How To Create A High Quality Sales Tool For Your Embroidery Business!
Creating High-Quality Sales Tools for your embroidery business will increase your sales and help save a lot of time that is normally spent working with a customer. This will also create confidence with your customers because they can see immediately the type of quality that they can expect with their finished product.
Sew Out Designs You Want To Feature
Using White felt, sew out many of your best designs and the fonts that you use the most or want to feature. When you are sewing out your designs, add a number under each design signifying the stitch count. This makes it easier when you are trying to explain to a customer about stitch count and they can see approximately what a 10,000 stitch logo is going to look like. If you have some generic stock designs or sports symbols that you like to use, this would be a good choice.
As you are sewing out the fonts leave enough space between each one so that they will have a neat even border. Sew each font in a different color. Use the colors of thread that you carry in stock. Sew out the fonts that work out best for you first and then you can sew out other fonts and have them for your Premium fonts at a higher price. As you are sewing out the fonts, use the font name. This makes selection easier and there is no question as to what they are looking for.
Use Different Sizes For Your Embroidery Fonts
Choose different sizes for your fonts so that you can use this as a tool also. Example: If you sew names out in a certain font, sew that font out in the same size that you sew out a name in. That way the customer totally understands exactly what he is getting. If you have a certain size that you prefer for a left chest, sew out a block or script font that is popular for the left chest in the size that you normally use for the left chest.
After they are sewn out and trimmed perfectly, press a heat bonding material onto the back side of the embroidered sample pieces. Purchase the heat bonding material from the fabric store or an embroidery supply house.
Cut out each one of the fonts and designs using a pinked edge. To get a straight even line turn your embroidery over to the wrong side and draw a line with a ruler measuring up from the edge of the embroidery. Make sure that they all have the same amount of space around the embroidery so that they are all cut in a uniform manner.
Purchase 8 1/2″ by 11″ business card stock from the office supply store. With a hot iron or heat press machine, lay your cut pieces onto the business card stock and press them in place in a neat uniform manner.
With a 3 hole punch, punch holes on the left side of the page when you are finished and place all of your sample pages into a 3 ring binder. Use one with the clear plastic storage view on the front. Create an attractive cover with your business name on it to slide into the front of the binder.
This is not a great picture but I want you to see exactly what I am talking about and just know that it comes out looking like a much higher quality than the actual photo looks.
A Great Sales Tool For Your Counter
This makes a great sales tool that you can leave on the store counter or take with you. When I had my large embroidery business, I furnished each one of my dealers with a sales binder and it really did increase my sales. It was very easy to use and the customer always knew exactly what type of quality they could expect.
5 Easy Steps to Successfully Market Your Embroidery Business Offline
Marketing your business is one of your top priorities and should be done on a daily basis. Even if it is a small step, you need to get into the habit of doing something that will create traffic into your business on a daily basis. No matter how successful your business is, ignoring ongoing methods of traffic generation and promotion also means ignoring a rich source of sales and profit.
I am going to give you 5 easy steps that you can start using immediately to effectively market your business.
Step #1: Create Your Plan
Every successful marketing campaign begins with a plan.
Creating Your Plan: Your marketing campaign plan should do three things:
- Cover at least one entire calendar year
- Feature any relevant seasonal or sporting events, holidays or trends
- A method that you can use to track and analyze your results
Planning an entire year’s worth of strategy isn’t as difficult as it seems. It will help you be consistent in building momentum and maintaining visibility. You can always make changes as you see your results. Consistency is the real key to success in marketing your Embroidery business.
Seasonal or sporting events and holidays provide the perfect, reason for extra contact. Make sure that you analyze and track your results! This is very important. It will have a bearing on how you plan your next campaign.
In creating your plan you must:
- Use a calendar. Either a physical chart you write in or an organizer.
- Plan backwards. Write in the campaign launch date -then go backwards and then break down each step that has to be started and completed, in order to set that launch up and make it happen on the target date.
Step #2: Start Reaching Out to Your Clients or Customers
Now that you have your plan in place, here are some methods of reaching out to your clients or customers.
- Telephone
Do a short telephone survey asking your customers what you can do for them, how you can help them, what can you provide that they are not able to get elsewhere? You can let them know in advance about your next promotion. They will feel special. Make sure they are aware of your Referral Program. - Direct Mail
If you are uncomfortable with the phone, create a postcard. Give them a special offer on the postcard. They will be required to bring the postcard into your shop in order to be eligible for the special offer. If you have a website, send them to a special page on your website with an offer-either something free or very low cost just to get them into your autoresponder so that you can start marketing to them on a steady basis automatically. - Free Samples or Coupons
If you are using coupons, make sure that they are self-limiting, whenever possible, such as a particular holiday or event. (Mother’s Day special, no longer available when Mother’s Day is over)
Step #3: Promoting to Current Clients or Customer and Attracting New Clients or Customers
Here are five highly effective promotion strategies you should implement immediately as part of your plan for the year.
Put your logo on every piece of physical material you wear, use or distribute. That include:
- Business cards
- Stationery
- Envelopes
- Brochures
- Invoices and receipts
- Your car
- Your office window or sign
- Promotional items (pens, t-shirts, mugs, mouse pads, etc.)
