3.0: What Flea markets can teach you about Revenue Management & Sales
For those of you who have not been part of the very first newsletter: It all started with Rafa, Haydo, Sab and me hitting the flea market, and the kids using tech to get an edge. You can read the vintage story: Here.
Fast forward two years and they are legends. Another flea market. Pricing done using amazon, videos/pics done, ready to roll…..:
Haydo and Rafa could not be more different when it comes to selling. Haydo is way more shy than Rafa and on top: decided to eat cake during peak hour.
Rafa tenacious and bubbly – anyone and everyone was a potential buyer.
Understanding demand and high-ticket items.
Rafa’s first words: Papa, we are not going to leave until all is sold. This is a kid’s flea-market. My dolls are hot cakes. There will be 100s of girls. My target markets. I WILL NAIL IT!
Her dolls: Rainbow High … in mint condition, like spotless. All Dolls were priced differently depending on the novelty and popularity factor.
Rafa knew they are like fairy dust to young girls as they had been to her. She also knew the prices when purchased new. On top, she decided to debundle, making the accessories a different product.
So, the name of the game: Quality over quantity. High price as I know you want it.
Hayden on the other hand was not so value conscious. He scrapped together any toys he could find. Even half broken toys made it. He went quantity over quality. Many small ones.
For Haydo it was a tough one: Wrong crowd coupled with wrong product.
Selling is hard.
Rafa’s first words: Papa, we are not going to leave until all is sold. This is a kid’s flea-market. There will be 100s of girls. My target market.
10min later: Papa, Selling is hard. My mouth hurts from constantly smiling.
Sales learning 1: De-bundling works
Customer: How much is this doll?
Rafa: The Doll if 20 EUR. As you can see, she is in perfect condition, just like new. In case you are wondering: Here is how much it would be on amazon
handing the phone to the mother with a screenshot of amazon prices for that doll
Customer: Wow, ok. Would you accept 15?
Rafa: No. Here is what I can do though. You see all those accessories: I give them to you for free.
Customer: Wow, how cool is that. For 20 we get the doll AND the accessories. So cool.
Deal done.
Sales learning 2: Decoy value
We had a barbie house (10 EUR) and a barbie wardrobe (5 EUR) – both not selling individually. New strategy: Decoy value adds
Customer: How much for the House?
Rafa: 15 EUR (as you can see, she already strategied in her head)
Customer: Ok, thank you….(a sign of no interest)
Rafa: Here is what I can do: Barbie needs a house. But Barbie also needs a wardrobe. From one Barbie fan to another: You buy the house, I give you the wardrobe for free. We both win. (I literally had to hide under the table as starting to p myself laughing)
Customer: That is so cool. Are you sure?
Deal done.
Marketing, Word of mouth, FAQ’s and Some products you buy, not sell:
We had two tables, kids had one, we had one for the clothes. When it comes to clothes, the name of the game is always same:
- Boys or Girls?
- Size
Knowing that those two questions are always the same, we went to proactively address them. But we also needed to make sure we had people:
- in the right mind of buying
- only buy if we have something to sell to them – ie protect your and my time
- make sure people know about us
We decided to take the Street-Poster-holder approach and stick the posters right in the middle of our chest saying:
Boys: size 116 and above …… don’t worry, they will grow into it.
Girls: size 134 and above … to shrink put in dryer.
What we achieved with this:
- People came to the tables because they were told by other vendors that we had their sizes.
- People laughed, smiled. Happy. Even had: Oh you are cute….:-) (Reverse Buyer psychology)
- (Remember: Normal scenario: The look down at the table, they then look up and give you that “I need to poop” kinda courtesy smile that you get a flea markets. You know what I mean.)
We stood out and were to of mind.
Job done!
Repeat customers, rewarding loyalty and being nice.
Sab wanted everything gone. From the get-go. Couldn’t care less at the end about how much to sell for. Primary goal: Gone. Goodbye. Anything not sold would be donated to charity.
This lady came. She purchased, 1 2 3 4 5 … 10 items. The said to Sab: You know, I hoped you were here. You were here already last year, and the clothes was amazing quality.
The day got longer; Sab dropped prices. The lady was ready to leave. So, Sab stopped her on the way out: You know. You bought so much. Please take as much as you like for your kids.
The lady was over the moon. Took a few more items and then actually purchased a small item from Haydo seeing he had all his items left 😊
Win Win all around. Being nice pays off.
Entrepreneur is being born and the power of walking away.
Last 5 min of the market. Opposite us a Playmobile seller. Sold loads, not all. Went to Hayden and offered him 2 Pirate Ships for a fiver. Hayden went, looked, saw that there was three ships and an island.
Haydo came to me and said: Papa, how much longer?
5 min
ok, I want all his ships and the island. I want to give 5 for all. Is this rude?
Totally not rude. You are making a counteroffer. All he can say is no. BUT, Haydo, are you ok to walk away from the deal if he says no?
Haydo thought, spoke. Turned around and came back shrugging his shoulders smiling. The person said no.
3min later the person came over and gave Haydo another reduced offer. Haydo said No….and then the seller gave in and Haydo got his 3 pirate ships and an island plus 5 figures for a fiver.
Papa, once I am finished playing with it, I ask Rafa to sell it for more on the next market and I give her 1 EUR for each sold.
Conclusion
You might ask yourself, why am I sharing those stories in my newsletter. Why am I trying to teach my kids skills in a way that is practical, fun and yet lifelong lessons?
I tell you why: If I take a dollar for every time I hear: I wish I had known that in my 20s
or I wish I knew that 10 years ago
I would be a millionaire. Truth is, there is some things I wish my parents would have told me when I was a child. I am not blaming them as they are amazing. I now know though that I can do that for my kids.
Revenue Management is all around us. Building relationships, ability to influence, negotiation skills, leverage, financial acumen – those are all skills we need all lifelong. If I can just share a story that inspires one person to have a conversation with their kids or help someone else through this….the my job here is done.
Love,
Fabi
