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Writing Orders

Lesson 29 from: Sell Your Products to Retailers

Megan Auman

Writing Orders

Lesson 29 from: Sell Your Products to Retailers

Megan Auman

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Lesson Info

29. Writing Orders

Next Lesson: Guest Buyer Q&A

Lesson Info

Writing Orders

We have built so much from the start of this workshop to hear right feels like ages ago we talked about your pricing we got that all set up, we figured out who your ideal customers were we've prepped those line sheets, we've research stores and now we've built a fantastic trade show booth so we've got one thing left to dio and that's that we want to get those orders right that's what we're all here for, we want to get those orders and then of course we want to keep them coming so as we know there are two places where we're going to get the order one is going to be in our online system and that's gonna be pretty straightforward you're gonna have something set up to take orders from those buyers, whether it's having them email them to you, maybe you've got that online shopping cart or maybe you've just got a great form that they can fill out, so that was pretty taken care of and you know there might be some email back and forth, but that feels a little more passive. What we don't talk ab...

out here is asking for those orders at a trade show right cause that feels a little scarier, doesn't it? It was a little scary uh I'm part of the reason that might feel little scary is because you're asking for something were you even if the whole conversation goes well, you still might get that no right? But not right now that I'm not ready so there's a little bit of fear in doing that, but I want to remind you guys of that quote that we had that you know, the best salespeople are the ones who get the most knows right? Because it means they're asking, so don't be afraid to ask for the order. What I see happens so often in the trade show is your having this great conversation with a buyer everybody's up here, things are going great, and then you kind of get to like the awkward law the buyers kind of processing in their head, like, do I want the order? Do you not want the order and you're like, I don't know if I'm supposed to ask this is an opportunity where yes, do not be afraid to ask for the order and there's a few different ways that you can think about doing that. S so how do you ask for the order order? You know, the symbolist is just to be straightforward do you want to put together in order? Would you like to start putting together in order? They've looked at some pieces, they're talking about what they like, I would like to start putting the other in order hopefully the answer is yes your order forms already any on your clipboard and ready to go, but we've got the order form. We've got the clipboard we can go through, and we can start writing that order. If you're not quite sure where you're at, you can also start to kind of build a little more slowly towards the order. So especially if your products are small. Would you like me to grab a tray so you can start pulling together in order? So we've got this big booth, obviously. Now we've got all our fantastic front row students product, but we've got this big booth with a lot of products, right? And buyers, they're trying to pull out what's gonna look best in their store, so I always keep a few trays in my secret storage we'll use this is my trade for the moment, and that way a buyer can kind of work through. I love these earrings. I have to have those one if I'm getting those, I definitely have to get this necklace right, so they're going to start to pull together and it helps them see how this order is going to look in the store, and once they've pulled that together, then you can go ahead now my clipboard discovered in product, grab my other clipboard with my order form and start writing that order. Even if your products are bigger, if things were just taking up a lot of space, they might want to move them around you know, when I have the pillows in my booth, they're not going to buy all of them so that they still might pull them down group them together so it's a great way to really encourage that because once they've put that grouping together once they've had their hands on it, that means they're ready to commit. But the other question that you khun dio, is you some kind of ease into it with a you know, what? Do you think you'd like this in the store? So you're having conversations, you've talked about your minimum orders, you've talked about your lead times, you know, you kind of have that conversation and it feels like you're creeping towards the sale, but you're not sure secret is I'm like, you know what? Would you want this in the store? Maybe we're going like, you know what? I'd really love a september first ship date fantastic that works for me let's write up the order so you're kind of like incrementally working towards it because chances are if they've been with you for a long amount of time and they started to pull that product, they're ready to write the order there kind of ready to go for it so typically what's gonna happen when you're writing an order I'm gonna grab a pen and I will walk you guys through this because honestly the first time that I did a show like I said I was like listening to my neighbour I'm like what are they doing what are they asking a buyer like what's going on uh oh tiffany you're in my buyer again seventy's clearly returned by her because she's wearing a fantastic mega diamond necklace already so you know tiffany has started it and it's quite possible this point we've kind of worked our way out actually we're probably were probably well my products here so we'll stay here but we've probably worked our way out you know? We're not it's not behind the table anymore we've had this conversation s so we're kind of working on this so yeah us are putting together an order yeah also all right, so then what's gonna happen typically is tiffany might hear me her business card right away that's gonna have all of her contact info on it if she doesn't hand me that business card, I have to make sure I asked