Auntie Kate The Resale Expert

In my never-ending quest to help you make sense of our fluctuating economy vis-a-vis the resale, consignment, thrift business world, I thought I’d share with you, today, my puzzlement as I wandered around the house eating my breakfast yogurt.

There is nothing on my refrigerator.

Now you must understand, I live in a marketplace where real estate used to be red-hot, all anyone talked about, for years. My fridge was plastered with calendars, recipe postcards, calendars-of-events, all nicely magnetized so’s to hang at eye level, right where I’d be most likely to see them: on the front of my Kelvinator.

All of these advertising specialties were from Realtors. The 3 who live in my neighborhood. The one I bought my house from 11 years ago. The one in my writing group and the one who sweats next to me on the elliptical. Point is, anyone who’d ever wrangled my address out of me sent me something useful all the time so I would remember them when it came time to buy or sell. I could count on getting so many little magnetized calendars that I could choose the one I wanted to stick on the refrigerator. (I usually went with the sunset over Siesta Beach one.)

Now that the real estate business is facing hard times, and Realtors are watching their pennies, what’s happened?

I don’t have a calendar. I also can’t come up with a Realtor’s name quick, if I decide I need one.

Not a single Realtor realized, when competition is being conservative, it’s a perfect time to have the market to themselves. They all cut back on promoting their livelihoods at the same time, instead of realizing that the fewer magnetized business cards there are on my fridge, the more valuable it will be to have theirs there.

What’s all this got to do with the secondhand business? Well, look around. Are your competitors advertising in the media? Having special events? Getting their names in the paper with press releases? Or are your competitors hunkering down because this time of year’s “slow”?

If they’re hunkering, you should be soaring!

When your potential customers think resale, having your ad, advertising specialty, postcard or email in front of them means that your shop is in the spotlight. The very worst time to stop promoting your business is when your direct competitors stop promoting theirs.

So get out that new-season postcard, that resortwear email, that stain chart or wardrobe-organizing booklet, that newspaper ad touting your selction and service, and put it right where your potential customer, when she thinks consignment, will think of your business. You have a whole “refrigerator” to yourself!