Just a few weeks ago, my husband and I bit the bullet on getting central air for our house in western Washington. Thanks to climate change, summers have been steadily getting hotter in the otherwise temperate Pacific Northwest. And the upper floor of the house we own feels like a greenhouse once the outside temperature creeps above 80F.
The year before, we purchased a few window AC units to help cool us down. Now, we needed to get rid of them.
My husband listed them on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist — large, anonymous platforms that work great when you find exactly what it is you need, but you mostly need to wade through fake listings or people who decide to ghost you after expressing half-hearted interest.
He told me he wasn’t having any luck. So, I decided to help.
I took a screenshot of his listing and put it on my Instagram. “Anyone I know in Seattle need window AC units? We have three to sell.” A friend of mine asked about specs, and I ended up selling one to them.
Last week, we had a heat wave. A friend who was going to host a craft night on Tuesday texted our group chat, warning us to bring ways to stay cool because she didn’t have AC. I texted her off the group chat to inquire if she wanted a unit. She did.
I went to a hot yoga class during said heat wave. In the lobby, a few other women in the class bemoaned their condos turning into ovens. Would they want a unit? Indeed, one of them did.
In one day, I sold all three units.
This isn’t a story about my AC unit selling prowess. But rather, I want to explain why going directly to people who need a certain product or service is so useful.
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