With a huge month of sales at 865 orders, I realized what I’ve been doing that led to this growth in sales at my Etsy Store!  In fact, it came down to 5 things that you need to start doing TODAY in your Etsy business.  If you’re not doing these 5 things, then it is costing you sales.      

The 5 Things you need to start doing TODAY in your Etsy business: 

• Building a community of customers.
• How to connect with your community. 
• Creating for your customers versus creating for yourself
• Making more offers
• Why consistency is directly correlated to sales

Resources for Handmade Sellers onEtsy

• Join our FREE Facebook Group, Etsy Sales & Marketing Strategies for Handmade Sellers
• Get the SEO Mini Masterclass and learn how to write SEO, titles and tags to increase your shop visibility and sales.
• Join the Free 5 day Etsy SEO Visibility Challenge here.
• Join Etsy Accelerator Coaching Program here - get daily personalized support with your shop in a private Facebook group and weekly live zoom coaching calls to chat with other members too. Community, content, collabs.

With more than 4 million sellers on Etsy, how can

creative entrepreneurs like yourself, stand out from the

masses and sell more of your handmade goods without wasting

hours on social media? That is the big question. And this

podcast is the answer, where you will learn insider tips and

proven strategies on how to turn your Etsy side hustle into a

full time business, giving you the freedom to be your own boss,

timer, family, and more time to create. Hi, my name is Jenny

Hall, and you're listening to the handmade sellers podcast.

Let's do this. Ladies, I am so excited to share with you this

lesson today, we're going to talk about five things you

aren't doing, like not doing at all that are costing you sales.

Guys, I have been there, right? I haven't been there. I have

learned from my past mistakes. And then guess what, once you

start doing these things, and you say, hey, rosemary, once you

start doing these things, and you see your sales start to

increase, you're going to want to do them again, the things I'm

going to talk about today will help you increase your traffic,

increase your sales, and they're free. They don't cost anything,

you can start doing this today. And once you start to feel that

bit of success when you're getting more sales, by doing

these five things, success breeds success, you're going to

keep doing it more and more, because you're feeling more

confident in yourself and in your shot. And then your sales

will continue to grow. So this month, I had a huge month, I had

865 orders in my shop, if you want to check out my shop, it's

seemingly smitten, it's s EA seemingly smitten. I had a huge

month. And you know right now during COVID-19 people who are

business owners, we're all businesses. We're all business

owners, and during COVID-19, you have to drown out all that

noise, and still focus on your business, and on growing your

business. Because you're a business owner. And I did that.

This month, I focused and I did these five things. And guys, it

made a huge difference. I got 865 orders this month. It made

me feel great, right sales are still coming in, people are

still buying my community that I have in my sewing pattern group.

They're still there, they still want what I have, right? And I'm

still letting them know, that created patterns that I'm still

working. Okay, so here are the five things that you aren't

doing, you're not doing you might be doing some of them. But

these are the five things you need to be doing. And if you're

not doing them, I guarantee you, it's costing you self. So the

first thing is community. Do you have a community of customers?

Do you have a community of not only customers who have bought

from you, but have potential customers? Who will live from

you? Are you growing a community? For me, I have a

Facebook group, I also have a Facebook page. But pages

nowadays, they want you to pay for ads. And so I use my page to

in but I use my page to invite people to my group, my group is

my community. I have 6600 women in my seemingly smitten sewing

pattern group. That is my community. That is where I have

my group of people, and I keep them informed of what I'm

making. So the first thing is where is your community? Right

in the comments? Do you have a Facebook group? Do you have a

community? Where is your community? And if you don't,

that's

okay.

It's your chance to start one. So let me know if you

have community. The second thing once you have that community,

are you connecting with them? Are you connecting with that

community? Are you getting to know the people in your group?

Or are you just throwing out your link hoping someone will

buy from you? I see this constantly. I can go to

someone's group and look at the posts and it's all about them.

It's all about them and their products where your group should

be about your customers. How is what you're doing for your

community? How are you creating for your community? How are you

connecting with your community, the Facebook group is not there

just to talk about yourself and show off your items. It's not

because there's your customers. That's such a turnoff. If I go

look at your group, and I just see, you wrote about your

product, and you posted the link. And then the next day you

wrote about your product and posted the link, I guarantee

you, you're not going to get engagement, you're not going to

get sales. You think like you think you're doing the right

thing? Because you're letting people know you're letting your

community know what you have. And that's true. But are you

connecting with them on a deeper level? Right? Are you asking

them what they want? Are you asking them? Hey, which one do

you like? Better? Are you showing them? what you're doing?

