ReDo Yard Sale Recap: Sale Daze 2.0 – WHOA!

7 Intense Days of Preparation
6 Hours of Streaming Customers
5 Handy Helpers on Deck
4 Client’s Inventory
3 Bank Trips for More Change
2 Insane to Believe for
1 Bloody HOT day!

The 2nd Annual ReDo Yard Sale took place this last Saturday, and I gotta tell ya, it was a HUGE success! Last year was an amazing experience, co-hosting a yard sale with other people, but this years event was 100% all about ReDo: client’s of and hosted by! What a crazy time it was! This weeks blog is really a download of what happened, and, following my own plan for hosting just such an event, how it all came together to be the success it was. I hope that from this you learn a thing or two from my experience and host your own successful event this summer sale season!

First and foremost, what was needed was a plan. If you recall, I am a BIG believer in making a plan for all projects, and this one was such a huge event that a plan was necessary. My plan involved dates and deadlines for phases of the preparation, times and places for things to be done and completed by and delivered to, and lists of supplies and items needed to make it a successful and professional event. As I made my plan, I left room to add to or finagle any aspect of the preparation. Well, apparently, I needed to leave more room – a LOT more! When there are so many factors involved: inventory, supplies, people to rely on, deadlines to meet and dates for completion, you really need to have wiggle room to maneuver around. My advice is to make your plan, stick to it as best you can, but DON’T stress if you can’t. Make it fun, “organic”, and be prepared to let those firm and hard items go a little soft if it helps you get to the end result.

As this was only my second time pulling this event off, I really wanted to go all out and make it a professional representation of my business, more so than last years event. I invested in some pretty awesome marketing tools: re-usable yard signs made in the ReDo Trade Dress style, a vinyl banner to hang at the sale entrance (all for about $425), social media advertising, and a little help from Craig’s List. It was pretty hectic just keeping up on the advertising and timing of the notices, but my marketing team (thank you Ken and Julia) drilled into me the importance of social media advertising on Facebook and Twitter. I definitely appreciate their guidance and support, and education, when it comes to this stuff!

In my previous blog, ‘Sale Daze: Turn Your Trash into Cash‘, I said that a yard sale is the perfect way to make money for that next home project without any (or little) out of pocket expense. I want to amend the “without any” part. Yes, it will cost you a nominal amount of money to get the supplies to make the signs or buy pre-made signage, to purchase things you may not have already (such as extension cords for testing electronics, folding tables to put all the little items on, or stickers for pricing all the goodies for sale). Essentially, the cost is small, but it’s still a cost, and you should be prepared for it. Also, be prepared with boxes and bags to pack up the leftover items quickly; this was very helpful to us as we were able to break the sale down after it ended in short order (and just before a horrendous thunderstorm) by having lots of boxes and bags on hand to put everything in for when the charity truck came by to pick up what was left.

When I spoke of inventory, I didn’t realize just how crazy it can be to manage the never ending flow of stuff you keep finding to sell! As the week wore on and deadlines loomed, I set a hard goal of having everything ready by Thursday. This would give me Friday to clean and polish the inventory, plan for the use of sale space, get everything and everyone in a ready condition, and finalize all the last minute details without being haunted by little afterthoughts. Well, I can certainly tell you that that hard goal was definitely soft! I’d spent so much time the week before going though my own home, finding the items I wanted to sell and get rid of that when the hard date came and went for having the inventory ready, there was still more I was finding!

My pricing of items was good – with an un-written high and low end sale price for the big ticket items. I had individual 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper inside clear plastic sleeves with the item name and description, followed by the high end price. So when the sale started I had all the big ticket items at the high end of the price range previously set, but as the sale went on, and something didn’t sell, I dropped the prices and marked them in fat red felt pens on the signs. This helped to sell more as the day went on. Further, if those big ticket items weren’t moving after a few hours and having already been marked down, I’d take another color pen and mark it down again. This tactic helped me get rid of over 80% of the inventory I had on hand! I also had haggle price points predetermined for multiple items, so this saved time on having to bargain with shoppers, and made more money for my clients in the end. The timing for the event was great as well – the day was hot and the weather held up during the entire sale! Funnily enough, the sale ended at 3PM and we were cleaned up and cleared out within half an hour. At 4PM the rain came and deluged the city – we lucked out!

Finally, I wanted to expound upon the following statement I made in that same blog when I said “It also helps to have friends lend a hand with the promise of lunch or some other returnable favor. If your sale is well staffed, you’ll spend less time running around and more time hosting and managing the sale”. I cannot impress upon you enough the value of those who agree to help you with your event. I realized that I couldn’t not have done this alone; without the support from my friends and those nearest and dearest to me, I’d be in a fetal position right now sicking my thumb. These volunteers are the lifeblood of the sale; they’re the ones that listen to you and do what you say, ask for your advise and counsel when they need it, provide you with outstanding representation and service all in the name of your business reputation, and despite emotional flare ups, hunger, lack of water, fussy customers, or whatever variable is thrown into the mix, they have your back. I want to thank Shahrdad, Richard, Mike, Jen, Effie, Katy and Emily for their love, support, encouragement, and forgiveness (for the times this mother hen was running around like a chicken with its head cut off). Without them, I would not have had such a successful event. When you host your own sale, and you ask your friends and family for help, be prepared to give them whatever they need to show your appreciation – it goes a long way and in the end, makes for better Sale Daze!