"I'm growing so fast, I must stop taking things in!"

Hi Kate:
I bought your manual and it has really help me with my store, however, I am growing so rapidly that I am going to have to make some changes and would like your opinion!

Right now I accept consignments everyday without an appointment (I’m open seven days a week). I have one part time employee but I am beginning to be overwhelmed with consignments. Last year I changed my policy and restricted the number of items to 15 for each consignment. This helped and was no problem with my consignors. Now, however I can’t keep up and don’t have the cash flow yet to hire another part time employee.

So, my thought was to NOT take consignments on Tues. and Thursdays so I can keep up with the consignments (I allow my consignors to pick up any items I don’t accept within 5 days if they don’t want to donate. This is another policy I am thinking about changing to “donate only”).

Anyway, any thoughts/suggestions you have would be appreciated!

Kate replies:

Yes, it is hard, isn’t it, to accept all day every day…gets to where you are feeling like all you do is accept!

I’ll make some suggestions, but before I do, I would like you to think about one aspect of this situation, and I am going to put it bluntly, so don’t take offense and keep your mind open:

If you are so busy, so popular, what is keeping your overhead so high that you cannot afford more than one part-time employee? I think examining that question, and finding the answer to it, may well mean that you can stick to an all-the-time policy, and remove that “limit”, which keeps your shop so consignor-friendly… and which will make you a millionaire.

Okay, while you figure out why you aren’t making the big bucks but you’re getting overwhelmed, some thoughts as stepping-stones:

* Limit of 15: Absolutely the worst choice if you have to choose. Short reason: she picks the 15 she wants to get rid of, not the 15 that will make you and her the most money fastest. She’s not the shopkeeper; you are. She knows less than zero about what will sell; you do. Why force HER to make the decisions that impact YOUR pocketbook? You don’t require her to set PRICES, do you, so why would you ask her to make the selection of 15 of her things?

* While we’re talking fastest: Price your items to sell faster. Turnover is the name of the game, so you have space. (Although you don’t mention lack of space in your message, so maybe that’s not the problem.)

* (Maybe the problem is…and here, I am blunt again and my intention is not to shame or accuse, but to get you shook up enough to look with fresh eyes:) Are you too slow? Does it take too long to check in? Are you too painstaking in your procedures? Could you streamline procedures?

* Not taking consignments certain days: This is probably the best solution for the time being (that is, until you figure out why you cannot afford staff), but since you have had an open-door policy for whatever length of time, you are gonna PO some people. How are consignments managed if you’re not there? Does this part-timer check items in?

* It sounds like you’re all Drop-&-Run, all the time. If you are: D-&-Rs are great in many aspects, EXCEPT one. It costs you time to bundle, label, put into the storage area and make note of NTYs, and again, time to go get them, un-note them, and hand them back. That’s why, especially with established consignors, a quick pre-sort, or a complete check-in whenEVER possible, is more effective.

* If you are allowing inexperienced consignors to D-&-R, you’re setting yourself up for constantly (not just her first time, before she learns what you consider salable) sorting through “are-you-kidding”s…because with a D-&-R she’s not standing there watching you dismiss, without a second glance, old styles or obviously less-than-fresh items…in other words, she won’t have to be embarrassed as you reject 75% of her stuff, so she’ll stick every last item she has in the pile. What’s she got to lose? Nothing. What have YOU got to lose? Time and energy and good nature.

* With D-&-Rs, it’s best to make the pickup of NTYS a VERY important point to the consignor. I would suggest “please pick up before tomorrow’s close of business”. The five days you mention, or the 7 others use, DOWNPLAYS the necessity of immediate pickup. “If she doesn’t expect me to pick them up for 5 days, what’s wrong with 10?” At least with ONE day, you stand a chance of getting her back on the SECOND day!

* Declaring your shop “donate only”…whether of the NTYs in a D-&-R or ODs, if there are any… is a red flag to any consumer who has reason (or unreason) to doubt your honesty. Do not put yourself or your business in such a category if you wish to be successful and respected. Period.