Buying For Resale (at Any Age)
© Reginald Vickers
I have always had a knack for sales. I discovered this when I was 7. That summer, my older brother Randy ordered seeds to sell. He had his eye on "winning" a new BB gun. When the seeds arrived, Randy spent the first 5 minutes trying to convince Momma to buy them all. When she refused, he gave up. I quickly saw an opportunity. Momma told Randy that he would not be able to go outside and play until he made an attempt to sell them all. I propositioned Randy that I would relieve him of his seed responsibility as long as he paid me $5 and I was able to earn the seed prize for myself. Randy gave me the $5,quickly he told Momma, and he was free. I pocketed the $5 and went about selling. After the first two neighbors rejected my selling technique, I noticed a kid across the street selling candy for cub scouts. He was getting everyone to buy from him. It was at that time I realized that people would give money for a cause quicker than they would buy a product. The next house I went to I told them my story, that I was raising money for vacation. I made a sale. The next house I told them that I needed a new bike because mine was stolen. I sold twice as much. I finished selling all of the seeds at the third house. This was after standing on the porch of Mr. Link and explaining to him how I needed to raise money for a liver transplant. Selling was easy. I liked this way of living.
From that early beginning, I mastered the art of sales. I was always selling something, from Christmas cards to candy to seeds. Even though I did not get a chance to pocket any money from these sales, I was able to win great prizes: bikes, toys, and my favorite, a chemistry set. When I was 12, I began to understand the value of money. I determined that these companies were making a killing off of my sales ability and my ability to weave a good story). It was at that time that I came across a company called Cook Brothers
. Cook Brothers sold good flea market type "interesting items" at cheap prices. They sent me a catalog and my prices in the order form insert were 15%-90% less than the prices in the catalog. I quickly calculated this could be a gold mine. I began my normal sales route one summer. I stopped to see Mrs. Marshall. She always bought things from me. She asked me about my kidney transplant and if I had raised enough money to fly my long lost brother over from Mongolia. I explained to her how I was starting to raise money for college and showed her the Cook Brothers Catalog. She bought $268 worth of knick-knacks for her house. I profited over $100 from my first sale. When I returned to deliver her merchandise, I started to cry at the thought of how much money I had just made. She cried too and ended up buying another "Old man and woman salt and pepper shaker" and a "Noah's Ark wall clock". This was a great racket- I mean business.
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