The Art of Running a Sale

By Rick Siegel

Wouldn't it be great if we never had to run a sale!

Unfortunately, that's like living in a Fantasy Land. Wouldn't it be great if we sold all of the merchandise we bought at regular price? Forget it! It will never happen. Sometimes we buy too much, sometimes we don't sell enough, sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate, while other times we need to sell off goods to make room for new goods. Or sometimes, we just need to turn the merchandise into cash to pay the bills.

The sad part about it is that no one ever teaches us how to run a sale effectively. They just don't teach Sale Making 101 in college. It is because of that reason that there are so many sale promotion companies that are more than happy to take the best part of our sale revenues to fatten their own bank accounts.

Running a sale is truly an art form and a study in psychological manipulation. The proof of that statement is the fact that during the first 3 to 4 weeks of any Going Out of Business Sale the markdowns average between 20% and 25%. The truth of the matter is that running any successful sale is merely doing a whole series of little things. Yes, there are steps you can skip, but every time you miss a step, it takes away from the overall performance of the sale. Although this article does not allow room to explain all the steps in detail, let me highlight the most important.

1. The Theme—Never run a nameless sale; give it an identity. Create an entity. The best themes come from your need and the season. Remember—the more desperate the name, the more powerful the sale. The 10% Preseason Sale brings the weakest results to the ultimate sale of all sales, the Going Out of Business Sale. These are some of my favorite names that won't hurt your business after the sale is over:

   Oop's! They Goofed Sale

   Private Back Room Sale

   The Great ______________ Sale

   The Sale of Sales

2. Select Dates: Yes, a starting date, but more important, an ending date.
3. Select the vehicles to tell the world. Direct mail is still the best source of advertising and the best vehicle is a simple 5-paragraph letter with key phrases underlined. The most important part of the letter is the "PS". Everyone reads that first. There are two other important vehicles not to be overlooked. Strong window and interior signage and a telemarketing campaign. Before you groan too much, call people when they aren't home. Leave a message on their answering machine. Make sure the message is less than 15 seconds. It's better than a radio ad because you know they are listening.
4. Tell your employees. One of the biggest complaints from employees in general is not knowing what is going to happen. The first sale is to your employees.
5. Set Goals: What do you expect from the sale? Write it down before the sale so that you aren't disappointed later.
6. Have customers register or sign up during the sale. Offer a $50 gift certificate drawing if you feel you have to, but sign them up. This forms a mail list of sale customers to be used during a long sale and for future sales.
7. Individually ticket all the merchandise, preferably with separate sale tags. It makes a difference.
8. Make the store look different. This is not a normal time at the store. Balloons work great and they are cheap!
9. Neatness doesn't count. For some reason, if it doesn't look like a sale, it's not a sale. A store must look lived in and busy. The look is planned confusion.
10. Create a Recap Sheet or Final Analysis. Evaluate your goals including such things as: writing down what merchandise sold; how the floor set up worked; how the advertising pulled; what employees were the best to use at the sale. Evaluate your theme and anything else you can think of that you can use in the future. Keep them in a permanent file.

There are many more things that can be done, but this is at least a start to get you on the road to successful sale-ing.

Rick Segel, www.ricksegel.com/r4r.html, rick@ricksegel.com.

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