Jane Hamill

Increase revenue using content & email marketing.

Podcast

What NOT to Say to Customers at Holiday Markets

I could have called this episode, “How NOT to Blow the Sale at Holiday Markets”.

Or maybe, “The Five Dumbest Things I’ve Ever Said to Lose the Sale at a Craft Show”.

Or maybe even, “Keep Your Mouth Shut, Designer! Or You Risk Losing the Sale”.

I’m pretty sure I’m uniquely qualified to teach you how to blow a sale at a direct-to-consumer selling event, craft fair, art show, retail pop-up…because I’ve said and done the DUMBEST things right in front of potential customers that made them give me a perplexed look and turn on their heel and walk away from my booth.

And then I learned. And kept learning, and kept trying other things to say. And finally figured it out. And then became a BOSS salesperson with money in my pocket.

This episode teaches you what NOT to say so you can end up with a bucket ‘o cash at the end of a show. 🙂

Have a listen…

You can also listen to this episode on iTunes and Stitcher Radio.

Grab your copy of the Selling Event Checklist

Mentioned in the podcast:

Your Turn! Will you do me a quick favor? 

  1. Are you doing Holiday Markets this season? Let me know in the comments below! I LOVE hearing from you.
  2. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher and leave me an honest review. ❤️

Thanks for listening,

Jane

P.S. Seriously, people, talk to me! Leave a comment and let’s chat. 🙂

Black Friday: What’s Your Plan?

Love it or hate it, it’s happening.

Our bellies will be full, the football games will be nonstop, and the kids will be hopped up on candy corn, and the family arguments will be in full swing. Prolly my tipsy Aunt will ask me 17 times why I’m not moving to the suburbs already because it’s not safe in the city and it’s not good for kids and haven’t I seen the news lately?

Thanksgiving. And then…let the stampedes begin.

According to Shopify, Cyber Monday in 2017 “was the biggest day in the history of ecommerce in the US, and consumers spent $6.59 billion online on just that one day.”

Of the billions spent, the Shopify platform alone (which I LOVE and recommend to all of my clients) processed 1 billion in sales. One billion dollars.

These are crazy numbers and there’s no reason to think sales for 018 will decrease.  dollars in sales.

What are you going to do about BFCM this year?

Skip it? Offer a heavy discount? Just do Small Business Saturday? What about Giving Tuesday?

“Black Friday? I couldn’t imagine anything more ghastly.” – Matter of Form

Maybe it’s better to just lay on the couch and let the tryptophan kick in, huh?

But don’t worry, I got you. In this episode, I give you 5 things to think about and decide BEFORE you do anything at all about Black Friday. I also give examples of what you can do and discuss the pretty darn serious pushback to the whole BFCM thing.

Have a listen…

You can also listen to this episode on iTunes and Stitcher Radio.

Mentioned in the podcast:

What do YOU think?

I’d love to know your thoughts on BFCM. What’s worked for you in the past? What are you going to do this year? Please talk to me, people!! Leave a comment below and show me you’re alive. 🙂

As always, thanks for listening.

Jane

P.S. If you’re looking to scale and you want business coaching, go here. If you’re just getting started and want to launch a clothing line, go here.

Success Story: Sarah Doubled Her Wholesale Orders this Year

So…here’s an update on one of my (favorite) clients.

You know that podcast I did where the San Francisco designer tells us how she’s (finally) getting consistent sales?

Her name is Sarah Liller and she just sent me an update on her business. It’s been a year since her interview – check it out…

She’s DOUBLED her wholesale sales season over season and is about to do it again next season. (Mind you, this is season over season, not year over year).

Her online sales have DOUBLED.

Whaaaaa??? I’m crazy happy for her!

When I first interviewed her, she told me…“I was really scared to put myself out there and…of the rejection, and people saying no…”

Sarah changed her mindset from trying to get sales to being of service and helping her customers through her content, her designs, and her style advice.

And it’s working.

