Auntie Kate The Resale Expert

Wow! It’s only 14 days til Conference…this time 2 weeks from now, we’ll be boarding the buses on the Resale Shop Bus Tour. Are we ready? Ready for Conference, ready for Kate’s workshop… ready to learn from each other? My index cards are all sorted by color and I’m gathering my passwords and my lists.

So here goes: A checklist for Two-Weeks-Out:

• Gather important phone numbers, computer passwords, whatever you will need that you “take for granted” when you’re on home turf.
• Gather your questions. Think about what you want to ask others about. Should I have a senior discount? How can I work with the other businesses in my area to draw traffic?
  
• Gather your answers, too. Got a great source for gift items? Really learn a lot from a book or web site? Write down the specific info, so you can help others.
  
• Get your index cards in line. I use different colors for different topics, and you might too. Yellow for advertising ideas, blue for consigning issues. Remember, one note per index card, so you can sort and use the suggestions you get easily.
• Make up a few SASEs: that’s self-addressed stamped envelopes. When you ask a breakfast buddy to send you a copy of that great bag-stuffer she’s been going on about, hand her a ready-to-use SASE, penciling on the back “your Pick a Pair flier” to remind her what she promised to send.
• Polish your elevator speech. That’s the 30-45 second summary of your business that you will use not only to introduce yourself to peers, but in the future to prospective customers. I opened Funky Fashions in 2005 to introduce my town, Tootleville Sask, to a wider choice in fashion and sizes than was available.
• Check over the new TGtbT Shop, or download and print out our Catalog, to decide what you need. Make note of what you have! Then: order what you need now. It’ll save you time and money at SourceMart, and by pre-reading topics you are interested in, you’ll be able to ask me, in person, for more details, or why I said A or B or what I think of your trying X or Y.

If you will be attending my workshop, Using Every Little Bit of your Space, I’ll be more than happy to sit with you at lunch on Saturday for some one-on-one. Be prepared, tho: bring your dollars sold per square foot of selling space and a drawn floor plan of what merchandise is where in your shop. We’ll put our heads together and boost your sales!

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