for it before we're done with the steel or off I'm not going to know how to get in touch with her so I'm not gonna worry about filling in any of the top part of this form yet so we're just going to start with the products tiffany's gonna pull something so you might say, like, I want to have this, I'm gonna write that down on the right too, and we're gonna move through that like this. Ok, so now we've written everything down. I typically don't total and order, you know that? Does he really want teo typically won't total in order unless a buyer asks me, tio, just because usually we're all busy, right? We hunting one to get it, get it going quickly. And I also don't always feel at this description form again unless the buyer asks me, teo, because right, we're in a hurry, we've got a lot, they've got a lot going on, so I'm always going to feel an item numbers I'm always going to feel in quantities because I want to know how many of something they want right and that I'm always going to fill in prices and then if they want these things, I can do that, but it does take a little more time as we know everyone's in a hurry because I'm not feeling in descriptions, I'm always making sure if people want a line sheet, so we'll do the order, so now we've done the order, and so I've got the silver and down some say, what? Would you like this in store? Next week you know what next week is a little tough for me like I've already got some orders so what if we say, you know, three weeks out from now so yeah that's right? So I'm gonna write and I'll put asap on here that way in case you need it sooner I can get that to you if it thank you I've got asap, but I'm making a note that I promised her three weeks and then I'm gonna say you want to call for the cards or you wanna give it to me now I'll give it to you now perfect that's gonna order out the door faster, right? So we're going to do that and then if I haven't already, I'm gonna ask again, you know, kind of your business card that way I know I've got all the contact info, so I've taken the credit card I've written that down, I've got her card I'm actually still this point sort of just holding her business card in my hand, right? And I must say, alright, fantastic if you could sign the bond without for me kevin he's gonna sign that I'm gonna pull this off I'm gonna pull these apart and say you want a copy of the line sheets, you know what you're getting yeah, good idea so well, stable these together that's tiffany, I'm to say thank you so much. It was great to meet you, and I'm so excited to have your products. I have my products in your store. I am a swell awesome uh, seven he's gonna walk away. I'm gonna come back here. I'm going to stable that that, you know, stable my business card so I know what's going on there. I like I'm kind of a nerd, so I like to organize all my orders in a binder. Well, this is all going on. It's helpful to have a system. Things get crazy in a trade show, right? Like I want to be throwing, you know, I've got an order. It's got credit card information on it. I don't feel like they're stephanie's order. I'm a friend one teo through like all her orders like, ah, garbage it's actually a pretty garbage can. She had nothing. What are you doing? So we don't do that, so I actually stable the business cards. I move them in so that I can then three hole punch my little order and I stick it in my binder and I always stick them in my binder. In the order of when they're gonna ship not the order, I've received them at the show that way, at a glance, I can go through and see what my ship dates are. Now, some people will also keep a calendar so they might mark on their calendar when they've promised ship dates because you don't want to over promise. So just like tiffany and I did in that interaction, you know? She said, can I have it next week? And I said, no that's a little too soon I'm not ready. So then we talked about a new ship date, right? So don't be afraid to say no if you can't get there no, I can't do it for next week. You know what? I've already got a ton of orders for september first. Why don't we do september fifteenth instead, you can pick whenever you want as faras scheduling orders out of the show, I like to kind of set ship dates for like first and fifteenth just cause I'm not shipping like every single day you might want to set sail like once a week, maybe you're tryingto set your ship dates around fridays. I don't like to have to look at a calendar every time I do a lot of conversation, so the first and the fifteenth keeps it fairly easy. But if a store says can I have it on september tenth? I'm not gonna say no to that that still gonna work for me? So the other thing is that after the buyer has left, I am going to feel in a couple of other things I want to put the date of the order so that I know when I got it and particularly because, you know, if I'm doing multiple shows in a season, I want to remember which show they placed the order at I don't write the show, but if I've written the date, I know what show I was at, so if I if tiffany hadn't given me her credit card and I had to call her, I would say, hey, this is meg anon and I'm calling for tiffany. She placed an order with me a creative live, and I'm just calling to get the credit card because the order is ready to ship and that's all you have to do if you get that call for credit card, let them now and so with me there's also a slight conversation with whoever I'm talking to you. What company are you from? Meghan amit and what's your name mega nominee way play that little game for a minute and that's okay it's fine on and that's why I typically say product too, because they might not always remember like meghan was a jeweler companies so I'll say she placed in order with me for some jewelry at such and such a show and I'm calling for the credit card sometimes you play phone tag for a day or two but typically that also tends to be a fairly painless process so I'll make that although three right now total up the order so I know what it is and then I also keep a log in the front of that finder where I write down every day you know who I've sold to, what the order total was and when the ship status so