She’s killing it.

YOU are no different than Sarah. You can do it too, I firmly believe that.

Listen to Sarah’s original interview now…

You can also listen to this episode on iTunes and Stitcher Radio.

Show Notes and Links:

In this interview from last year, Sarah is VERY honest about her journey. If you like it, please share it with someone who could use this info, OK?

Have a great day!

Jane

P.S. You can find the original post with the original images at this link.

Getting People to Buy Your Products Online: The Four Step Process

how to get customers for my online clothing shop

Let’s get right to it.

People won’t buy online the first time they go to your site. Hardly ever.

And yet, we’re continually SHOCKED that we have to do more than post a great product shot on Instagram and wait for the money to roll in.

For small businesses, getting consistent sales works like this.

  • Decide who you really want to sell to
  • Add value to their lives (even if it’s in a very small way)
  • Get a “relationship” going (build trust and goodwill)
  • Offer these people something to buy

That’s it.

But most creative entrepreneurs and online shop owners are too lazy, too busy, too unsure – too something, to do the work. We somehow feel that should be someone else’s job.

I’ll stay here and design and source the product, and you guys can worry about marketing and selling it, OK?

Or as one of my coaching members said it best.

“I just want to spend my time choosing colors and fondling fabrics.” – said every fashion designer everywhere

If you’re tired of not having enough sales even though you KNOW you have a great product, this episode is for you.

They don’t call it a sales process for nothin’. Listen now for the 4 steps…

You can also listen to this episode on iTunes and Stitcher Radio.

Mentioned in the podcast:

Your Turn! Will you do me a quick favor? 

  1. Let me know in the comments below what you think of this podcast! O LIVE hearing from you.
  2. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher and leave me an honest review. <3

I love hearing from you so leave a comment below and let me know what you think! Thanks for listening,

Jane

Best of the Podcast – 5 Episodes You Don’t Want to Miss

Something different today. How would you like a (free) crash course in being a successful, money making business owner?

This week, 2 people asked me for the best way to get started listening to my podcast – the MOST useful episodes.  So I put together a list of the 5 podcasts with lessons that will turn you into a lean, mean, entrepreneurial machine.

1) Start with the idea that “perfect is good but done is better”. 

Perfect is Good but Done is Better – Imperfect Action

Excerpt: “So, a couple of years ago, I have a lot going on. I mean, everybody does, right? I’m a mom. I’ve got two kids, a husband, two houses, two cars, two, well two husbands actually, but not at the same time. And I’m feeling like I just can’t get this all done. I’m going to have to figure something out. So I decided my number for the year was going to be 86.

86% good is what I was striving for. So if I could do something at a hundred percent and it would take me however long to do because it all had to be just right – I would switch my thinking and my actions to getting it accomplished at 86% of my ability.”

No perfectionism. No huge procrastination. Just get shizzle done at 86%. Because it’s IMPERFECT ACTION that gets you results.

“Perfect is good but done is better.” Live by it.

2) Learn the concept of “showing up” and taking manageable “baby steps” from Paul Klein.

What Makes a Successful Creative with Paul Klein

Excerpt: [11:51] Number two is show up. Get your butt out the door. It’s about relationships. It would be beautiful if it was just about the art or just about the fashion and there’s, but there are plenty of people who make art and fashion that is desirable. They’re not showing up. The fact of the matter is if you go out there and be likable, if you invest, if you grow your community, and I differentiate in terms of grow your community and networking. I think networking is, here’s my card, what can you do for me? And I think growing your community is, hey, we’re both in this together…

Excerpt: [21:21] If you’re making something and you believe in it, you’re an asshole if you don’t get it out into the world. It demands to be seen and you are holding it back. What kind of jerk is that? Get over yourself. You’ve made something beautiful. It needs to be seen, get it out there.”

3) Feeling like the lonely entrepreneur? This one’s for you.

