Skip to main content

USP: Hot Seats

Lesson 21 from: Sell Your Products to Retailers

Megan Auman

USP: Hot Seats

Lesson 21 from: Sell Your Products to Retailers

Megan Auman

most popular craft & maker

buy this class

$00

$00
Sale Ends Soon!

starting under

$13/month*

Unlock this classplus 2200+ more >

Lesson Info

21. USP: Hot Seats

Lesson Info

USP: Hot Seats

So I want to see you in just a few minutes practicing um, some sales hot seats, so in an upcoming segment, we're going to have another guest buyer because we love best buyers and in this one, instead of asking questions you have, they're going to be in hot seats and you're going to actually practice with our buyer, right? Yeah. There's a mild heart attack just went through the room. Yeah, but this is a chance to practice first without our buyer in a little bit of a safe space with me, so I wouldn't pull somebody up who wants to volunteer and is gonna bring their product up someone be brave. Come on, mom. Windy. All right, so bring some of your product up and we're going to use this little space right here resting and I'm not selling it to anyone right now testing it. Yeah, I give you a little space here, some stuff out, if you need if you need a piece is gonna lay a few things that are actually t know either thirty wholesale gree, right? She so what? We're setting this up what? We got ...

going on online so much so yeah, that is anyone coming for hot seats tomorrow? They want yu wei don't have todo yeah, do you wanna hang hang action near perfect let's see who wants to know if your product is something wearable? Is it necessary to have a mirror for the customer to see them selves trying it out? That is a fantastic question. So a lot of times in a wholesale setting no, so what I typically dio when I am getting ready for wholesale now you can absolutely have a mirror if you want to, but I find that the better strategy is that fires don't want to try things on because they've got their name badge and they've got their bag full of crap and maybe they have their coat because they don't want to pay to check it, right? They've got a ton of stuff, and the last thing that they want to do is try on a product that ultimately, they're probably not gonna wear anyway, right? So I make sure that whatever I'm wearing is a really great campus for my product. When I go to a trade show, I probably look about like this, right? I'm absolutely gonna be wearing something. I'm never not wearing one of my statement necklaces, but if the buyer wants to see something, you better believe this comes off and wonderful this comes on, and then they want to see the next thing, and that comes on, so make sure that you are wearing like the best kind of slate for your product and then offer to try on as many things as the buyer wants to see. All right, sorry, we've got enough here. All right, so you like how I just put on that red necklace for perfect I well, I catcher so I'm a buyer. Well, what do you do? Hi there. Hi, how are you? I'm good thanks. How are you doing? Grade these were made out of enamel. So this is a double sided necklace you got theo lis so it's glass on metal okay? And it's a very durable so it's goingto hold up for every day where you just can't drop it on cement or something of the light. All right, so now I'm holding this in my hand what else you're gonna tell me about this while I'm holding this in my hand? Um does it come in other colors? Yes. E o comes in a variety of colors so my most popular are blues a lot of people like robin a blues and heels but it goes, oh, are these two different blues? Right? So this is all riding blue and this is one that actually matches this necklace that's that turquoise color so the blue zero bestselling color loser the bad what's your best selling product best selling product are these stein's so the large enamel stein's then people are really loving this big necklace right now all right? And then do you have some smaller necklaces that you're doing tio dio so I'm actually wearing a couple of us smaller necklaces I've got the shield and read so my customers go from blue all the way to read alright bold on then just say you're so you get a visual of what these look like on these air my will dangle earrings here so what's the price point price point uh retail they retail from fifty to one hundred and ninety so in a wholesale scenario always just shoot for wholesale prices right away okay so much easier. Yeah excellent. So the wholesale from thirty dollars teo ninety five perfect and what you khun dio in that scenario is I would just er so you're going even if your prices are clearly marked and they should be you're going to get that question like water your prices people are always gonna ask that so but if you're saying they go from thirty five to ninety you're going to go they go from thirty five to ninety, right? Okay, so what's your minimum order minimum order is three fifty okay and then how long till I could get us in the store? Production time is four to five weeks, so if I wanted it sooner, I know you d'oh you think about me oh yeah right on this what if I had a really great show right and so the and so right so if you had a really great show that's what you're going to say all right, you know what? Actually I'm sorry, but we've had a really fantastic show so it's definitely gonna be at least four or five weeks great like that and yeah, maybe a little more encouragement to like hey other people are really enjoying right sees at that social proof of like people have been buying that it's really cool so some of the other things that if I'm a buyer I might ask you I might ask you, where else are you selling so we haven't talked about this yet, but when you're at a trade show we're going to get a little bit of, um badge stalking happening so everybody is wearing a badge, right? I love this I actually I'm like the show rebel because I refused to wear my badge, but I love reading everybody else's butt so looking at a badge I can see like what city they're in and so sometimes all initiate that conversation like, oh, you're in second place I went to college there or, you know, like my friend lives there, you know, if I know a little bit about a city, I might say or what neighborhood um but they might also then ask you, like, where else are you in