Shownotes
BUSINESS BUILDING INSIGHTS
- The world and therefore your business is constantly evolving. This means you have to reinvent yourself at times to adjust.
- During times of change, things can be unconventional. But there is always a way to thrive in your business.
- Find new avenues to attract potential clients. Be in touch through emails and Facebook posts.
- If you’re in retail, take your online presence one step further. Virtual fashion shows offer a personal touch and builds a relationship with those customers who can't come into your store.
- Start small and just do it.
- For Adrian's Boutique, Show and Sell is a fun way to be unique.
- Form your own group and collaborate with other store owners.
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Gift biz unwrapped episode 268 I woke up in the middle
Speaker:of the night and I thought what's really stressing me out
Speaker:is those racks and racks and racks of clothing,
Speaker:Attention, gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one
Speaker:now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there,
Speaker:it's Sue and I'm so happy You're here with me today.
Speaker:This is the last of a special four part series on
Speaker:business owners who've gotten creative to manage through the current times.
Speaker:Of course,
Speaker:as I continue talking with business owners,
Speaker:this will always be a topic that comes up.
Speaker:Times have changed and business will look different.
Speaker:I don't want you to think of this in a negative
Speaker:sense though.
Speaker:This is an opportunity to try new things,
Speaker:to find even better ways to expand your reach and sell
Speaker:your product.
Speaker:That's what all four of these past guests have done.
Speaker:I'm so inspired by the ownership and control of your destiny
Speaker:that so many of you are exhibiting and the solutions that
Speaker:are being devised are genius.
Speaker:It's also exciting to know that some of these concepts are
Speaker:working so well that there'll be incorporated into the plan long
Speaker:term. My goal for these four episodes are to spark ideas
Speaker:for you.
Speaker:If you're just starting out in your business there ways to
Speaker:attract customers or creative services to offer that you may not
Speaker:have considered yet,
Speaker:and if you're an established business,
Speaker:these examples may trigger another idea to use now or in
Speaker:the future.
Speaker:Speaking of established businesses,
Speaker:I've heard from a number of you asking how to get
Speaker:into maker's MBA.
Speaker:This program is created to take a brand new business dreamer
Speaker:from concept to profitable business in a proven step by step
Speaker:manner. But I'm hearing you because the truth is even when
Speaker:you have a business up and running,
Speaker:things can get messy and important foundational elements like websites and
Speaker:email marketing.
Speaker:It can be forgotten or never set up in the first
Speaker:place because you're busy and interestingly,
Speaker:we have many people who have gone through maker's MBA who
Speaker:were already in business but wanted to join for just this
Speaker:reason. So I've created a new option for you,
Speaker:my established business listeners who've had your business up and running
Speaker:for two years or more.
Speaker:It's called maker's MBA accelerator and it fast tracks you to
Speaker:a area of your business that you know needs attention,
Speaker:but you haven't had the time to focus on it.
Speaker:If this sounds like something you'd be interested in,
Speaker:please head over to gift biz unwrapped.com
Speaker:forward slash makers MBA there you'll see a link for established
Speaker:businesses where I ask you a couple of questions and you
Speaker:can be in the maker's MBA accelerator program quickly from there.
Speaker:Let's talk now about today's show.
Speaker:I've caught Vicki while her shop is still locked down,
Speaker:so not even social distancing in the store is happening for
Speaker:her yet the pandemic left her with a couple of problems,
Speaker:the obvious nobody can walk into our store,
Speaker:but Vicki also sells at large women's shows and she sitting
Speaker:on a lot of inventory that's going to be out of
Speaker:season in the next few months and could even be out
Speaker:of style if she held onto it to next year.
Speaker:So in true Vicky form,
Speaker:she found her solution in online shopping shows.
Speaker:She's going to walk you through exactly how she does this,
Speaker:what it's meant for her business and no surprise how she
Speaker:sees it continuing in the future.
Speaker:I can actually see all of us doing some version of
Speaker:this for our businesses too.
Speaker:Let's get into exactly how she does this Today.
Speaker:I am so honored to have Vicky,
Speaker:Adrian of Adrian's boutique back on the show.
Speaker:She is one busy woman lately,
Speaker:so I am so,
Speaker:so happy that you're going to have the time spend with
Speaker:us, Vicki.
Speaker:The craziness is all outside the office door.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:So let me fill everyone in about you before we totally
Speaker:get started here.
Speaker:Vicky is a 38 plus year veteran retailer in a tiny
Speaker:little farm town of only 1200 people in the middle of
Speaker:Kansas. Adrian's boutique has gone through many transformations over the years
Speaker:and is continuing to evolve and adjust to our new normal.
Speaker:Vicky is committed and very involved with store owners in the
Speaker:gift boutique industry and runs a select mastermind group of 12
Speaker:stores from around the country.
Speaker:She also serves as vice president of Southwest buying group or
Speaker:retail group with over 300 stores represented married to her Kansas
Speaker:farm boy for over 40 years.
Speaker:Vicky has two married adult children and four awesome grandchildren.
Speaker:Vicky, thank you so much for being here today.
Speaker:Well thank you.
Speaker:As you know,
Speaker:I listen to you all the time and I just continued
Speaker:to be odd by what you're doing for all the crafters
Speaker:and the creators and the people out there.
Speaker:The bakers.
Speaker:Yes, all of them.
Speaker:Well, you know what,
Speaker:and especially right now,
Speaker:I feel like we all have to tap into where we
Speaker:have specialties and just do whatever we can be doing to
Speaker:help people.
Speaker:Right? Absolutely.
Speaker:I mean it's just such a crazy time.
Speaker:So give biz listeners,
Speaker:if you want to hear Vicky's full story,
Speaker:you're going to have to go way back in the gift
Speaker:biz archives to episode number 48 which was in March,
Speaker:2016 wow.
Speaker:It's so crazy that it's so long ago.
Speaker:It is.
Speaker:Time flies.
Speaker:It sure does.
Speaker:But that's a great episode.
Speaker:So again,
Speaker:I would love for you guys all to go back and
Speaker:listen, but I also,
Speaker:since it's been so long,
Speaker:Vicky, I want to hear once again about your motivational candle
Speaker:because maybe it's changed.
Speaker:Are you up for it?
Speaker:I am.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:this may have been my quote back in the day because
Speaker:this has been my quote for a long,
Speaker:long time and that is luck is where opportunity meets preparation.
Speaker:And I try to live by that all the time.
Speaker:But I have a quote for these times right now that
Speaker:we're in and that is,
Speaker:it's living above my computer right above my desk and it
Speaker:is action over anxiety and I am living that every single
Speaker:day. Every single day when I start to feel anxious,
Speaker:I just glance up and it's very fancy.
Speaker:It's on the back of an index card,
Speaker:a used index card at that.
Speaker:So you're so funny.
Speaker:So it does not look very creative,
Speaker:but action over anxiety is what we're working really hard to
Speaker:do. Yeah,
Speaker:just keep moving and even better if that action is going
Speaker:to be able to help you out now and in the
Speaker:future. Absolutely.
Speaker:I think a lot of people naturally understood this idea of
Speaker:action because what did people do?
Speaker:Right? As soon as this happened and we were all sent
Speaker:home, that's how I like to say it.