Are you showing pictures of yourself? at work? Are you

asking, Hey, what are you making today? Um, show me a picture of

you wearing one of my designs, you know, have a challenge. I'm

in my group, would you sew alongs? Right. That's how I

connect with people we do so long. And for a week, we just do

a few steps of the pattern each week. And by Friday, people show

up their dress, people show up their top, and it's so much fun.

Hey, rosemary, you have 2300 people who have liked your page,

but none of them are customers, okay? For your page, how are

they finding you. And you need to create a group and get those

people in. Because if they're going to be in your Facebook

group, they want to know about your product more. If they're

following your page, they want to know about your product more.

But guess what, with the Facebook algorithm and the

Facebook changes, the likelihood of them seeing your stuff is so

small, it's like a one to 3% of the amount of people in your

group actually see your posts, one to 3%. So 1% of 2300. It's

only 23 people. So when you think you're posting and

bothering people, only one to 3% in your Facebook page, or seeing

yourself. That's not enough. So you might think you're annoying

people, right? You might think oh, I post too much, or Oh, no

one responds, yes, in your Facebook page. Engagement is

going to be low. You have Facebook ads. Okay, rosemary,

that's great Facebook ads, try to get them to your group. So

get them to your Facebook page and then on their invite them

into your group. That's your perfectly that's your lead

generator. So yes, Facebook ads are awesome. But you won't get

the most out of them. Unless you're leading them into your

group, your group, they'll see your stuff more. And then

they'll see the products you're making. It'll make you more

sales. So the first thing if you don't have this, you've got to

do it because this is costing you sales community. Okay,

number one was a community. Where's your community? For me?

It's a Facebook group, my sewing pattern group, where is your

community? If you don't have one, it's not too late to start.

This is how you grow. That's how you grow your shop, grow your

community, make a Facebook group for your page for your business.

Number two, are you connecting with your customers in that

group? Right? Get to know them get to know what they like. Um,

so for me for this month, I had a huge month. Okay, I had 865

orders huge month. Guess why? Because I had my community. I

connected with them. They were writing in there. Hey, do you

have a scrub Pat scrub hat pattern. Hey, do you have a

women's scrub hat pattern? Do you have a scrub hat pattern

that doesn't use elastic because we can't find elastic in the

stores right now. Guess what that was connecting? We were

having conversations. And with that information, guess what I

did? Hey, Ashley, thanks for watching. With that information

came step three. Creating are you creating for your customers

and for your potential customers? Or are you creating

for yourself?

That is a big one that you have to get over. When you make

something we're artists, right. We're all creators. We think oh,

this is great. This is awesome. Everyone's going to like it.

Is that true?

No, not everyone, your ideal client, your

customer, someone that is coming to your shop is coming there for

your specific product because they want that product. They're

looking for that. They're very specific when they are searching

Etsy of what they're looking for. If they're gone to your

shop, and they see what they want, and a little Looking

around the rest of your shop and the good, this doesn't make

sense. She's offering this and this and this and this and this.

Who are you creating board? That goes back to? are you creating

for your community? Are you connecting with your community

and then creating for them? There are so many answers

to

what you need to do if your Etsy shop in your group,

just ask your people, they will tell you. So when I saw that my

community kept asking for scrub hat patterns, guess what I

created for them? I didn't create that for me. My husband's

a physician. And so yes, I made it. I made him try it on and we

took some pictures. But I was created for my community. That's

what people wanted. That's what people needed right now,

especially during COVID-19. So are you creating for your

customers? Or are you just making what you like? Once you

know what they want you to create? And you know, they're

going to like it because that's a game changer. You're going to

see your sales increase. And then success breeds success. You

will keep going. Number four are you making offers? So you have

your community number one, you How are you connecting number

two? are you creating for them? Number three, number four, are

you making offers? Time and time again, I get messages people are

scared to make offers. They're scared to post in their group.

They're scared to go live. They're scared to talk about

anything else other than what they made they they're scared.

Tell me if you ever get paralyzed by posting on

Facebook, or going live on Facebook? Let me know. Let me

know. Because everyone has this fear, right? But what are you

scared of? If these people are coming to you, because you have

something they want, you have something they need. They're

already coming to you. If they're already coming to you,

they're interested in what you have. They chose to be in your

group, they are choosing to stay in your group, because they like

your products. So are you making offers? Once I made the scrubs,

the scrub hat patterns, guys, I had to let people know. I was

proud that I made that because they wanted it. Right. They

wanted it. And I even went in there and told them you know,

I'm not doing this for a huge profit. The the patterns I make

I have a certain price point, right. And so yes, I saw other

people on Etsy, selling it for three times what I was selling

it for, but I knew that my customer expected my same price

point. And guess what? I got 865 orders. Right, but I had to let

them know that it was in the shop. I had to share pictures of

me wearing it. You can go to my Facebook group and see how silly

I look in a nurse bouffant skirt hat. Right. But that's what

nurses were. I had to show pictures of my husband in his

scrubs wearing his scrub hat pattern. I had to do it. I had

to, I had to say, guys, I heard I heard you I know what you

want. And you know, I had to let them know I have it. I made it.

