4:30 a.m. Thinking, September 5th, 2010
A few lessons learned from my day yesterday . . . .
My wife and I were headed to our collectibles and Fiestaware store, for a busy Saturday of sales. Given that the massive antique show was going on, I had decided to set up on the street outside and see what extra stuff we could get sold. I ignored the weatherman’s dire predictions of awful weather; I mean, really, who believes what they say anymore?
Lesson #1 – if the ?experts? say the weather’s going to be awful, and the sky verifies it, perhaps you should heed the warnings that are slapping you in the face. How often does your ego / pride / male-ness cause you to not listen to those who know more?
Lesson #2 – when someone is waving a flag in your face, telling you to take a certain action, perhaps there’s a reason to pay attention, so pay attention. So, we’re driving to the store and see these 2 young girls jumping around, pointing to a sign for a garage sale. I was going too fast to stop, and as we sped by, I saw this look of total disappointment on the youngest one’s face, so I slowed down, turned around and went back.
It turned out that we got an amazing deal on a family of Teletubbies, all 4 for $5, which I gave to my wife who gave them to her mother. A great deal that we almost flew by. How often do you not follow your instincts, and what are you missing out on?
Lesson #3 – people need to be told what to do. As I was selling my wares, I would tell people to ignore the price tags and make me an offer; few did. I then started telling people to offer me what the item was worth to them; few did. I then started looking at the price tag in front of the people and taking 1/3 off; people bought. How many sales have you lost by not telling people what to do?