Black Friday, Where Were You at 3 a.m.?
We were in the line at Best Buy in Flagstaff, Arizona. The temperature was 19 degrees!
I have never experienced getting up and going out to shop quite so early to shop. It has never been on my list of things to do! My daughter was going to get a 32 inch flat screen TV and invited me to come. We had two TV's bite the dust this past month because they were very old... so I seized the moment to go and experience the thrill of shopping on Fun Friday!
I thought I would process the mind set of the buyers and see if I could relate it to selling or buying Real Estate. I needed something to stimulate my thinking to create the sense of urgency the Retailers use to have people get up at 2:00 a.m. to be at the store by 3:00 a.m. and wait 2 hours for the store to open at 5:00 a.m.
We made a game plan. Had our hats, gloves, blankets, boots, and chairs all ready to go so we could get up and roll. We were going to recycle the broken TV's to Best Buy so we had them in the car too. The great program they have going to keep us Green is accepting the old TV's for a fee of $10.00 per unit. Then they give you a $10.00 store gift certificate in return. That made me feel good about buying the TV's at a place there where a recycle program was in place.
When we arrived it was total dark with the Best Buy sign shining
and people in the store getting ready to help us. The lines were long and the people in the front of the line had been there since Thursday, Thanksgiving Day at 5:30 p.m. They had sleeping bags to stay warm and a tent to sleep in.
The line was about 97 deep and everyone was waiting to get the special certificates for limited quantity merchandise.
At 4:00 a.m. the store employees came out with a certificate for the specific quantities they had on different items.
This was the POWER of SUGGESTIVE SELLING. The people at the front of the line were given an opportunity to take the certificate and purchase the item before 9:00 a.m. The buyer was guaranteed they could buy the item.
I came to purchase a TV and ended up buying a small notebook computer which retails for $350.00 and I paid $179.00 with my certificate. I also purchased a digital frame which retails at $75.00 for $29.90. I was completely caught up in the selling frenzy. I like the things I purchased but I had no intention of buying those items.
I took the time to talk to the first people in line to see why they had come, what they were buying and why they were willing to sleep overnight to purchase their items. You can hear their answers on the video.
How can we take the lesson of marketing from the retailers to make their sales volume skyrocket into BLACK and use the principle to sell houses or even other products?
- The buyers were there ready to spend their money because they perceived a value.
- The buyers felt this was a one time opportunity and were ready to part with their cash.
- Buyer took certificates to purchase additional items at the suggestion of the sales people.
- The retailer had sales people going through the line taking credit applications to make the credit purchase faster. The buyer was "pre-approved" to purchase their big ticket items.
Thousands of buyers stood in lines to purchase new homes when appreciation was rampant. I was one of those buyers on several occasions. I felt confident the market was going up and the the product was a good value. Let's consider the concept of the real estate cycles. History has shown us there are ups and downs in Real Estate. Look at Rockefeller, most of that financial empire came from Real Estate, it was long term.
If a buyer understands the cycles in real estate and understands where we are on the graph at this point and believes in the product, it makes sense to BUY the right home NOW.
Think about this idea.....A Real Estate company could take several houses as a group and create an event where there would be an opportunity for a buyer to be the first to see an offering that was a great value. A process could be set up to getting buyers on a list along with the process to get several listings of similar price together so the buyers could have a choice. Sellers would be excited to participate in a program that created interest for their home. It's all about the marketing and how things are presented. Both buyers and sellers could benefit from this type of marketing creativity.
Turn the lessons of Black Friday into a principle that applies to anything you are trying to sell. Get buyers willing to camp out in the cold to be the first to buy your product!
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