Page 224 - 597 Business Ideas You can Start from Home - doing what you LOVE! (Beginner Internet Marketing Series)

21 8 Your Idea, Inc.

show or give small samples. Without a sample, a buyer won't know
how good your product is and they may instead buy from the com­
pany whose sample they tried.

When I show Moisture Gloves at shows, I can't give away a pair
to everyone, but we have lots of samples on display for people to try
on. Of course, we do give a sample to an interested buyer of a large
company or an editor of a magazine. If you can't give away samples,
offer incentive pricing and throw in a free product for the buyer
with an order that can serve as their sample.

SHOW SPECIALS

At a trade show, consider offering buyers a special deal to entice
them to order. Offer a deal you thought of ahead of time to help to
make sales and open new accounts. Try a "show special" that show­
cases a variety of your products and makes it simple to open a new
account without having the buyer make too many decisions.

This is the beauty of having your own business. You tailor the
show special to what best suits your inventory and manufacturing
situation at the moment. A trade-show special can be anything from
free shipping on an order over a certain dollar amount, a percentage
discount on product, a giveaway display case, or anything you can
think of as incentive. Figure out what costs you the least amount
of money, but still seems like a true savings or benefit to the buyer.
For example, if you offer free shipping, know that you will have to
pay more on the UPS account that month. It's often better to offer a
discount and move out inventory at a lower profit margin than have
it sitting in your "warehouse."

You may also encounter buyers who try to negotiate their own
show special with things that are important to them, such as longer

terms on an invoice (say, Net 60 rather than Net 30) in addition to

pricing discounts. You'll need to think on your feet (in your comfy,
rubber-soled, trade-show shoes, that is) and figure out if it is better
to break even on the sale and land this new account, or not make
a sale at all.