at a glance I kind of have a sense of what's going on in my show you don't have to do it exactly like that find a system that works for you but I again I would recommend a system and not theirs the order now we can move on all right so we are going teo talk about what to do once we're home with those orders but first we're going to practice a little more s o I am super excited to bring up brandy chalker brandy used to own her own store specializing in handcrafted work but now she is the buyer for the museum of craft and design here in san francisco it's coming up randy, thank you so much so what we're gonna do is we're actually just gonna practice sales a little bit more, but instead of me trying to ask questions like a person, who's never been a buyer and only been on this side of the table, we've got brandy. You can ask questions from someone who's been on that side of the table, so we're going to bring up some of our front all members, and they're just gonna have a little conversation and I'm gonna be standing by just in case things get out of hand. They were already doesn't bite, I promise, but I'll give you guys a chance to practice talking to a buyer and hearing the kinds of questions that a buyer might ask you if you're dealing, your products were going and up first. Thank you. Jump back in there. Sorry, just yes, you could jump right? And so I will say brandy that I've been doing this sort of fake walk by, like, trying to grab her way just like that because my things always like, oh, my god, I love your haircut it's so cute. My hair used to be like that too. Something like a perfect start. I do it all the time waiting, starting. Yeah, doing this sort of awkward, just looking at not making eye, I exaggerate. That's. Good. I like. Okay, cool. Yeah, as a buyer. Sometimes it's a little bit awkward and you're like you just want to look without being pitched to so that's a good a good tactic I would. Okay, sweet. All right. My brand is called an apple. We've been around for about five years now, specializing in clothing for infants as well as toddlers. This is one of our most popular sellers. This is called the cali love it's, made with felt that's made from recycled plastic bottles which our customers really, really loving, the dot design as well as our business time does really well in stores as well as I don't have the bib. So adjusting, pretending I have the big versions here is well, um, do you make all of these products yourself, or do you have people that work for you? So, yes, we do everything in house. We do the laser cutting locally based in sacramento, and then all of the applications done right in our studio are turn around right now is typically about two to three weeks a little bit longer during the holiday season because we do have just a three person production team, but that's something that our customers really values is everything's made in house. All right, so, yeah, what is your cutoff date for the holidays? I'm kind of planning for christmas right now. I need to know what I have to put orders and for the holidays. I would say it's looking like med september. Okay, don't. No way. You would kind of have more that idea and kind of no, like what is the absolute latest time and sometimes all say, like, you know, um if there's time, I can sneak in a little fill in order. You know, like, I'd love your order by september fifteenth. But if there's time and it sells well, you know, we can probably sneak in another order at the end of november if you need it. And is there a way? Like can I say it depends on the volume? Yes. You can absolutely say s o that might be a great thing to say. You know how you know how many pieces are you looking at? Because it could change that as well. Okay, well, that would depend. How many pieces are you looking at? Tell me about your well in your space. We have just kind of a small baby section just making this up on dh. Yeah, so I'm thinking, you know, maybe just a small selection of the ones he's in the bibs but I guess if you could tell me about sort of the age range of your product should be helpful to like definitely looks like maybe it's a little bit for an older child, so this is our latest thing that we've come out with for the spring because we do have hoodies but those air a little bit thicker and we wanted to serve our clients that want something a little more lightweight. So we brought in our toddler cardigans and these air doing really, really well both on the retail and as well as on earth in our stores, so our infant body suits started a three to six months go although twelve to eighteen and then we're finding people really want to transition into the size twos and fours and we go up to a six and then our blanking sorry toddler cardigans are available in two foreign six ok? And then our infant bibs are a standard three to twelve months, but what we're finding is that, um, children able to wear them to at least two years old, okay? And do you find that stores normally carry a range of all of the ages of your products or do they tend to stick just with older kids just with infants? Honestly, it kind of depends on your clientele we have we certainly have some boutiques that just carry the body suits for infants. We have some just not as many but just carried strictly b uh toddler t shirts but we find that a lot of our retailers carry a nice range at least from the three to six months off to about a fourth. Okay, and what would you say are probably your most popular sellers when it comes to style and the actual design that you have on that? So since you are a san francisco based company, the cali love is definitely the most popular a cz well, as our business time, people really love the little pocket because it's good for like a pacifier clipper important business document you really think like that and then a cz faras the bibs people love the kind of boy themes like this, but we're finding that a lot of people kind of want the girls in these two so we'll do these in pink at this point I would show the actual reference pink with the black you know something alone, especially in san francisco they're a little willing to not be boy versus girl on definitely probably holed