Some real-life examples of flubbed opportunities, unclear wording, and just plain silly, silly, silly shop wording on the Internet.
Seriously? Does this make sense?
“We are not offering any BOR this month because January is too slow.” Um, excuse me, but because you’re not selling much this month, you will handicap your seasonal changeover? Are you trying to make February slow too?
When you buy, you should NOT be using “today’s dollars”, that is, your immediate inflow, but rather, be watching your open-to-buy for a longer stretch of time. Perhaps this shop owner would profit by reading The BIG Book of Buying Outright
Seriously? Can you translate the following into something easily scanned?
Ran across this message on a consignment shop web site: “Hours of Operation: Sun: 12 p.m. – 5:00 a.m., Mon: 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m., Tue: 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m., Wed: 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m., Thu: 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m., Fri: 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m., Sat: 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.”
Couldn’t they just have said “Open 9 to 9 Monday-Saturday, and Noon to 5 every Sunday“? (I’m assuming they actually, upon reflection, know better than to say 12p.m. [there is no such time; p.m. means “after 12” so what’s 12 after 12?] I’m also assuming they didn’t really mean they were open on Sundays until 5 a.m., AKA 5 in the morning….)
Seriously? Well kiss MY grits.
Yes, this message was in all caps. WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SELECT WHAT EVER LABELS/BRANDS & STYLES WE FEEL REFLECT OUR TARGET MARKET. WE DO NOT HAVE TO ACCEPT ALL OF YOUR ITEMS. WE DO NOT HAVE TO EXPLAIN WHY WE ARE NOT ACCEPTING PARTICULAR ITEMS.
And guess what? I DON’T HAVE TO DEAL WITH THAT ATTITUDE.
Graphic from searchquotes.com
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
You could start a new blog called Miss Dopportunities!
LikeLike
My rule is, only one new blog a week, and this week, we introduced our consumer-oriented blog, where I hope shopkeepers will participate, over at How To Consign the Blog! Check it out at http://HowToConsign.org (note, .org is ours now too, in addition to .com) and let’s hope for sensible and motivating comments by Professional Resalers there!
LikeLike
Love these, please, more!!
LikeLike
Sure, Steve, soon as someone else puts his/her foot in his/her mouth! Auntie Kate is watching…
LikeLike
Hey, here’s a newly-arrived Missed Opportunity FB post, especially on request from Steve! A shopkeeper wrote “No, I do not know what is going on with the other tenants in the shopping center. Please post questions or concerns on their page, I’m sure they will respond when the time is right. Thanks in advance.”
….when she COULD have said (I’m making this up knowing nothing about this business or what’s going on)…. “Lots of excitement at [name or location of sc so readers would get an extra reminder of where her biz is]! Stop in [MyShop] and be a part of the buzz!”
Why would this message be better than the one she posted? A: It’s motivating, not Debbie Downer-ish; B: It uses whatever lemons there are to make whatever lemonade can be produced and with the repeat of shop name and location actually becomes a mini-ad; and C: People love to be “in on” anything, from shop remodelings to gossip. Seen in the way a traffic jam always happens when there’s a road-side accident. People love to gawk. And gossip. So “be a part of the buzz”, if her FB followers have heard BAD news, will appeal to their gawk-instinct.
LikeLike
this is tough…sometimes i think we feel like we say the same thing over & over & over again…hence the all caps?? i don’t know, but i “get it”…(i am an all lower case typer, people like it, it suits me)…i guess it comes back to “think before you speak”….well, that would have been in the “olden days” before social media…so “think before you post” perhaps? XO
LikeLike
So true, Jackie. Isn’t it amazing how the things our mothers taught us, continue to be useful no matter how much life changes? LOL
LikeLike
Don’t delete me! I love your posts!
Sent from my iPhone
LikeLike
Debbie, you’re so sweet! But I think you’re referring to the Facebook post I placed about your name on our e-newsletter, called “USED ain’t seen nothin’ yet”… not the emails you receive because you asked to get our posts here on the blog by email (Confusing, I know, I have so many ways to get info out to you!)
If you did NOT get an email from me yesterday with a subject line “So much GOOD NEWS in resale”, you’re not on that email list. If you’d like to be, simply visit my site’s front page and click on “receive the newsletter” My site is http://TGtbT.com
LikeLike
While I totally empathize with the last one (I can pretty much feel their frustration when I read it), it’s one of those things you say in your head, not on your website.
Although I have to work on my filter daily as well. 🙂
LikeLike
Right you are, Beth. Filters are a mandatory tool for success… and they keep the murder rate down too.
LikeLike
Wow! That’s all I have to say. I try very hard to make whatever communications I put in writing (and by writing I mean on paper, email, or on Facebook) to sound like I am talking to a customer that is in front of me. It’s so easy to have your tone misunderstood when something is in writing, I want to make it so it’s really hard for anyone to hear anything but a positive tone from what I am saying.
LikeLike
Yes, Julie, I know just what you mean! Without the face-to-face body language or voice-to-voice phone call, it’s hard to strike the right tone. ESPECIALLY when what needs to be said, might not be what they want to hear…
LikeLike