Have you ever been to a store and been bored to tears by the same old inventory you saw the 
last time you were there?Have you ever been to a clothing store that only had out of season clothes in stock or a grocery store was still selling pumpkins in January? If you’ve ever experienced what I’m talking about you know exactly what I mean. You can be a miracle working salesman, but the fact of the matter is that a salesman is only as good as his product. This is why keeping up with the pace and buying habits of your target market are so important- old is boring and old doesn’t sell. Take my car lot for example- what happens at the end of the year at every dealership across the USA? Dealers realize that the new model years are in and that that the old model years are out, and the deals start adding up faster than you can count them! Keeping your stock fresh is one of the most important things a salesman can do to boost his chances of making the 
sale. Keeping up with the demands of the market is critical to your success as a salesman, and this means not only keeping your inventory up to date- it also means you keep your old stuff looking new. It is common knowledge on the car lot that no vehicle stays in the same spot for more than a week. Moving everything around gives the impression that your inventory is fresher than it actually is and it keeps passerby’s eyes on your lot.
Try as you may, there will always be those items that nobody wants.In these instances it is tempting to hold on to the item until somebody comes along who does want it, but in many cases this can severely hurt your sales.
Selling for a loss can seem counter-intuitive — I mean the purpose of selling is to make money, but sometimes it is better to cut your losses and sell out to keep your customers interested, after all- some money is better than no money.
The moral of the story is that when you start selling, keeping it fresh is key. The guy with the best sales pitch might sell some, but the guy with the best inventory will usually sell more. Keep it fresh and the people will come!
BoweryJE22
This was a great post. I can really connect with the fact that walking into a store with old inventory is a huge turn-off as a potential buyer. Also, you touch on the fact that with all the new products coming out there is new information to be learned on the salesman’s part. I agree completely. There is nothing worse than walking into a store and trying to make a large purchase when the salesman is just as uneducated as you…Good work!
Very good post. I liked your example with the car lots. There was both a Ford and a Chevy dealership that I passed every day on my way to high school. I noticed that both seemed to move their cars around completely every few days and I always turned my head to see what they were trying to showcase that day. I think even though Chevy, in my opinion, has very boring boxy product line compared to the Ford. I could see the effort they put forward to keep their products looking fresh and moving out the door.
As most of the posts on this blog echo, sales is all about relationships – and a key part of making a business seem human and capable of relationships (like Zappos, Apple, and Nike) is constantly keeping up an intriguing, new, but consistent image. Nobody likes to hang around a friend that tells the same stories and wants to do the same things again and again. Keeping inventory fresh is just another way of selling a business’ personality. That’s why branding plays such a huge role is successful selling. Nice post, Brian!