up my callie love version as well things that are a little more gender neutral so our nom nom as well as our callie love in sort of primary color or oranges and and yellows also worked very well for the people that are specifically boy versus girl alright and minimum orders minimum quantities dollar amount that work for you because I haven't worked out the new ones I'm going to quote my old ones uh opening order minimum three hundred and then we have one hundred fifty dollars reorder minimum okay, but that's something that you know we're we're totally open to work with you on okay? All right good should offer that right away do I wouldn't let her go on then in your case and I know we're still you're still figuring out if you're gonna have those per piece you know, like if you're gonna have a per item thing but if you're if you're not if you're not doing that and say there's no minimum per piece just so she knows she doesn't have to order like six of the same ones six of the six okay, I know that if she does not have to do that just so she knows it's three hundred dollars and you can a sort anyway that you okay? So that's still being on dh if we ever had a customer who came in and really liked something but they wanted it in different colors do you do custom orders orders? I needed like one piece because they really loved this but they wanted a green california sure so because we are a small production team and we do everything in house, that is something that I would hope that you would check with me first before committing to with the customer that's definitely something that we're open tio we do it every now and then, but I do have a x amount additional charge for something like that ok alright continues that should be but what I would like to order a thousand dollars because you answered my question really great the one thing that I did notice that I think might be sort of helpful is when you talked about sizes you went super fast and I don't know like if you were if freddie was actually really wanted to write the order like that was a lot of information and what might be easier if you might have your line sheet but maybe you also have, like just a one page that's a cheat sheet of sizes. So when the buyers asking that question you can say, you know, this is our range and just to help you remember like here's this little just especially with like this specs on yeah, maybe something that just helps them so that they know like son is that you hear it and you're so overwhelmed a trade show and you're like, I don't know what's going on and to have that little visual like, okay these are the so that as you're like then going through the order and it's like oh, I definitely want this one and the buyer can kind of be referring to that cheat sheet like okay comes in this okay I want this size the size and the size then okay? It's harsh because everybody's watching me I talk fast so e o okay, but that might just be one way to make the ordering process a little bit easier okay? And just to sort of add on to that if it's something that can be condensed onto one sheet and it can maybe have your prices if you don't have prices on your tags anywhere it's really helpful to get a visual like in a little stand or something like that for me it could be awkward to ask people about prices all the time so that's my personal preference is two have things clearly labeled with the wholesale price and that way I can sort of glance at it and know if it's in my price point or not and I don't necessarily have to engage if all of a sudden it looks like it's going to be too expensive so gotcha and then since we're talking about that so so obviously for retail but for a whole cell setting should I have the wholesale prices on like a retail tag or is that something where I'd take this approach where it's on its own little independent for clothing I know what you have a small enough number of types of products that you've got one's easy about t shirts you got cardio you've got bibs there's not a ton of options so you could actually like a little like greatest little sheet on stan wholesale prices one z's ex you know t shirts x you know or you know what a good menu exactly little menu so they can add a glance see what the price ranges is going is going to really help on that case that way she's not having teo because if you're a buyer and you wanna move on quickly and you're having to like flip and read and now suddenly you're sucked into a conversation that maybe you didn't want to have this way of glances and then if it's not her price point, she'd move on cool yeah would it be appropriate at this point for anna or whoever to ask for a credit card from the when they're feeling in the order? So this is going to be like like we did in that practice scenario with tiffany where you know we're going to get to the end we're going to get to the ship date and then you're going to ask, you know you want to give me the credit card now or should I call the store so it could it could go either way but you're gonna at least want to arrange how you're getting the credit card we want to make sure that conversation has had yeah don't forget to ask for payment okay? Awesome, right? Yeah, yeah so we're just gonna move right down the line toa alright sold the subject because the messiness of it is gonna gonna drive me o tio merchandise are like let's straighten that out a fire all right, so you can do your same same thing walk on by whatever you want to know. How are you today? Good. How are you doing? Well, the's a really cute designs can you tell me a little bit about like, where does the color? Sure. So the color is glass on metal. Okay. Actually, really durable when people hear glasses because they get afraid, but it is great for everyday wear, okay? And you do the work yourself? I do. Yeah. I'm the diner and everything is produced in house by me right now. Okay, great. Um, what are what's your price range for your item price range is thirty to ninety dollars. Okay. Is that wholesale or retail asshole? Say the wholesale price. Okay? And some of our most popular are those little studs that you have your crude and that color in particular, my customers love that