Here. Here it is. Come check out come check it out in my shop. I

sent out a newsletter. right because I wanted those people to

know. And I didn't do this once I varied it. I let them know

what I made. It's out there. Here. You know, guess what? I

heard you. I know I listened. I heard y'all wanted scrub hats.

Without elastic. It's finally here to check it out. I sounded

excited about the product. I made them feel like I made it

for them. And I did. And guess what happened? They thanked me.

Right? Because it was something they wanted something they

needed when you put those two together for your ideal client.

That is exactly what they want. And you should be proud to put

that out there. Okay, let's see. Um, Rosemary says, I created a

Facebook group but don't know what to do with it. Here's where

I get it. That is a lot of people's issues. And your pay

you're very shy on Facebook Live. I was too I was completely

shot. I remember the first time I ever went live to do one of my

so alongs two years ago. I can feel my face like READ WRITE. I

could feel myself like just kind of blushing but Rosemary I

promise you, you get used to promise you and when you show up

in your group, you're taking ownership of what you make. And

that is you saying, I'm proud of what I make. I have something

that you want. And I'm not afraid to show you and rosemary,

you can video yourself, just with your phone, just video

yourself, and then delete it, video yourself, watch it and

watch your facial expressions and watch your hands and watch.

What is the person who's looking at you, what did they see?

Right? delete it, do it again, you can do that for a week, no

one's going to know. But when you're on the camera the next

time, and then the next time and the next time, you're gonna feel

so much more confident. It's a mindset thing. You have nothing

to be shy about or nervous about, because those people are

following you. Already. They're choosing you, Ashley, I know I

have this problem I think a lot of people do. It's scary to put

yourself out there and have confidence that your product is

valuable. Absolutely. But once again, that's like rosemary,

she's saying she's shy. And Ashley, you're saying the same

thing. It's scary to put yourself out there. That's just

mindset. Remember what we talked about earlier, you have your

thought, which creates your feeling. And your feeling

creates your action. And your actual rates your results. If

you're thinking, Oh, I have this great product, but I'm too shy

to share it. If that's your thought, you're going to feel

not confident like, well, I can't share it. I'm not going to

get any sales. And your action will be. I'm too nervous to

share it. I'm not going to. Are you going to get any sales?

No.

So you have to change your thought. Right? I am

confident in what I made. People will be happy to see this. They

want this they need this. This is so valuable to my customers.

Oh my gosh, I

can't wait to share it. How would that feel? I feel

amazing. What kind of action would you take? If that was your

thought? Right? You would post about it you would share about

it, you would go live and be like guys, I'm so excited. Look

at this. Look what I just made. I just made this beautiful

little jewelry jewelry dish and I use a different type of clay.

And I had all these different pay to talk about it.

Right.

So let's see Charlotte, I definitely don't do

videos or have photos of myself on my page. I've had strangers

trying to get into my personal page. Yeah, so I stick with my

products is too scary. Okay, block those people, walk them

and don't respond, don't respond, you can just block

those people. I mean, we all put ourselves out there and social

media, anyone has the opportunity messages, right? But

you don't have to open it. Delete, you can delete off you

are in charge of your group. And on your business page, same

thing you can delete and block and ban

there are times I believe

in banned people in my group. Because either one,

they're trying to sell something to they put a video on there.

Right? That's, it was about so Ain't nothing inappropriate, but

they were trying to sell something, um, people who are

mean to me, they don't need to be in my group. It's my group.

Right. Um, and so you're in charge of that group, Charlotte,

you're totally in charge. And there's also something you can

do, where you can say, if someone posts on your page, you

have to approve it. That way, no one can post anything on the

page without your approval. You're in charge of your page.

Don't be scared to show your face. You're that face that

beautiful face behind your product. You're the artist. You

just have to not worry about other people's opinions. Those

are just opinions. Opinions don't matter. If people are

reaching out to you that are creepy. block them girl. Okay,

move on lockdown. Don't let one or two or three people turn you

off from showing up. That's think of Hello the percentages

that for many sales you've made in your shop. Think of how many

customers you have. Right? Okay, Ashley, I have a YouTube channel

not shy at all. But when it comes to my product, I get super

shy. But if we don't have competence or product in our

product, no one else will either. Absolutely. That's

mindset, mindset. And so, okay, you're not shy. You're not shy.

