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5 Things your consignor won't tell youEver wonder what your consignor’s not telling you?

And for consignor, read seller or donor if you’re not a consignment shop. Yes, even those receiving cash on the barrel head, or donating to your nonprofit thrift shop, have unspoken concerns.

We’re not mind-readers. When you tell us we have to choose only 15 items to bring in to you, it’s stressful. Should I include that mink in the batch or will you tell me “no furs”? Are suits 2 pieces or just one? It gets so confusing, I’ll decide just to give everything to my cleaning lady.

We don’t REALLY want to pick things up. But sometimes, your agreement and your web site seem to make us think we have to. What a hassle. We’d much rather just let you donate them.

We want to feel like our things are going to a good home. It’s silly, we know, and we’d be embarrassed if you knew we were thinking this way. After all we’re selling it, right? But we want to feel that you’ll find our underloved possessions a good home. Cuts down on the guilt of passing Mother’s mahogany chest on.

We’re more than willing to brag on you, but we need help. Whether we’re proud of our eco-correctness or excited that we made $250 with no effort, we’re happy to tell others about you. But darn it, what’s your shop called again? Where on Main Street are you? What’s the name of that nice blonde who helped us?

 

We’d love for you to keep in touch. We like hearing how the shop’s doing, so let us know. Don’t just hand out a check without a little human contact. We like to think our relationship is based on more than money.

Are any of these unspoken concerns, something you could address to make your suppliers feel more comfortable as your business partner?

Also, read 5 Things your NONconsignor won’t tell you.

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Happy Valentine’s Day… you know how much Auntie Kate {hearts} resale shopkeepers of all sorts (well, Resale makes my heart RACE!except for some sorts; let’s be honest here 😉 )

And because Auntie Kate adores you, she wants you to know that it’s only 18 weeks until our resale industry’s annual Conference. This year it’s in Dallas. (Read about it.) (And read what Auntie Kate thinks about Conference.)

Auntie Kate has full confidence that you CAN afford to go.

Every shopkeeper…whether consignment or buy-outright…can afford to go. Yes, you can. It’s up to you. 18 weeks…can you increase your profits by just $20 a business day, and tuck that money aside to invest in the second-greatest* learning experience in your chosen field?

Of course you can. $20 extra profit a day is a piece of cake, and investing the $1800-$2500 you could be making between now and then will net you ten, twenty, even 100 times your investment, if you truly take in, absorb, question and filter all the knowledge you will get from Conference.

How will you be able to afford it?

Get out the Products for the Professional Resaler you already have in your business reference library. Find those strategies and ideas you thought were a possibility, but which you’ve not gotten around to doing. Then do them. Simple as that.

Don’t have any Products for the Professional Resaler? Get some. There’s even the cheaper-than-a-grilled-cheese Lunch with Kate Products.

Don’t want to spend ANY money making money? Then read everything here on Auntie Kate the Blog, review the hundreds of free tips and hints on TGtbT.com, get a glimpse into how your customers think at HowToConsign.com, follow Too Good to be Threw on Twitter and Facebook, and see what the Sharers have to say on our Professional Resalers’ discussion board.

(Oh, and if you’re a manager rather than the owner of a shop? Start working on the boss/ the board of directors now to pay for your professional education…and show them how you’re making the $20 extra a day with a little help from Auntie Kate!)
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Because Auntie Kate KNOWS you can’t afford NOT to go.

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* Conference is second only to all the Products for the Professional Resaler offered at Too Good to be Threw. The Products are always there for you, 24/7/365 and Conference, fun as it is, lasts just a few days. Plus, the Products, even if you buy them all, are cheaper and do not require mascara.

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Is your consignment shop heading...where you want it to?Sundays, for many of us, are for examining the larger picture. Whether in a place of worship or within your own soul:

Are you doing what you are meant to?

If you as a resaler, whether you own or operate (more…)

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“It’s worth nothing in your closet…your attic…your basement.”

Increase the value of the goods in your shop with TGtbT.com and its Products for the Professional ResalerHow often has any consignment, resale, or thrift shopkeeper said that phrase. After all, if something’s sitting, disused, in someone’s home, it is worth precisely ZERO to everyone.

This is the persuasion we use to get folks to give these items a chance to gain value, to be used…and to make the owner and the shopkeeper a bit of money.

We also use the “It’s worth nothing in your closet…” approach to emphasize that we are adding value to their items by providing a shop, customers, heat and light and showroom and credit-card capability. The amount of value we add depends solely on our skills, knowledge, and retail talents.

And our skills determine our profits.

Your consignment or resale shop increases the value of used goods. Learn to maximize that value with Too Good to be Threw.So why, oh why, if you are buying outright, would you gift your seller with more than her item is worth to her, because of your work and expertise and ability to make money?

That’s what you are doing, if you base the price you pay on a percentage of what you can sell it for. . . rather than the value the seller assigns to her items. Pay X% of what you will sell it for? What you can sell it for to one of your shoppers has nothing to do with the seller’s subconscious appraisal of her goods.

Let’s take a look at some Traveling Pants. Josephine has them. She wants to sell them to you. How much does she value them?

Maybe she bought them on a whim and paid too much. Or bought them on sale or even at a garage sale. Maybe they were a gift from someone. Maybe she swapped the Pants with a friend.

Maybe she loves them and hates that they’ve never fit right. Maybe she hates the color. Maybe they have happy memories or unhappy memories.

Maybe she’s motivated to bring the Pants in to you because she’s a fervent recycler. Or maybe she’s really hard up for money. Or….

The point is, the Traveling Pants have a value to her, and that value, high or low, must be met before she will agree to sell them to you. Are you following me so far?

Grow your business with TGtbT.com's Products for the Professional ResalerNow, consider. None of the above has a farthingsworth of influence on what the Pants are worth to YOU. Because what they are worth to your business has everything to do with the business you have built, that you run, that you finance.

In fact, the better a shopkeeper you are, the smaller your buy-outright cost of goods will be.

The smarter you are about your business, the more profit you are going to make. And that’s how it should be, right? The Traveling Pants aren’t worth more to Josephine because you are talented and pay attention your business. So why pay her X% of the value you have created?

Selling more is not hard with TGtbT.comSuspect that you’re not adding enough value to your incoming goods…whether you consign, buy outright, or turn charity donations into funding? Here’s a Product for the Professional Resaler that you need.


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Ya know how you phrase things differently depending on the results you want?

Talking to your grandma about her heirloom cameo vs. talking to your spouse about cleaning up after the dog?

Some examples of consignment, resale, and thrift shop phrasing that could have been put in a more business-friendly manner.

Maybe this isn’t the best way (more…)

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