Speaker:We were all sending home was what was I going to
Speaker:do? An organizing some type of action movement doing something.
Speaker:Absolutely. So I think you're absolutely right in those of us
Speaker:who are working on trying to hold onto our businesses,
Speaker:what better than to take action in some area that we
Speaker:had never had time for before?
Speaker:So we can come out of this existing number one as
Speaker:a business and then even stronger as we go for the
Speaker:future. You're so right.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we're trying to reinvent ourselves again and like I said,
Speaker:we have reinvented ourselves over and over and over again in
Speaker:38 years and we're no longer selling little blue country ducks
Speaker:that we were selling when we first opened and we've transformed.
Speaker:So why should this time be any different?
Speaker:We're just going to transform into whatever the new normal is,
Speaker:whatever our new reality is.
Speaker:And we don't have a clear picture of that at the
Speaker:end of the line.
Speaker:Because as everything business is constantly changing,
Speaker:no matter what business you're in.
Speaker:And so I think you have to take times like this
Speaker:as an opportunity to decide,
Speaker:make the decision that you're going to be here when it's
Speaker:over, and then take whatever steps it takes to do that.
Speaker:To work through whatever the system needs to be and to
Speaker:be creative.
Speaker:I think too.
Speaker:Absolutely. I'm doing this four part series now,
Speaker:trying to spark other people's ideas.
Speaker:Let's start with hearing a little bit about what has gone
Speaker:on with you the last three or four years.
Speaker:Well, we have continued to be in business.
Speaker:We've continued to grow here in our little town.
Speaker:We have added a lot of other fashion items that we
Speaker:had just dabbled in previously.
Speaker:We've now added shoes to our mix,
Speaker:done a lot more in jewelry,
Speaker:a lot more in clothing.
Speaker:We've added the Brighton line,
Speaker:which has been a big change for us and so things
Speaker:were just rolling along in the gift world.
Speaker:We do gift,
Speaker:we do kids,
Speaker:we do gourmet foods,
Speaker:we do clothing,
Speaker:all kinds of accessories and so it is always a busy
Speaker:time here at Adrian's.
Speaker:Yes it is,
Speaker:and I hear the phone ringing in the background and you
Speaker:know what?
Speaker:I think we're just going to let it roll because this
Speaker:is real life.
Speaker:You don't have as many people there working right now and
Speaker:we've got to catch you while we can and you have
Speaker:to work.
Speaker:So get busy listeners.
Speaker:We're just going to let it roll this way.
Speaker:We're just going to let it go.
Speaker:I'm sorry.
Speaker:Yeah, because we will never finish if we don't.
Speaker:So, and you know what,
Speaker:it's great to hear because there's action and activity happening over
Speaker:there. There is definitely.
Speaker:So you've already adjusted,
Speaker:you've changed your product line a little bit and then you
Speaker:continue within the apparel section obviously to adjust to trends and
Speaker:what you see people buying and not buying,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:all that,
Speaker:all the fun stuff.
Speaker:So that's all happening.
Speaker:Things are going along as usual.
Speaker:And I want to remind people that Vicky is in a
Speaker:remote area.
Speaker:So I mean,
Speaker:I remember from our last conversations,
Speaker:people will take like a whole weekend day.
Speaker:They'll make it into a family trip to come and see
Speaker:you. Right?
Speaker:So anybody who's thinking that they're out in remote land and
Speaker:can't do the types of things that Vicki is talking about,
Speaker:I will suggest to you to reconsider.
Speaker:Absolutely we are a destination store,
Speaker:although I would say things have changed in that area as
Speaker:well. We're finding less like groups of ladies that will drive
Speaker:here from an hour and a half,
Speaker:two hours away because I feel like that is,
Speaker:I mean it hasn't gone away,
Speaker:but it has definitely lessened as more and more people are
Speaker:buying via the internet.
Speaker:And I talked to one of the gals in town that
Speaker:owns a little restaurant and she says the same thing.
Speaker:I mean it used to be like large groups of ladies
Speaker:would come,
Speaker:now it's four to five to six ladies.
Speaker:And so that was already changing before this all happened.
Speaker:And so we were making adjustments there where we were getting
Speaker:more and more things online,
Speaker:but we certainly aren't,
Speaker:I would not consider us yet a true online store.
Speaker:We have lots of products on there,
Speaker:but we just keep adding daily to our online presence.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:it's just another way of adjusting.
Speaker:So we were in the process of doing that over last
Speaker:two years.
Speaker:Also Sue,
Speaker:I don't know if I've talked to you since we started
Speaker:subscription boxes because I think that was three years ago and
Speaker:so we have built a subscription box business in addition to
Speaker:what we were already doing.
Speaker:I did not know about that.
Speaker:Briefly describe what's entailed with your subscription box.
Speaker:Well, we had a friend,
Speaker:a really good friend,
Speaker:Jean, a vineyard in Wyoming and at the Atlanta market a
Speaker:couple of years ago or three years ago in January she
Speaker:did a little workshop and it was to be on how
Speaker:to build a gift basket,
Speaker:which you're very familiar with.
Speaker:Yes. It's something that I just wasn't doing and so she
Speaker:held a little 30 minute workshop for some stores from our
Speaker:mastermind group and a few other stores and I came away
Speaker:with that thinking,
Speaker:huh, I could do gift boxes.
Speaker:I am never going to be artistic enough to do a
Speaker:gift basket.
Speaker:Never, but I can definitely build a box.
Speaker:And I came home from Atlanta market in January and said
Speaker:we're going to do a February box and our goal was
Speaker:to sell 24 boxes and we ended up selling 144 boxes
Speaker:in February.
Speaker:This isn't a turnaround time of about two and a half
Speaker:weeks. We pulled everything for those boxes off of our store
Speaker:shelves cause I had only ordered enough things for 24 boxes.
Speaker:So everyone got different things in that box.
Speaker:I mean it was just crazy.
Speaker:So was it just kind of trust us with what's going
Speaker:to come,
Speaker:but it will all equal X value,
Speaker:something like that?
Speaker:Yes. We did a 50 to $60 value charged $42 for
Speaker:the box for a one time purchase or 35 if they
Speaker:would become a subscriber.
Speaker:Our prices are still the same today.
Speaker:So that has all happened and that helped us kickstart our
Speaker:Shopify platform where we were selling those online mostly to our
Speaker:own customers,
Speaker:but it just made it easy for them to subscribe and
Speaker:have recurring invoicing and all of that kind of thing that
Speaker:it takes to do a subscription business.
Speaker:So that's all happened since I talked to you,
Speaker:but that could be a whole other subject.
Speaker:Yeah, that could be a whole nother subject.
Speaker:But let me just ask you one thing about this and
Speaker:then we'll move on.
Speaker:Your current subscription boxes,
Speaker:are they still mystery box or are they specific products this
Speaker:month? Some of them are mystery boxes,
Speaker:right? No,
Speaker:we purchase for the boxes at this point and so we
Speaker:are purchasing,
Speaker:right now our numbers are generally 168 boxes through the year,
Speaker:except like may and December.
Speaker:So mother's day,
Speaker:Valentine's day is a big month.
Speaker:Mother's day is big and Christmas of course we do more
Speaker:than that.
