As a homeschooling mom of 3 and the owner and manufacturer of Capella's Garden Soap Co., I thought it was very important to teach my kids to be able to sell. Not only our hand made goat milk soap and other bath and body products, but anything. Why? Because learning salesmanship extends much further than a local market or store. It involves being able to strike up a conversation with a stranger, assess their needs through listening, math skills and it generally builds confidence. It's also a great way for them to earn a little cash too!

I decided to teach my younger two children to sell as they were the kids that accompanied me to the fairs and markets most often. This has been a wonderful opportunity to see which of my children would grasp this bull by the horns and take it.

I was fortunate, as I already had a goat milk soap company in place. But if you don't, starting a small business might be something to consider. Selling crafts even just for the holidays provides ample opportunities for your kids to practice selling.

I have friend who has a licensed bakery that she has put in her home for her kids to earn extra money. She extended her business to include a lunch trailer that her 16 year old daughter runs with limited help at local sport and community events. Terry also uses this trailer to support her non-profit organization SWAN during the local farmer's market, which has given her kids and herself an opportunity to give service to others in need.

If you aren't able to start your own small business, find someone locally who would be willing to mentor your child. Maybe your child would get no pay while he was in training, but would be paid when he has mastered his job and can work independently. Check you local farmer's markets to see if there are vendors who are looking for help.

I'm always surprised how few people know how to make change without a cash register figuring out the exact amount for them. As part of our math curriculum I taught my kids to use a simple hand held calculator to total purchases, less discounts and adding tax. Then I taught them how to count out the change using any number of bills and coins and to be able to count it back to the customer. Counting back is very important as it insures accuracy for your customers and your cash box!

One would think dressing well would just make sense and be an easy task hardly worth mentioning. Maybe for a daughter, but for my son it was much harder. I had to be VERY specific. "Please do not wear any clothing designated for farm use. No holes, no stains. Please match your pants and your shirt. Please wear matching socks. Take a bath, remember to scrub your neck. And PLEASE - BRUSH YOUR TEETH!"

Most markets are a casual environment, but talking about wearing dressier attire and for girls, how to behave in skirts and dresses might be appropriate for your situation.

The first most important thing in sales is greeting every customer. This can be a challenge for some people. For my children it was difficult as one is an 11 year old "everything embarrasses me" girl and the other was a 9 year old boy who had a tendency to mumble.

So I had to figure out how to get them to say hi, loud enough and clear enough for people to hear them. Well, as they say, "Money Talks" so I paid them 10 cents every time they said hello to a customer. In hindsight, I think the 10 cents was a little high. If I were to do it over I would pay them 10 cents if they said hi and the customer replied (meaning they actually heard them - which often didn't happen in the beginning) and 5 cents if they just opened their mouths.

I did this for 2 markets, then I upped the stakes...they had to greet the customer AND add a comment like, "All our soaps are made with hand milked goat milk", "The ends are open for sniffing", or the blah, "Let me know if I can help you find anything."

This is also a good time to talk about how tone of voice is important and smiling is a total must!

Hopefully, your child knows a little about the products you are selling. That should be something you work on continuously. With my business, I make new things all the time and it's important that my kids know what's new.

It's also necessary for them to 1) know the overall top sellers and to 2) find their favorite. My kids favorite goat milk soap is Black Raspberry Vanilla (or as we like to call it - BRV). As luck would have it that has also been my best seller hands down in shea butter as well as bath bombs. I can bring a dozen bars of my BRV and my 9 year old will sell every one in about 3 hours along with other items. Even though it is my best seller I don't sell nearly as much BRV as he does. Why? Because he has really dark eyes and long thick eyelashes, that's why! No, just kidding (Though I'd be lying if I said it didn't help!) He sells them because he points that BRV out to EVERY customer and tells them it's his favorite. If they smell it and seem a little less than thrilled and put it down, he moves in with his next favorite, Cucumber Mint.

If you have a favorite you will sell it. That has been my experience anyway. I don't think it's because people value my opinion, but because if you love what you sell, you are successful.

One other thing that really helps in this area is to prep them with answers to the most commonly asked questions. So for instance if you sell baked goods one question may be "Do you have anything without nuts?" Your child should know which products to direct them too as that question is very common. Do little drills while your making dinner. When you set up your products go through it again. Soon they will know it like the back of their hand!

This I think was the hardest step for me to do, to step back and let the kids sell. First of all we set a commission rate. Why a commission? Because then they completely OWN their sales. An hourly wage means a lot of sitting there doing nothing. We started out with a lower commission subject to renegotiation as their skills improved and they progressed to completely working the transaction from start to finish.

One of the biggest things you will find is that customers will continually direct their questions to you because you are the adult there. I try to sit towards the back of our booth unless there are multiple customers to avoid this situation. When it does happen I will politely reiterate the question to my child and have them answer it. Sometimes I smile afterward and say, "salesman in training!" We have never had a bad experience and most people are impressed that I am teaching my kids such a valuable skill.

In closing, know that sales is not meant for every person. If someone doesn't love it they will find very limited or no success. My daughter thinks it's ok, but my son really has taken to selling our hand made goat milk soap. He will talk to anyone about the soap and hands out so many business cards I'm running out! My son also enjoys talking to other vendors about how they harvest or make the items they sell. Do I think I wasted time teaching my daughter? No. She is still confident enough to make a sale and has learned so many valuable skills it has been well worth my time. Try it with your kids - you'll be glad you did!