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Auction Strategists Newsletter
Brought to you by Jenni Hunt
www.jennihunt.com
In this newsletter:
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1. Rethinking Strategies That Have Been Around For Years
3. Heads Up:
– Summer Toy Guide
– Interested in Coaching?
4. How to subscribe or Change your subscription status
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Please feel free to pass this newsletter on to a friend!
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Rethinking Strategies That Have Been Around For Years
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Last night I received an email… honestly, I didn’t read the whole thing – in fact, I didn’t get past the first sentence or two… Not because the topic didn’t catch my attention, quite the opposite actually.
The topic was about UPSELLING. And, although it was referring to marketing online… my mind immediately went to a waitressing job I had college. I use to be a waitress at a restaurant that offered incredible customer service training. One of the courses we were required to take was about upselling. (If you think this has nothing to do with eBay… think again 😉 Keep reading…)
Here is what upselling looks like in the restaurant business…
“Would you like fries with that?”
“How about some ice cream on your warmed slice of pie?”
Or
“Sure, I could get you coffee with that… but, a café mocha is a perfect complement. Would you like to try one?”
“Would you like another drink?”
“How about cheese on your hamburger?”
“Was that a large orange juice?”
… all asked while shaking your head ‘yes’ 😉
By the time my customer’s added cheese to their burger, ordered a large drink, added ice cream to their desert and upgraded to a café mocha – the bill went up $5 easy… and that translated to higher tips for me.
I’m sure we have all fell victim to upselling in restaurants… I mean, we are there to eat, right? In fact, that was what we were taught in the traininig course.
“The customer is there to eat… it is your job to let them know their options – all the while assuming they are there to buy. If they weren’t there to buy, they wouldn’t have come in the first place.”
The same applies to your eBay business.
The visitors are looking for something to buy… they have stopped by your listing because there is something in it that interests them. You can assume that they are considering bidding on your listing – so why not let them know all that you are offering?
Here is how upselling can look in an eBay auction…
“Check out this sweater that is a perfect match to this dress.”
“Just listed a bunch of vintage toys like this one… click here to see what else you might be interested in.”
“Free Shipping if you win more than one auction – take a look at my other listings here”
The best way to upsell, however, is in your follow up with your customers. You have to keep a customer list to apply this though… Once you have shipped the item, email your customer to let them know. Follow up one more time a week or so later to make sure they received the item. Although you are sending this email to follow up… use this opportunity to upsell!… Here are some ideas…
– You could mention a specific item that you have listed that they might be interested in. Let them know that you’ll discount their shipping if they win another auction from you.
– If you have a newsletter or mailing list – invite them to join. You should be mailing your list with the purpose of gaining future sales (upselling).
– Send a no strings attached discount for any item they win that you have listed
– Point them to your website where you have items/information/services for sale (and aren’t paying eBay fees on)
Get creative – just remember… the people visiting your auctions are looking to buy. Your customers… are interested in what you are providing (or they wouldn’t have bid in the first place)… Give them every opportunity to (or continue to) buy from you. They will appreciate it.
Enjoy!
Jenni Hunt
http://www.jennihunt.com
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3. Heads Up
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***HEADS**UP***
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Summer Toy Guide
The Summer Toy Guide is now available. If you missed out on the presale that was offered to my readers – you can still get a great deal… Right now the price is only $27 – but, it goes up on Wednesday!
Check it out here: www.mytoyguide.com/summer
This year it has a special downloadable report that is included. Honestly, I planned on this report only being about 20-30 pages… It is about selling used toys on eBay… and as I was working on it… it just kept getting longer and longer. I’d cover a topic and then realize that I wanted to cover something else too… so, it ended up being twice as long as planned (over 50 pages!). By itself, the report is worth $29 easy. But, with the Summer Toy Guide package you also get 3 months of the weekly My Toy Guide report.
If you have any questions… let me know.
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***HEADS**UP***
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Interested in Coaching?
I’ve had a number of people ask me in recent months if I offered a coaching program. I have some ideas on the back burner… and am looking into offering a coaching program that is more like a step-by-step program that walks you through moving from just listing on eBay. If you aren’t careful, listing auctions can really suck up your time and burn you out… one way to deal with that is to change your business model a bit and learn how to bring in additional AUTOMATED revenue streams.
If this is something you are interested in, please let me know. Now that the Summer Toy Guide is launched, I’m looking at what to focus my time and efforts on – if there is enough interest in this type of program, I’ll get working on it right away 😉
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Copyright 2008 Jenni Hunt, www.jennihunt.com