Want to know about a strange and bizarre (yet highly effective) way to tack on another 5, 10, 15% or more to the response of your marketing promotions?
Then listen to this:
One of the best “marketing” stories I ever heard was the furniture dealer who had a “scratch and dent” sale where he was selling furniture that had been damaged by water at a huge discount.
Turns out he made so much money with this sale that he ended up poking holes in the warehouse so the inventory would get wet and he could ethically give it away at a steep discount!
And really, if you sell a physical product, there’s no reason you can’t do the same thing.
I do it all the time.
And sometimes I make more money from these damaged product sales than I do my regular promotions.
But be careful here.
You don’t want to lie or do anything unethical. And the thing that makes this work is that a damaged product is a believable excuse for a sale.
So keep things in the bounds of reality and good taste. Don’t try to sell brand new things at these discounts or anything like that.
In fact, you shouldn’t overdo this at all unless you know exactly what you’re doing.
I like to do these sales only once in a while, when people aren’t expecting it.
And don’t worry, you don’t necessarily have to poke holes in your warehouse or set your garage on fire to do this, either.
But if the printer screws up the labels on your CD’s or if you should happen to have a bunch of returned inventory that has been opened, then it is perfect for this kind of sale.
Bottom line:
Having a scratch and dent sale is easily one of the fastest and easiest ways to squeeze as much money out of your business as you can. And it is perfect to do once or twice a year after a big mailing to your list.
