I hear from a lot of designers and brands that they’ve been working on their business for what feels like a long time and they just aren’t seeing the sales they need.
While there are a lot of reasons this could be…
Having a Poor Website Design and Crappy Content
When it comes to your website, you have to take time to create something the coverts to sales. We wrote a very detailed post on 9 Reasons Why Your Website is Not Making Sales. Read it!
Things like product descriptions, blogging, imagery, SEO, SEM, brand awareness, and so much more go into creating a website that sells. If you’ve simply had a website created and occasionally post things on social media, you’re not going to see a conversion.
Not Meeting Your Customers in Person
You have to know who your customer is. I know you’ve heard this before and I know you’re most likely saying, I know “her”. You’ve got a sentence or two to describe where she lives, how much money she makes, and how she spends her time.
Well guess what, that’s no enough. You have to know more about her. You have to know what she values and what drives her to buy. And the only way to do this is to spend tie with her.
Rebecca Minkoff once said at a keynote that the smartest thing she does for her business is hold and attend trunk shows regularly for her brand. She talks to her customer, learns about them, observes them.
You need to find ways to meet your customer in the real world on an ongoing basis.
- Participate in trunk shows and pop ups. Whether group shows or just for your brand, making a plan to incorporate these events into your sales and marketing strategies.
- Know how to talk about your brand when you meet these people. Don’t go on for five straight minutes about what you’ve created; find a ways talk about your brand as it applies to your customer! (why should she care?)
- Know how to talk to your customer; ask about her world, chat about her life. Then listen! And take notes.
You’re Constantly Having Sales and Promos
Sometimes when we feel like we have nothing to say on social media or we get nervous about the lack of sales we’re making online and offline, we feel the need to just put things on sale. Don’t do this. It looks desperate.
Are you guilty of:
- Only emailing your customers when you have a sale?
- Having some kind of sale practically monthly?
- Having only occasional sales but putting everything 50% off?
Having sales sometimes is OK. But make them rare because that makes them special. If customers think there will be a lot of opportunity in the near future to get something in your collection on sale, there is no sense of urgency.
You’re Afraid to Sell
Admittedly, this is something a lot of us tend to struggle with. We’re so used to hearing that we should constantly be selling, that we wind up not selling at all.
It’s OK to sell sometimes. If you have something beautiful and wonderful to offer people, you should feel comfortable sharing that. It’s just a matter of learning how to do that.
- Understand the value that your pieces bring to the customer.
- Communicate why you do what you do.
- Find a balance between adding value and asking asking for it.
So take a look at your sales strategy and be honest with yourself about what you can improve in your fashion business.