This past weekend I helped my parents conduct a garage/yard sale. They needed to clean out, so they decided to see if they could make some money on their “stuff”. Watching and interacting the shoppers was very interesting and I enjoyed comparing them to traditional business customers and clients. Here are a few of my observations.
First there were the early birds — the ones who come before your advertised start time. These are usually dealers. They buy stuff at garage sales and then mark it up and sell it elsewhere — flea markets, junk shops, online, etc. They often come the day before, hoping they will get the cream of the crop in merchandise and deals. The early birds remind me of the folks who ask you for proposals or ideas and then buy the product or service from someone else or do it themselves. They gain understanding, design, costs and other pertinent information from you and then use it to advantage while you get nothing or little in return. Garage/yard sellers have to be cautious they don’t “give away” things to the early birds instead of getting the full potential profit. Business owners need to be careful that they do not “give away” too much and cheat themselves out of revenue.
Next there were those who must have been looking for something specific. They would park, get out and come over to the display of “stuff”. They would either walk between the tables, quickly scanning the wares or stand in one point and kind of look things over. Then they would quickly get back in their vehicle (often a pick-up, van or SUV) and drive off. It was obvious that we didn’t have what they needed. I have seen the garage/yard sellers try to engage these people in conversation, I guess hoping they would get them to stay and look around. But that is usually a waste of effort. If people know what they want and you don’t offer it, then don’t waste your time and theirs by trying to convince them other wise. This is true for garage/yard sales and in business.
And there were those who like to bargain. No matter what the price, they feel compelled to ask you to lower it. I’m not sure if they enjoy haggling or if they assume you are willing to lower the price and they want to get the rock bottom amount. I told my sister, “If I wanted to bargain I wouldn’t have spent so much time putting a price on everything.” Of course, you haggle anyway so you can make the sale. In traditional business their are always people who ask for discounts — quantity, because they are non-profit, because their business has been suffering, and just because. It is often tempting to give a discount so you can make the sale. But in my experience and observation, if you give them an inch, they want a mile – If you give them a discount once, they always expect it. Another consideration is that you devalue your product or service. At the garage/yard sale ff you give them a discount on one thing they want it on everything. In traditional business, if you give a discount they think you do not value your products/services enough to stand firm on the price. If you feel the need to do discounts, develop a policy that very specifically lays out the conditions for a discount, i.e. non-profits get a discount of 5% or customers spending over $500 are eligible for a $25 credit on future purchases within the next 3 months.
Of course at a garage/yard sale the ones you hope for are the browsers. Now do not confuse the browsers with the curious. Curious will be discussed in the next paragraph. Browsers are people who want to spend money. Typically they walk through the whole display area and look at most everything and pick out a few things to purchase. Often they go back through a second or even a third time through the whole display or to some specific areas and usually pick up a few more items. These are the customers/clients we all want at our garage/yard sales and for our businesses.
Now the curious are exactly what the word says. They may be shoppers, too, but they are primarily curious. They ask “what’s this?”, they look with their hands and they peek at what other people are buying. There is nothing wrong with having curious shoppers at garage/yard sales or in business, but it is important to identify them and develop a way of handling them or they will take up all your time while only spending a small amount of money. When I first started selling telecommunications equipment in the mid seventies a wise sales instructor shared a phrase with me that not only helped me close sales, it also helped me administer a test to determine if someone was serious or curious. He said that if someone asks “Does it come in XXX (blue, larger size, wireless, etc.)?” to respond with “Would you buy it in XXX?” The answer, obviously, gives you key information.
Unfortunately there is another category that we sometimes have to deal with — the selfish. Here is an example. About the third potential customer that came to my parents sale pulled into their long driveway and stopped just barely off the road. Even though there was not enough room for anyone else to pull into the driveway they left their truck there and got out. My sister said, “Would you mind pulling your truck down onto the grass so other people can pull in?” The people stopped, then turned around and went back to their truck. They got in, backed out of the driveway and drove away. First we all looked at each other and then we laughed. Of course, we all told my sister not to talk to any other customers. But the truth is that those people were self-centered enough to think it was fine for them to park in a place that made it difficult or impossible for others. These people probably would not have bought anything or they likely were looking for something specific. But regardless of the likelihood that they would spend money with us, they would not have been a good customer because they made it difficult for other customers. In business we sometimes need to not take on customers/clients that are so selfish they make it difficult for us to do other business and get other customers/clients. It is okay to fire these customers, just be professional and don’t let them rub off on you.
Often at a garage sale the things you sell are things you thought were long shots and the things you were sure would sell, don’t. You cannot do research on the people who will come to your garage/yard sale, so you have to do research on garage sales in general. Then you try to display your “stuff” in ways that will attract the typical garage/yard sale customer. For your business, you can increase your opportunities for revenue by doing more specific and detailed research. For a garage/sale you are at the mercy of chance; in your business you want to eliminate as much chance as possible by doing research and paying attention to the purchasing patterns of your actual customers/clients.
One of the biggest rewards at a garage/yard sale or in business is that you get entertainment. Seeing lots of different people and getting to interact with them can provide chuckles, out right laughs and a few incredulous head shakes. Seeing what people buy and/or ask for can be very surprising. In traditional business, it is important to find humor in the things that prospects and customers do. This makes it easier to keep your sanity and your positive attitude and, certainly, makes running a business more fun.
Like this:
One blogger likes this post.
