Have you ever sold anything by running an ad in the paper or on or Craigslist? I hate it.

A recent note to me of late:

"Have you ever sold anything by running an ad in the paper or on or Craigslist? I hate it.

I recently had a set of snow tires and wheels to sell. A few weeks ago, I posted an ad on Craigslist for $325 for a set of 4 snow tires and wheels, I had 1 inquiry, but it turns out the wheels apparently would not fit the callers car. A pilot would probably call that a near-miss.

I posted an ad on Craigslist again last week. I had at least 3 responses and I thought I’d be showing the tires Wednesday evening, but no one called back to get directions. How frustrating. Will I ever get these things sold?

On Sunday, I posted the ad on Craigslist for the third time. I sure hope they sell soon. I don’t have time to sit around waiting for the phone to ring; I have other things to do. Since I had interest last week, even though no one actually showed up to see the tires, I raised the asking price to $350. If one of Wednesday’s callers called-back, sorry, the price has gone up. At my new, higher asking price of $350, I had one caller, and the person actually showed up and paid what I was asking, without trying to negotiate a better deal!

What did I learn?

I can influence the process, but not necessarily control it.

Remain persistent, even when I’m not seeing concrete results.

People wanted what I had to sell. There was a market for my goods.

I can’t control or predict the process. Sometimes there are buyers; sometimes just tire-kickers.

Ask for what you want. You might just get it!

I only need 1 buyer to say yes!

Selling my snow tires kinda reminded me of looking for a job! Just like when selling my tires, my job-search persistence eventually paid off when I found a buyer (job offer)."

Craig