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| Beautiful... |
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| and delicious! |
And we love when Dad works from home and is here to share meals with us and play and cuddle and change some diapers here and there.
But it is also so nice to have a quiet morning to ourselves. We walked the dogs to the playground in the morning sun. My first walk with stroller and both dogs by myself. I feel incredibly accomplished that this was not a disaster. We played with toys and in the sandbox. We ate snacks and read books and cuddled.
And I actually got things done during nap time! "Boring" business things that I am actually so excited about. I am learning how to use a new online line sheet, inventory, wholesale, bookkeeping type program called StitchLabs. It can do so many cool things, most of which I don't quiet understand yet, and I might not ever. For now it is a free trial, and I love really using my brain to try to figure out what it can do, what I want it to do, what I should do with it. I will update here as I learn more and if I decide it is actually worth paying a monthly fee for. I spent last night and this morning's nap making a line sheet with it. According to all the blogs I have read giving advice on wholesale, a line sheet is THE most important thing. For those like me about one week ago who had no idea what this is, it has pictures of all available products, descriptions, price and available stock. Pretty genius actually. And now that I have one, I feel so organized and professional! It is all printed in color, in a binder with sheet protectors. I also have it available as a PDF for emailing purposes. Eee!
So with all of my excitement at having my fancy professional binder and line sheet, a professional business lady outfit (shockingly not involving yoga pants,) and my bag of finished bibs, my tiny, trusty assistant and I spent the time between nap and lunch heading to a beautiful children's boutique not too far from here. I am trying to get over my nerves at walking into a store with my bibs. I am believing wholeheartedly that the Universe looks out. And that all they can say is no. Today was my second in-person sales attempt. I tried another local boutique last week, a week after the email I sent went without response. The woman working was not the owner and although incredibly friendly, was not involved in buying. She apologized for the lack of email response. Took my card with the promise to tell the owner I stopped in and that I would hear from them soon. No news a week later. I still believe the Universe is looking out, and it is telling me that particular shop is not the one for me, so moving on. And I was really so excited and feeling extra confident today.
And we received more or less the same response as store number one. Not the owner. Very friendly. Although she did give me the email address of the owner and the advice that she likes to do all her buying through email.
No bad experiences so far, but nothing too exciting either. All learning experiences and confidence builders. And some time spent walking around a beautiful shop with Annie in the Ergo is never bad.
So home it was for lunch, some empty bowl drumming, ball rolling and puppy petting, and nap number two. We are enjoying our calm and quiet together. Now there is only one question left for my day… spend the rest of nap number two doing laundry and dishes and getting started on dinner, or check out the 10% off everything at purlsoho.com
Tough call :)
Hey, don't get down about the reactions you got from two shops.
ReplyDeleteIn my non sewing life I offer marketing and business tax advise.
In sales, cold calling does not work. Do your homework first: Look at what the boutique is selling. Are products similar to your being sold? what style? how much for? you need a pitch for the shopkeeper: Why should they sell your product? Does it cover an unfulfilled need for them? does your style match what they sell? Will it fly of the shelves? If you have a track record of sales by area (location) take it with you.-if you know families live there and there are potentially 100 baby birthdays a month, tell them!-your library has these kinds of stats.
So after you think about all these things, call ahead and make an appointment to see the owner. Tell them you are very excited to show them your amazing collection that will totally add to their lines and would make great sales for them. Get them interested on the phone!
Then go to your appointment and reiterate the quality and value for money you offer. Be bold and say" If you put my bibs here, next to these ******(something in the store already), it make a lovely display and you can sell both as a set". Make it a no brainer for them. Your stuff is lovely, the products will sell themselves. Worse case scenario, agree to leave very small quantities on a sale or return basis. I would do that if you want to get your name out there- give them 3 months to sell it, but make sure you put in a term you will be involved in the setting of the display a couple of days after delivery- You don't want them keeping the stuff in the storeroom and then just giving it back to you. (Also, do not roll your eyes at the retail price you will see)
You have done all the hard work designing and making- do not fall at the last hurdle of selling what you are proud of.
Good Luck! I 'd love to hear how it goes if you try this please
Thank you for the advice, ideas and encouragement! I need all I can get! I have definitely done my homework on these shops, the neighborhoods and what they are already selling, and I have been working on my pitch. Getting better and better. Thank you for the new ideas to think about and add to my attempts!
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