eAction

Sometimes we need to do something over and over a few times to develop a productive habit that we can start using in other areas too. For me, I’m discovering that an approach I took with selling tangible goods for my sister who is out of province and unable to look after the sale of these items is showing lots of promise.

At first glance you might think my example has nothing to do with you, but let me describe it first, and then help you find a principle that you can adapt for yourself.

Here’s the background. My sister Elsie had left things in storage at Dad’s house when she moved to the west coast in 1995. I promised to look after her stuff, but earlier this year after Dad died, I knew that I’d have to find myself a new place, and I wouldn’t have room for all of her things. We discussed it, and agreed that I should try to sell some of her things at Dad’s estate auction. That didn’t go over too well, and some things didn’t even get a bid. Now what?

Well, I got permission to store some of the larger furniture pieces in a vacant office, with the promise that I would advertise and sell them as soon as I could.

From what I’d learned in the past, just from reading online, I knew I could take photos and probably sell them on e-bay, etc. I was especially concerned about the stereo credenza and large speakers. As I researched them for the most effective keywords to use in my ads, I saw that this was not quite old enough to be an antique or collectible. Hmmm…! Antique dealers didn’t want to hear from me for another 9-10 years, but I needed to sell this suite. So I pressed on.

I took photos and cropped and carefully choose the best ones. Then I created a web page on my business site that would describe and show it off to best advantage. I decided against e-bay because I wanted to get my sister at least $500 for it. Once my web page was about as good as I could get it, with the most sought after keywords to describe this vintage credenza stereo, and I had described it as something to snap up now and store for 10 years and then make a profit - that’s when I wrote a classified ad very carefully.

Next I logged into Craigslist.org, the most popular classifieds site on the web, and placed my ad, including just a couple of my photos with it, and the URL to my special web page for more details.

I’m happy to say that after a few weeks the $500 is on the way to me!

But now I’m doing this over again with Elsie’s quilt-rack, and I’m about to do it once more with a course of binders for developing a business. I’m sure Elsie paid about $300 for this box of jumbo binders full of information, so I should have no trouble selling it for $50. But as I am going through these paces all over again, I realize that I’ve found a pattern for selling tangible goods that is working for me.

Now, do you see the principle or outline of steps you could take to sell something?

1. Get to know the product or items very well. Research the most effective keywords to use. What would someone looking for this item call it?

2. Take good photos and resize them so they load quickly.

3. Use the photos and your keyword list to write a winsome web page describing the features, but also the benefits of owning this product.

4. Write a good classified ad, with a link to your web page, and include a photo or two. Then place it on Craigslist and any other classifieds sites that you think will be useful.

You can do all of this without spending a penny!