It's yard sale season...

[TenYardFight]

I would like to clarify, in case it isn't clear, that I think Amanda make many great contributions to the board on a very regular basis. I didn't think my raising concerns in response to her asking why someone wouldnt want to do this would be construed as malicious...

 

[Amanda]

Let me just throw this out there then I am done with this thread...Had NO intention or even implying that the idea would 100% not work.

And I sure as h*** did not try to "demonize" anyone and never have. I put my simple opinion and that is all as did a few others....That's the whole purpose of a post to get others opinions/views...otherwise why not make a post then ask for it to be closed so nobody else can comment on it.

Not the first post someone put and "others" had a difference of opinion...

No worries... never thought I was being demonized. Apologies for not replying sooner, I've been at my part-time job all afternoon/evening.

I've gone back and forth on this idea ever since you posted it yesterday.

My first thought was, "not me."

Here's why:
Too expensive at $10-ish minimum just to leave some flyers
Too few eyeballs - who picks up flyers at a yard sales?
Too time consuming - including double trips delivering pizzas
Too fleeting - who keeps flyers they pickup at yard sales?

But last night and this morning as I continued to ponder it while also reading the opposing views, I thought, "well maybe . . "

I imagine (can only imagine . . .) the biggest benefit may not be in buyers picking up flyers, but rather the face to face, memorable interaction with the sellers.

They'd likely remember that computer dude that stopped by and bought them pizza and drinks. And it would certainly turn into a story they'd relate to friends/family that later inevitably ask "How'd the yard sale go?"

Plus yard sales are often multi-family events. So in reality, you might make a direct connection with handful of people at every stop.

If nothing else, perhaps when any of those folks DO have a computer problem or hear about a friend with a problem, they'd either remember me or my business name would jump out at them from a Google search.

So I've kind of drifted from "no way" to maybe I will. For an investment of 100-150 bucks I'd get a lot of localized face time and buzz. And who knows - maybe someone WOULD pickup a flyer as well.

Plus I might find a bargain at a sale.

Exactly!!! I should have specified that I was talking about larger sales, not just the typical sale.

I would like to clarify, in case it isn't clear, that I think Amanda make many great contributions to the board on a very regular basis. I didn't think my raising concerns in response to her asking why someone wouldnt want to do this would be construed as malicious...

Thank you. And no, it wasn't construed as malicious by me. We're all good.

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

Amanda, that is a great idea. One of the things about marketing is catch them where they do not expect you. No one has their defenses up at a garage/yard sale. We have block sales where 5-9 families have loads of crap and people around this part of the world love to go to them.

I can easily see how I can get 3-5 customers from one sale. In my case that is $600-1000.

I am already doing YP; Internet; Signs; and everything I can think of so when i run to the QuickShop for coffee i will stop at a sale or two Thursday and drop off some of my post cards which also have a $25 gift certificate referral. I will tell the folks that I will give them a $25 credit for every referral.

It might not be as easy as resizing YP or Google/other things I do but I am already doing other things and maxed out on ideas. Thanks for this one.

 

[Tekko]

A few years ago I was renting a house in one of those God Awful gated communities with a housing authority, every year they had a huge garage sale that pretty much all the houses participated in. I put out about 8 laptops and a handful of desktops, the rest was of my sale was garage tools, gun safes, etc. Nothing that women would typically stop to look at.

But they did, by the masses, everyone came to look at the computers, most of them because they knew someone with computer trouble, had a kid with a flaky computer, a grandma that wanted to buy her grandson one, etc. I sold them all, handed out almost 200 cards, and got at least a dozen jobs from it.

Point being, don't discount the garage sale demographic. These moms are typically the Office Mangers of their homes, they need computers just like everyone else.

That being said, you need to find a way to efficiently convert them into customers. I don't think the idea of leaving flyers with garage sale organizers would work in my current location, but I don't think everyone should discount the idea either.