Posts filed under 'Sales & Marketing'
That’s it – a new kind of discipline is necessary for me to increase our sales. Like a dedicated athlete who is training for a marathon, I am now putting myself into training for the daddy of all sales marathons. Just like an athlete would dedicate the same amount of time to pounding the pavement everyday, so shall I.
The first aspect to my training is going to be dedicating the 10 to 11AM hour to making sales calls EVERYDAY; and making appointments for Tuesdays and Thursdays each week. In addition, my training is to include sending 5 pitch emails every morning before the kids wake up, and writing a baby fabulous blog post at least every other day.
I realize that I can have all the “to-do” lists in the world, but they are useless without time constraints. I find myself saying “I need to call so-n-so” and then days will go by before I get around to it. No more, no more, no more.
Today was my first training session and let me just say that it was hard to make myself sit and focus on sales calls for an hour. Because I’m not organized enough yet. I need to have the list of leads ready to go at the beginning of the calling hour, along with a tracking sheet of what contact has been made, when, and the next action item – for each lead.
I also immediately realized how nice it would be to have a script. I kind-of-sort-of have a script worked out in my head, but I was stumbling over myself today. So I’m going to make myself practice that in the mirror, in addition to some standard responses to some typical questions and ‘nays’.
Sales is not my strong point at this point. I haven’t had formal sales training, but I still close the deal 80% of the time, so I know the goods are in me. Right now, I know little about setting sales goals and forcasting. So, I’m blindy setting a sales goal of a 20% increase in sales each month. I think I read that somewhere. I didn’t make it for November, which is what made me create my new plan of action and my new perspective on being a super-athlete training for the marathon of all marathons. I also didn’t FOCUS on making new sales in November, like I will now.
Next, I’ll find the hour to dedicate each day to designing!
Discipline. Focus. Action.
Discipline.
Focus.
Action.
December 3rd, 2007
I don’t know why it took us a year’s worth of trade show and consumer events to realize that we need a custom-crafted display for our custom-crafted blankets. Oh wait, yes I do, because you can’t do it ALL!!
We finished a great even in Arizona over the weekend. As random things in life go, we heard about this seasonal gifting boutique through my sister-in-law and decided to give it a try. It turned out to be great for us; way more traffic there than the Hollywood shopping boutique we did a few weeks ago.
This last event finally made us see that no matter how we used the standard backdrops or garment racks or tables or shelves – our blankets are not displayed to their fullest potential. I spent time watching people as they would walk up to to our booth, so I could track where their eyes went. About 80% of the time their eyes went to the table, many times they never looked up behind us – where we had the blankets hung. We have too many other products to take up the whole top of a table with a blanket.
Now, we’ve sketched an idea for a simple, yet stunning display that will work for the blankets, will convey that they are personalizable, and will work with various booth height requirements. Booth height requirements matter at trade shows because sometimes you have the liberty of going up 8′ and sometimes only 4′.
So, the goal is to have the new display ready by the next event. Which should be easy, but I think I’m always telling myself that!
November 14th, 2007
Now that I’m sitting here with a bit of hindsight, I can see that what I thought was a decent marketing plan before launching wasn’t much of a plan at all. Our first year was very reactionary. As opportunities were thrown at us we’d decide if they sounded like a good idea or not – and we’d see where we could stretch the budget to jump on board.
So, now that we’re entering year two of being in business, we sat down and had a marketing plan meeting. We’re changing course in some ways and are going to try a couple of new things. In other ways, we just need to be more committed.
This doesn’t mean that we won’t evaluate new opportunities as they come our way, but we’re committed to not give into the sense of urgency that is put on every single opportunity.
We also made the concrete decisions for the first quarter – we’re skipping on some magazine advertisements in favor of a couple of more direct sales routes. We’re focusing on our in-store displays and marketing materials a little more and we’re picking up sales reps so we can focus on direct boutique sales more than trade shows. We’ll also do small ads on some online sites, which is much less cost than magazine advertisements. We’ll commit more a regular newsletter and direct mailing also.
Now all we have to do is actually implement the plan!!
October 29th, 2007
I got an email last night from someone I met at that tradeshow. This is someone who made an appointment to see us at the show, interested in carrying our personalized baby blankets in their personalized gift boutique. They came, they critiqued, they balked that OUR LABEL WAS ON OUR PRODUCTS, and then they left.
I sent a follow-up email after the tradeshow, to say “great to meet you” and blah blah niceties. Two weeks go by and I get a response last night – telling me they won’t be carrying our blankets but to let them know when if we ever have new prints, oh and by the way – “I hope you got a chance to see what some of the other bedding companies are doing”.
And that was how it ended. Not even a period at the end of that sentence. At first I didn’t know why it bothered me. Besides the fact that we define ourselves as a trend-setting company and “copying” other companies is the last thing I’m into, what bothered me is that there was absolutely no reason for the snippiness. No reason at all.
