Garage Selling Days Are Here Again

Garage sales are funny things. You set yerself up a few tables full of things for which you no longer have a need and then sit back a'waitin' for someone to come along who will find some of those items useful. You use cheap round stickers to mark the price of each item and you post a few signs around announcin' your wonderful event to the world. Perhaps you even put an ad in the classifieds.

Now, let the games begin. Someone finds somethin' they like and then you haggle over a price and finally settle on somethin' way lower than you anticipated 'cause you knew that it meant one less item you would have to cart off to the local thrift store. Now that's the way we adults in the West do it. (Please put the emphasis on adults.)

Now, here's what happens when several younguns a git the notion that they want to have a garage sale. They, like you, ransack their rooms, a'findin' "treasures" which they no longer want and quickly fill up a table. They hand-make some signs for puttin' around the neighborhood and also a bunch of custom price tags. On the price tags, they list the description of the item like "porcupinish toys" and then put a price on it. In many cases, they are much more realistic about the worth of things than we are. $.01 each for the porcupinish toys. Many things are marked with $.01, $.02, $.05 and $.10. But, even better are the $.99 items - they do, after all, have a marketer for a father.

When asked if they have change to give people, they say they'll worry about that when they git there. Sounds like a man thing to say but hold it right there, theseuns is all girls! They must be listenin' to their pa too much.

Once they have everythin' in place, the real marketin' starts. "Garaaaage Sale!!!" "Cooome, get your bargains today!" "Eeeverything on sale!" They trumpet this excitin' news in their loudest voices up and down the street.

The day wears on and they've only had one customer. Hmmmm, what to do to attract more shoppers? Have a staged conversation! "Wow! I can't believe all this great stuff!" "Look at these great prices!" "Is this really only $.10?!" "Yes it is and we have plenty more." "This is a great garage sale!" All said in the very loudest of voices. Once again, they do have a marketin' dad.

Of course, they did forget one of the most important things - in marketin' we call it "place". You have to put your goods or services in a place (or time) when you have the highest chance of havin' potential shoppers lookin' to buy. In this case, Monday afternoon was probably their biggest obstacle. Not to worry, they are now a'plannin' a Saturday edition of the kids garage sale. Don't miss your opportunity to save big on items you don't want!