Selling Tips and Tricks
Hello everyone. My name is Scott Winn and I have been selling chemical glow products for over eight years. I have had many successful sales nights with gross sales reaching as high as $5000.00 in only one night of work (of course, I had multiple people selling with me on those nights). I have also had some nights where sales were not so good. As you can imagine, after selling glow products for this long and attending almost every kind of event possible, it was quite easy to create a list of tips and tricks for selling glow products. I have agreed to share these tips and tricks with Glow Granny customers as a favor. I hope you Enjoy! – Scott
Picking an Event to sell at:
• Preferably, choose an event held after dark.
• It should be a festive event with large numbers of people attending.
• An ideal event would attract families and plenty of kids.
• If no kids are attending the event, choose an event where people are out to have a fun time.
• Events where people are in costumes or out of there usual element are perfect events to sell at.
• If the event is serving alcohol, try and get your sales accomplished early before people consume too much and become rude.
Do some homework on the event:
• How many people will attend the event?
• Will there be families and kids present?
• Will there be enough after dark time to sell product?
• What time will the sun set?
• What time will the event end?
Can I sell at an event?
• Make sure that it is alright for you to sell at the event. Call the local chamber of commerce. Don’t be scared to sell your glow products. In most cities and towns, you can sell the glow products without a permit or business license. Remember, the glow products are fun, positive, and help keep people safe at night. Sometimes there is no way of knowing if you will be allowed to sell at an event until you simply start selling.
• Don’t be concerned about the police. Usually the police are busy trying to stop underage drinking, crime, fights, etc to be bothered about someone making some extra money selling glow products.
• If you are selling at an event where vendors pay for space to sell merchandise make sure that you sell away from their sales area. The vendors that pay for space and store owners who pay shop overhead are the main people you want to avoid while selling at public events.
Getting a team together:
• If the event you are attending is very large, you will want to get some help selling.
• If you wish to share the profits, you can hire friends to help.
• If you wish to maximize profits, get some high school kids to help with sales and pay them hourly.
• If the crowds are large and rowdy, sell in teams of two. Have one person handle the product and the other handle the money.
• Keep track of the amount of product that your sales team takes. This will allow you to know approximately how much money they should have collected if they have sold everything.
Where to set up and sell?
• Arrive at the event about _ hour prior to sunset to observe the crowd and get ready.
• Set up in the middle of the event or in an area that is highly visible such as near the restrooms. A central area is an ideal place to set up and sell, if you have official permission to sell at an event. You can set up a table that makes it easy to quickly manage the transactions. To get noticed if the crowd is large, it is helpful to have someone standing up waiving the glowing product in the air.
• Another way to sell is to walk the event. This is a great way to reach every potential sale but it takes lots of energy and effort and can become tiring if the event is over a couple of hours long.
• My favorite way to sell is to set up at the entry and exit points of an event. This way, everyone sees the product on their way to and from the event, and they know where to easily find you. This is the best place to sell if you think that you might not be allowed to sell inside the event or near the vendors who have paid for space.
Get your pricing and sales pitch down and stay consistent:
• Make sure that everyone knows the pricing.
• Keep it simple. Use prices that make it easy to give change.
• I have been very successful with one necklace for $3.00 and two necklaces for $5.00.
• Lots of times you sell to groups of people. Many people carry $20.00 bills, so I usually have a couple of family specials where I will give them say 12 necklaces for $20.00
• If competition arises, match their price. Try not to undercut the competition’s price, as this can lead to low margins.
• I personally do not barter with people when they try and haggle on the price. This leads to everyone wanting a deal and becomes annoying quickly.
Displaying and carrying the product:
• The general public is used to seeing vendors waiving activated glow necklaces above the head. I usually activate about 25 necklaces at a time and waive them over my head.
• Everyone is used to buying the necklaces for events. I usually will hold and promote the necklaces and then up-sell people on other glow products (i.e. sticks or bracelets) when they come over to make their purchase.
• I usually keep all of the product on me and carry it in a duffle bag that has a shoulder strap. I have also used a child stroller to carry product when the event is long and there is lots of walking involved.
What to Wear:
• I usually wear dark clothes. This helps highlight the product.
• Make sure that you dress appropriately for the weather.
• Carry a fanny pack or other pouch to just hold money (this should be worn on your front side).
• Comfortable shoes are a must.
What to expect:
• Expect children to do the majority of the parental selling for you. Watch in amazement as the little ones find out the product price and then go and give fantastic sales pitches to their parents. Expect to see this regularly.
• Expect some people to complain about price, but then still make a purchase. This is normal.
• Drunk people and people on drugs are not the brightest! Expect people that have been drinking too much to be rude and not be able to figure out what they want to purchase. For some reason these people are drawn to the glow products, so be prepared. I try and avoid drunks and people who are drugged out. They are usually easy to spot.
Money and change:
• I usually will send people out with $100 in change. The breakdown I usually use is 50 – One dollar bills, 6 - Five Dollar Bills, 2 - Ten Dollar Bills
• Keep your money in a safe place. I have known some people who have sold all night and then lost their money pouch.
• Make sure that you know exactly how much product employees have to sell. This makes it harder for the employees to steal.
• Hire people you trust.
• I like to create competition and I usually give a large bonus to the employee who sells the most product.
• After the event, I do an inventory, pay the employees, and figure out the profit that night. This makes it easier to remember everything that happened during the event.