So, I guess those are some of “those” people that you run into in this business. But all it does is confirm for me that I never want to become one of those people. All she did was leave a bad impression on me – and confirm that no, I will not be contacting her when we have new prints. Or ever. On the bright side, darn it if isn’t “those” people that light an extra fire, make me want to prove all the more how successful we’re going to be…so maybe we need a little snippiness here and there.
October 1st, 2007
In all honestly, I don’t have all of our line sheets lined up right. I hate them and I hate doing them. As if I like any of the admin aspects of running the business. I think my problem is that I haven’t found a great template that I am happy with. I’ve had a couple of versions of a catalog, a look book, and previous line sheets – but I’m not satisfied with the look / feel of any of them. Now we have new styles and need new line sheets and I think I just don’t want to do them. I keep letting it fall farther down my to-do list and it’s so crucial for our sales. I can’t put them off any longer.
I’m working on the line sheet for our graphic tees and onesies. Not a big deal because all the images are finally done – including the new styles. I even started hashing out the layout for the line sheet. I’m going to be so happy when it’s done. Its getting to that point that annoys me right now.
A line sheet should be simple: technical sketches of the style, the fabrication, sizes available, colors available, and care instructions, pre-pack combinations. This is the main sales tool – the piece of paper that shows what you have, you could say they are as important as your samples, they are what prospective buyers can keep in their hands, what they can walk away with, what they can peruse and review at their will. Which reminds me that contact information needs to be on every line sheet.
I guess it’s making the line sheet look good that has me hung up right now. I do know, with 100% certainty that all of our line sheets and sales materials are going online to make sending them to people a lot easier. I need to simplify the wholesale inquiry process, so I need a simple link that I can email to potential clients.
Note that the line sheets do not have the prices on them. We maintain a separate price list. Create a pdf, upload it our site and send that link out like mad to wholesale prospects. It’s so easy Amber, just stop talking about it and do it already.
September 30th, 2007
I think I need to get serious about setting sales goals. I have no idea where to start with this. Like a bad New Year’s resolution, I’ve declared a few times that I would make x amount of wonderous contacts a day. It still seems like this is a good place to start, but how do I get that disciplined? What if I start scheduling my day better? It seems to me that setting aside the morning hour of 9 -to-10 is the most likely to be do-able every day.
How many contacts? I could do at least 10 in an hour if I was determined enough to do it. I’ve been saying that after the ABC show, I’d be settled enough in the product line to focus on sales. Sales, sales, sales. I love that wholesale requests are coming TO us on a more consistent basis, but we need more boutiques. We need to get more boutiques so that we can afford a reputable sales rep. So here I am, it’s after the show, and it’s time to focus.
Tomorrow, I’m supposed to be on the road at 9 – but there is no reason that I can’t make the calls I need to make from the car, my morning appointment is not slotted for a particular time. I’ve made a spreadsheet with prospects to call, so phone numbers shouldn’t be a problem at all.
I’ll let you know how it goes. Now, I have at least 7 other work hours which could be just as productive if Iactually have a plan. For now, if I make it out the door with the spreadsheet and my day planner, I’ll be off to a great start.
My next big “marketing” move is to get UPC codes. Because these are going to open up more sales channels for us. Yet another fee to pay. Hip hip hooray! But we’re cruising towards the holidays, which should bring a big increase in business.
September 24th, 2007
Now I’m going to talk about the incredibly dissappointing aspects of the trade show. Which, in my opinion, all stem from the size of the show. Let’s talk about the fact that since the show, I’ve received an uncountable number of emails from people all saying exactly the same thing: “I’m so sorry, I really wanted to see you at the show, but never made it to your booth”. The whole reason we pay a lot of money is for exposure, to get our products in front of people, to pick up new clients. Which absolutely can not happen if those buyers that ARE there can’t make it through the whole show.
The rumor was that when the JPMA show announced it was closing its doors, everyone flooded the ABC Show with requests to exhibit. So the ABC show just added more space. Gone was the “sold out” point, as if it had never exhisted.
I kid you not that if the buyers made it to our row, row 15, their eyes were so glazed over they just weren’t looking at things anymore. I even had people who were already my clients almost pass me up just because of sheer exhaustion. Not only was the bottom floor huge, there was a huge second floor also. Just a big blur of baby stuff.
Here’s how I feel about the amount of traffic they brought to the show: if I had just spent the same amount of time on direct sales & cold calls – the time I did preparing for the show, travelling to the show, setting up, showing, and tearing down the booth, – I would have picked up a hell of a lot more clients. I would have had more exposure walking into boutiques.
But I guess that’s worth a test, maybe next month, I’ll focus all that same energy and time on direct sales to boutiques and see what the outcome is.
I never even made it up to the second floor of the show. I called the last day of the show, a Monday, “exhibitor show and tell.” Buyers were outnumbered by bored and browsing exhibitors at least 8 to 1.
But never fear – they’ve promised to add even ANOTHER day onto the event next year. I guess they could make it family day.
This doesn’t even get into how the show was run. Messy bathrooms, no food or drink available after 4:00 pm (even vending machines at either end of the hall were either unplugged or broken). So right when you hit a wall, and need a beverage or a little boost, you have to exit completely. But, no worries, the show is open to 6:00 for those willing to suffer through it.
