inside pressure
points
well backing up a little bit before you
start off
a real good thing to say is hey did you
bring your insoles in with you
and they're going to say what are two
things oh yeah they're in my boots out
in the car in the truck i'll get them
or they're going to say huh because a
custom insole
even just a real kind of dum-dum
slide-in trim to fit type deal
will eliminate a lot of boot fit issues
right out of the get-go
so if they ever tell you any inside foot
issues
that means their foot's pronating
collapsing to the inside and the ankle
bone
navicular bone first med head right here
are moving around
friction is a bad thing and you need an
insole to help stabilize that foot
and keep it from collapsing so kind of
use
things they say to help you and create
solutions to them so if they tell you a
problem
don't kind of go oh dang i don't know
tell them what you do to do it to fix it
and there's three or four things you can
do to cure about
any problem from grinding to punching
pads whatever
i always prefer grinding or punching a
shell
versus throwing things in because the
problem with putting in pads and putting
in
stuff is you're you're just putting
stuff in there and you're reducing
the responsiveness of that ski boot i'd
much rather have boot be a little small
grind punch and make it perfect for
their foot
keeping in mind that when they put their
foot in the boot right now it's as tight
as it's ever going to be
you custom mold the liner compresses
their foot creates more room allows foot
compartment back
all good things okay moving along here
create forks in the road like yogi berra
said when you get to the fork on the
road take it
so we've tried on the xt3 130 here
ah feels pretty good okay we're
ultimately going
toward closing a sail right so put on
something else on the other foot
put on a nordica technico whatever you
got put on the other foot
and create a fork in the road okay i've
told you how good boots should fit
got them both buckled up which one seems
to be fitting your foot the best
which one's holding your heel and the
ankle the most snug
which one do you feel like when you roll
your knee a little bit bang that ski is
going to be up on edge
making a nice smooth arc so kind of
create that little picture for them
have them do the big toe baby toe thing
how fast can they go from edge to edge
however
how nimble do they feel in that boot
and they're going to tell you something
because one has to fit a little better
and if you've done your job right a
couple forks in the road and you've
narrowed down the right boot
ask for the sale cash or charge you're
going to love these your skiing is going
to get better you're going to ski more
parts of the mountain you've never skied
before
if it's the xt3 show them how the walk
the hike ski button works explain to
them
the explosion of the side country skiing
every ski resort has a little boot pack
area you can get to and
get ahead of the crowd a little bit show
them how the buckles work
on a lang you got micro adjustable
buckles all over the place
lefty loosey righty tighty the catches
move uh
show them how the like an rs rx explain
how the back
flex pins work show them how to pull the
liners out so when they're going skiing
up north out west
two three four five days in a row every
night you gotta pull your liners out
putting your foot into damp boots the
day before
besides feeling cruddy your feet are
gonna freeze because they're gonna be
wet
wet condensed conducts cold
days shot you've spent 100 plus dollars
for a lift ticket you got cold feet by
11 o'clock
and you're not gonna be able to go
inside anywhere so you're off you're
still stuck outside
sell them a boot bag ski socks you need
clean ski socks for every day you're
going to ski so if they're going skiing
somewhere for three or four five days
they need
three or four or five pair of good ski
socks
sell them a boot bag so their boots
their goggles their gloves their helmet
everything can go in one bag backpack
straps
and they can walk across the parking lot
because they're going to be parking
in a remote parking lot now there's not
the days of parking and right there you
go those days are over it's going to be
remote old school put your boots on
maybe in the parking lot
so make their sport easy because
skiing is not an easy sport to do you
know you
look at golf we go golfing you pull up
the
golf course there's a bag drop area
there's a
place i mean it's you get out so your
clubs are taken to the first tee for you
whereas the ski area
the parking lots gravel you're parked a
block and a half away
you're dragging your stuff over you're
putting your boots on your car now you
got your kids
so the more you can do to make the
experience of skiing better for them
there it's going to be so those are a
couple nuggets
in the lost art of selling boots and
skis you got questions
email me camelo dynastar.net
text me 608-770-6374
love to hear from you if you want more
information
if you want another video on something
else the lost art of selling ski poles
upside down under the basket right arm
90 degree angle boom
done that's all i have for now
thanks for stopping by see you next time
