Karen Nardella of Conway, N.H. writes:
“I am a sole proprietor who owns the Emporium Consignment Outlet and Home Staging Center, a consignment shop for high-end furniture in Conway, N.H.
“I sell gently-used, high-quality, brand-name furniture such as Ethan Allan, and I pay the owner 55 percent of the sale. All the furniture is no more than 10 years old.
“With the sagging economy, what’s the best way on a very tight budget to spread the word about what I’m doing? I need to attract the attention of people who have furniture to sell as well as people who can’t afford new furniture. What tips can your Hounds share with me either through traditional marketing channels or by generating publicity?”
Hello Karen,
As Conway is a very small town, there are obvious limitations regarding your customer base, however, there is no reason that every person in your town should not know of your services.
Certainly, well designed flyers can be placed at every public location. Try doing some cross promotions with a business which compliments yours—-like a bookstore. How about your library? Are they willing to give out some of your business flyers? Pay a commission to those businesses who send you customers. Get interviewed by your local radio station.
Before becoming disabled, I was a business development consultant—good luck to you.
Hi John. Yes Conway is a small town. I do partner with everyone who will. My shop is visited from people around the country, which is a plus. Many have added the shop to the destination stop, this says something. I agree with you also regarding a brochure piece. I have gone far to long without such a helpful piece. I have help and it is in a final stage of design. It is my new logo that causes delays. I agree it will be a very helpful and useful piece that will make a difference too.
Thank you for taking the time to make these helpful suggestions.
With your location I would look for local coverage in the tourist media. There is a high traffic count from the Boston and North Shore markets that are looking for a quality and price that beats their neighborhood locals. Often the sales cycle can be longer as most folks don’t go on vacation [winter skiing or summer in the mountains] thinking about making that special purchase. Here should also be a market in the high end rental units in the area.
Good morning Howard. Thank you for your suggestions. I will look at these suggestions and try to incorporate them into my advertising.
I appreciate your input.
What about a massive upper scale Garage sale (car boot sale or whatever you call them).
Maybe get the local newspaper to do it. Let them think its their idea too, that helps.
They could hire a hall or other area, sell stalls (yours is free) and advertising is theirs. They could give you some commission too! Naturally you would need a big space but you can continue to offer product after the event.
Also write an article for newspaper first and offer it to them on this very concept.
Lots of fun here.
Alan
Karen,
You need to partner with local interior designers, home stagers and realtors. The economy is affecting everyone. Designers are great sources of furniture. We all have clients who have furniture to sell. As an interior designer, if I can find a great deal on furniture for a client, everyone wins. We all know how bad the housing market is. Empty houses sell at a much slower rate than furnished homes. How about offering to rent furniture to fill empty houses on the market? Invite designers to do room settings in your store. Offer to loan furniture to designers who do charity show houses. Partner with builders who need to furnish speck homes.
Good morning Merri
How ironic you say this. When Joan placed this article, we decided to omit this as not to confuse the question above. I am a certified stagger and re-designer. By choice I do not act in either of these fields, I am qualified, but choose to be a resource and referal for this growth market of professionals. I host the few pioneers practicing here in NH once each month, giving them the floor for free to share a bit about themselves and promote their business. I keep it intimate, between 20-30 guests and serve light food and wine. The series is called “Learning to Relove and Romance Our Homes,” it proved to be a success right out of the gate. I am a big advocate of these services. I hosted the first in this series back on March 19th. The evening resulted in five new people that have begun their training and certification programs and I have referred 4 clients out to the four professionals in the area. I am about to make public my lease program for the trades as it regards to unoccupied houses. This is a very exciting part of my dream. Now all this sounds like it should be a great thing, but it has some confusion and a bit of sadness to it. The shop is the only one of its kind in the state. I was the first in offering any of these services. The public is learning and loving it more each day. The few pioneers here are equally delighted. Getting other businesses involved and the exsisting area designers to visit and learn more has been a challenge to say it simply. I belong to a national social network and seem to be a bit shunned there as well. I mention these topics as I keep trying to dispel any notion I am a competitor, but rather am an advocate that works hard to help these segments grow and flourish here in NH.
I am glad you made your suggestions, and I hope I explained more of what I do without too much confusion.
I thank you so much for taking the time to comment, you did not have to and the fact that you did is appreciated by me.
Thank you.
Some of the best customers are previous customers….Do you have a customer list from previous sales? If not, go back through your previous sales receipts and make a customer list. Create a letter and mail it to each previous customer offering a 10% discount on anything purchased between [date] and [date] (make this a wide window of time). Include 2 business cards. One for them, one to pass along to a friend who might be in need of your products….You want to reach customers outside of your area. I know many people who travel to NC for furniture and accessories, and it seems by what you’re saying that “just locals” is not enough for your business to survive on……Also, do you have a sign in book for every person to sign that comes through your door? Get EMAIL addresses so you can send them information and photographs on products just in (maybe create a monthly enewsletter). They may not purchase “today” but “tomorrow” you may have just the piece they’re looking for. This way you’ll stay top of the mind (without spending a cent!).
First thing, Get a website. Also, claim your local listing on Google: http://google.com/local/add I did some google searches for furniture in your area and could not find you.
I’m not sure what your tight budget is, but here are some ideas.
– Start a blog. Write a post titled: “Stage Your Home and Sell it in Half the Time”
– Get some over-sized postcards printed and mail them in your area. On the postcard print “Staging Your Home: 5 tips to get more money and sell it faster.” You may be surprised at how cheap you can print and mail postcards
– Get noticed by the press. Watch the news, and when you see a heart-wrenching story about a family in need, or one that lost everything, donate some furniture and tell the press. Yes, it will cost you your share of the sales price, but it may be worth it.
Always remember: If you want to attract attention, you have to do something worth noticing.
Best wishes for your business.
Karen,
1.) Google AdWords – cheap and easy to target a specific area
2.) Do you have a website? If not you need to get one. You can set up a blog to be a pseudo-website. Post pictures of your inventory etc.
3.) Contact Realtors in the area and see if they are willing to pass out a flyer to their clients. Or if they are looking to stage a home or apartment you can sell them or rent them the furniture.
4.) Buying furniture should be an easy sell, since people are looking for ways to make money due to a job loss or pay cut. Use that ploy to get furniture.
Just some tips. Let me know if you want to discuss.
Hi Karen,
I’d recommend listing ads on free websites like craigslist.org, kijiji.com, or Listasaurus.com (a site I run). You can put both items wanted and list items you have currently for sale. Many people are looking to either sell their items to make some extra cash, or buy things much more cheaply these days, and it won’t cost you anything to promote this way.
Also on Listasaurus.com, you can include video, which may be a big help to show the detail on your furniture items and get more people interested.
Also you might consider setting up a Facebook page, or using one you already have, if you have it.
I hope these ideas help!
Best regards,
Melanie Heywood