- Sample items
- Your own t-shirt, golf shirt, jacket, cap or visor when attending public events
Sponsor a local team, charity or even an individual event participant.
It doesn’t matter how big the amount -showing your community involvement and “giving back” is always a great way to promote your business.
Donate prizes
Create a contest, or donate to an existing local charity or contest. Just be sure to put your logo on the prize item or accompanying freebie or card somewhere! (HINT: Contest creation for seasonal holidays gives you the perfect, natural excuse!)
Promote your contest or event participation
Send out a press release to your local radio station, TV station or newspaper in advance of the big event, so they can show up and either do a story on you (“Local Business Owner Gives Back”) or photograph the prize recipient, if it’s significant enough. Just make sure your press release is not solely about you and your business, but offers them a real story for their readers , the more heart-warming the story is, the better.
Propose a workshop to your local community college or library.
If your business is already established, you’ve certainly got the credentials- and it will establish you as their own, resident “go-to” expert in that field. (This can be about how to select the correct promotional items for their needs or something that would be fitting to or for your market.)
Step #4: Advertising
Don’t hesitate to include advertising as part of your annual strategy, if you can allocate a budget to it. Surveying your intended market and using the method most favored by them are the keys to ensuring this strategy gives you a return for your investment. Consider advertising with:
- Local newspapers
- Local business or trade directories
- Local Radio
- Local TV
Finally, consider creating an advertising contra – a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” exchange of services or goods you already own with any of these organizations. It’s a time-honored custom in advertising and all venues above are thoroughly familiar with the idea. This is a very effective way to reach a large audience with a smaller dollar outlay! You will need to show the newspaper, radio or TV station how they will profit from this partnership venture.
Step #5: Boosting Visibility and Credibility
You may have multiple goals for your promotion plan. You can use any or all of the above methods (and any others you can think of) to:
- Increase your expert status
- Increase your visibility
- Increase ease of contact to prospective clients
- Brand your business or product
And, last but not least increase your sales.
In my Embroidery Business Plan Workshop that I will be starting on January 12, I show you exactly how to create a very effective Marketing Plan. If you order by December 31st, you can receive a $50.00 discount by using Coupon Code PLAN2012
Marketing Is One Of The Most Important Pieces of Your Embroidery Business Puzzle!
When you start your Embroidery Business, Marketing is the most important piece of the puzzle that you must run with to get the word out about your Embroidery Business!
When I first started my embroidery business I thought that all I had to do was put out my sign to let everyone know that I was now in business! Along with that I placed a couple of ads in the newspaper. I thought that this would let everyone know that I was here and I would have all of the customers that I ever wanted or needed! Guess What! It didn’t quite work out that way!
I soon found out that getting customers was not as easy as I had envisioned! It really took a lot of work to get that steady flow of customers coming in the doors. Without that steady flow of customers, you have no business!
To most of us embroiderers, marketing is not the fun part of the business and many times we feel very intimidated by it! Marketing was a very scary process for me in the beginning; just the thought of it scared me to death! Have you ever felt the same way? I discovered very quickly that I had to learn more about marketing.
In simple terms, Marketing is the process that you go through to find the “Right People” that need your product or service. The Right People, your Niche Market, are the ones that need or want to buy your product or service. In other words, we have to let our Niche Market know who we are, what we do and what we have to offer that will benefit them! Sometimes we have to expand on what we have to offer to broaden our reach for more of those Right People !
The most important process in getting ready to market your embroidery business is to create a working plan. You must have a Marketing Plan! This is your road map and will help to keep you on the right track. If one strategy is not working you can go back and review your plan and make some changes, but without a plan you are just running in circles and do not have any idea as to what to do or where to go to get started.
Create a planning calendar with all of the holidays, sports seasons and events and start planning your promotions around all of them. What are some of the items that you can offer for each one of these special occasions? What would you have to do to put together a simple plan to promote each one of these holidays, sports seasons and special events?
You must find out when your lean times are so that you can act proactively and create promotions just ahead of these slow times so that you can avoid them entirely. You must always be proactive instead of reactive in your marketing.
People need you and what you have to offer. All you have to do is make them aware of what you have, work with them to find out exactly what they are looking for and you can create the perfect relationship. I know it sounds so simple, and actually it really is.
Once I put a Marketing Plan together and started working my plan, I found out that letting everyone know that I was in business was not as hard as I thought that it was going to be. If you do not market your business and learn how to do it effectively, most people will NEVER find you!
I have created a course on how to market your embroidery business off line and on line. This is a total embroidery business marketing system that will help you to keep in contact with all of your current customers as well as automatically prospect for new customers. I invite you to download the complimentary report “Is It Important For A Home-Based Embroidery Business to have a Website or Any Type of On-Line Marketing System?”
Please leave a comment or let me know what has been a very successful way that you have used to let people know that you are in business!
Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach
© 2011 Joyce Jagger, The Embroidery Coach
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
“The Embroidery Coach, Joyce Jagger simplifies the complex world of embroidery into easy to understand lessons. Her passion is to help get the new embroiderer off to a fast start and help the existing embroiderer improve their skills so that they can provide higher quality embroidery and increase their profitability! Get her FREE Mini-Course “The 5 Mistakes Embroiderers Make” at www.TheEmbroideryCoach.com”