Speaker:And so I mean it's just a new part of our
Speaker:business that we've worked in to keep our girls busy.
Speaker:And I love doing it.
Speaker:For me.
Speaker:It is a creative thing.
Speaker:I design all the cards that go in the boxes.
Speaker:I design the labels that go on top of the box
Speaker:and choose all the items that go in the box.
Speaker:Ooh, I'm going To go take those boxes.
Speaker:Yeah, you can look at them online and see what we're
Speaker:doing and more fit into whatever your business is.
Speaker:Wonderful. Okay,
Speaker:so now 2020 starts off.
Speaker:You're continuing going,
Speaker:you have all of this in place and then what happens
Speaker:And then covert 19 hits and I kept thinking it's a
Speaker:city thing.
Speaker:It's an older person thing.
Speaker:You just think it's not going to affect you until the
Speaker:minute that it does.
Speaker:And I think the minute that it really hit me is
Speaker:one of the girls in our Southwest spine group,
Speaker:she's in the San Francisco area with seven stores.
Speaker:She had one hour to get out and she,
Speaker:as of this recording has not been able to go back
Speaker:and even check on her stores.
Speaker:So I think of her and try to support her in
Speaker:any way that we can because I know how our stores
Speaker:are, our babies.
Speaker:Sure. And to not be able to go in and just
Speaker:check on things and I mean to leave in one hour
Speaker:was crazy.
Speaker:Then I had a friend in Texas,
Speaker:in Arlington,
Speaker:she had two hours to get out and we never faced
Speaker:that. We have always come in the back door,
Speaker:worked on the inside of the store.
Speaker:We're just not open to the public for walk in traffic,
Speaker:but we have been able to actually do work inside our
Speaker:store. Now.
Speaker:A lot of our friends around the country who were in
Speaker:the situation where they could not go to their store are
Speaker:just being so creative with doing live fashion shows.
Speaker:One of our friends is doing live fashion shows from her
Speaker:guest room closet.
Speaker:So there's a way to do it.
Speaker:It might be an unconventional way,
Speaker:but there's a way to do it.
Speaker:Right. You know,
Speaker:and I think the discrepancy here too is every town,
Speaker:especially when everything started,
Speaker:like we got a notice on Friday that all 90 central
Speaker:businesses had to be closed by Saturday at 5:00 PM so
Speaker:at least in our area we had a little bit of
Speaker:planning, a little bit of notice,
Speaker:way more than an hour,
Speaker:that's for sure.
Speaker:But then some people who are essential could still go in.
Speaker:I was always able to come in as an essential worker
Speaker:because to fill online orders we have to come in.
Speaker:Like I don't have all these rolls of ribbon and printers
Speaker:at my house.
Speaker:Right. So I was always luckily considered essential,
Speaker:but my heart goes out for people like I can't even
Speaker:imagine all this time not being able to be here even
Speaker:if I wasn't conducting business.
Speaker:But just to check on things,
Speaker:inventory and like all of that.
Speaker:That's crazy.
Speaker:It is crazy.
Speaker:Hopefully we're starting to see a turn here at the time
Speaker:that we're talking and your show will be coming a couple
Speaker:weeks after this,
Speaker:so we'll see where we are at that point.
Speaker:But I do want to get into how creative you've been
Speaker:and what you've been working through in this time,
Speaker:but so tell us.
Speaker:Okay, so this became real to you.
Speaker:You knew what was happening,
Speaker:what happened with Adrian's boutique?
Speaker:Well, I started working really hard to be even more in
Speaker:touch with our emails and with our Facebook posts,
Speaker:trying to lead people to our website.
Speaker:And one night I woke up in the middle of the
Speaker:night and I thought what's really stressing me out is those
Speaker:racks and racks and racks of clothing.
Speaker:I don't know if you'll remember from our previous interview,
Speaker:we also do retail shows,
Speaker:large women's retail shows.
Speaker:We do eight large shows a year.
Speaker:We had come off of two in February,
Speaker:but we still had product,
Speaker:I mean quite a bit of product,
Speaker:getting ready for our summer shows,
Speaker:so I have lots of clothing and that was just eating
Speaker:me up that how was I going to sell clothing because
Speaker:I think I had gone probably two weeks without selling a
Speaker:single item of clothing,
Speaker:not one In the very beginning.
Speaker:In the beginning when it was first hitting,
Speaker:because clothing isn't something I focused on for our website just
Speaker:because of all the sizes.
Speaker:Every brand runs differently.
Speaker:So that's not where our focus was to get clothing on
Speaker:our website.
Speaker:We were doing more gifts and gourmet and toys and baby
Speaker:and all that other things.
Speaker:Right. And I would say that you can confirm this because
Speaker:you're the expert,
Speaker:but this is the season for summer clothing to appear.
Speaker:Oh yes.
Speaker:So if you wait two,
Speaker:three months,
Speaker:people are going to be starting to look at end of
Speaker:summer, fall.
Speaker:Right. And you're going to have all that money stuck in
Speaker:inventory. Some fashion might not even be the style next year.
Speaker:Absolutely. I mean fashion comes and goes and it had to
Speaker:come and go.
Speaker:So like I say,
Speaker:I woke up in the night and thought we have got
Speaker:to do live fashion shows and of course I already follow
Speaker:a lot of the stores in our group and there were
Speaker:a handful that were doing live fashion shows such as the
Speaker:one I've mentioned that was doing them from her guestroom closet
Speaker:walk in closet and I thought okay we do live every
Speaker:day anyways.
Speaker:We come on in the morning,
Speaker:we pop on at nine 45 we just do a show
Speaker:and tell of things in the store,
Speaker:maybe new arrivals.
Speaker:So our customers are used to seeing us almost daily.
Speaker:You were doing that before the virus hit?
Speaker:We started out doing twice a week,
Speaker:Wednesday and Saturday and then we were adding this last first
Speaker:quarter of this year we've been adding but we were pretty
Speaker:consistent so we had built a clientele.
Speaker:Well and that's perfect too because your employees are already there.
Speaker:So you can do like some just little interaction cause it's
Speaker:what, just a few minutes before you actually open the doors
Speaker:during normal times.
Speaker:Right. We go at nine 45 we open at 10 o'clock
Speaker:and so generally we're done by 10 o'clock we always do
Speaker:a giveaway to just keep people engaged.
Speaker:And so they were used to seeing us online in the
Speaker:morning. And that day I just said we're going to do
Speaker:a live show this afternoon,
Speaker:have no idea how to do it,
Speaker:have no how to organize it.
Speaker:But we did it.
Speaker:And that first week,
Speaker:I think our first one was on a Wednesday,
Speaker:I think we did three that week and we've done three
Speaker:to four a week for the last three weeks.
Speaker:So you said I'm an expert,
Speaker:I am not an expert in this.
Speaker:I'm just flying by the seat of my pants.
Speaker:But you have a system.
Speaker:Like I didn't even know it until one day on the
Speaker:phone. I saw that you were live and I caught your
Speaker:show in towel.
Speaker:And I guess because my life is also adjusted differently right
Speaker:now cause normally I don't have time to stop my day
Speaker:for these types of things.
Speaker:But I saw it,
Speaker:I looked and I'm like what is she up to?
Speaker:And then I saw your little question and I think that
Speaker:was the one about are your toes flip-flop ready?
