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Car Boot Sale #3 (Sept 2010)

Had an amazing, inspiring, educational day today.

Went without expectations and even with a little dread. Did I want to sit around for 4 hours - again - trying to look busy and cheerful even when there are few passersby?

As it turned out, I had interesting, deep conversations with the lovely ladies running stalls on either side - Fiona and Karin.

It was unexpected cos I'm an introvert. I don't get my energy from talking with people, especially people I don't know; socialising can be mentally and physically draining. I need to be in a certain mood and head space to want to reach out and make that connection.

Today, I tried to focus on the other person and just flow along with the conversation.

It's what Michael Oliver calls Natural Selling, except I had made a decision not to think about selling or what was in it for me. So I managed to avoid one of those potentially costly faux pas: constantly glancing sideways to see if anyone was stopping by my stall. The result was that I was able to give the other person my fullest concentration and respect and acknowledge what they said instead of making presumptious comments.

The outcome? A meaningful connection, a sharing of life stories, and the seeds of future friendship were sowed. One lady ordered two items off me, my Sale Of The Day. The other gave me plenty of useful advice about selling, based on her retail experience. She told me I am friendly and have a nice smile, and that a business is often built from word-of-mouth referrals.

I was blessed also to have my 3 yo come along for company. She is a social magnet, with the kind of personality that has strangers saying how cute/gorgeous/adorable she is. She certainly kept herself busy. I had brought along a preschool activity book that she worked through for a while. We had muffins and shared a sausage. Then her friends the Sawyer boys came by, and she was off to play, get carried around and learn Snap.

I am particularly grateful for the unsought blessings: the gentleman who wandered by with his 6 mo baby girl quietly sitting in her pram, who shared about his digestive problems and intolerance to wheat. I was able to give him info about Fast-Tract and In-Liven. Turns out he teaches at Beth's school. The world has just grown smaller - again.

Our home group member Jenny, a fantastic cook and very organized, efficient lady, brought a friend by to see my stuff. She did all the sales talk for me, emphasizing how little she has to use because one pump is all she needs, and how she loves the pump bottle that the foundation come in because it clearly shows how much product is left in the bottle; as the bottle gets used up the marker rises. That's something I had never thought about and can now use for my next marketing exercise. Must thank her for the kindness and favour.

All in, my third Car Boot Sale has been a SUCCESS in every way.

How NOT to run a market stall

Had my second crack at running a market stall today.

While I had mentally psyched myself to detach from the outcome and to just make this an exercise in gaining exposure and developing conversation skills, it still felt GALLING to sit there for hours with people just swishing by with barely a glance at my table.

Some bypassed it altogether.

Perhaps the worst was having people actually STOPPING to look at my products - while I was across the room having a chat with another stallholder, and unable to get away for fear of being rude!

Cost of hiring stall: $20
Time spent packing, setting up and unpacking: 1 hour (assume $40)
Time spent at market: 4 hours ($40 x 4 = $160)
Revenue: $xx
Nett revenue after subtracting cost of my time: $ -xxx :(
Gain from embracing fear, trying something outside my comfort zone and chatting with strangers and friends: PRICELESS

How To Succeed In Biz As An Introvert

I've written on this subject before, but today, I learned another valuable lesson.

Every introvert who wants to succeed in marketing herself and her biz needs an extrovert on her side.

Mine's Steph Davy of Learning Ladder. We've known each other for about 6 months now, mostly with me buying books off her for my kids and as birthday gifts. Recently, she became a Miessence customer and I was so thrilled, especially as she loved the products enough to say so on FB.

Disillusioned by my meagre 'like' numbers on FB, I put out a general call for help yesterday and today added 11 new likers, most sent by Steph. I think her friends alone accounted for 8 of those likes.

Such is the power of leverage.

Will have to do more work to find out how to apply this latest revelation.

Things I Need To Think About, Even Though I Would Rather Not

Had an interesting chat over Skype with an uncle today.

Lots to think about:

• Pros and cons of converting PPOR to IP
• Setting up family trust
• Gary Chapman's The 5 Love Languages (what are mine? what are my mum's? what are my children's?)
• What is my natural preference in relation to wealth dynamics - am I an ideas person? A connector/deal maker? A trader? A systems person?
• As an introvert, what am I marketing: myself? the products? What is important to me: building relationships and gaining trust, or selling to anyone who will buy?
  

Opening My Golden Mouth

When I was growing up, my mum used to call me Golden Mouth. She said I had trouble opening my mouth (to speak up, to respond to requests I didn't like), so it must be made of gold, so precious. LOL

And she was right. Even though I am going on 40, have had 2 children, am happily married, enjoyed a prestigious, financially rewarding job in law for 11 years etc etc, I still have trouble opening my mouth to ask for things, to express an opinion, to engage in a discussion.

