Lessons

Lesson Info

Guest Buyer Q&A

Would you like to do one more? Megan? Do you have time to move on? Because we have a special request from the chat room but it's up to you, you wave a smidge of time from video. You regret saying that? Jessie? So rude, you know, you're not just keep it. They would like to see megan go through the role play because they'd like to learn from the master wei let's pull out a couple of you think so, and we're actually gonna maybe do this one since brandy carries my work in the store, we're also going to give you a little bit of ah ah, you know, maybe we're not starting from scratch here, right? So, wei have a relationship to so you guys see that? So I'm just gonna swap out a little bit of products here really quick seventy is taking so long. All right, all right. So we'll pretend that this is my stuff too, and I'll let you know I'll let you walk the walk or kind of come over, all right? What's the point, but the best place for me to end up here. All right, so I see your comment. Hey, brandy...

, how are you? Good, I didn't know you were gonna be at the show it's so nice. To see you so let me actually show you what's new so you want to go there because I've got a few new things so how did everything dio in the store things were going pretty well you know we've been kind of going through the basics and so bigger bolder pieces they've been getting some attention but they haven't really been selling I s oh yeah do you have any new kind of more basic pieces in your life yes so let me show you some of the things that I've got that are new so I started doing this line on dh it's bronze and leather so I swapped out our steel for this leather piece which is great because it gives us a little flexibility right now play with the length a little s o this is obviously a bigger bolder piece but I'm also doing this chain pretend it's here with just the simple six pieces so it's a really easy to wear okay simple necklace and I'm also doing we're gonna imagine that this is here again and I'm also doing this long leather piece I'm that just has these two drops on its we've got this nice long simple necklace s o and of course you know you can always add in you know our best seller I think we probably did this one with you last time yeah that's simple chain necklace okay and that's still doing really great so good and how long have these pieces been out? S o these pieces just came out this summer, so I just started launching them but they've been really well received I've started to kind of put them online and they're getting into our stores and I'm actually also doing this line in the steel with a gray leather cord so okay, I know some people are are more grabbed him towards the bronze, but I know we've got those customers, especially those women that would like to wear a lot of that silver and gray, huh? They don't want the bronze and they want that kind of steel in silver, so I'm doing this in the steel with the leather on those are gonna be the same price point, so it's really easy to kind of figure that out so nice. Yeah all right, um so when are you taking orders for the holiday season? Yes, so I'm I'm pretty good on production right now, so I've gotten so that my assistant working for me, so we're kind of turning things out, eh? So I'm happy to take orders pretty much any time I'd love teo, you know, get you in order in the store, probably by like october first and that way we need to fill in one other time before the holiday season, we could do that, okay that sounds like a prophet at land. You want to start pulling together? Yeah, sure. Right. Remind me what? Your minimum for reorder. It s only been on for re order is one of fifty. We actually just changed it. It used to be single piece. And if you still want something custom, I'm happy to do that for a customer. Okay, but I do just charge a slight up fee. Now, just because we start, we have got a lot of those custom orders now, it's one fifty. But as you know, it's not gonna take us very much to hit that one. Fifty levels. Yeah. All right, all right. So, let's, go ahead and do it, then. Okay. Great way. Any questions from there? I think we're good. There will be some coming through. I'm sure once people have time, judges of this great I feel as a fire. I know it's like a really artificial scene was curious from your perspective. How it how everything felt, yeah, other than the fact that I was having to pretend that I'm not already familiar with some of these. Ahh, yeah. I mean, I think that it felt like a fairly standard trade show experience for me, I sort of generally spend a lot of time walking by and looking at things and then I come back to things that I was interested in on, and I'm not really sure if other buyers do that or if they just kind of jump right in, but I like to do kind of a circuit before I even stop and talk to anybody, and then I can kind of keep in mind who I want to go back, teo, so that for me, is why it's really helpful to have, like, the signs up, like I was saying, or having your pricing displayed in some way that's really easy to see, but yeah, I mean, the questions that I asked are pretty pretty standard questions that I ask everybody, you get bored hearing self say the same thing over and over and over again and out of the cellar, you'll get bored hearing yourself say the same thing I was trying to come up with some novel questions for here, but the reality of it is it's the same few things that really matter every time so that's why some of the same questions kind of got asked, so yeah, once you have your first three buyers that come by, you're then gonna be like, oh, ok, now I know what all the questions are, I think I mean, online, uh, metal musing is asking what turned you off during its sales conversation and we talked about someone sort of giving you all the information up front without sort of impromptu but do you have