Lessons

Lesson Info

How to Keep'em Coming Back to Your Craft Business

The next kind of step of this path you made it clear offer the person's going to either decide to purchase or decide not to purchase so we can assume they took the next step in the path they bought their moving on some now your job with this person the customer path continues because you're going to keep bringing them closer and delighting them keep them coming back again and again, this is actually a picture of I don't know if it's very clear ah box of my yearn with my little thankyou card that I included with it uh because that was part of keeping them coming back was to think them I was actually a wholesale customer tries so much yarn. So I want you to actually flip to page forty two of your workbook because we're going to talk about each of the little sections here to build loyal and repeat customers you want to completely delight them and I like the word delight because it indicates some kind of surprise like, oh, I'm so delighted that's how you want the person of bill when they g...

et your package and we'll talk a little bit more about how to do that but the next thing is going to keep talking to them to build a loyal and repeat customers the person has to remember that you exist and if they could come back to you again so so that means asking the customer if they'd like to join your email list that means sending a thank you email at the end and asking if they have any questions, but mainly the easiest way to keep talking to them is to get them on your email list so that your regularly sending messages to them and the third way to ba loyal and repeat customers is to make them part of something bigger and what I mean by that is to help them feel like they are part of the community of people who are into your thing and this doesn't work for all kinds of businesses, but we can talk about the kind of businesses does work force, but first let's go back to delight let's talk more about how you delight them. The first thing is that if all of your other marketing has been in alignment that when you get they get your product, they should feel like it's perfectly is totally in integrity with everything else you've done into this point. It fulfills all the promises you made. It has all the benefits that you said it would have, it has all the features and it has your personality that you've been having to them, right? So if if your whole brand and everything was bright and colorful and then the packaging was dull or boring or not well done, they they would have that dissonance and cognitive dissonance is what we have when what we think is going to happen doesn't quite happen. What we're expecting doesn't line up and it's very uncomfortable, and it makes us question if we made a good decision or if they're having it before they bought any cognitive dissonance that your website or your marketing sparks for them will make them back off and it's a subconscious thing where we don't even know it's quite happening, it's that I walk into a store and I'm like, I don't want to be here and I turn around, I walk out the same thing can happen after they buy their excited they fell in love with you, they were blogging about product and it's not what they do, so delighting them means you have everything in alignment with what they were expecting, and you gave them exactly what you said you would when you said you would do it and that's like selling one o one, right like, and I'm sure that you all have integrity and her going to provide exactly what you say you're going to provide. The other thing about delighting them that you had on earlier is that if you your work is guaranteed one hundred percent, so if there's something wrong with actual craftsmanship, aiken send it back and you'll fix it and I'll send it back to me like that delights me not only doesn't make me feel comfortable buying it in the first place, but it also lets me know that if anything doesn't delight me, you're going to fix that and that's genius. Because then what could've turned into an unhappy customer turn into a customer that's just blown away any questions about the light? There are two questions on your workbook on page forty two to help you start thinking about how you can delight them. I know there's not a lot of space there. So if you need to write on the backs of patriot, welcome to and I ask you there how you can bring more of your brand quality into the world. This is the stuff we talked about in session one the thing that your work really does in that person's life. You want the experience of getting your thing to bring that to their world too. So if it's all about ese or it's all about memories, you want the experience of opening it to be like that. I mean, apple does this beautifully that when you get this leak iphone, the packaging is all sleek, it feels all sweet, you feel fancy and jetson e or maybe that's just me when you open it, and so they've brought it to every aspect of it, and you did not have to get expensive packaging or go overboard. One of the popular things on s e is to just to throw in tons of extras into the package, but I warn against that if that's not in alignment with your brand, your brand isn't like, whoa, yeah, party then don't like make your package a party right may get in line if your brain was very elegant and classic than your packaging should be elegant, classic and not have fifty business cards on it, you know? And if your brand is very like bohemian and free spirited than your packaging would be like that maybe with, like, eco friendly wrapping or twine or him for something, you know, that feels like they're going to feel when they were your thing, or maybe it's very beautiful and and girly, you know? So that is what I mean by delight is just really give them exactly what they were expecting, even if they weren't conscious of that expectation. So you want to keep talking to them and keep in touch by the news that her or the email list is really the easiest way to do that, and I ask you on page forty two how how you'll get your customer on your list creative little plan are you going to email them or you know have that season their automatic message um you know this might not be sustainable tio email every new customer once you're selling a thousand things a day but at this point for most people if you're working on your marketing it's because you want more sales so go on and do the personal step of sending personal emails if you don't have enough sales, then you have the time to think everybody personally and then I'll help build the relationship and keep them coming back. I want you to think about how you can keep in touch with them for different businesses it's different and the last thing about the making them part of something bigger this will work different in different products. So for knitters selling knitting patterns, the whole idea of a nit along is when knitters all get together in one pattern that's your making them part of a group of everybody in ending this pattern so that's kind of easy to dio I like to hold classes that everybody feel like they're part of the class you know? So you really feel like you're you're not alone in it you have other people who are going through it with you and we can definitely talk about ideas for