san francisco and what they're trying to find out is are you near my store, right? Are you right handed? Right? So that's important that, you know, if you don't know, once your store list gets big, we want to be able to look that up, right? Like, have a little map, so well, so that is where having that current customer list really helps us the other thing that you can do, and I'm gonna come around here, so we're in a little bit of a tight space here, but what you want to see is that at some point, you're gonna work your way out to the front of the booth, okay? So that you're now not across the counter from here, we're working together, right? You're suffering and nowhere, right? So you're going to kind of move around and do that, and so, you know, I definitely prompted you and asking asked you a lot of questions, and so you want to get right. And so you want to get in the habit of kind of starting to slide a few more of those in without making a buy your product, but again, we're not trying to give them all the information at once, right? Just fight the right in right and you're going to get way more come through all this overtime I'm pretty sure that the first trade show I did I was like hello I literally listen to my neighbors and I was like what are they saying oh when you when do you want this order by like that was how I learned how to sell it a trade show it's not really the best strategy but it definitely helps so great job hey so much so this is something that we're not quite sure yet who were gonna hot seat with our our guest fire so I want you guys to start thinking about this like how you're going to handle those sales pitches on dh how your inner after this and you're not going to be perfect every single time but we are going to want to kind of establish you know like what that routine is so monica why don't you jump up here really fast and we're gonna we're gonna play with you so bring some product up here to do one more really quick while that's happening to love bloom in the chat is asking if a customer asks did you make these? What are they really asking so wait yeah fantastic question so they asked did you make these uh what they probably really want to know is where it's made so if they're asking did you make this it's probably because their customer that's concerned about products being made in a specific place whether it's in the us or if you're in a different country it's there so you know you and you could be honest so it's not like in my case I say you know what I designed everything and then myself in my production assistant make that so I'm not gonna lie like I don't make everything but it's handmade in the u s and that's really what they're getting at and that type of question and if you don't it's okay to say that too but part of what they're just they want to know is your role in the company so if it's manufactured so they're gonna ask you did you make this you say I'm the designer right I'm the designer I didn't sleep I'm just saying that because that's what they want to know is what's your role in the company all right so you come stand over here I'm gonna stand on the other side of our table all right some of buyer hi how are you? Good thanks how are you I'm doing well thank you so this is our sweet cheeks diaper changing clutch okay and it's a clutch that opens up to a large diaper pad and has attached storage I'll show you how okay I would like opens up from the bottom with just one hand and you invoked early so this is a magnet and hear them it is yeah. Okay so you don't have to worry about like getting next to cellphones or anything I was like totally safe because it's all padded in and then you roll it open when you lay your little precious bundle of joy down there's a nice hat are here for their heads so they're nice and comfortable you grab the diapers right here the whites go up on time and you can see it universal with any kind of uh diaper white the's are different sizes then right there all those eyes just different patterns to fit different taste and then um just fold it up and you're on your way and where they made so we make him here in the u s ok yeah so they're locally made which is great um minimising our carbon footprint if you well okay and then the diapers you can see them on the side when moms need to reload them they're this's great actually I my mother and I designed this together because I have two little ones I have one in diapers and a four and a half year old she's just like everywhere so I'm constantly needing baby wipe and this allows me to grab the baby wipes at any point and want to be like fumbling and full frazzle is a mom it's just like and an out for diaper cleanings or you know, cleaning up after a meal there had something to cut you off because we want to get that just a smidge more succinct okay, sure. Just because you want to remember that buyers have a lot of ground sure armor so we want to get that story out but we want to get it it's a little a little quicker but now I'm gonna ask you a question how did these come what do you mean right? So you're gonna get that question from meyers a lot on the package they're gonna be asking one of two things they're gonna want to know how it's package but then they're also gonna want to know in this case because it's clearly an item that's manufactured how does it come means like does it come in a case? Pak do I have to order twenty do after order one hundred or so it's a two part question like how is it packaged? How is it going to look in my store? But then essentially how do I have to order them? Sure. Okay, so I'm gonna improv that because that quite have packaging perfect. So it comes in a beautiful custom box so it feels very luxurious and and nice explains exactly what it is and when it arrives to your store it's going to be in a case of ten so to open a minimum order for us it's twenty so you'll get two boxes and we you can pick out five different ones at four different colors so so yeah, so in that case of ten isn't all the same pattern no, you can pick five different patterns, okay, four different patterns is what I want for different patterns and put on five of each. So okay, so and how many patterns you have total six. Okay, so it might be one of those cases where, um, you might either want toe, let them pick a few less patterns or let them have, like, a few more choices. So like, because picking four out of six is asking them to, like aa lot of your product line. Does that make sense? Sure. So you want to give them a little bit more room for tastes and does it matter if I really don't care how many they pick of each color? But it doesn't matter if it doesn't actually process than it does. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Right. And so the other power that does it, how does it come question for you is also going to be talking about, you know, like these air art, maybe our order deadlines. So, like we ship at certain times of year, we do a seasonal collection, and I know you're still working out the kinks on that, so I'm not gonna make you actually go through it and say it um but we do want to kind of figure that out, ok in terms of talking the I think the other thing that you might ask is like, you know you're asking how does it come? Is there a display piece so like if they come in a beautiful box but if it's in the box in my customers see it, can they touch it? Can they try it? Because part of the concern with a product like this are a buyer person is going to be handling it in the store. Fortunately, this wipes clean, but every virus concerned about taking one product that they've paid for and having you get shopworn short where people are touching it and using it and again, yes, you can absolutely this often we know that's great, but buyers in a lot of time cleaning wait one more thing, right? Yeah, so our packaging will have ah, di cut is what it's called opening so that you can feel it through well, it's in the barn but they won't be ableto unfolded or anything, okay? Oh, yeah? How are you gonna demonstrate so that's something that you don't have to think about and all that you kind of work on this one video have a video, not every store is gonna put a video, so you have to think about and maybe you're communicating on the packaging every one of your challenge is going for it is how if it comes in this packaging if it comes in this great box how do we understand how the product works? Great all right, great. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, I'm just curious did you just say it comes in a box because you felt your on the spot or does it come in about no well that way right now is my mom's is big task right now is finding packaging and because of that I be honest that's where I got a little bit confusing and so I so that's actually yeah way we're getting you a phone, right? No yeah we're definitely getting packaging we just haven't decided on which vendor we're going to move forward with and it will definitely have the di cut if that's what it's called like window yeah touching yeah. And so and maybe for you guys like I don't know how much printing is gonna happen on your packaging because I think you have to walk that like if you're trying to be a lot more upscale like a toy total lot so maybe one of the things that you can do is start with a kind of very simple brandon packaging but maybe you develop a sticker that goes on the back that like nicely illustrates kind of how the product works so that you're not committed to ordering, like, a million packages with with a kind of printed thing that maybe in the end isn't the right solution for you, right? That's a great idea. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, and the other thing is, you know, you might play with, like, some different packaging samples and test them out at a trade show. So see what stores are responding to because your upscale baby boutique is definitely gonna want that like white box packaging, but someone else might not want that. They might want it to be a little bit more like out in the open product that you handle that maybe just has, like, a nice, almost like a slip over it, you know, like a cardboard sleeve it's little over that kind of tells the brand cardboard is not the right word, you're going for a little bit, but you know what I'm saying and how it's skill if you don't mind, like, does the packaging need to be? Because I actually have one on me? Uh, a box company. I'll look at it. Oh, sorry. You give it to you. You have a magic. So I love the way that this feels because it has, like, a satin kind of cash. It feels very like rich and sturdy so this is a great feeling I'm assuming this is not the color palette and you know I know we're not like like the donald is she here? Yes, yes the feel in this is great and then once we get the like your color palette and your branding yeah, I doesn't have to be like crazy like I just bought you know like a birkin bag or something that comes whatever but yeah, I think this gives you that kind of upscale feel but you're not selling five hundred dollar pieces you're selling eighty dollar pieces I think this could absolutely work if you guys can't touch this but it does feel really nice all right, thank you so we really spent a lot of time talking about how to talk about your work, but for a lot of you guys are going to be pitching stores over email so I want to set you up with some homework so that we can practice as we move forward and how we're going to market to our stores I'm going to use him homework that's going to set you up so tonight you're going to write an email to a friend you can send it or not senate I don't actually care if you send it, but he wants you to write an email to a friend telling them about a new product you're excited about hit, hit, it's, your product, right. So right now, we're not writing to a store, so you will write to a friend and tell them about your jewelry, like, but it's, not your jewelry, it's, the jewelry that you just found that you really love, right? So you imagine that you are walking through san francisco head into which you see this amazing jewelry, what do you say about it to your friend? Okay, you just tasted this coffee for the first time, and you have to write an email and tell your friend about it right now, because she loves coffee, and you want her to know how amazing it is. That's, what you're going to do and that's, what you guys are going to do online to see you're going to think about. You just discovered this amazing product. It's, your product, your work on writing some e mails to friends, telling them all about it.