robin include everything have you been doing this for a while? Like have you seen sort of changes and in colors over time? I've been doing this for about seven years and that is assistant lee over the last seven years of your best seller that's get teo but people are definitely getting more little more adventurous on like the short truce has been, you know, a swell okay, do you sell so I manage on store museum store under the museum of craft in design in san francisco. Do you sell to any other stores in san francisco currently. Okay, but that would be great e o forward ah, um you know, I'm always looking for sort of interesting handcrafted pieces exam for our store. Can you tell me a little bit about the medals that you use? It looks like there's some brass and is the sterling silver got it? S so all the enamel is done on copper and the pieces that touch skin are enameled on both sides just for comfort in yosemite and then everything is sterling silver or oxidized except for the larger piece which for us? Okay, what's, the care for these two do the enamel pieces tend to tarnish? You have to do anything very low maintenance. You get his polish o with a sock, klaus, sometimes I'll just buffet with my shirt and it looks great that's. Really simple. Um, all right. And do your pieces come with any kind of special packaging or, like a little card that tells people about the work? And I have little cards very simple on the front. So most my retailers like that and then on the back, I'll just say what the practice. I think his customers are unsure what enamel is, so just give them up there. Okay? Okay. That's. Great. And what are your minimum order? And order is three. Fifty and reorder is hundred fifty meters one hundred fifty, right? Andi, I just always like to ask this because we do have customers who come in and they want something kind of special done. Do you ever do custom work for people? Also charge a ten to fifteen dollars, custom fee, depending on what the piece is and how a specialized it is for that person. Okay, all right. Um, let's. See what other questions, what I have? I mean, I'm gonna jump in with two little things. Sure. Fantastic. Yeah. So one of the things is that when you did kind of talk about you, she asked about the price and you mentioned the range, but I would dive in here and say, like, so it starts at thirty dollars for these little earrings and it goes up tio you know the ninety fear and then if you want if you want to pick this up and obviously do the touch thing that's great too but just giving her some context for this price is kind of like really helps toe like her right on the other thing that that when you were doing with the color that was really great isn't he said like these are my best sellers and the people are kind of jumping up to this but I would also and obviously you would have maybe like your color samples but you want to say and they're like this is how many colors I offer on and you also want to know like, you know, do you see a mass of the two custom and maybe you might do well, you do a custom shape, but maybe you won't do a custom color so you want to think about like, thieves air my eight colors are you gonna deviate from that right? You can say like we do it you know, we offer every of one of our designs in these colors games yeah agree so that's me danger yeah, thank you. Well, I think it's really so what's going on dinner started right let's see oh, right, all right wait any questions from the online audience all this going on uh probably, but I have one of my own just wondering at what point some of the storytelling around you know how we describe our work and talk about our work comes in in this process or does it not right? So this is a case where like obviously as you guys were learning you're kind of like less work on those things but um you know, look like I want to get out all the information but like you might start to tell the stories about how you know like um and I've totally is basing on some of your story is that you've been working on it but you can talk about like this is a piece that customers where every day and they actually in your case we're talking about you were wearing it with a lot of different colors so this is something that they're gonna wear with a lot of different colors, you know, in and anna's case, you know, one of the things that she could talk about is, you know, like typically we sell these these air gift items so if you have a lot of anti is a lot of people coming in, you know, so in this process, like don't be afraid to just integrate those those little stories in because they help make it a little more memorable when were quickly from the chat actually in nashville wants to know if you ever talk policies that are on the back of that order form or is that just on the buyer to sort of understand so but typically you're going to talk things like, you know, minimum opening order minimum reorder lead times and things like that and then some of those other policies like unless the buyers really asking you're not going to get into like the super details but I think they did a good job of saying like, oh yeah, I might have a custom fear like this is how we kind of handle that so it's usually if the buyer asks if it comes up great thank you awesome. I knew you guys were shipped from tiffany's on that side of the table all right, get around this way how are you? I'm good. How are you? And so this is your line of jewelry it iss okay, great. Can you can you tell me a little bit about it? Absolutely. So everything's handcrafted by me and oakland. Okay, yeah, I have studio space there and so sort of minimalist designs I wanted to be very lightweight for the customer, ok, yeah, geometric inspiration, shapes and all right and it looks like you use a variety of different metals you so fourteen carat gold phil yellow and pink and then I use an argentine silver which is a non tarnished silver well it's really great for sensitive years so it sort of has the same properties is a fine silver but with more of the durability okay and when it comes to meddle sensitivities how do your other metals work? Do you recommend them for people with sensitive skin the gold