Speaker:Was your challenge day.
Speaker:So that was the day and I'm like,
Speaker:Oh, she has a live show this afternoon,
Speaker:one o'clock on the calendar.
Speaker:I'm going to check it out.
Speaker:But I had no idea.
Speaker:But that's how I found it.
Speaker:So that was a week ago,
Speaker:maybe a week and a half ago.
Speaker:And you had a system down.
Speaker:So you say you're not an expert and maybe you continue
Speaker:to get better.
Speaker:But to me it looked like you were just rolling.
Speaker:Well, I'm so glad it looks like that,
Speaker:but it's also very casual,
Speaker:right? Like you have a couple of other people come in,
Speaker:you're going to tell us,
Speaker:why am I telling you you get to tell what you're
Speaker:doing. But I just think that this is brilliant and now
Speaker:I understand even more.
Speaker:Number one,
Speaker:why you have so many great things to be selling because
Speaker:it's all the things that you would have been bringing to
Speaker:the shows,
Speaker:but also it's a very casual,
Speaker:fun, comfortable environment.
Speaker:But also a way for you to sell that inventory that
Speaker:you're not going to be able to sell unless you do
Speaker:it this way.
Speaker:This is almost the only way right now online,
Speaker:Right? It's just a whole new world and I think it
Speaker:is going to remain this way even when we can officially
Speaker:open. So here's what I woke up thinking.
Speaker:So I thought I can take,
Speaker:our store is 18 feet wide and a half a block
Speaker:long, so it is very difficult to set up displays.
Speaker:We just have not any room,
Speaker:but I woke up that morning and thought if I could
Speaker:get a paint Terp and hang it from the ceiling behind
Speaker:us. I just covered up close.
Speaker:I got a 12 foot by nine foot paint tarp.
Speaker:It was $17 we hung it from the ceiling,
Speaker:hung a wreath on it,
Speaker:pulled a rolling rack of clothes in front of it and
Speaker:we were live that afternoon.
Speaker:So this is how crazy it happened.
Speaker:We already had a light ring that holds my cell phone
Speaker:to do the actual recording on and I've had that for
Speaker:years. Is it less than a hundred dollars so you're people
Speaker:that think,
Speaker:Oh, I don't want to invest in this.
Speaker:It was less than a hundred dollars we do have a
Speaker:mic that we hung from ceiling clips so that the girls
Speaker:that were modeling,
Speaker:you can hear them and that you can hear me.
Speaker:Who's running the camera?
Speaker:We didn't anything else?
Speaker:I mean It was a paint tarp,
Speaker:a wreath,
Speaker:a rolling rack of clothes,
Speaker:and our light ring.
Speaker:Okay, so did you hear what Vicki did?
Speaker:She didn't put any barriers in her way.
Speaker:She worked with what she had.
Speaker:She got scrappy and went live that afternoon.
Speaker:I want you guys all to use this as an example
Speaker:of how to just turn things around,
Speaker:take action and make things happen.
Speaker:We're going to take a quick break for our sponsor,
Speaker:but then after this Vicky's going to go through and share
Speaker:with us everything she did to go live so that you
Speaker:can do this too.
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Speaker:print company.com
Speaker:But I'm not sure where you want me to start with
Speaker:our processes or how we're doing it or the system.
Speaker:I want to know everything.
Speaker:I'm going to get everything from you.
Speaker:I'll ask you questions of things that are coming to mind
Speaker:first. Okay.
Speaker:So you go on in the morning,
Speaker:you do the teaser,
Speaker:you ask a question,
Speaker:do a giveaway.
Speaker:So you're kind of reminding everybody that there's going to be
Speaker:a fashion show in the afternoon.
Speaker:Yes. But it's not always only clothes either.
Speaker:You do jewelry and bags and mother's day things and kids
Speaker:think like all different types of things.
Speaker:How do you decide how long it should be?
Speaker:We have no parameters.
Speaker:We have had one that went three hours and we still
Speaker:had 70 people at the end of three hours.
Speaker:It's crazy.
Speaker:Well and people would probably jump on jump off if they
Speaker:have to come back on.
Speaker:Yeah, they jump on and jump off and I just finally
Speaker:decided we're very real as you can tell by the phone
Speaker:ringing off the hook.
Speaker:The girls,
Speaker:I know one of our girls said,
Speaker:Oh don't post a picture of me without my shoes on.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:we posted a picture of them doing the fashion show and
Speaker:she had no shoes on cause she was changing clothes so
Speaker:fast. It is very real and our customers know who we
Speaker:are. We're not trying to be anyone else.
Speaker:We cannot be the home shopping network.
Speaker:We cannot be super professional.
Speaker:We try to be very clear.
Speaker:We try to give great feedback on,
Speaker:especially on clothing as if they fit slim.
Speaker:If blousey what the fabric content is,
Speaker:where we try to give them as much information as possible
Speaker:because they can't try on the clothes.
Speaker:And so we have two models,
Speaker:one who's very petite and then one who is less petite
Speaker:and sometimes they put on the same thing so that you
Speaker:can see it on different body types.
Speaker:And I think that is really fun And share with us
Speaker:who they are.
Speaker:Sandy and Patty and Sandy is my right hand man here.
Speaker:She does all kinds of things.
Speaker:In fact today she'll be doing a cooking show at 1:00
Speaker:PM cause we don't have a fashion show today.
Speaker:So you never know what's going to be happening here.
Speaker:And then Patty is a school teacher who is not physically
Speaker:teaching school right now,
Speaker:but she helps us for years on Saturdays.
Speaker:And so our customers already know her and they know Sandy
Speaker:well and they know me.
Speaker:So twice a week Patty is here to do it with
Speaker:Sandy. And then the other days Sandy and I do it
Speaker:and sometimes we have a camera person,
Speaker:but most of the time we don't.
Speaker:We just have to let the comments roll and we come
Speaker:back and check them.
Speaker:So even if you're by yourself,
Speaker:you can totally do this.
Speaker:It just takes a little ingenuity to get it done.
Speaker:But you definitely can do this.
Speaker:Yeah. And you know,
Speaker:the other thing that I think is just hysterical,
Speaker:and Patty does this more than Sandy,
Speaker:is she'll reach out to somebody who's watching and say,
Speaker:Jennifer, this outfit would be great for you.
Speaker:Well, she's a school teacher.
Speaker:She'll go like us busty women.
Speaker:This is call someone.
Speaker:Jennifer, take a look at this.
Speaker:This one would be great for you.
Speaker:Right. Well again,
Speaker:You're not going to get that on home shopping network.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:Patty has taught school here for 20 years,
Speaker:25 years.
Speaker:She knows everyone.
Speaker:She knows everyone And she does this on Saturdays when she
Speaker:works here.
Speaker:She's like,
Speaker:this would look good on you and she'll pull something off
Speaker:the rack and get them to try it on.
Speaker:Well I have to tell you,
Speaker:it's not just like pulling up an outfit saying what it
Speaker:is. I mean there's comedy in conversation and he wants to
Speaker:see this on and which color should I put on of
Speaker:this shirt?
Speaker:Like it's a riot,
Speaker:but it is also,
Speaker:I'm going to call it friendly.
Speaker:Professional. Thank you.