doing that if you're like how does that fit my product but then I want to hear from you about how you are going to continue to connect with your customers after they buy you have a plan? Yeah, so I immediately realized that I could be sending them, um, something that's available on my website, but it's a pdf of how they use one of my patterns and I'm not sure everybody sees it on, so if you just bought a powder and and you're a first time customer obvious, and then I could say also send them the link to the blawg on why I do my charts the way I d'oh that's a genius because you immediately not just gave me the thing I bought but information on using it productively, right? And then I could remind them to sign up for the email list if they haven't already done so. And, um, then maybe in a couple of weeks asked them, you know, if there's anything they need remind them that I answer questions out of the lovely thing. Yeah, because if you do the kind of thing where you're available for their help, our help them, you should definitely tell them that make sure that they know that because it's such a great service that they might not be expecting so and they anybody who buys my patterns gets an automatic thank you email you know? So I mean that's already being taken care of, but I want this to be, like, the next step on dh. What I've done with some urine shops is I use paperless post so that they're getting, like, a little gift card. You know, a stationary type elektronik card, so it feels more elegant. And I love that that's right in line with your brand going classic patterns, right? Yeah. I, um when I am printing the pictures, I usually have to print a lot of extras. So I'll make, like, a small magnet with the picture and included, and then right? Yeah. I mean, I have him anyway, and I hate to throw him away like a, you know, a little refrigerator magnet, right? With their picture that they give you that's a genius or if I like one of my themes, is that listen, wonderland and I always have a lot of extra alice in wonderland tile. So only if you buy that bracelet, I'll give you a magnet with alice in wonderland. Or if you buy the day of the dead staff, fold in your magnet that matches the bracelet. Yeah. And then I also everything bracelet comes in a handmade origami bucks that I make can I match it to the bracelet? But minnesota and I say that in my description, that it's ready to gift, right? Right? You know, because it's so great because you said that people are buying it as a gift, so sending it to them ready to give? Yeah, that's like just on the line with what you're right, people want from you, I would think so. Yeah, it is. Do you have people in the chat room having questions or wanting to share? Yeah, well, first, this one comes from cupcake stylist, and they say that when they send out their products that they asked for photos and their their idea is, what if I included a print out that includes the hashtag my styling cake? Then they could include that in their photo that I have them post on instagram. Nice. I like that you have that hashtag down and give people that called action used this actually exactly easy. We had another question come in here from virginia and they say I often have to ship large garments to other countries in order to in order question about shipping costs that really tricky, so let me try to break it down. They also have to shift large garments to other countries in order to keep the shipping costs down, she has to vacuum, pack them hard to make them look smaller, they don't look very pretty when they get there, because I've been vacuum packed, right? You think, it's a better idea to charge more for the shipping so I can pack them in a more attractive manner. I think that if you communicated to your customer that I am saving you x amount of dollars by vacuum packing it, but and then you included a list of things to do to make the government look good again, right? Like, I mean, I don't I don't know what you do the backing back, I guess you cut it open on, then you hang it up and then maybe you could talk about steaming it or earning it or, you know, whatever, whatever you do, if it's like a wedding dress, you could included tips to care for the dress, you know, I think that that would be really great. B so you are, you are giving them value by making it not look it's pretty, but then you're going to help him get it to look as pretty, and I just got a dress in the mail, actually, and it had some creases, so she had pressed it beautifully, I could tell, but then I had to iron it, and I was wishing, actually, that I had tips for ironing, I don't I I only iron for this on actually, I had a text from my friend who said, you're going to iron your clothes, right? I mean, that's, how well don't I am for not ironing? So I wish that I had some tips for ironing, and so if you're sending governments about and they're going to get their ringley vacuum pack that's so thoughtful for your person to teach them how to do that because they might be ironing impaired like I am exactly you want people posting those photos of instagram of vacuum pack right good idea to tell them hey, fluff it up and take you absolutely for sure any more questions about connecting with your your customers after they buy? Because this is really the key to repeat customers people always want to know how do I increase my sales? How do we get people coming back and it's really about what what you do afterwards, just like every part of the customer path you're not going to force him towards anything, you're gonna make it really easy for them. So include a hashtag included a little card make it easy for them to tell their friends make it all in alignment, so when they open it, they they wantto do something and share it with people. And and then and then the thing about making them about part something bigger going to talk about that on page forty two of your workbook ask a few questions about what kind of community you could create and what kind of things you could bond over now this might be a symbol is having a hashtag on instagram or twitter that people share so that your customers khun see what other customers have bought has also might be like if you have a geeky themed business that you have game of thrones watching party on twitter that's what someone of my people do or if you are doing a nit along that you have a conversation where you guys talk about what podcast you listen to while the unit it couldn't be anything that people who were into your thing or going to bond over like maybe with your hashtag with your bridal stuff they share when they post their gorgeous photo of them in your thing and then they share one memory of their day and what you're really collecting is these beautiful bridal memories or maybe they share one tip for doing your hair with the thing you know and I mean like you can ask people teo share more or be part of something and of course not everybody's going to because not everybody's audience wants to be on twitter, instagram or flicker or whatever, but if they if that is who your audience is and you think they would like to be involved, that just makes them feel like they're part of something bigger and that is why they're going to remember you and come back again. So just a few things to remember