any other things that people should stay away from? Um, I feel like people having a good sense of when somebody is just kind of looking and wants to look anonymously versus when they're ready to be pitched to or to start that conversation is definitely really helpful I've kind of like run away from people sometimes I'm like I'm just looking no, I just want to you know, so I think that's something that it does take time to develop, but I think it's really important for people to be very self aware when they're behind the table s so that they can just sense when you know it's always good to greet people, but after that, people want to sort of feel anonymous when they're looking esso I like tio be able to approach the cellar with questions as opposed to having that information kind of given to me right away. So it's kind of the same thing is what I was saying before, but yes, it's the biggest thing, yes, one of the things that we would do like if I didn't know brandy and she was the new buyer coming up like she might come across here and I would say hi you know, maybe how are you? But sometimes I just say hi and then like I kind of take a little step back right? And I'm gonna get let her look and then I tried to wait for the pause right? So they kind of move and they're looking and if they get to something and there's the pause like you, she pauses here and then I say, oh, this is part of the new collection right or no pauses over here and as I mentioned, I got that common question of like, what is the material? So we don't have to handle this because brand has already carried me but like, you know, all the dark medalist steel and I might live again back off for a second so like, engaged and then back off and but then once you're in the conversation then you can start toe kind of once the conversation is flowing don't make him work for questions if you know that's what's coming, but certainly in the beginning of this I like hi, I'm here and I'm hanging back and now we're starting a conversation I loved how tiffany float around the table that was perfectly tiger that's so now flowing out we're having that conversation so it is like don't force it's just like with people like because fires or people way they are don't force that conversation yeah, sort of pretend that there may be a scared animal that, like, if you move too quickly, he might just run away way you think about it like that, then that will be helpful in your quest. Yeah, so in a museum or gallery store setting, like just like the gallery itself, you have rotating x libbets, is that kind of your approach as well? Or do you have, like, one third or your staple people? And then you're rotating, like, how is that different than a boutique? Um, you know, I'm not really sure how other galleries and museums operate, but for us, we tend to have all of our exhibitions are rotating we don't have a standard collection in the museum, so I'm always on the lookout for merchandise that goes along with or compliment, you know, in upcoming exhibition, but most of our items air staples, so a lot of our exhibitions don't really lend themselves well two products for the store. So my circumstance, this may be a little bit more unique than others, but when it comes to things like jewelry, accessories, you know, clothing. If it's a place that sells clothing, they tend to have a lot of just kind of the staple items on dh, then we look for specialized things, so if you're really going to pitch to a specific gallery or museum. It would definitely help to look into what their upcoming exhibitions are, because generally they're on the lookout for something in the compliments. But very often, your product might just have nothing to do with any of the exhibitions and that's fine, too. And then, when you were working with your previous boutique, is that kind of the same, like trying to think how to phrase my question, like what what's kind of the threshold before you're like, oh, this line isn't working as well as I thought it was. Is it like, ah, full round of seasons, or is it a little tighter than that or yeah, you know, when you're there, like, seeing the way your customers interact with things on a really regular basis, you concert, a sense when interest is waning and a particular product line. Um, so I generally give something when I start to get that sense of maybe this product line isn't going to work so well anymore if it is season specific like, say, it's, knitwear or something? Of course I'll wait through the next cold season to see how things do and if they pick back up again, but if it's something like jewelry that I would carry you around it's not really season specific like it's the you know, the great hoop earrings or something like those air, always a classic if they haven't really been doing well for about three months that's about the time when I say like, okay, you know, maybe this isn't going to be a good fit anymore, and then I'll see whether I really want to reorder and fill in the gaps or just kind of sell out the rest of the line, so I usually give it about three months unless it's a seasonal item, what? And this is a case to see no brain, and I talked about that maybe some of the bigger pieces of my line weren't selling well, so, you know, for the her second order, I would try to kind of mix some things and that hopefully help those bigger pieces sell, but if she comes back the next time around is saying, you know, those bigger guys still aren't selling that, okay? So I'm going to say, you know what, let's do an exchange, then, like, we know, we know the kind of simpler guys are selling, why don't you send me back that big piece that's just not working and we'll fill it in with more of what's selling for you because I want my stores to have stuff in this in the store that's actually selling and I'll take that piece and I'll send it to another store that's goingto move that