Speaker:I like that you're still,
Speaker:you're showing what sizes that you've talk about who the designer
Speaker:is, what the fabric is.
Speaker:The descriptions are great but it's also very comfortable and fun.
Speaker:So anyway,
Speaker:so enough that we could just chat about that all day.
Speaker:Cause can you tell I'm a fan.
Speaker:Well it's fun.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:So you guys enjoy doing it.
Speaker:It sounds like you love it.
Speaker:It comes through.
Speaker:It's for sure comes through.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:so share with us.
Speaker:So most people now are going to go and watch,
Speaker:I'm just going to say that,
Speaker:but haven't yet.
Speaker:So share with us your process and how this works.
Speaker:If you were to describe to somebody for them to be
Speaker:able to do it themselves,
Speaker:like with the numbers and like how you do the all
Speaker:the magic.
Speaker:Okay. So I did the first couple of shows without any
Speaker:programs running in the background.
Speaker:They were nightmares.
Speaker:I'll just have to be honest.
Speaker:We had over,
Speaker:we'll have three to 600 to 700 comments and the first
Speaker:couple of shows I was going back line by line by
Speaker:line with a ruler trying to figure out who bought which
Speaker:item, who got it first nightmare.
Speaker:And so I just started Googling programs to run live fashion
Speaker:shows and one of the ones that came up is called
Speaker:loyal shops.com
Speaker:loyal shops.com
Speaker:and they have a program called live assist and it is
Speaker:nine 99 a month and I was never so happy to
Speaker:sign up for something ever because it gives you a live
Speaker:comment feature that you can download and I know now know
Speaker:exactly who got each item first.
Speaker:It also gives you a sales history of who got which
Speaker:items in alphabetical order.
Speaker:So I can go through,
Speaker:I can print that out at the end of a show
Speaker:invoice, all of those people and I invoice them on square.
Speaker:You can do PayPal.
Speaker:Some people have a way they can do that through their
Speaker:own store POS system,
Speaker:but we use square because that's what we use to ring
Speaker:up people at all of our shows and so I'm very
Speaker:familiar with square.
Speaker:So the process is,
Speaker:the prep for the show would be the first thing and
Speaker:I think the first thing is we decide on what the
Speaker:theme is going to be.
Speaker:So this last week we did one called feeling blue and
Speaker:we picked all kinds of blue clothing.
Speaker:We had Judy blue jeans,
Speaker:all other kinds of jeans as well.
Speaker:We did blue tops,
Speaker:blue cammies,
Speaker:we had shades of blue handbags and then we had complimentary
Speaker:colors, things that would be a mix that would have a
Speaker:little blue in it.
Speaker:It was a beautiful show.
Speaker:It was just a really fun show.
Speaker:We're going to be doing one called tickled pink and kind
Speaker:of the same thing.
Speaker:We're going to be choosing things with a theme and the
Speaker:reason I choose the theme first is it helps us to
Speaker:narrow down what's going to be in that day's show because
Speaker:it really can get overwhelming when you look at an entire
Speaker:store full of product and you're just thinking,
Speaker:Oh, I'm going to Willy nilly pick items.
Speaker:This gives it some parameters to choose wisely.
Speaker:Yeah, and there's some cohesiveness as for the viewer too.
Speaker:Sure. It adds another layer on top.
Speaker:It does.
Speaker:We did do wild Wednesday,
Speaker:which is where we had kind of a Mishy mashy of
Speaker:things. We had a lot of animal print,
Speaker:but as you know,
Speaker:people either love or don't love animal print,
Speaker:so I wanted to have things that were not just animal
Speaker:print on that show.
Speaker:That was yesterday.
Speaker:It was yesterday.
Speaker:Yeah. I'm still waiting to see if I got what I
Speaker:chose. We'll go through the buyer thing because we need to
Speaker:tell everybody how they can choose to,
Speaker:well, this is true.
Speaker:You keep going in your prep.
Speaker:Okay. Sorry,
Speaker:I'm just trying to think through it in an order.
Speaker:So we prep for our show,
Speaker:we pull a rack out and we put all the clothing
Speaker:on the rack.
Speaker:We try to get it in size order and that it
Speaker:makes sense.
Speaker:So we'll have tops that will go with a pair of
Speaker:pants and then,
Speaker:or a consistent,
Speaker:like everything is honeymoon or everything is Ethel for a little
Speaker:while, just because of all the sizing and how different it
Speaker:runs. So we organize our rack and then we usually have
Speaker:a table or two of other products and we arrange that
Speaker:in the order that we're going to be showing it.
Speaker:That's kind of what our prep is.
Speaker:Next. We ordered numbered hang tags from Amazon and in the
Speaker:beginning we were doing index cards,
Speaker:writing numbers on it,
Speaker:slitting it with a paperclip and putting it on each hanger.
Speaker:Let me tell you,
Speaker:that is not the way to go.
Speaker:Yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker:Yeah. So we number every item.
Speaker:Then I open up a Google doc and I make a
Speaker:spreadsheet that has the item number,
Speaker:the description,
Speaker:the size,
Speaker:the price,
Speaker:and what the sale price is going to be if it
Speaker:is on sale.
Speaker:And so we have a full Google doc with every item
Speaker:in it.
Speaker:Then we do the show and we go in number order.
Speaker:Of course we try to break it up where we'll have
Speaker:some clothes and then maybe a half a rack of clothes
Speaker:and then items from a table and then the other half
Speaker:of the rack of clothes and try to keep it interesting
Speaker:for our customers to keep watching.
Speaker:It's been anywhere from an hour and a half to three
Speaker:hours, which is just nuts cause I couldn't even sit still
Speaker:that long.
Speaker:But our customers,
Speaker:like you said,
Speaker:they jump in,
Speaker:they jump out,
Speaker:they have to take a phone call.
Speaker:All of these things are happening.
Speaker:Well the shows are going on,
Speaker:so once the show is over,
Speaker:we have these racks that have all the numbered items on
Speaker:it. I come back into the office,
Speaker:run a report of what has sold.
Speaker:Then I go through the invoicing process and at this point
Speaker:I am still doing all of this because we're down to
Speaker:two people basically working at a time.
Speaker:And so my goal is to have them invoiced within 24
Speaker:hours and we ask them to pay within 24 hours so
Speaker:that we can pick and pack that order and ship it
Speaker:out the door so that we can free up our racks
Speaker:for the next shows.
Speaker:And so we have quite a few racks that were moving
Speaker:in and out all the time.
Speaker:Oh, I can only imagine.
Speaker:I wish I could give you a visual of this because
Speaker:our store is a retail store with beautiful displays and now
Speaker:it is.
Speaker:All the aisles are filled with these racks of clothes numbered.
Speaker:You could not walk in here if you tried.
Speaker:Well, that's what I was just going to say is it's
Speaker:probably a good thing you're not open right now.
Speaker:Right. It's a disaster.
Speaker:It's a disaster with products that have sold.
Speaker:So not so bad,
Speaker:but it is.
Speaker:It just looks like a bomb went off in the story,
Speaker:even though it's organized chaos.
Speaker:But we know where each day's group of items is.
Speaker:You have a system because if you do have a system
Speaker:would a nightmare And you probably go from the latest show
Speaker:up to the most current show.
