Podcast
(Interview) Getting Consistent Sales with San Francisco Fashion Designer Sarah Liller
Today you’re going to meet San Francisco clothing designer, Sarah Liller. What I love about Sarah is that she’s SO HONEST and willing to share her struggles, her wins, and the behind-the-scenes reality of running a fashion business. Sarah is one of my “Sell More Products Online” students and someone who takes ACTION on what she learns.
In this interview, Sarah breaks down the exact steps she took in the last 9 months to make her online shop actually convert to money in the bank.
Sarah always had confidence in her product and she knew it sold well in retail stores. But getting online sales was proving to be a big challenge for her.
SO… she started doing things differently in her business. She switched from Squarespace to Shopify (huge win), she did an “expensive” NYC Trade Show, she got a rep, opened new wholesale accounts (and is getting re-orders) and she went from “I have no idea who my customer is and no idea what I’m doing online” to “it’s working!” and getting consistent sales.
And she’s just so darn transparent about things! In fact, here are some awesome quotes from this interview…
“I had to pick somebody to sell to, because when you’re trying to sell to everyone, you’ll go crazy. There’s just no way to do that without going crazy, logistically.”
“I knew that I had no idea what the hell I was doing (when it came to selling online). I knew enough to know that I didn’t know what I was doing.”
“The wholesale business, while I don’t make as much per unit, it drives the online business and they push each other in tandem.”
“Within the last 9 months my site is getting 1 – 2 sales a week, I’m selling to new stores in NYC and I’m getting re-orders, and I now have a national showroom repping my line.”
“I was really scared to put myself out there and of the rejection, and people saying no…”
You can watch this interview as a video or listen to it as a podcast…
Listen to this episode as a podcast on iTunes or Stitcher Radio.
Sarah’s best-seller! The jumpsuit she’s wearing in the episode…
The easy fit, soft & cozy dress that does NOT fit like a tent…
Show Notes and Links:
- Great video from Sarah: How to Tie a Scarf The French Way
- Sarah’s website
- The course Sarah took, Sell More Products Online
- Jane and Sarah’s #1 choice for e-commerce: Shopify
- The Later app
- Fiverr
- Upwork
- Designers and Agent Trade Show
- Capsule Trade Show
- San Francisco Fashion Incubator
- Canva
- Instagram Course – Instagram with Intention
Your Feedback??
What do you think of this interview? LMK in the comments below and please SHARE IT with other designers if you think it will help them!
-Jane
P.S. If you like this podcast and want more tips, episodes, and real-life strategies to grow your creative business, get on our VIP list now.
How to Go From Zero Sales Online to a Profitable Business with Erika Neumayer
Imagine you’re running your business from your parents’ living room trying to make a go of it. You have no website, no sales, and almost no money. And you probably feel like you have no clue what to do about it.
And your product is dirndls. You know, the outfit St. Pauli Girl wears? Whaaaa??? That’s a TINY (and sorta weird) niche.
Yet somehow you figure out how to go from no sales and no customers to a VERY successful company with 90% of your sales coming from your online store. How cool would that be??!!
Meet Erika. This is her story.
Here’s what we cover…
- Why Erika’s first 2 websites didn’t get sales and what she finally did to make money online
- How she sold $24,000 in dresses during a 4 day email campaign
- Her marketing strategy – Facebook ads, email, and blogging – what’s working and what’s not
- How she hated the idea of marketing her product at first and what she did to overcome it
- Advice for companies selling online who aren’t getting the sales they want
- How to fit it all in – making time for marketing and not just focusing on product creation
Show notes
- Erika’s Neumayer’s website, Rare Dirndl
- Shopify
- Facebook Ads
Whadayathink?
Did you like this interview? LMK what you think in the comments below. And if you’re ready to learn how to be a BOSS marketer like Erika, click here.
Thanks for watching,
Jane
P.S. Are you going to do the “assignment” Erika gave you at the end of the video?
What’s Realistic to Sell Per Month from My Online Store (Shopify)?
Last night, I received a question from one of my students and VIP clients. It’s a tricky (loaded) question and I think the answer will help not just Grace, my client, but everyone.
Side Note: I use Slack with my team and VIP clients to communicate quickly – I only work with 6 coaching clients at a time so it works GREAT! I’m not an affiliate, I just love the app because it reduces my # of emails.
Here’s how the discussion went down…
graceA [7:50 PM] @grace I have a goal go sell 800-1000 units at new price ($125) per month – is that unrealistic?
janehamill [7:50 PM] @grace at the moment it’s probably unrealistic but it may not be in the future. Are you talking all of these sales to come out of your retail store? If so, write that down into the number of units per month, per week, per day. And, of course, not all months are created equal so consider that as well. Then figure out if I need to sell 10 dresses per day how many people need to enter the store to have a conversion of 10 units per day.
graceA [7:55 PM] @janehamill No, I want most to be online sales.
janehamill [7:57 PM] @grace Ohhhhh – that changes everything! For the better…OK. To sell that much online, you can work it backwards… 800 units sold = $100,000 in sales per month. Absolutely doable but not quickly. You need to determine some key numbers and in all honesty, you’ll be guessing at a lot of this in the beginning (planning is guessing – but it’s a good place to start. What % of web traffic will place an order, what’s the total # of unique visitors you need per month. What’s the dollar amount of each order? If you want to sell $100K/month, you need to know the average purchase amount from each customer, and how many of your web visitors will become actual customers.
janehamill [7:59 PM] @grace Wait a sec…how about I do a Podcast and explain this in detail?
So here we are, taping a podcast with the answer…
Download this episode on iTunes or Stitcher Radio. You can also click here to download it to any device as an mp3.
Want this as a PDF?
There’s math involved in this episode. While I LOVE crunching numbers – # of visitors needed to site, conversion percentages, average pricepoint, # of units per sale – I know it’s not everyone’s favorite thing. So I put together a handy PDF for all of you visual learners.
Here’s what’s cover in this episode…
- The 5 things every online store needs to get consistent sales
- The actual math around driving enough traffic and getting enough conversions
- Organic growth vs. fast growth including what your budget has to do with it
- The 4 main factors to growing your site organically for long-lasting success
- “Typical” conversion rates for an online apparel store and what Grace can expect from HER Shopify site
Now it’s YOUR turn.
Was this episode helpful?? Let me know what you think in the comments – I LOVE hearing from you!
Jane