Sale Organizer Advice

Volunteers make the consignment world go 'round!!!  And happy volunteers make it even better!   Today's article comes to us from Henriette Roe, owner of From Yours To Mine in Minnesota and founder of TwinCitiesKidsSales.com. Check out Henriette's tips to improving your volunteer's experience!

As a sale owner many of us struggle to find enough volunteers for our sales. There are a few ways of course to get more people to sign up like special pre-sales for volunteers that work more shifts, or paying out an extra percentage. But wouldn’t it be great to also retain volunteers from sale to sale? After all, repeat volunteers don’t take as much time to train in, they have done it before. It does take a little more than earning extra money to retain your volunteers from sale to sale.

Make it easy for them to do a good job:

Most people are visual learners. Make a cheat sheet for each position outlining the responsibilities, and give them to each volunteer to read along while you explain it. They can also keep those on hand to reference back to if needed. For example, we have the one for our door volunteer taped by the entryway. That way they can always check back to see how strollers are supposed to be marked, and if that back pack can be carried in or not.

People like to be called by their name

I’m really not good with names but there are a few ways to make them easier to remember. When I’m introduced to someone or they tell me their name, I try to make a point of saying their name three times. For example, while shaking hands I say “Nice to meet you, Julie.” Then I ask a question like “Did you have trouble finding your way here, Julie?”, and last something like “Julie, would you like to help at the door?” And of course you should have name tags to make it easy for volunteers to learn each other’s names.

Make an effort to get to know your volunteers:

Before you assign new volunteers to a specific role talk to them and find out what their talents are or what profession are they in. You might be surprised to find that one of your volunteers works in retail and knows everything about product placement, or the husband that was sent to help works in security.

Make sure you greet everyone and make them feel “seen”:

The worst thing you can do is miss that a volunteer showed up for their work shift, not marking them on your worker sheet, and then cutting their commission or banning them from signing up again for the next sale because you thought they were a no-show. Believe me, I speak from experience. I still don’t know how I missed that one particular volunteer and I can’t even say that I remember her at all. There is no amount of apologizing you can do to that person, that you didn’t even notice being there and helping you succeed with your sale. I now make a specific point to check in with EVERY volunteer a second time during their shift, checking them off on my list, calling them by their name, and making them feel appreciated.

Chocolate makes the (sale) world go around:

Have some snacks and water available for your volunteers to munch on. This is such a basic and simple form of showing your appreciation that really doesn’t cost you much. Just make sure there is chocolate, you are working with mostly women after all! I have to ration ours from day to day, otherwise there wouldn’t be any left come Sunday.

“Please” and “Thank You” should of course also be part of your vocabulary, and by implementing a few of the tips above you can increase the number of returning volunteers. The last thing you want is a bunch of confused, unappreciated and hungry women on your sales floor whose name you don’t even know, representing you and your sale. Without your volunteers it would be impossible for you to run your sale, so make sure to make them feel special. They will return the favor by volunteering again and again, and telling everyone else how great volunteering at your sale is.