Speaker:So you're just keep processing in time.
Speaker:Right? Absolutely.
Speaker:So then you ship it out and then if somebody doesn't
Speaker:pay within 24 hours,
Speaker:they've kind of forfeited their product.
Speaker:They lost it.
Speaker:And then do you go to the next person in line
Speaker:who had requested it,
Speaker:who might not have gotten the product?
Speaker:If there is somebody?
Speaker:Yes. Um,
Speaker:so with loyal shops it tells you who got it and
Speaker:then it gives you a second place and a third place.
Speaker:We don't go farther than third place because either the first
Speaker:person or the second person is always going to get it.
Speaker:So how does somebody get it?
Speaker:Let's go through that.
Speaker:So if I'm a viewer,
Speaker:I'm watching and I see Patty in this really cute dress
Speaker:and I want that dress,
Speaker:what do I need to do to be on the list?
Speaker:And hopefully first,
Speaker:Well you have to type fast and you type the word
Speaker:sold with a space,
Speaker:then the item number,
Speaker:then a space,
Speaker:and then your correct email address and that puts it in
Speaker:the system.
Speaker:And so whoever does that first for that item is going
Speaker:to get that item and it pops up on my computer
Speaker:with a blue ribbon that says congratulations,
Speaker:Sue got item one 65 and it might pop up with
Speaker:a second name with a red ribbon,
Speaker:letting them know that they're in second place.
Speaker:So if Sue does not pay her invoice within 24 hours,
Speaker:it's going to go to the next person.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Okay. And so the sold space number and every number,
Speaker:like if there are three or four different sizes,
Speaker:each piece gets its own number,
Speaker:each piece gets its own number.
Speaker:Right. And then the email is so that you can contact
Speaker:somebody, Right?
Speaker:Well, we have to be able to invoice them through email
Speaker:and it's just the way the system works.
Speaker:So we have to have that for each item.
Speaker:You can't make multiple purchases on one comment,
Speaker:Right? So if you're making multiple purchases like I did that
Speaker:one day,
Speaker:you have to enter it for each purchase with maybe,
Speaker:which makes it on your end nice and clean.
Speaker:And obviously that's then what triggers your system too,
Speaker:Right? Our robot,
Speaker:which we talk about Rob a lot,
Speaker:our robot,
Speaker:we have to speak in his language and so it just
Speaker:has to be done that way.
Speaker:And so we will tell people online if they just write
Speaker:sold and their email,
Speaker:they're not going to get anything.
Speaker:So we're watching that live as it's going through and we're
Speaker:constantly talking to our customer as the comments are rolling in.
Speaker:Right. Well you say hi to people who are just coming
Speaker:in that you see who are there.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:And I think you do periodically remind people how they need
Speaker:to do it.
Speaker:What if you don't put in your email,
Speaker:what if you just say sold?
Speaker:And the number.
Speaker:If I know the person personally,
Speaker:I can go into our store system and look up their
Speaker:email. But a lot of times maybe they have a different
Speaker:email that's their most current email.
Speaker:So that does not work well.
Speaker:I do get a record of like blooper kind of comments
Speaker:and so we do our best.
Speaker:But if it's not done in the language of the robot,
Speaker:it's very difficult Trying to do this manually.
Speaker:It would be a nightmare because I'm just thinking like you're
Speaker:going through,
Speaker:gosh, it's gotta be probably 200 products a show.
Speaker:Something like that is,
Speaker:it may be even more.
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:two to 300 sometimes even more.
Speaker:Crazy. Crazy.
Speaker:But so now that you've done this for a while,
Speaker:so you have how many shows under your belt?
Speaker:Like three weeks.
Speaker:So that's 1215 shows,
Speaker:right? All right,
Speaker:so now you have a system.
Speaker:Are you feeling more comfortable?
Speaker:And I know it's still time consuming,
Speaker:not just doing the show,
Speaker:but then all the backend and fulfillment of all the orders.
Speaker:But you guys feel like you're in the groove now.
Speaker:We are somewhat in the group.
Speaker:I know there's areas to improve and I think Sue,
Speaker:that you know me well enough to know that I love
Speaker:to dig in.
Speaker:Like if I'm going to use a program,
Speaker:I want to understand that program all the way through with
Speaker:loyal shops.
Speaker:I'm sure they have all kinds of other things that I
Speaker:could be using that would even make it easier,
Speaker:but I haven't had a single second to even dig into
Speaker:that to see if I can maximize that program.
Speaker:Right now I really need to hire someone to help me
Speaker:invoice and ship because I'm in here till nine o'clock at
Speaker:night. I'm here by seven in the morning trying to just
Speaker:keep it all going.
Speaker:And here's the difference.
Speaker:In the old days,
Speaker:from six weeks ago or two months ago,
Speaker:people walked into the store,
Speaker:they browsed around,
Speaker:they picked what they wanted,
Speaker:we run them up.
Speaker:We may be gift-wrapped 40 50% of the items.
Speaker:They went out the door and that was it.
Speaker:Now we prep for every show.
Speaker:We number,
Speaker:every item,
Speaker:we put everything in a spreadsheet,
Speaker:we go live.
Speaker:We have the people,
Speaker:our girls here to go live,
Speaker:we do the live show,
Speaker:then we come in,
Speaker:run the reports,
Speaker:invoice everyone,
Speaker:wait for those invoices to be paid,
Speaker:pick, pack and ship the orders.
Speaker:So it is very labor intensive and I just don't want
Speaker:to put it out there that Oh this is so easy
Speaker:and it's great and everyone should do it.
Speaker:I think that you should do it with your eyes wide
Speaker:open. It is a great way to stay in touch with
Speaker:your customers.
Speaker:And I think it is the future in a lot of
Speaker:retail is it's taking it online one more step and it's
Speaker:that personal touch.
Speaker:It's that relationship you have with your customers that is just
Speaker:done in a new way.
Speaker:Absolutely. And I'm also going to suggest that other people who
Speaker:in the past have relied on shows.
Speaker:Maybe you do have your website,
Speaker:maybe you sell pampering products.
Speaker:You don't have just one off of everything because you make
Speaker:your soaps,
Speaker:your lotion,
Speaker:right? So their adjustment of your plan might be a little
Speaker:less cumbersome than what you're having to do.
Speaker:So think for yourself what your product is.
Speaker:If this could make sense,
Speaker:because I see this as an excellent opportunity for you to
Speaker:keep your business open,
Speaker:attracting new customers,
Speaker:all of that.
Speaker:Even if you don't have a brick and mortar shop like
Speaker:Adrian's boutique is.
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:But Vicky,
Speaker:the other thing,
Speaker:like I'm thinking of the pros of all of this,
Speaker:besides the obvious that you're still selling and you're not just
Speaker:shuttered, but also often in the shows I'm seeing that you
Speaker:have one of something,
Speaker:so I'm guessing that's something that hasn't sold from either a
Speaker:past show or is just inventory that you had.
Speaker:So I'm thinking this is a great way to clear out
Speaker:some things that maybe haven't been moving either.
Speaker:Oh absolutely.
Speaker:There are many things that we would have only one of
Speaker:them. A lot of them would be things that we took
Speaker:to the first two shows we had this year and we
Speaker:still had that one remaining piece.
