It’s Wacky Wednesday once again. A free giveaway for consignment, resale, and thrift shop owners/ managers.
Here’s a topic that proves great minds think alike: both Tiani, a new shopkeeper, and I came up with the idea of:
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
(Let’s keep it advice useful in running your consignment, thrift, or resale shop: we all know the clean-undies-under-a-bus one!)
So tell us what advice you try to heed as much as possible. You become eligible for the drawing simply by commenting here. No harder than using Sharing on the Premiere Site for Professional Resalers, Too Good to be Threw.
Remember, at least 20 responses are necessary before the drawing’s a go, so clue your resale buddies into this too! Read the rules for our giveaway.
See the Wacky Wednesday Giveaways so far.
This week’s Giveaway, sponsored by PattyH of Wandering Wardrobe in Springville Utah, is your choice of $25 worth of Too Good to be Threw‘s selection of Products for the Professional Resaler.
Let ‘er rip: what’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten to help you in your business?
Update 2-15-10: See the winner and her excellent advice.
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
always keep the consignors money in a different account. Have 2 checking accounts
so many good ones posted!
heres mine, very simple:
A smile goes a long way!
Also…
I have a topic suggestion for next weeks Wacky Wednesday!
Next week should be “what tip/trick of the trade have you found to be the most useful?”
We got a ton of advice before opening and the three best pieces of advice were
1) never lower your standards (whether it be for customer service, incoming consignments or cleanliness of the store)
2) always be ready to change
3) always have at least 6 months of operating expenses in the bank including every penny you owe to consignors at all times
[…] Have you told us the best (resale / consignment / thrift) words of advice you ever got? You could win our Giveaway. I have no idea what a smurf butt has to do with this post, but heck, it’s Friday. […]
My best piece of advice came from this site before I opened my store: go to the annual NARTS conference before you open. This was way outside my comfort zone and I had just had heart surgery 2 weeks before, but I went to Atlanta and learned more that has helped me in my business than I thought was possible! I also met many awesome people who I hope to reconnect with when I finally get to go to the next conference since it will be only about 1 hour away in Palm Beach.
Here’s one I like. What do you think?
“It’s not the customer’s job to support your business. It’s your job to provide them with something they want at a price they want to pay.”
I think the best advice I ever received was “People won’t remember what you said, or what you did, but they will remember how you made them feel.”
Best advice I ever received…”Don’t open a consignment clothing store in the middle of a recession!”
May not sound logical, but it really makes sense. Why, simply because our industry lags the “full price” retail industry about 18-24 months. It takes that long to see a decrease in quality and quantity of consignment items. If retail clothing sales are down, that obviously means fewer consignments for our stores in the future.
Don’t you get tired of hearing this “…wow, your business must be booming in this economy!” The reality is that it’s true that our industry normally see’s an increase in sales in the early part of a recession. After all, people want to sell their good clothing to raise cash. But as the recession progresses fewer people have quality items to consign (are you seeing a decrease in the quality of your consignments? I am, big time!).
Sorry Kate for my rant, but this industry is in for some tough times. In fact, three of my competitors closed down in the last 90 days!
Learn something new everyday and boy in this business that is the truth!!!!
Don’t spend more than you make and you will always have personal wealth.
The best advice I ever received in my life was from my Grandma, she used to tell me “you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinager”. I try to use this in every aspect of my life and business.
The best advice I received after picking the brains of several successful consignment shop professionals was consistently, churn baby churn! That is, price your inventory to sell so that you move it quickly and in the process have a location that is always filled with fresh inventory.
Be careful about choosing the pond you jump into because you’ll probably be swimming in it for a long time.
My best advice that I try to heed on a daily basis starts at the receiving counter and has to do with service:
Nobody should ever have to feel bad that they wore their clothes.
The best advice I ever got was to join my local Chamber of Commerce. I joined as soon as I opened my doors and it has paid off. By activitely attending chamber functions, I have made so many great contacts and gained lots of loyal customers. Businesses benefit in a big way when other businesses refer them. The key is that you have to be actively involved with the chamber by attending at least a couple of functions a month.
I do not have much at all to offer as I am just in the planning stages of opening my shop in March. But… so far the best piece of advice I have received was to buy Kate’s Manual and readings. It has provided me with so much information. Do not hesitate for one second if considering buying the manual, like Nike… Just do it!
it was from the best art professor ever…’kill your little darlings’. Now, that may sound horrible and was probably designed as such to get our attention. Essentially, when ever you are bent on designing a concept, promo, display (anything really) and it isn’t working there is a reason. Kill the ‘darling’. Maybe the supporting concept is really the main topic. Stop trying to force it to work and (scrap it in some cases) and go with what works naturally. This advice was given to me as an art student but I use it in everyday problem solving around the shop.
Less is more in a store.
The best piece of advice I have received is to have the attitude of “how may I serve” my customers. When I focus on providing a needed service to my customers, rather than how I can make money, it is always more profitable.
This is the truth and it is two pcs of advice because it came from the same person and in the same breathe.
When I first started researching, I contacted a store about 20 min, away. She told me to contact NARTS and then to contact Kate Holmes and sign up for her snail mail newletter.
So I called NARTS, talked to Adele, joined as a provisional, that May, called Kate, played phone tag for a couple of days and signed up for her newsletter. Went to my first conference in June, sat next to Kate at lunch on Saturday, and the rest is history. That was in 1998.
Every time someone ask me about starting a store, I give them the same two pcs. of advice.