My Jillian’s Closet - Cindy Newman

This story is near and dear to my heart. My wonderful friend of fourteen years finally started her very own eBay Store. We’ve been talking for years about what she could do to do some “bigger things” for herself and her family. My beautiful friend is a single mom with five children, one who is completely handicapped. She’s been a single mom for as long as I’ve known her. She has done a wonderful job raising her children, often also working two or more jobs just to meet all their needs.

I’m always talking with Cindy about some new thing I’m doing in business and what potential or how successful the endeavor. So many times we have considered what could she do that just really fit her. A couple of years ago her children bought her a beautiful pair of glasses studded with Swarovski Crystals. She received so many compliments that the idea began to form in her mind that perhaps this was a product she could sell. Eventually she started researching, found the product plus so many more beautifully decorated items, watches, purses, flip flops all studded with Swarovski Crystals.

Cindy invested in some choice pieces of the product and opened up her eBay Store store inventory and a few auctions. At first she had auctions closing without any sales. She was discouraged that she had spent this money and done all this work all for no sales. But then together we did some research on how to add key words in strategic locations within her eBay Store. Little by little she began to get traffic and then bids and finally purchases. I stopped by her home the other day and she was so excited to show me the sales that closed on auctions while she was sleeping! The look on her face was priceless.

You can check out her eBay Store by going direct to her website My Jillian’s Closet She has it set up so that the domain of www.MyJilliansCloset.com redirects with a special referral ID that allows her to save 75% of her closing fees to eBay.  I think it’s wonderful that eBay rewards the eBay Store owner for advertising their own eBay Store.

If you’re looking to start an Internet business, an eBay Store is an excellent choice. There 175 million visitors to that amazing online mall. You might as well take advantage of it.

There’s a wonderful tool that you can use to research your ideas to see how much success you might have with the product or service you have in mind. This amazing tool is the Market Research Wizard.

All you need to do is type in three words describing the product you want to sell, and in minutes, The Market Research Wizard will Analyze and give you detailed information on:

• How much Demand there is on the ‘Net for that product
• How much Competition you will be up against
• What kind of Advertising others are using to sell that product
• Who your Competitors are
• How much they pay for Advertising
• eBay Auction listings and bids for your product
• The Keywords your competitors are using
• …and much more!

Then the Market Research Wizard will give you an easy to read Analysis on whether you should try to sell that product online, saving you hours and hours of manual research.

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Case in Point: Jiffy Lube

Today I had to have the oil changed in my van. This is an experience that I truely dread.  For years I’ve been very loyal to my dealer where I purchased my vehicle, but I just don’t like being at the dealership for an hour sitting in the waiting  room. Many times in the past the dealership has even kept my car all day because they used to squeeze oil changes in between more serious car repair jobs. The dealer thoughtfully provided a taxi gratis back to my office, but I was without a car for most of the day. For most people that might not be a problem, but I’m in sales and that means I have to wipe my schedule free of any outside appointments just to have my oil changed.

Recently someone recommended that I take my car to Jiffy Lube, and, if I waited until Tuesday I’d get a special price. So today being Tuesday, I planned to head on over to Jiffy Lube. All day long I was so busy that I didn’t make it out of the office until after 5 pm. I called Jiffy Lube to see if they were open. I was pleasantly surprised to hear they were open until 7 pm. With my nine year old daughter in the van I headed over to Jiffy Lube.

When I arrived there was a small line. There were two cars in the bay and one vehicle waiting in both lines (there were only two bays). I thought to myself, “oh no, this is gonna take an hour.” I really didn’t want to wait, but I didn’t want to come back and do this later either. Just as I was contemplating whether to wait it out, I was greeted by one of the many attendants that were buzzing around working. The attendant told me that the car in the bay was nearly done and that with the vehicle ahead of me it would be approximately a 15 minute wait before my vehicle was started. I was invited to wait in the waiting room or to stay in the van, my choice. I chose to wait in my van because I had a cassette that I was listening to.

I’m not sure it was even a full 15 minutes before my van was in the service bay. My van was immediatly “converged upon” by several techs each doing something. One of the techs came to me at the driver’s side window and asked me if I would step out of the van for a few moments to go over to his computer so he could process my order. He entered my name, address, phone number and other pertinant information regarding my vehicle into the computer (this is the foundation for all their future business with me - they now have all my contact information and know about my vehicle.)

After all my information was entered into the computer, the tech flipped from screen to screen recommended other services and explaining why they are necessary for my vehicle and how much each one cost. During this time one of the several techs that were working on my van brought over my air filter that filters the air my family and I breath inside the van. Ugh it was disgusting. It was also a clear demonstration of why I needed one of the services he had just offered me.

There were services that he recommended that I passed on, but he didn’t pressure me at all. He noted in my account which services they performed and which ones they did not. Finally he printed out a receipt for the two services I ordered, noting which ones I did not order.

By the time I was done with this very brief conversation over at the computer, my van was done. Oil and air filter changed. Oh, and I almost forgot, they also vacuumed out my van while I was giving them my contact information and paying for my service!

I was in and out so fast I could hardly believe it. It was wonderful. I didn’t have to be without a vehicle all day, and I was treated pleasantly.

I will definitely go there again.

Now, what kind of experience are you giving your customer?  Jiffy Lube won my loyalty with their customer intuitive systems. Somehow Jiffy Lube understood what I needed and gave it to me. I needed to be able to bring my vehicle in and leave quickly. I even needed to come in after work and not be without my van all day. And by the way, Jiffy Lube’s price wasn’t really any lower than my dealer. So price was not cut to earn my business. They simply delivered on a great system.