On the bright side, Pregnany magazine threw a wonderful dinner / cocktail party that was very enjoyable. I met incredible people at the show, so there is always good and bad. At the time that you are standing for hours in empty rows, it’s easy to get fired up about it. But you also have to take some responsibility for not drawing the traffic to your booth, and not doing enough of the pre-show work.
And numerous people have followed up, even those I didn’t get a chance to meet. I met press and made new industry contacts, met fellow entrepreneurs, and gained immeasurable experience just by going through that alone.
And I slept. I actually got some good nights of rest, which is a small miracle in itself.
September 23rd, 2007
We’ve been featured in Pregnancy Magazine! They selected two Baby Fabulous products for their 2007 Buyer’s Guide. Which, (((extra bonus))) stays on the shelf for three months. SUPER COOL. Click the links below to view the features:
Pregnancy Magazine Personalized Blankets feature
Pregnancy Magazine Graphic Tee feature
This comes at a time when things were feeling stagnant. Funny to say that when we’re cramming to prep for a show this week, but publicity-wize. We got a hard copy of the magazine in the mail yesterday and the pics look so much better in print. It is supposed to hit newstands on September 11.
***random side note on starting your own business: electricity. We lost power yesterday and oh my did that throw a kink into things. I had to decide whether it was more important to ship or have officially printed invoices. Even getting the correct addresses was difficult because when the power went down, it took down our internet. Luckily, I have a battery-powered laptop so I was able to access the customer files and get the addresses. Still, not my favorite to send out packages with hand-written addresses and packing slips. Delivering was the most important.
And for all of you who find it hard to find the good in the challenging, stressful, and difficult times, I’d like to share the good of the power going out. It forced me to stand in line at the post office to get our stuff shipped. Because I stood there they were able to bring to my attention that our PO box fees were due that day, or we’d be locked out and would have to pay extra fees. Not to mention the extra hassle.
The evening turned out wonderful. The electricity was out, so I couldn’t work. An amazing summer storm blew in and my kids got to shower in the summer rain – which was nice because the bathroom was pitch black. They were so incredibly happy splashing around like that, and I felt so relaxed because I didn’t even have the OPTION of working. Relaxing is next to impossible when you’re a business owner, there is always something hanging over your head. Thankfully, God works in mysterious ways.
September 1st, 2007
Anybody remember me saying I was going to make 10 sales contacts a day? Oh my gosh -that is SO hard to do. I’m still keeping it as a lofty goal because it pushes me to make more and more contacts, but I’m no where near 10 contacts a day. More like 2 or 3, but I’m trying. I’m also starting to focus on how we’re going to bring sales people on board. How I can move beyond just myself for sales. I have a girl to get in touch with, I owe her an apology because I thought we were ready for a sales rep a few months ago, but we just weren’t anywhere near ready. Now, we’re getting a lot closer.
I have a good friend who loves our stuff and wants to start working on pr and getting us into boutiques. She’s in a completely different part of the country from me, so that’s an added “new territory” bonus. I’ll work on getting her a sales kit and then she’ll be the first one I train in sales. ha that’s funny, me training in sales. But I have learned a lot, so I can at least help with scripts and how to answer questions, how to make the cold calls, how to book appointments, and blah blah blah.
I need “closing the sale” training. Last night, we ended up with two life insurance salesmen at our door (long story). I could pick out each of the standard sales techniques as they used it – and no they didn’t work. What I did notice is that they sounded too practiced. This pointed out to me the importance of putting potential clients at ease. We’re all just people, just have a conversation. But it’s so hard to remember when my nerves are wracked up walking into a boutique and my brain is running through the upcoming presentation. Just chill out, I need to remember to just chill out.
June 20th, 2007
I work with a variety of contractors to get my products produced. I haven’t worked with an all-in-one job shop, where they do everything from pattern making to final production. My contractors are spread around town, and each runs their own business. My pattern maker is in the north part of our county, sample maker / sewing contractor in the middle part of our county and the cutter is in the south part of the county. The blankets are produced by yet another contractor.
I’m not sure which model is best, but this one works for me for now. I definitely have more control over each phase of the process, because I have checks between each phase. I also definitely have more logistics to deal with this way. I could ship my stuff around, but I generally pick stuff up myself. Especially patterns and samples.
I also like talking face-to-face with each contractor at the drop-off point. Whether it’s a quick clarification of my technical sketch or a question about a missing input for the sample (such as fringe that hasn’t come in yet), there are always things to talk about and to clarify.
But, this model also creates sourcing problems at times. Like right now, when one grader / cutter went out of business. I found a replacement grader a few months ago, but now I need to find a replacement cutter. Luckily, my sewing contractor had someone to recommend who he thinks takes small jobs. So that’s where I’ll start.
So, nothing is ever settled or completely “in place”, and this should be seen as a good thing. It means you’re growing and still going.
June 19th, 2007
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