My Family and Friends Don’t Support Me in My Business

I mean, really, why don’t friends and family members act more supportive? Why do we, as creative entrepreneurs, feel like we have to DEFEND our business and our choices to other people? I know that’s on me – and I could deflect and ignore people’s comments. But sometimes it hurts. If I had a job at a bank, even a crappy job, I wouldn’t hear off-hand remarks about my “little business”, would I?

Excerpt: [10:31] You don’t want to have the feeling with your spouse that it’s not enough. Like YOU are not enough. The business is not enough. I’ve had some success, honey, didn’t you see it? And you really want their approval, and really you must have the hard conversation and get this out in the open or it will fester and it will make doing business very, very difficult because a lot of what you do in business is not learning the marketing strategies….

…It’s not writing good emails, it’s not designing good products, it’s not sourcing good things. It’s what goes on between the ears, right? And if you have a feeling of not enough-ness, of, Oh my god, I need to make this happen fast. Oh my god, if I don’t do it, they’re going to pull the plug. If you’re dealing with that low level stress every single day, that will make you sick. It will make you ill and it will make you not like your business and it’ll make you not like that person who you’re giving the power to disapprove of your business.”

4) Doubling daily orders and doing business YOUR way. Next up is my personal business guru, Dana Jaunzemis. What I’ve learned – an then actually implemented – from Dana has changed my life. Not exaggerating.

Her style of doing business, laser focused attention to profit, and gown-up (I’ll do it my way thank you very much) work style has changed the course of my career. She’s the reason I took the risk to start my monthly coaching program. She gave me courage. She showed me a true example of doing business MY way and not worrying about anyone else.

Doing business the Dana way is liberating. The liberation comes in 2 parts.

Doubling Your Daily E-commerce Orders with Dana Jaunzemis Part 1  & Part 2

Excerpt: [07:49] “Our first goal in a business is never a dollar amount goal, it’s always an action goal. What can I do to double the number of orders in this business? I’m not thinking about money at first, it’s always something actionable. So if I buy a business that’s doing 10 orders a day, everybody working with me knows we need to get to 20 orders a day. It is a common language that we can all get there. We’re all going to get on that bus and drive it together to get to 20 orders a day. 

Excerpt 2: [27:31] My businesses could easily double or triple, but that would push it to a place I don’t want to work. So what’s the point? Because this is my business, this is my life and my business. Nobody can tell me what I’m gonna do. So I’m creating this work style and lifestyle that makes me incredibly happy and I’ve had to get there by getting to places where I was unhappy and going, wow, this sucks. Wow, this isn’t fun. And then scaling back.

And so I’ve found the happy middle. I know right now where the happy middle is. We’re bigger than a tiny business is. Yes, we do have eight or 10 employees now. We’re not a big business and I don’t want to be. And we’re very cash flow positive.”

5) And for those of you who are waiting for that magical business partner to swoop in and take care of the marketing and sales so you can get busy with the fun stuff, this is for you.

Believe in THIS and Everything Changes

Excerpt [01:16]: You probably don’t like the idea of having to feel sales-y or desperate for the sale and honestly, I get it. I really do, but I’ll just put it out there that I’ve been afraid to share this today, afraid to scare you off by being 100 percent honest with you about what you need and what you need to believe to really make a successful creative business with money in the pocket. All right? In your pocket.

Now, there’s so many reasons that I want you to know why money is important. I’ll go into that a different day, but for the most part, if you are having positive cashflow and you have good margins and you’re making money with your business, your stress level is lower.”

Your Turn! Will you do me a quick favor? 

  1. Let me know in the comments below what episode you like best and why
  2. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher and leave me an honest review. <3

Let me know which one is your favorite in the comments below. As always, thanks for listening,

Jane

How She Did It: Jackie’s Breakthrough Year

“If you would have told me a year ago about everything I’d accomplish this last year, I would NOT have believed you…

And the biggest thing is I just pushed myself. I pushed the SHIT out of myself – in any way, shape or form. Ohhhhh, it was so scary and gross, but I did it.  And now those things don’t seem so bad, you know. You uplevel your fear factor, and then you wonder – why was I even worried about that?”

