Direct Selling Tip: Yard Sale Events

Below the tips is a video I did at one of the recent yard sales I took part in (October 2015). Yard sales are great for getting your information out to potential customers and/or recruits for your direct selling business. In that sense Yard Sales will always be successful even if you don’t sell any products on the spot that day. Plus, you never know who could come back around at a later time because they still have your information. The Yard Sales I’ve done were community sales that you paid money towards the cause (2 were schools, 2 were churches) for a table and then you kept all profits made at the table. I went this route because I do not have somewhere to host my own Yard Sale.

Tips:

• Advertise your Yard Sale (if having your own)—Avon Independent Sales Reps have a sign available on YourAvon–campaign tools–planning tools as of the posting of this blog. Make sure your advertisements fit policy for the direct selling company you represent.
• Have inexpensive products on hand–2 for $1 deals are great!
• Bundle products together in a package deal
• Sell products for as little as you can and still make a profit (Sale prices)
• Give out FREE samples with your information if you are able
• Have about 20 books on hand or more if you know for sure there will be heavy traffic
• Have your own Yard Sale so you don’t spend money on the space
• If you don’t have somewhere to hold a Yard Sale, like me, then you can find ones in your community. The most I’ve ever spent for a Yard Sale was $25 for a space. Some space fees might be tax deductible as a donation to the organization, so check on that when filing taxes with a professional tax preparer.
• Know the season you are selling in so you can have seasonally appropriate products on hand.
• DO get follow-up information for people if you can. One way to do this is to offer a free raffle and use survey cards that ask for contact information. For Avon Independent Sales Reps, there are cards available in the same place as the Yard Sale sign as of this post date. You can also try asking people that take your information for their information. One way to do this is to say you like to remind customers of your order date and then ask what is the best way to contact them.
• Do not have A LOT of product to sell. I still have products from the first Yard Sale that I bought to sell at that Yard Sale.
• It’s hard to tell you what to have on hand as you never know what customers will be looking for, so it’s best to stick to the inexpensive idea and any inventory you need to get off your hands. Also, you know the popular products of your brand that everyone likes, so you can have some of those on hand for on the spot sales. As an Avon Independent Sales Representative, people at the Yard Sales I’ve been a part of have asked about Moisture Therapy, sunscreen, BugGuard, and Skin So Soft Oil. The sunscreen and BugGuard are for spring/summer sales not really fall. People have also asked about the deodorants and lip balms (these are definitely good to have as they don’t cost too much to stock).
• If you don’t have the money to stock inventory, sell normal Yard Sale items and just have your information on hand to give out like your brochures and business cards and maybe sample packs. If you go this route, have a separate area to promote your business (a good place is next to where you are sitting and where people will pay you for their items).

I will continue to use the Yard Sale idea to get the word out about my direct selling business as it is an easy way to reach a lot of people at one time.