phil works as well as anyone who's you know not allergic to regular gold so it kind of operates in the same room it's definitely not a gold plated we don't like off yeah, one hundred percent more than gold only gold touches skin so his gold comer okay. So tired quality there all right and what what kinds of stores generally do well with your products usually small boutiques carrying clothing and other lines like that. Okay yes and hair salons oh here salons really alright great. And are these your wholesale prices here they yes that's not mine. So for the smaller hips the hips come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes and so the smaller hoops range from fifteen dollars and they go all the way up to twenty one okay and do you have a comprehensive line? She that maybe I could take a look at absolutely um and what are like, I'm asking a lot of the same questions but of course that way happened um do you have minimum order quantity yes three fifty in the nine hundred fifty reorder okay and are there per piece minimums? Um it's best if you order the hoops and more of a collection okay an individual's it's kind of nice to baby have like at least three different sizes okay yeah and so I am managing a museum store I don't know if you've sold in that sort of setting before but can you give me some pointers on which items you think might do well, we sort of have a wide range of jewelry prices from you know, less expensive costume jewelry up too you know, seven hundred dollars necklace is so in that sort of setting where we saw a little bit of everything what do you think might work? Well, you know, I could see gemstones working in a museum setting that geological aspect yeah and then geometric shapes may be selling well in there as well. Okay, yeah, all right. And what have been your best sellers besides, I imagine the round hoops probably thrown him. You're absolutely my best sellers. Yes on dh then really? Yeah, predominately earrings actually, some my best sellers aren't here I do sell a lot of rings stacking rings I do those in a variety of different metals inside things like that and they all kind of go together so that's another bestseller of minus well, okay, great. Um I think that's that's about it s a couple things that I think it could certainly happen here so like what are you wearing right now are you were nowhere anything? I'm only one worry obviously in this mary you be wearing your jewelry and not jewelry oh so this is the case you were you know, you certainly want to be wearing those hoops and that's a place where we come in with that those stories they were talking about your valley see I'm acting you know, oh, you know, what's your best eye wearing these right now you know, they're super lightweight I've actually been wearing them all day I hardly even noticed that they were there see start to kind of tell a little bit of that story on and I think you know, like you did a great job of crime answering the museum store and you can kind of emphasize like, you know, I think the geometrics tended you better there because they're a little different than the hoops like these they're kind of standard and they fit more of a boutique customer, but I think for a museum story you'd want something that was just a little more interesting on a little more different on the other thing that you could always do and obviously we're looking at such a a narrow range of everybody's product here that it makes it a little tough is you you can ask her she's saying, we're in the museum store, you know, do you guys have any upcoming exhibitions? Because sometimes they might want to pull some things out that relate to those so just knowing, like, oh, this is coming up oh, great, I have these pieces that I think could really compliment that exhibition really well, yeah, make sure you kind of know what's going on in the world before you ask that question. You don't know anything about art don't ask questions, then you're like, kaulder exhibition on t o s, you know, kind of make sure that you're doing that as well, so okay. Yeah. That's. Great. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah. Here, it's about actually brandy. Because I'm in both, lindsey. In tiffany's case, they explained that they more or less cottage industries, they make their own materials. Except that didn't seem to faze you is so mean. Do you really not worry about time? Production times, etcetera? Well, my experience is a buyer has been in really small scale institutions, my own gift shop that I owned and now a very small museum store. So my focus has actually been on handcrafted that's a preference for me. I've never been in a situation where I'm buying lots of mass produced items s o I don't have much of a perspective on that but for me that's actually a selling point I like to have things that are unique that have a story behind them that have some sort of special characteristic to them that will draw my customers on dso you just expect that lead times will be a little bit longer things might be you know, a little bit more on the unique side not everything will have that mass produced feel we're look to it s so that's what I'm looking for personally come to the right place way on this case teo and I was kind of noticing with everyone and I know this is everyone sort of like first practice but brandi was definitely drawing out a lot of questions from you guys, eh? So hopefully you guys are paying attention to what those questions are because we did start to hear them over and over again on and you know, those of you who purchased the all access you could go back and listen again and again because you'll get those same questions from everyone so what starts to happen then is eventually now again we're not like spilling over herself this's my product and this is my jewelry and I want you to see it right now, right? But I can cite in court look, I can start to anticipate what brainy might ask, and then we can kind of go through that process, and it starts to feel a little more natural in a little bit less like, um, right, did I hit teo? I could see a couple times brandy's like what? I ask that we want to make sure that, you know, we're kind of helping