Today I want to talk to you about what to do when things don’t feel like they are working. If you’ve been through The MAKERS Framework some of this will sound familiar but don’t drop off on me!
As handmade business owners we tend to question ourselves when the sales aren’t happening. We start to wonder if the product isn’t good enough, if no one wants it or needs it, or if perhaps they just don’t like us. Imposter Syndrome rears its ugly head and gets inside of ours.
When this happens and you feel like you are struggling. I have a series of questions I like to ask to help pinpoint the areas where I can work to get things moving again.
These questions all line up with the MAKERS acronym that I use in my course The MAKERS Framework. These are the key elements to a successful handmade business.
M- Make the thing
A - Ask for the Sale
K - Keep their Attention
E- Earn their Trust
R- Repeat, Repeat, Repeat
S- Scale It
These are the modules in my course and while that is much more in depth than this 10 lesson mini-course, we’re going to apply those same elements to troubleshoot what might be slowing down sales in our business.
MAKE THE THING
Are you regularly producing/procuring new products for your business?
How many hours a week are you spending creating new products?
Are you actually finishing the products, or are you working on too many ideas at one time?
Is the expense of new materials keeping you from creating fresh products? If so, do you have any old products that didn’t sell you could re-work and make new items with?
ASK FOR THE SALE
If you are in fact generating a steady flow of new product, how are you asking people to purchase those items?
Are you getting those pieces into your booth quickly? Are you making sure every item is clearly priced so your customer doesn’t have questions?
Are you posting pictures of your products on Social Media Channels and telling your audience how they can buy those products? Are you doing this multiple times per week?
Are you leveraging events to invite more people into your store so that they can see and purchase your products?
Do you also have a clear way for the non-local demographic to purchase your products?
KEEP THEIR ATTENTION
Are you engaging with your customers regularly through Social Media Posts? If so, are you posting multiple times a week? Do you respond to every single comment and message you receive?
Have you started an e-mail list? Are you updating them regularly?
Have you added new products lately so that customers who have already purchased from you might be interested in purchasing again?
REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT
Are you doing all of the above things with consistency? Are you creating new product every week? Are you taking those pieces into your storefront and refreshing your space every week? Or at least every two weeks?
Are you posting on social media multiple times a week, every week? Are you going back to items you posted months ago that haven’t sold yet and reposting pictures of those items in case your customers missed them? (hint; most of them did in fact miss them)
Are you emailing your list once a week? Or at least bi-weekly?
SCALE IT
This is for the person who is stuck on a plateau. You’re doing pretty good, but you’re trying to increase your sales and they just don’t want to budge. It’s time to figure out if there is a new stream of revenue available to you or if the answer is more volume (which ultimately means for time.)
I love working one on one with fellow entrepreneurs who are ready to strategize growing their business. If that is something you are interested in you can access my calendar through the link below to book a strategy session with me!
Today’s Handout is a carbon copy of a Troubleshooting Guide I create for the vendors in my own store to help then overcome a period of slow sales. I hope you’ll find it helpful in your own booth space!
Finally, if this training has been helpful, but you want a more immersive training experience with more interaction and real-time feedback, check out my Booth Camp Immersive. This is a seven week Focus Group where we deep dive into a single month inside your vendor booth business to strategize how you can leverage all facets of your brick and mortar location to increase your foot traffic, sales and customer loyalty. I’d love to see you inside our next session!