product so yeah, we love it when our vendors are flexible about things like that whenever they help us make money, you were much more likely to rio because I know if I get the product in that you see sell you that you're going to just keep more of it. Uh, so and I just want to say one more thing to your kind of our online people as we're doing these things, so obviously there is this sort of element of play acting here and especially the like slate over acting for the camera. So do you take everything that we've done here with, like that tiny, tiny grain of salt and just know that, you know, in the beginning, it's okay, if you're a little uncomfortable, buyers don't bite, they're gonna walk you through it and it's better to get b that's slightly more hesitant, then be really, really pushy and you'll get those questions over you'll get those questions kind of down over time. We still have some people in the chat room who asked ovary, nervous and still very anxious, one person saying they really are very shy of the whole sales process, and they're asking brandy, how would you react if they actually got a sales person to do it for them? Would you rather deal with the with the person who's actually made the crafts? Or would it really not bother you at all? You know, if they're that level of uncomfortable with interacting, it would definitely be easier for the buyer to interact with somebody who is more comfortable socializing and being able to carry on that conversation. So if it's, this fabulous jewelry designer who is painfully shy, then you know, if you have ah friend or somebody that you trust to really represent your line and be able to answer the questions as well as you would answer them, then yeah, I think it's perfectly fine to have a stand in, yeah, and there's actually a perfect example of that there's, a great jewelry line on dh and the couple who runs it it's really on tonight, but they're like, super shy, and so they're a little socially awkward. I've done some shows them, and they're awesome people, but there they will be the first to admit if not quite there scene so they'll do things like seek out in turns and then now they're employees like they're looking for people who feel way more comfortable in the trade show booth so when it it goes after they've like if you're finding help you would only people who are the same as you write what people who have opposite strengths so if right fighting that friend I love bringing my sister to show is because she is more social than I am so you guys here with alice? Yeah, right? So she is the one who's like super engage company everyone and it's great because I can leave the booth for a few minutes and I know she's going to write an order so you know, looking for people that really help you yeah, and if you're gonna bring friends to help you right bring those friends who maybe help you when you're a little shy don't bring the friend who's like super shy and going to sit in the back of your booth and I could be the beauty shop back there so clay stuff I think we're in good shape awesome you one more question monica yeah looking so money that's what I'm hoping that maybe both of you guys could weigh in on this what percentage of your accounts or both of you are coming from direct cold calls versus trade show um I couldn't really tell you a direct percentage a little bit of both I get a lot of pitches from people and I would say I only ever actually enough working with a small percentage of those people, but I love going to trade shows as well, so I would say, you know, maybe seventy five people that I find myself either in trade chose or doing internet searches were seeing them and other boutiques or something like that and then twenty five percent people have contacted me awesome. Yeah, uh, but I would say for me, because my outreach is very trade show heavy probably, you know, aidan ninety percent of my stores have I've at least met at a trade show once there's very few accounts that I have that I have not ever seen at a trade show on some of those might be people who have gotten that postcard for me when I do that pre show postcard mailing on dh then every so often you have buyers reach out because maybe they saw me on social media or they saw me in a press peace I was featured in, but for me most of the buyers to come from trade shows yeah, shankle eso saying you have designers that you're carrying in your store and you know that they're going to be at the show and you want to swing by there, booth how often do you want to see designers? Maybe like put some new designs out for you like you said you had some of those staples but what do you want like freshen up lies in your store? Um do you mean like percentage of their how like how often teo said how often do you want to see new things from your regular designers? Okay, that was eloquent not constantly I mean, if I if I had a really high volume store then maybe a little bit more frequently but unless I'm flying through your line than you know two times a year would definitely be nice you know sometime in the summer perhaps like late summer getting ready for the holiday season that's always a good time to pitch people with new things and then if it's jewelry related coming up tio teo valentine's day is of course really important and that kind of coincides a little bit with the holidays so this could be the same kind of launch of new things we like holidays and keep in mind valentine's day but you know, of course different products are different but yeah more than twice a year and it sort of gets to be a little bit too confusing of like wait what do you even sell now? Can you still get the old pieces here coming up with these new pieces all the time? Yeah what's up paul awesome. Well, I want to thank brandy so much for being here. I think we learned a lot, and everyone really enjoyed getting to practice. So thankyou, granny and