before we go today the first one is that you're right, people really want what you sell, so we've been talking about your customer path all day long, and the thing that really distracts people from doing their marketing is that they forget that they're talking to people who want what they have your thing fills their need and it has benefits in their life and they want to hear it, so you have to keep that in mind. You have to keep it in mind when you make it clear offer you have to keep that in mind when you think about what to block about what to send emails about your people want what you sell, you're doing them a service by offering it in a clear way. You are making their life easier by clearing that path so that they don't have to take the weed wacker out themselves and it's your responsibility to make it easy for them that's your job, your job is not just to make awesome work and to do it in integrity, but also to share it and integrity so that they can find it because your work, all of your doing his work is amazing. Everybody that I've seen on twitter with the hashtag swagger live their stuff is awesome, people love it, but you can't just hope that customers find you. You can't just hope that people stumble on you. You have to take responsibility for letting them find you. And now, with all of these worksheets that we did today, you have the tools to know what steps to take for each part of the path. And, you know, in the beginning of class today I drew out the various customer paths that you could have and you wrote down your customer path. So I really want you to think tonight about what part of your path needs work. We generated lots of ideas for every single part, but you are not going to work on everything all at once because you just get overwhelmed. Instead, pick one part of your path that could use some work. One part that will help you reach your goals and go back to session one that would be in line with what it is you want from your business and your life and your north stars, and then pick a few things you could do in that customer path and generate some ideas. Okay just be thinking about it now that you're thinking about it in a path sense you that might help you clear up and stop being overwhelmed by all the different options out there any time you come across a tool you think where does this fit on my path did a question you say it's okay for a business to weave eleven to change if your business changes completely it's okay to contact you customers to tell them I used to sell textile jewelry but now I'm doing something completely different absolutely said yes absolutely to contact them do you have them on an email list or they're just you have their email addresses because you assaulted and see its customers yeah, I would conduct maybe start with like five or ten not make it too big of a job or else he'll be over home by it but I would absolutely let them know you're doing something new not in a sale zewe but because it's like we're talking about before that it's going to be even if it's something totally different is going to be consistent cause it's all you and I know you're working as a very consistent to vision and aesthetic so I think it will appeal to the same people for you to say I know you know you know me from this but now I'm doing this new project that's different and I thought you might be interested especially if they were a genuinely happy customer they're going to like what happened I want to know what you're doing you know and that's the thing to keep in mind is it your people really do want whatyou dio even if you change what you sell some amount of people won't be interested but the ones who love your vision and also want this new thing will want to know about it for sure cool any other questions here from the from the studio audience yeah kale story oh, I think story okay, so I promised uh it's because it wasn't looking my notes I was just like listening to you guys so when it comes to being comfortable selling, uh selling what you make eye in describing this class on my blogger and newsletter someone replied to me and said I have a story that you can use in your class that's all about not being comfortable talking about making the sale just like I failed to make a clear offer and I know that's what you teach so I have to tell you this story so let me see if I wrote it down so I can get the details just write so villette who is an artist she also does artist consulting with people um I just wrote kale story okay, so let me try to get all the details right she does consulting with people for their artists business, she has published an amazing book, it's called journal bliss. You should go find it on, and I feel that, uh, as as a really artistic life and style, and so she will occasionally do coaching with people who want to take their our business to the next level because someone contacted her and said something like, I want to pick your brain about improving my business and she had assumed that they saw the page on her website where she described her consulting sessions and so they lived in her town. So she said, ok, let's, work out a time free to come do that they did the time they they had the meeting at her house, the person stayed for a good long time. They talked, they did all this stuff. The lady got up and left and she never paid on. And then he let realized I never made it clear for her that this is something I do for sale. She contacted me because she likes what I do, but she never clicked over to that page. Probably like we're sending the best about the lady that the lady didn't try to like. Get out on the bill right? Like she just truly didn't know that was something she charged for she thought she was doing it out of the kindness of her heart is in the lady contacts or later and says, oh, I wanted you to know I have all I wanted to thank you somehow for what you did, what you did was so amazing and the lead at this point has, like, been quite upset when she just meant all this time and effort and she'd like written out like plans for this lady she had given are like, you know, all this information and written plans and I think they did like a kind of mine map e thing together in a super artistic way so it's very high value the lady contact her and says, actually I have way too much kale in my garden side absolutely just loved to bring you some kale because that's, the way I'd like to thank you for this session that's normally a couple hundred dollars I think that's what she should be charging for it and she's like I had to just laugh at that point because I don't even like kale, but apparently what I had communicated in my work is that this was his valuable as some extra cale from your garden, you know, because she wasn't clear about how to talk to people about making the sale and so, of course, I wrote her back, and I was like, okay, so for next time, when somebody contacts, you get them to pay first and, you know, work up a sentence, practice that sentence of, like, thanks so much for your interest. You can find details about booking this here, that's all you have to say, the person might go, oh, so you want to have her free, in which case, the answer is no. I want to look for caylee, either. So that's. The kale story. Sorry, I'm not sure it earlier.