Start Up Kids Line

More blithering about visiting boutiques

February 1st, 2007

These days are so crazy busy, but this is a *good* thing, we’re on the upswing. We have this last week and a half push to the Vegas tradeshow. But what’s cool is that all the stuff we’ve had to do for other deadlines in the last month has pushed us to get it together, really together. Most of the print materials are done, just waiting for a few new pictures. Including the catalog. I want to shout from the mountains; that thing was hanging over my head forever. Now, it’s done. And I’m actually happy with it. If you have these print materials when you walk into a boutique, you’ll have enough information to walk out of there with an order, signed and sealed:

• Catalog / Line Sheets – I put these together because you can get away with the line sheets if they have good technical sketches – but the catalog adds some pizazz and imagery. The line sheets contain:
  • Technical sketches
  • Style#
  • Colors available
  • Useful name (maybe just my opinion but it helps to say “the retro flowers” instead of “BL2-8998-99″, better reference point)
• Price List – These can be really simple – just tables of the item#; brief description; and wholesale price.
  What I don’t have here is bulk pricing, which I want to add.
• Purchase Order – I use the PO form to gather all of the store information; the order form, payment options, AND the terms & agreements. This keeps it all together and helps me stay focused long enough to gather all of the information. This is important because you’ll find that there’s a lot of chatting going on and it’s easy to get distracted.

We’ve made a few boutique sales this week and it’s been a great experience. I can’t get over how much I learn at each appointment. I get so much feedback on our product, what’s selling in the market, what sells well in that location; how many items they’ll purchase, and most importantly, their personal style.

It’s cool to visit all the boutiques and see how they set up their stores, you really get a feel for how each is unique, even though they are all baby boutiques. Some are edgy, some are frilly, some SO pink, some not pink at all – it’s pretty cool.

Back on the topic of getting it all together for the tradeshow; a lot of people are jumping through hoops to make it happen and to make another project happen on top of that; both now with a one week deadline. That’s amazing. And we’re so grateful – really, really, really grateful. There’s still A LOT to pull off on this end, but we’re in motion.

          

Entry Filed under: Planning beyond the collection,Sales & Marketing,The Startup Phase