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Sample Order Form and Wholesale Terms
Trade Show List By Month
Trade Show Packing List
Private Facebook Group Access
Store Prospect List
Workbook
Syllabus

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

This is the first course I have bought. That's how valuable it is! I have a wish list of courses I dream of owning, but alas I'm on a 'starving' artist budget. I wish I had more time to watch all the free courses on CREATIVELIVE. I WISH I could 'save' a once for free watch time. they aren't 'conveniently' timed. And there are reasons I don't buy w/o seeing what the course entails vs. cost etc. I might buy more if I was able to do such. There are so many I am interested in but time constraints for watching it or catching a re-run are really prohibitive. I won't buy 'blind' and funds are limited. So I must be selective in choosing what to buy. It has to fulfill multiple requirements for me personally. Perhaps others have this dilema and CL could work on that. Or hey, maybe everyone just has more $ than they know what to do with. That said I am astonished that there are only 2 reviews that are lukewarm at best. This course crosses over so many platforms that whether or not I am ever intending to sell to retailers (which I have zero interest in) it is jammed so heavy with idea's and info on how to expand your mind and creative thinking processes that it's inspired me into action!!! My brain is on fire. Thank you Megan! I'd shave my head to own everything that Sue Bryce has taught. Megan is in that league of sharing insider info that is impossible to put a price on! I was only able to listen to a small percentage of Megan's free class, but it was enough to know that it was pure GOLD! Such Inspirational and visionary idea's are dense in this course. I also have sitting next to me two bags of coffee from one audience member! I think Creativelive is the #1 most amazing source I could ever hope to find and I still can't get over the steller excellence of the team that runs this. I live 4 hrs from Seattle (on a good day) and crave to be in an audience...but I love watching from my forest hideaway! The glitchiness in streaming during this course was annoying. I have broadband and multiple browsers to avail upon but there's something afoul in the air possibly because each browser had issues. Either audio was not working or visual was not working. I had to open 2 browsers. One for hearing and one for seeing. I hear from other brick and morters that make me think it is/was statewide. I will put the blame on Century Link because that was the common denominator. I'm following through on that one. They have been quirky ever since they took over Qwest. I'll end with major kudo's for the fantastic offerings that CREATIVELIVE has given to creative's everywhere! My life was changed when I stumbled on this tremendous opportunity. I am so forever grateful!

user fb434d
 

This is the perfect class for me! Was looking for this kind of information about doing trade shows and getting in to retail stores and found driblets of info here and there online. But, this is the whole deal and real deal. I think Megan is an AWESOME teacher and find her so easy to connect with. I love that she is funny and engaging and she clearly cares about the studio audience. She's a talented metalsmith and talented teacher. The information she gives in this course is so so so valuable. I feel like after going through this course and having it as reference I will be so ready and confident with taking my jewelry business to the next level. She makes it so approachable and breaks everything down. Thank you Megan!!

Ronda
 

Absolutely fantastic! Meg's course was one of, if not THE, most comprehensive and educational pieces I've seen in a long time. The knowledge she shared was dead on, inspiring and very, very generous and gracious of her. Meg presented the materials very well and the added bonuses were...well, just awesome! I've followed her blog for a long time and now I'm a fan of her classes. I'll be taking/buying more! Thank you SO much, Meg and Creative Live! 10 out of 5 stars for this class! - Ronda

Student Work

RELATED ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES