Classy Business

Making money with stocks is different from making money on tangible items. Here is an example.

If I pay full retail for a Saxon math book, then try to resell it for full retail, I will make 0% profit.

If I pay wholesale for a Saxon math book and sell it for retail, I will make a 20% profit.

If I find a warehouse full of new Saxon math books that are seconds and can get them for less than half price, I can sell them for close to retail if they are in perfect condition and make 100% profit.

But if I find a brand new Saxon math book at a home school family’s yard sale who is going back to public school and they are only asking $1, I make an incredible profit I can’t even calculate. Can you?

See the difference?

If you can buy cheap, you can make a better profit. So you have to learn how and where to buy at less than wholesale, like at yard sale prices.

Once you and your children learn this lesson with books, then you can apply it to jewelry, and figurines, and cars, then houses. It’s one concept of marketing that can be applied to anything. And it’s easier to
learn with a $1.00 book than with a $95,000 house. But think of the profit margin on the house!

Also, another concept here is this: always know your exit strategy. Don’t buy something unless you know what you are going to do with it. Don’t buy a book no one wants or needs. Don’t buy a book that has no value just because you can get it for a dollar. A deal is not a deal unless someone needs it.

Notice all the textbooks piled to the ceiling at library sales? You can get them cheap. But what will you do with them once you get them home? You won’t sell them on eBay. NOBODY wants them. That’s why the library got stuck with them. So don’t think you are getting a steal. Know your market.

And DON’T EVER BUY A LIBRARY SALE that has ended. I made that stupid mistake TWICE!! I have TWO, not one but TWO library sales in my basement, taking up space and collecting dust. I thought I would do my librarian friend a favor and take them to sell on eBay and make a donation to the library. Well, I haven’t had the time to post them and what I did didn’t do well. But most of all, most of the junk isn’t worth selling. What is left AFTER a library sale is all the stuff nobody wanted – no children’s stuff,
romance, condensed Reader’s Digests, adult fiction, Harlequins which I wouldn’t sell, and textbooks. So the chance of there being anything of value there is slim.

Here’s the key: find what your market is looking for, then meet the demand. It’s easier to meet a demand with a supply than it is to offer a supply of something wonderful that you love when no one wants it.

Think about that. Think of what you know and what your friends want that you can find to put on eBay for sale. You won’t have to feel guilty about asking for a certain price; you can set the opening bid at .25 and the market will adjust it accordingly. Your auction should close higher than that.

I usually start every book at $5.00 unless it is in real bad condition. And then if you describe everything that is wrong with it, you may still get someone to pay you more for it if it is something they really want.

Always put a counter on the bottom of every auction so you can see how many visitors you had. You’ll be surprised.

eBay has 1.5 billion hits a day. Every day. It is a HUGE market.

So many books, so little time…

It’s always frustrating when a client leaves. Most likely, a lot of time and energy was spent prospecting and then serving that individual or business. And now, you’re left with nothing. The main reason why people stop doing business with others has been identified.

Studies show that 68% of customers leave because they feel they are being treated indifferently, not because of a “bad” experience, poor quality products, or better pricing somewhere else. That’s why it’s so important to be sure your clients feel valued and appreciated.

Actually, and to be accurate, it’s only one of many reasons why you should always be gauging your performance when it comes to generating customer loyalty. For example: Studies have shown that loyal customers spend more money than new ones. Keeping people happy should keep them coming back. One auto service firm made three times as much profit from fourth-year customers as they made from first year customers in the year they were surveyed.

In order to achieve overall growth, you must retain your existing customers. And, as noted above, the best way to do this is to add value continuously and, thereby, ensure clients never feel they are being treated indifferently.

An average company, losing 15-20% of their customers annually, would double its growth rate simply by cutting defections in half. So, why is it then that so few businesses call customers who stop dealing with them to ask why? Your customers may not always be loyal, but they’ll have their reasons. Identify them and use this information to improve your business by adding value for the both the joy and profit of it.