Bitten by the Retail Bug: IsThere a Cure?

Till I met my husband, I professed a strong dislike for all things retail. I don't mean that I hated to shop, I mean.. I hated the flip side of things. Advertising, sales jingles, telemarketers.. (shudder) and especially...comissioned salespeople!

Nearly every encounter with a commisioned salesperson in those days, especially if I found them likable, left me feeling slightly unwashed.. as if their ulterior motives and money-grubbing commision hunt had soiled me somehow. It was practically impossible for me to believe that these folks had honest enjoyment of interacting with me, or actually just liked their product/ store and felt truly happy that I had given them my business.

Then I met my husband. The love of my life! Ours was an unlikely romance in many respects--not the least of which was that he was a career salesman! He started in sales fresh out of the Marine Corps at the tender age of 21. When we met and fell in love he had been in sales for 8 years, with no real designs on a career change.

So we married in 2002, and as he was a commissioned salesperson, I started to have an empathy for "those people" that I never would have thought I could have. It was easy for me to sneer and think that those in sales were money grubbers, but when our bread and butter was coming solely from commission, a seed of compassion and understanding for those whose daily living depended on the shopping of others firmly took root and bloomed in my heart.

Yes, many of his co-workers fit the stereotype of sales folk that I'd held for a long time, but many others were just like you and me; everyday folk trying to make it.

Fast forward to this year.

My husband has an E-bay business with a partner. They specialize in antique type documents and things of that nature. G, his partner, does most of the hunting down the items and my husband lists them, takes photos, fields questions from customers and shoppers, etc.

I was annoyed with how time consuming this was for K (my husband), at first. It seemed like if he wasn't working on the store, he was thinking about it! Always checking if he had orders, always trying to make things more efficient, always devising another way to catch someone's eye..

Then I opened my bookstore on Amazon, and the scales fell from my eyes!

Of course, you want to know how to make things more efficient: then you can get your product listed faster! Of course, you want to catch peoples' eye in new and different ways: How else will they know about the wonderful product you have that will meet all their particular product needs?

And the sales high! The wonderful all eclipsing good feeling that comes when you make a sale! K had been trying to tell me about it for years and I just blew him off, sure that he was nuts. But no, I'm here to tell you, the "sales high" is real, people! And often better than any substance you could use. Not that I know anything about that. ;-)

One of things I have always hated about sales is the self promotion aspect. How it seems like a salesperson always can turn any conversation around to work in a plug for whatever it is that they are selling! Especially internet sales. I can't tell you how many times I have been on a message board or a chat room just relaxing and had some unwelcome person dropping in on the conversation to plug their product!

But here's the question...

I know there are people out there that would like the media that I have for sale in my storefront! I know that I offer good product, exactly as described at decent prices. How do I get that message out there to the public without becoming what I have always loathed?

I must confess, on days, when the orders were slow, I've considered dropping in on a chat room or two. I mean, I wouldn't have to intrude on the conversation. Maybe they'd already be discussing where the best place to buy books, CDs and videos is?

Hey, it could happen...