3 Useful Sales Tactics I Picked Up Over The Weekend

[Zwielicht]

As you may or may not know, @Impulse and I hosted a yard sale from Friday to Sunday. The main goal was to clear out much of the excess we had in the garage, but we also picked up some sales tactics that many of you may find useful.

None of this is bound to be revolutionary, but we don't sell things often (or at all, really), and especially less so in person. In my case, it's been 8 years since I last hosted a yard sale, so you could say I'm a little more than rusty.

1. Making It Feel More Like A Deal With Bundles
This isn't anything new, but whenever someone seemed interested in multiple items, but only directly expressed interest for one item, I would actually give them a bundle discount.

Usually, the conversation went something like this:

• Them: How much is this item?
• Me: That's $10, but if you buy something else, I can give you a discount

This actually worked great on people I could tell were potentially prone to haggling as they would start looking around for something else they liked for that discount. You know, "they paid more so they could pay less", like a meal deal at a fast food restaurant.

2. Setting Prices On The Fly
This one requires another person. Sometimes, you just don't have pricing for something and you need to come up with something quickly. Too high and the person will be put off and leave. Too low and you'll be dealing with someone who wants everything else just as cheap.

So to deal with this, you'll need one other person to help you. When a customer asks "how much is this?", don't tell them the price right away. Instead, walk over slowly (so you don't seem too eager for a sale), look it over slowly, and kind of talk at them about the product briefly. The other person can then quickly look up the item using eBay's app (sort by the items that were "sold" using the filters feature) or Price Charting. We were giving them discounts that we referred to as "convenience discounts" since we didn't have to sell the item online or pay for anything in regards to shipping. Once you have a pricing, that person can then interject and say the price.

The reason you need another person for this is simply because customers have an issue with you pulling out your phone and looking up the pricing right then and there.

3. Making It Messy!
With our first garage sale on Friday, I initially neatly organised everything. Immediately, we noticed that people were driving by, looking, and then driving off.

That's when @Impulse said that we should make it messy because people like sifting through things. So, she made sure to put everything more into a pile rather than the robotically neat organisation system I used.

I then went and grabbed boxes of stuff and put them out in the front. You know, since people like sifting through things.

This actually resulted in people stopping their cars just to take a look and sift through piles to see if there was anything they liked.

 

[Spicy Nug]

I didn't know about that Price charting website or the ebay sold filter. I sell things online but locally outside of my etsy shop sometimes so I'll give that a go. Thanks!

 

[RiskyStuff]

Lol he described sales in human language. How possible? Expert?

This sounds so out of the box. Like... you have to get analytical and bored to get to these conclusions.

I see it works similarly online.

 

[SilverClouds]

Wooow, they didn't want to buy because it was too neat?

Oh, I was wondering if checking prices up on your phone would be a problem...

Very insightful, thanks for sharing!

 

[Zwielicht]

I didn't know about that Price charting website or the ebay sold filter. I sell things online but locally outside of my etsy shop sometimes so I'll give that a go. Thanks!

Yeah, it was actually some video game collector/reseller guy who told me about it at my yard sale.

Lol he described sales in human language. How possible? Expert?

This sounds so out of the box. Like... you have to get analytical and bored to get to these conclusions.

I see it works similarly online.

Yeah. I think you could tell from the yard sale thread that I was pretty bored at points.

I wouldn’t describe myself as an expert, though. I mean, I know I’ve been in the industry for well over a decade at this point, but it’s one of those things where there’s always so many new things to learn that it’s hard to know when you’re really an expert.

Wooow, they didn't want to buy because it was too neat?

Oh, I was wondering if checking prices up on your phone would be a problem...

Very insightful, thanks for sharing!

Yeah, if it’s too neat, it means that it’s too easy to scan with your eyes from your car as you drive by. At least, that’s what they appear to think.

I’ve actually noticed there’s a similar tactic of “making things messy” employed in internet marketing, particularly with sales listings and landing pages (mostly Clickbank landing pages). When I first saw this, it didn’t make sense to me because I wondered why anyone would think these long, confusing sales listings were good for sales. The thing is though, their target consumer just seems to see this as an expectation and some seem to like reading through embellishments and other fluff.

Checking prices on your phone is something I think yard sale goers find annoying. I assume sit was impatience as many people who go to yard sales seem to be in a rush to look things over and head to the next yard sale.