When it comes to your product. You're shy Don't be what does

your product do? actually tell me what your product is? What is

your product? If your product solves a problem for a person

gives them something of value. How can you be ashamed of that

or shy that you're not confident? You made it? You want

people to buy it? So that's just in your head? You have to start

with that thought of I can do this. I love my product. Yeah,

you know,

I love my product. Oh gosh,

I can't wait for to see people using this where

people wearing this or oh my god I'm gonna be wearing my earring

designs is so exciting. You just have to change your thought.

Yeah, Charlotte definitely work on competence. And that just

comes with a mind set shift. All you have to do is start telling

yourself positive things. It is a game changer. Confidence is

within. And you've got it. Girl you have like bestsellers in

your shop, right? You make things people want. Okay,

Ashley, I make handmade junk journals. People love

journaling. People love being creative. I don't know what a

junk journal is. Why does it say junk? What's that mean? But if

it's a journal, oh my gosh, right now, Joe, how many people

are creating how many people need more places to draw my

daughter I think I've ordered her, you know, three art

notebooks within the past month because she's home drawing.

She's

amazing. She's She's home doing things. So this is

the perfect time to have a journal actually. promote that.

Go talk about it, show people open it up. You can do a video.

It doesn't have to be your face, where you can go through flip

through the book and show them what it's made of talk about how

you made it. I'm really excited to share this new journal with

you today.

Oh, it

took me you know, a couple days to come out with

this final design, and so pumped to share I cannot wait for you

to write in and draw and whatever they're going to do in

their journal that makes them know that you're thinking of

them, you're creating for them. And you're proud of it.

Rosemary, I make prayer quilts and wallhangings do you talk

about your prayer quilts and wallhangings on your tube

channel rosemary, or what do you post? So if you put Ashley they

are called that because people make them out of everything.

Anything. That's funny. post a picture. I need to see this post

a picture. I

love it.

I love it. I love

creative things. So people need journals, Ashley,

rosemary, prayer quilts. Oh my gosh, prayer quotes at this time

people need those people need prayer people need people need

prayer journals, pair quilts, um, Memorial quilts. Um, you use

scripture and inspirational messages. That's beautiful

rosemary, use that. If that's on your quilts. People need that

job comforting. Special. Scripture passages are

especially during this time. That's a beautiful thing people

could give that to, to nurses to doctors, you know, during this

tough time. How are the what are some scriptures that you like

that could get a person through it? You can put a post the

Scripture and post the link quilt in your Facebook group.

Okay, let me get back. Are you making offers? That was number

four. So number one, do you have a community if you don't pick

one? Number two, are you connecting with them? We're

connecting right now I'm talking to you. Are you talking to your

customers? How are you getting to know them? Number three, are

you creating for them? or making what you like huge game changer?

Make what they want?

Number four, are

you making offers? Do they know what you make? Do

they know when you come up with something new? Do they know that

you posted five new products in your shop? Right? Make offers.

But also make sure you're posting and asking them

questions and engaging with them. You not want to make

offer, make offer make offer, no people will be turned away.

Number five, that is costing you sales. This is the biggest one

consistency. You can have all of these things. But if you're not

consistent, your sales are inconsistent. If you are

inconsistent in doing these things, your sales are

inconsistent. I can see it in my group. I can see it when I post

in my group for a couple days. What if I don't send out my

newsletter once a week? If people are not staying informed,

and they're not knowing what I'm in the office that I have? Are

they going to be thinking about me working on my shop? No. No,

be consistent. Sales slow down when you stop showing up. Sales

slow down when you stop showing up. Think about that. Okay, let

me know if y'all have any questions. I'm rosemary, I post

sewing techniques. Great. You post sewing techniques you post

the quilts that you make you have an audience you have an

audience. People who watch how to sew doesn't necessarily mean

they know how to sew as good as you write. And you're making

those quills go post that be proud of that. Anyone else have

any questions? Give it one more second. All right, so to recap

five things you aren't doing those costing you sales one

community to connecting with that community. Number three,

creative identity. Number four, are you making offers and number

five are students

consistent?

This is how you increase your traffic. This is

how you increase your sales. Are you a handmade seller and

creative entrepreneur who's ready to amplify your Etsy shops

visibility and sales? If so, then I invite you to join my

community of more than 1900. etsy shop owners on Facebook

called Etsy sales and marketing for handmade sellers. It's where

you will get insider access on the latest strategies for

writing SEO, and for boosting your sales with simple and

strategic social media marketing while surrounding yourself with

a community of supportive entrepreneurs who are in your

corner every step of the way. join for free today by visiting

www geny dash hall.com slash Facebook group. Thanks for

listening and I can't wait to see you on the inside.