them along and and dissipating a few of those questions, and that just comes from time. The more you do this, the more you start to understand those questions, and it gets a little bit easier. Um, I do think you like lindsay, I don't know if you said and this is a case, especially where, you know your buyer is looking for handmade product. I'm not sure you ever said where you were based. So that's a nice thing to kind of throw in there, you know, I I'm working in colorado weigh right, so, yeah, in color, right? Exactly. So kind of clarifying things like that. So, sheila juve question. Yes. So all the common axed questions could they have been a list? A man? What a nice thing, a menu for prices, but maybe a menu for the minimum order is your lead time, should you pad that already out? Or no, I wouldn't say at some point you're getting tired of reading stuff right? It tends to be a little bit more of a conversation and fires really busy you're gonna cannon that line sheet and it's all on there in case they don't place the order and they forget but for the most part you know right prices are good because you know right away in her out but things like lead time and minimum it's the less critical to whether you're placing orders so that kind of stuff come out of conversation okay, yeah do we have other a few other questions for brandy while we've got her here? I know we really hinges allen kelly hard with segment, but maybe as you guys are seeing this kind of sales process happened is there anything of coming up so if you're usedto purchasing a certain line or you know what you're typically interested in buying um are you over open? Teo maybe considering something new here more specifically, I do a diaper changing clutch some targeting baby boutiques if perhaps this baby store has never done anything with it any kind of diaper pads and the likings wouldn't would it be okay for me, tio sort of suggest how that would help or, like, sell them on that or is that kind of tio yeah, I mean I think you definitely want to avoid seaming really pushy and that could be hard when you're first getting started because you're so excited about your product and you know why it's such a fantastic idea and everyone should use it that you can sort of you know, fall all over yourself trying to convince other people of that so if you can kind of practice that pitch a little bit but it's basically your elevator pitch right I'm not sure if he goes talking way we've been calling us peace so you're selling proposition where they're talking about the product itself yeah eso if you sort of get a chance to practice that beforehand and have it down so you can very casually just say oh well, you know here's an example of how your customers might be interested in my product it's a little different from everything else that's out there always you know, pointing out how it's different than what already exists and how it's going to solve a problem for my customers is very important but to do so in kind of ah casual conversation old manor as opposed to like jumping at me with all of the details you know right from the get go is definitely a good approach, right? Yeah the most important thing to remember is that these air always sales conversations we're working we're interacting and you definitely know it's greatly anticipate questions so that you're not waiting for the buyer to like always think of them but yet you're not trying to give them every piece of information right after the hello yes that's going to turn almost everybody off and you could also ask a question that's sort of an easy way to start your pitch about why your product is perhaps great for me like oh, well, I know that you're mostly a gift boutique, but do you have a lot of young moms that come in and shop with you? Okay, well, they might be looking for something along along what I have to offer even though it's a little different from your normal product range, eh? So that could be a good question to kind of get that conversation started awesome, thank you. Anything else in studio lp in our chat is asking what you have no two very little wholesale experience, so you really can't answer the questions about what sells well in stores and how do you recommend approaching that you go ahead and that I've got some thoughts? If you have something? Yeah, I'm actually kind of curious about what you had to say. I would be honest, but try to phrase it in a way that makes that sounds like you have some level of experience, so you know, I'm just getting my feet wet with selling in stores, but my my customers that I have that I've worked with directly and of course, my friends and family who support my business really love thes aspect about it or I get compliments whenever I wear these particular piece is the most so just finding positive things to say with the customers that you already have, you definitely don't want to lie to anybody from the get go, theo, but I think just being honest is generally appreciated, and I would add in there, so you absolutely do not want a lie. I am not all about lying, but if you sold one of this and you've sold two of these groups, I'm not look at it, it doesn't break if you please oh, my god, the's are your best seller, right? The's, you've sold more of these in this, and one of the things that I've always found over time is that your best sellers become your best sellers because you've told people that they're your best sellers, right? So people are like what's the best seller? This is my body, this is my best selling necklace and then great, I'll take one or, you know, I want two of those and I'm ordering one of every other necklace, right? So then it starts to amplify like, it really, really becomes the best seller, so even if it's and if it's not you know, you haven't you literally haven't sold anything. And I and I hope that by the time you guys were going to the trade show, you've been doing all that pitching that we talked about, and he's picked up a couple of accounts. You could at least identify things that people are gravitating towards and say, you know what? This has been really popular. People really gravitate towards this piece. They really love this one.