I battle constantly with a feeling of unworthiness. Of not being smart enough or knowledgeable enough. Of not knowing the right words to say. Of looking foolish. So I prefer to smile and hover in the background.

Which is all very well if you are contented to spend the rest of your life under everyone's radar, never fully being yourself and never daring to dream big.

But here in AUS, it's everyone for himself. If you don't ask, you don't get.

Today, I finally learned to embrace the risk and ask for something I wanted.

But first, some context.

There is this lovely lady (LL) I met at a market who sells books and educational resources through a network marketing plan. I've bought a fair amount of stuff (all of excellent quality) off her for my children and constantly marvel at her exuberance, marketing flair and confidence. She always knows exactly what to say to people to bring out their best, and she's such a natural at selling. She's constantly on the go, organizing and attending parties and fundraisers and market stalls.

No wonder she made sales leader in less than a year of joining the company...

Unlike me. I work with one of the best in the market for certified organics and I believe in my products. It's telling people about them that's hard.

What do I say in my marketing emails?
Who can I email without being accused of spamming or compromising a friendship?
What do I say on FB beyond shout-outs, industry updates and the latest promotion?
How do I follow up when someone shows a glimmer of interest?
How do I respond when someone talks about their personal or health problems?

So back to LL.

Today, she messaged to say she's got my thesaurus and she's coming by to deliver it.

And I thought: so far our relationship has been pretty one-sided. It's all about me buying her products. I've never even once had a chat with her about her health needs or how my products might be able to help her.

So I decided: I'm going to ASK.

I didn't even know what I was going to say. I rehearsed various possibilities and configurations in my head, and eventually settled on "Would you like to get together for a chat one of these days about your skin care needs - I know you like aromatherapy - or would you prefer me to give you a catalog and you can browse through it in your own time?"

In faith, I went to the car and got out my ONE AND ONLY catalog, which I'd been meaning to give to a friend who'd mentioned her skin breakouts. I also inserted the pricing list that I'd JUST printed off to give to another friend who had asked for it.

Soon enough, LL was at my doorstep. At the first natural pause after I'd handed over the money, I said pretty much what I'd scripted in my head.

And you know what she said?

"Sure! In fact, I was going to ask about your Healthy Hair Pack because my husband has psoriasis on his scalp. And I have a friend who's running a fundraiser at Mossfiel Kindergarten in Sep and is looking for stalls. Do you think you might have enough product to do a display? It's just $10 to book a stall."

Which of course made it easy for me to hand her the catalog and pricing list and remind her that the Healthy Hair Pack will be at the discounted price I'd emailed her previously.

So just by opening my Golden Mouth, I've got the possibility of new business flowing into my life.

How great is that?

Thank you God for the courage to speak, and wisdom to speak at the right time using the right words.

Thank you for showing me that when I ask, I will receive, just as you promised in Matthew 7:7-8.

Building A Site With Professional Help

I have swallowed my pride and asked for help with my second web site.

The first site is tortoise-ing along and I will continue experimenting with it. For now, it's a real-life example of how NOT to build a site.

The second is meant to funnel traffic to my organics site.

Products first, business building later. I know the money is in recruitment but at this point, I just can't bring myself to invite anyone to join my team. I just want to get as much product out there as possible to all the people who are looking for natural health solutions and natural alternatives to OTC drugs.

The easy part is paying for the coaching service.

Now comes the hard part: working with my coach to decide which KWs are best, what my Most Wanted Response is (traffic and product sales), writing KW-rich articles that she can use.

By Christmas 2010, I should know if I'm on track to achieve an independent stream of income from ONE Group.

The 15-second Commercial

Have been listening to Michael Oliver's MiSales audio CDs in the car.

Today, I did my first 15-second commercial at the gym.

Chatting with a newbie to the Body Vive class, I was asked what I do for a living.

I did almost word-for-word as suggested by MO. That is, put my business front and center by positioning it in terms of how what I do benefits people.

"You know how lots of popular brands of skincare and cosmetics contain harmful chemicals that get absorbed into our skin? I help people by distributing skincare and cosmetics that are certified organic and contain no harmful chemicals. Completely natural."

"Really? What is the brand called?"

That opened the way for me to say "Miessence".

"I think I've heard of the name before," said my conversation partner.

She then shared that she uses Paula's Choice, which I've read about before.

We didn't get to chat much after that as the class started, but I've learned enough that I know how to take up the conversation when we next meet.

This isn't too hard. I think I can do this Natural Selling type of conversation every day. :-)