In the last 12 months, Jackie went from a demanding full-time corporate fashion design job to being a full-time business owner of her hand dyed clothing and accessories business, Dyetology. In this episode, she tells us the details of what she did to make this truly a BREAKTHROUGH year for her.

…About making the hard decisions and doing things that were SO outside her comfort zone she felt like barfing.

…About finally getting consistent with marketing her clothing and accessories line and the difference it’s made.

…How she was worried about “bothering” people with her marketing but now she’s so over that.

…About doing craft shows and markets and SELLING THE CRAP out of her line. And so much more.

I hope you love Jackie as much as I do. 🙂 Have a listen…


You can also listen to this episode on iTunes and Stitcher Radio.

Mentioned in the podcast:

Your Turn…What do you think? What was your ONE main takeaway from Jackie’s story? Is there something she said that surprised you? LMK in the comments below – I LOVE hearing form you.

As always, thanks for listening,

Jane

6 Ways to Prep NOW for Holiday Sales

6 ways to prepare for the Holiday Selling Season

14 years of owning a retail store and still, every year, every single year, the Holiday Season seemed to creep up on me.

  • Did I order enough inventory?
  • Did I order decorations?
  • Gift wrap?
  • What products do I want to sell?
  • What events am I participating in?

All the stuff to do.

I want you to have a record-breaking season and if you wait until the last minute, it ain’t gonna happen. Ask me how I know…

“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

Great holiday sales start NOW. Have a listen…


You can also listen to this episode on iTunes and Stitcher Radio.

Here’s what we cover about Holiday sales:

  • What main products you will promote and why it matters
  • Getting your products into Holiday Gift Guides
  • Getting inventory levels ready in order to reach sales goals
  • Collaborations
  • Pre-marketing for Holiday Markets or B to C shows
  • Putting it all in a schedule so it actually happens

Mentioned in the podcast:

Your Turn…What do you think? What are you planning this season? How much do you plan to sell? I’d LOVE to hear from you in the comments.

As always, thanks for listening!

Jane

Luxury Retail: Insider Secrets with Syama Meagher from Scaling Retail

luxury retail predictions 2019

In today’s episode, my guest is Syama Meagher, founder and owner of Scaling Retail. Syama has worked with some heavy hitters in retail… Barneys, Gucci, and Macy’s, to name a few. Syama’s a thought leader in the world of luxury retail and she’s IN IT every day.

We discuss the future of retail, the changes in what luxury really means these days, shifts in consumer shopping patterns and emotions, collaborations with luxury micro-influencers, and more.

I learn a lot from Syama and I think you will too.

Have a listen…


You can also listen to this episode on iTunes and Stitcher Radio.

Here’s some of what Syama shares in this interview:

  • On the future of luxury retail: “We’re seeing a definite shift in the market in terms of customers looking to identify with culture rather than trying to identify with a traditional heritage craftsmanship type of positioning.”
  • On what luxury means these days: “These days brands having sourcing and manufacturing by a small group of artisans in a village in India could be considered luxury because of the impact, the connection and the collaboration with the manufacturing and design process.”
  • On collaborations and influencer marketing: “…it’s not just to any micro influencer who puts the hashtag #luxury. You want to look for someone who’s really going to represent your brand in a way that is going to help your customer finds you.”
  • On finding customers: “I think a lot of it also just has to do with, again, leveraging people’s key emotional desires. Being able to spend a lot of money doesn’t always mean that you’re making a lot of money.”

Mentioned in the podcast:

Your Turn…What do you think? Do you agree with Syama’s take on luxury and the future of retail? If you’re in the luxury market, what’s YOUR opinion on what to expect in the next 12 months? I’d LOVE to hear from you in the comments.

As always, thanks for listening!

Jane

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