Speaker:Many of the things that we've been showing,
Speaker:no customers have seen it in our store because they would
Speaker:have come in right before this all happened.
Speaker:And now it's brand new merchandise that our customers haven't seen
Speaker:except on the live show.
Speaker:So yes,
Speaker:it has been a great way to move not only existing
Speaker:product but our new product as well.
Speaker:Is there any advice now that you are experienced,
Speaker:you may not say you are,
Speaker:but you experienced,
Speaker:are there any other tips besides the ones that you've already
Speaker:given us?
Speaker:For someone who would be starting out and trying to do
Speaker:this? I would just say that just try it start,
Speaker:I mean maybe not start with a hundred items,
Speaker:but start with 30 or 40 or even less.
Speaker:If you think that that's too much.
Speaker:Start with that.
Speaker:Start small and just do it.
Speaker:I have a great friend in Texas.
Speaker:She was doing a live happy hour,
Speaker:about five 30 to six every evening showing all these products
Speaker:and I just said,
Speaker:Oh my,
Speaker:you need to sell them.
Speaker:Just let people comment.
Speaker:Don't worry about having a big system in place.
Speaker:Just let people comment and go through the comments.
Speaker:And she was shocked because here she was putting in all
Speaker:the time of the show and tells instead of a show
Speaker:and sell and all of those.
Speaker:I mean she sold a lot of product.
Speaker:Oh that's really,
Speaker:really good advice.
Speaker:So you're doing this all on your Facebook page?
Speaker:Yes. Okay.
Speaker:So Facebook page and then do you share it over to
Speaker:your personal page?
Speaker:Do you have anybody else sharing or why are you laughing?
Speaker:Really good idea,
Speaker:Sue. You know I would say there's so many things that
Speaker:I could do to make this even better,
Speaker:but we're just in the midst.
Speaker:I mean you are literally getting us as we're learning every
Speaker:day. Different things to do.
Speaker:I will throw in a tip I just thought of though
Speaker:because I think it's really important and that is we also
Speaker:have a texting club and our customers are used to getting
Speaker:a text from us at least once a week and we
Speaker:try not to bother them with like a text every day.
Speaker:But we do go at least once a week.
Speaker:We go live that I have a text prewritten and I
Speaker:grabbed the link from my live Facebook page,
Speaker:use Bitly to shorten that link and just pop that into
Speaker:my text message.
Speaker:So within two minutes of going live,
Speaker:my customers are getting a text saying join us live right
Speaker:now and I think that is a great way to grow
Speaker:it. And this isn't for just the show in towel.
Speaker:This is for the real show or the long show or
Speaker:both. Oh,
Speaker:this is show and sell the long show.
Speaker:Yep. Only for the long show.
Speaker:Okay. Like I say,
Speaker:I don't want to over text our customers,
Speaker:but especially on the Wednesday and Saturday shows,
Speaker:which tend to be longer shows.
Speaker:I want them to just be able to click a button,
Speaker:click that link and join us live.
Speaker:Right now they don't have to go to our Facebook page.
Speaker:They don't have to do anything except click one link.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Okay, so overall successful?
Speaker:Yes, definitely successful as far as moving out product,
Speaker:existing product,
Speaker:because you know,
Speaker:right now we don't have product coming in.
Speaker:And then the other thing is just building a relationship with
Speaker:people that we have never,
Speaker:they're not in our system.
Speaker:They have never shopped with us before.
Speaker:We've had people from all over the country,
Speaker:including this chick from Chicago that bought things.
Speaker:And so I think it's opening up some new avenues for
Speaker:us, especially being in a small rural community where our supply
Speaker:of new customers is somewhat limited.
Speaker:I'm not going to say it's not possible,
Speaker:but when you've been here,
Speaker:as long as we have,
Speaker:most people have shopped here,
Speaker:they're on our list.
Speaker:So this is a way to grow outside our own geographical
Speaker:area. How do you think they found you?
Speaker:We have no idea.
Speaker:I have not done,
Speaker:like I say,
Speaker:these all fall into things that I would love to do,
Speaker:but I haven't had time.
Speaker:Yeah. No,
Speaker:I'm not faulting.
Speaker:I'm just curious.
Speaker:No, I don't know.
Speaker:I don't know how they found us.
Speaker:I don't know if someone tagged them or if they're just
Speaker:searching live fashion shows.
Speaker:I have no idea because we have not done any advertising
Speaker:whatsoever. Maybe you could tell people to share it out.
Speaker:We do that.
Speaker:We do ask them to share it out so that could
Speaker:be where it's coming from.
Speaker:There could be a few,
Speaker:but yeah,
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:Well doesn't matter right now.
Speaker:You know it's like you can't know everything.
Speaker:Right. And as long as it's working for you let it
Speaker:roll. That's right.
Speaker:So when things get back to whatever our new normal is
Speaker:going to be,
Speaker:do you think you'll continue with these lives?
Speaker:I think the lives will continue in some form.
Speaker:I'm not sure how that's going to look.
Speaker:Probably not three times a week.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:It's possible.
Speaker:I mean it just depends on the team that we have
Speaker:in place,
Speaker:how we can use our facility better because I can see
Speaker:doing this going forward.
Speaker:It is a totally different way to do business.
Speaker:But like I said,
Speaker:we've been transforming for 38 years now and we're going to
Speaker:continue to transform.
Speaker:People are loving it and yeah,
Speaker:I don't have the answer to that question.
Speaker:I really truly don't.
Speaker:I'm trying to work it out in my head,
Speaker:but I know we'll be doing it at least through next
Speaker:week before we can sort of open.
Speaker:So we'll see.
Speaker:Right. Well and some version of this,
Speaker:perhaps, maybe not exactly this,
Speaker:but some version of it,
Speaker:you're seeing enough value,
Speaker:it sounds like that this is something to keep on the
Speaker:table for the future.
Speaker:Oh absolutely.
Speaker:And I knew before this started,
Speaker:I knew that's the direction we wanted to go.
Speaker:We experimented a little bit in October,
Speaker:November, we did a couple of live sales,
Speaker:but we just did not have a system in place.
Speaker:And so it was much more difficult.
Speaker:Well you were already sensing and understanding that you needed to
Speaker:shift more online,
Speaker:but this is the perfect option.
Speaker:Instead of like you're saying,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:every single time you get a new outfit in,
Speaker:you're going to put it online like cumbersome.
Speaker:That would be,
Speaker:yeah. So this is the perfect solution to that.
Speaker:Yeah. And I think that Customers don't want to,
Speaker:especially with the fashion items,
Speaker:they don't want to wear what everyone else is wearing.
Speaker:They want their own unique look and we rarely ever get
Speaker:an item back in to our stock that's the same item.
Speaker:And so people are getting a chance to just get these
Speaker:one and only,
Speaker:so maybe I only got four of an item and two
Speaker:sold in Oklahoma and I have two left.
Speaker:It's a fun way to stay unique.
Speaker:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:I absolutely love it.
Speaker:Yeah. I mean I sat on one of your three hour
Speaker:shows. Like I had my phone,
Speaker:I had the sold word ready to go.
Speaker:So I pop in that number and I had to also
Speaker:do some other work on the side.
