Need help on how to effectively sell silver on a college campus?

[balilewis]

I live in Indonesia, and silver is generally pretty cheap here.
I already bought $400 worth of silver, and I plan to sell them on my college campus this fall for a quick profit and for spending money.
Since I will be a freshman, I do not know anybody.
Any ideas on how to effectively reach the college students?
My target audience is female, and I need help on how to reach out to them without being too naggy.

Any help, comments, or tips would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

[Fergal]

balilewis you sound like a true entrepreneur and you are most welcome to Business Advice Forum. Thanks for asking your business question. Some of the replies in this thread deal with promoting a business on campus, it's a very different business to yours but the ideas and suggestions may still help you.

You might consider asking the college authorities if they can help you in some way. I'm not sure if they will look suspiciously on your plans or applaud and support your entrepreneurship, but it is worth asking the question.

I hope you are comfortable with approaching groups of girls on campus and offering to sell your silver to them, because this may be the approach that will work best for you. Colleges often have mini exhibits, for new students, where clubs, societies and some commercial organisations (e.g. banks) promote their offerings. Could you get to display your products at something like this.

Make sure you ask for referrals every time you make a sale, and even when you don't make a sale.

Have you considered selling your products on eBay?

Are you male or female yourself?

[balilewis]

Thank you for your reply Fergal.
I am male, and since I generally don't know about female preferences on jewelry and silver, my female cousins and aunts chose me the silver I should sell.

My current plan is to put flyers up around campus, approach them directly, and referrals sounds great. Referrals are something like this right? :If a girl I referred brought me 10 paying customers, I can either give her money or a free necklace, earring, etc?

I will try and see if I can set up a booth when I get to my campus.
Selling before prom sounds like a great idea too. I can raise the price up for the week before prom.

Ebay sounds great too, and I will try and do that. Thank you so much for your help. I really appreciate it.

[Fergal]

Yes referrals can work like that. But you can don´t necessarily need to offer the financial incentive. You could simply ask people if they know anyone else that might be interested in your product and ask if it would be OK for you to contact them. Also mention to them that it would be a great help to you if they told other people about the products you sell and how they might contact you.

[Nazreen]

Welcome to the Business Advice Forum balilewis.

Silver seems to be the metal of preference especially for young adults who are still not earning their keep. Anyway, aside from the very good tips that Fergal has given, I'd suggest that you should also be active in your extra-curricular activities and join groups with a lot of girl members.

If you can advertise your silver products in your school's paper, that would also be a good way to promote it.

[simplyjo]

Well the best way would be to put up pamphlets on the notice board. everyone checks out the notice board. They will see your ad and contact you.