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Sample Order Form and Wholesale Terms
Trade Show List By Month
Trade Show Packing List
Private Facebook Group Access
Store Prospect List
Workbook
Syllabus

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

This is the first course I have bought. That's how valuable it is! I have a wish list of courses I dream of owning, but alas I'm on a 'starving' artist budget. I wish I had more time to watch all the free courses on CREATIVELIVE. I WISH I could 'save' a once for free watch time. they aren't 'conveniently' timed. And there are reasons I don't buy w/o seeing what the course entails vs. cost etc. I might buy more if I was able to do such. There are so many I am interested in but time constraints for watching it or catching a re-run are really prohibitive. I won't buy 'blind' and funds are limited. So I must be selective in choosing what to buy. It has to fulfill multiple requirements for me personally. Perhaps others have this dilema and CL could work on that. Or hey, maybe everyone just has more $ than they know what to do with. That said I am astonished that there are only 2 reviews that are lukewarm at best. This course crosses over so many platforms that whether or not I am ever intending to sell to retailers (which I have zero interest in) it is jammed so heavy with idea's and info on how to expand your mind and creative thinking processes that it's inspired me into action!!! My brain is on fire. Thank you Megan! I'd shave my head to own everything that Sue Bryce has taught. Megan is in that league of sharing insider info that is impossible to put a price on! I was only able to listen to a small percentage of Megan's free class, but it was enough to know that it was pure GOLD! Such Inspirational and visionary idea's are dense in this course. I also have sitting next to me two bags of coffee from one audience member! I think Creativelive is the #1 most amazing source I could ever hope to find and I still can't get over the steller excellence of the team that runs this. I live 4 hrs from Seattle (on a good day) and crave to be in an audience...but I love watching from my forest hideaway! The glitchiness in streaming during this course was annoying. I have broadband and multiple browsers to avail upon but there's something afoul in the air possibly because each browser had issues. Either audio was not working or visual was not working. I had to open 2 browsers. One for hearing and one for seeing. I hear from other brick and morters that make me think it is/was statewide. I will put the blame on Century Link because that was the common denominator. I'm following through on that one. They have been quirky ever since they took over Qwest. I'll end with major kudo's for the fantastic offerings that CREATIVELIVE has given to creative's everywhere! My life was changed when I stumbled on this tremendous opportunity. I am so forever grateful!

user fb434d
 

This is the perfect class for me! Was looking for this kind of information about doing trade shows and getting in to retail stores and found driblets of info here and there online. But, this is the whole deal and real deal. I think Megan is an AWESOME teacher and find her so easy to connect with. I love that she is funny and engaging and she clearly cares about the studio audience. She's a talented metalsmith and talented teacher. The information she gives in this course is so so so valuable. I feel like after going through this course and having it as reference I will be so ready and confident with taking my jewelry business to the next level. She makes it so approachable and breaks everything down. Thank you Megan!!

Ronda
 

Absolutely fantastic! Meg's course was one of, if not THE, most comprehensive and educational pieces I've seen in a long time. The knowledge she shared was dead on, inspiring and very, very generous and gracious of her. Meg presented the materials very well and the added bonuses were...well, just awesome! I've followed her blog for a long time and now I'm a fan of her classes. I'll be taking/buying more! Thank you SO much, Meg and Creative Live! 10 out of 5 stars for this class! - Ronda

Student Work

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