Speaker:And so like juggling,
Speaker:I was trying while,
Speaker:Oh, believe me,
Speaker:I didn't get much done,
Speaker:but I tried so cause I wanted to be ready when
Speaker:I saw what I wanted.
Speaker:Boy and I will say your turnaround was unbelievable.
Speaker:Well we try really hard.
Speaker:I think I was on last.
Speaker:Yeah, I was on last week's Wednesday,
Speaker:I think it was the Wednesday one.
Speaker:Okay. And I had my items Monday.
Speaker:Oh wow.
Speaker:Good. Oh yeah.
Speaker:I had my invoice Thursday.
Speaker:I paid that baby right away so I didn't lose my
Speaker:things and I had my stuff on Monday too.
Speaker:I can't wear it yet cause it's all for the summer.
Speaker:It's too cold.
Speaker:But that's coming.
Speaker:That's coming.
Speaker:Oh my.
Speaker:Any final inspirational words for our listeners on what you're doing
Speaker:and ideas for them or comments for them about someone who's
Speaker:just going through the same time with you?
Speaker:With all of us actually.
Speaker:Well I really think that you bring your own energy every
Speaker:single day and if you,
Speaker:you've got to give yourself a pep talk.
Speaker:If you're just down in the dumps,
Speaker:it goes back to that action over anxiety,
Speaker:do something,
Speaker:it might fail,
Speaker:but then do something else.
Speaker:Do something,
Speaker:be in touch with your customers.
Speaker:This is a great time to be emailing them about maybe
Speaker:things that you have in your store that have been there
Speaker:for a while,
Speaker:but you haven't really highlighted it.
Speaker:This is a great time to do that.
Speaker:Do some creative things.
Speaker:Like we've had Sandy doing a cooking show.
Speaker:She loves to cook.
Speaker:She ran a restaurant,
Speaker:a small little like a diner for many years.
Speaker:And so we've been having her do in a cooking show
Speaker:on Thursdays.
Speaker:And that started before we were doing the live shows.
Speaker:But we kept it because it's a great way to just
Speaker:connect with our customers.
Speaker:We're not trying to sell them anything at all.
Speaker:We're just there to have fun.
Speaker:We always tell people,
Speaker:grab your favorite frosty beverage and learn something new.
Speaker:Find something new to make for dinner.
Speaker:She did a little series on all those pantry items,
Speaker:like cream of mushroom soup that you bought and cleared all
Speaker:the shelves of what are you going to do with that
Speaker:stuff now that it's in your pantry,
Speaker:because it's probably not the way you're normally cooking.
Speaker:So she went back to a blast from the past and
Speaker:did some her,
Speaker:her mom's recipes with canned goods and shelf items and they
Speaker:were delicious.
Speaker:So I would say whatever you're doing,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:if you're a Baker,
Speaker:show how to make your famous cookies.
Speaker:Show how to frost a cake.
Speaker:If you do crafts,
Speaker:show how you're making masks for people,
Speaker:but show what you're doing and just talk to your customers
Speaker:through the live platform,
Speaker:which is so awesome to use right here on Facebook.
Speaker:And I love what you just said.
Speaker:It's not with the intent of selling,
Speaker:but just staying connected.
Speaker:Yeah. You see all the things you're doing for selling,
Speaker:but this is a whole nother way of using live just
Speaker:to stay connected.
Speaker:Absolutely. That was our original goal.
Speaker:We keep telling our customers we want to be here when
Speaker:this is over.
Speaker:And so we're just reaching out.
Speaker:We're just saying hi and we let them know that we're
Speaker:here to help them with anything we possibly can and just
Speaker:remind them that we're still here.
Speaker:And you've done a further extension of that today by helping
Speaker:us understand what you're doing and give his listeners,
Speaker:if any of you pick up with this and experiment and
Speaker:actually do this for yourself.
Speaker:Will you let Vicki and I know,
Speaker:yes, that would be so fun to see and understand and
Speaker:maybe we will Come on and watch what you're doing as
Speaker:well. Absolutely.
Speaker:And as always they can call me.
Speaker:I mean I am here,
Speaker:your phone rings,
Speaker:podcast recording and all my phone rings.
Speaker:Yes. And,
Speaker:but I'd love to talk to other retailers about what they're
Speaker:doing. It's how we get ideas and our mastermind group,
Speaker:which you came on and spoke to our at our mastermind
Speaker:summit a couple of years ago,
Speaker:which was so,
Speaker:so nice of you.
Speaker:That was so I would do that Again.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:Well our summit would had to be postponed this year,
Speaker:so we were supposed to be in Colorado for this year's
Speaker:summit. But anyways,
Speaker:form your own group,
Speaker:collaborate with other store owners from around the country and keep
Speaker:going. Just keep on keeping on.
Speaker:Absolutely. And I think that's a great place to end because
Speaker:we all have to keep on keeping on.
Speaker:Thank you again so much for being here.
Speaker:Vicky, You're so welcome.
Speaker:Thanks for inviting me and we'll look forward to seeing you
Speaker:pop up again on our Facebook live.
Speaker:Oh, you know that's happening.
Speaker:Buy, buy,
Speaker:buy, buy the magic words sold.
Speaker:Item number,
Speaker:email. I just love how Vicki moved into this new way
Speaker:of selling.
Speaker:Without hesitation.
Speaker:She could have put up all sorts of excuses.
Speaker:The shop doesn't have an acceptable background for video.
Speaker:I don't have the right equipment or I don't know how
Speaker:to do this.
Speaker:Remember how she said she just jumped right in and is
Speaker:perfecting it as she goes.
Speaker:What I really want you to remember is it wasn't perfect,
Speaker:but Vicky was still selling product.
Speaker:The key is she got started,
Speaker:so I want you to think this through for yourself.
Speaker:You can make what Vicki does into your own version of
Speaker:a shopping show and if you do,
Speaker:please let us know over in the Facebook group,
Speaker:gift biz breeze.
Speaker:That way we can all be there to support you.
Speaker:Up next week.
Speaker:We're talking SEO.
Speaker:Yup. The behind the scenes magic that comes with search engine
Speaker:optimization. One thing we've all learned these past few months is
Speaker:how important our websites are.
Speaker:Now let's get yours working on super drive.
Speaker:I've learned a lot during this interview and can't wait to
Speaker:share it with you too.
Speaker:See you next Monday and Oh,
Speaker:when you subscribed to the show,
Speaker:it automatically downloads to your phone.
Speaker:Why don't you do that now so it's ready and waiting
Speaker:for you.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:I'll see you next week.
Speaker:Bye for now.
Speaker:I want to make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook
Speaker:group called gift is breeze.
Speaker:It's a place where we all gather and our community to
Speaker:support each other.
Speaker:Got a really fun post in there.
Speaker:That's my favorite of the week I have to say where
Speaker:I invite all of you to share what you're doing,
Speaker:to show pictures of your product,
Speaker:to show what you're working on for the week,
Speaker:to get reaction from other people and just for fun because
Speaker:we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody in
Speaker:the community is making.
Speaker:My favorite post every single week without doubt.
Speaker:Wait, what aren't you part of the group already?
Speaker:If not,
Speaker:make sure to jump over to Facebook and search for the
Speaker:group gift biz breeze.
Speaker:Don't delay.
