Contrary to popular rhetoric, it’s incredibly easy to get started in business today. The options are endless. Do you craft? Teedoo, Etsy and Facebook Marketplace will get you on the map. Sell personal care products made from trending topicals like tallow? Launch a website on Square and you can be taking payments in minutes. Love to sell, but don’t have your own great idea? There’s a multi-level marketing business out there by the hundreds if not thousands looking for someone just like you.
If you already own your own business, you’re several steps down the road from someone listed above. Depending on where you are in your business, you might be in the stage where it’s easy to shoot yourself in the foot and today I’m hoping to spare you some misery with just a few tips.
Don’t threaten your customers. I know, I know. This one seems like it would just be common sense, but if it were, we wouldn’t be talking about it. Try this on. “If people don’t start showing up, I’m just going to close my doors.” ~ a restaurant owner who wasn’t seeing the clientele he wanted in his doors. It wasn’t just that he wasn’t seeing customers, it was that he wasn’t seeing the type he wanted. Never mind the fact that he didn’t offer what the customers he wanted would want. He just thought he could sell the food that made him happy and that people would come spend their money on food they didn’t want but that he made that was actually very delicious. Know your customer. Know what they want. If you don’t want to offer them what they want, that’s totally up to you; but your doors won’t stay open long and it’s no one’s fault but yours.
Another one I saw recently was a boutique owner who did consignments. Apparently people loved what she did so much that they were bothering her at all hours of the day or night either trying to purchase or sell their items. She was worn out because she chose not to set any boundaries. Rather than fix the issue on her end, she chose to go online and take it out on her customers and clients. “If you people don’t start respecting me, I’ll quit selling items. Don’t think that I won’t!” Oddly enough she was out of business a few short months later. Growing up I often heard the phrase, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” It would do business owners good to remember that adage. Threatening your customers won’t improve your business. Ever.
If you aren’t getting customers, the odds are, it’s your fault. Again, this would seem to be common sense, but in a world where most want to pass the buck, the fault is rarely taken and examined. First, are you even selling what people want to buy? Just like the restaurant owner; you can’t sell items that make you happy but no one else wants to purchase. What kind of social media presence do you have? You don’t have to do all the latest trends, but posting regularly and mixing up the types is valuable. When I say post regularly, I don’t mean every day or every month; just whatever you post do that regularly so that the algorithm picks it up. Some people post every day, some post once a week. Whatever you commit to doing, never do less than that. You can do more, but never less.
Post pictures, reels, share videos or advice from other well known businesses, but just keep posting. If you’re not on social media get on Linked In, Instagram and Facebook. Join every Chamber of Commerce you can. Learn to draft quality emails, add your customers to a list and send them a monthly email. If you sell sandwiches, send an email with a great sandwich recipe once a month. If you sell furniture, send an email that shows different decorating styles for the season at hand. If you sell equipment, show the strangest (safest!) way your equipment can be used. Just make it useful.
One very underrated method of getting your business more exposure is by attending local vendor events. Most people assume you have to be a crafter to attend such things, but that’s not true. Always check with the event coordinator to see what vendors are accepted, but I’ve seen turf specialists next to booths that sell Italian Cream Sodas. The cost is often nominal, but the exposure is huge. Just think if you’re the equipment salesman who shows up with a bunch of Tonka toys and pictures of the equipment you rent. You will be the coolest booth at the event because every little boy will want to be at your booth, which means his mom will have free hands to buy that candle she’s been eyeing and when she gets home both the boy and the mother will gush to the dad about the awesome equipment booth. You know who’s renting your equipment, right? Never underestimate the return on $100 spent on a Saturday event!
Remember why you are in business. I had a very successful business owner tell me this when I owned my candle company. She told me the day would come when I would be faced with some hard decisions. I needed to not just know my why. I needed to eat it and breathe it. She was right. When push came to shove, my why wasn’t enough. It was a huge blow to my ego but I’ll never regret owning that candle company because I learned more in those two years than four years of college would have ever taught me. Your why has to be enough to see you through the days with no sales, the customer returns and complaints, the investments gone awry, the long days and short nights; your why has to be your deciding factor. Make it a good one.
One other quick tip that is so often overlooked; ask you customer what they want. You can do this through an anonymous survey via your email list or you can do it as folks purchase things. Make it conversational by asking what they enjoyed most about your store and what they would like to see more of. If someone is buying from you, they already like what you have; so treat them like a friend and ask their advice. Whatever their response, smile big and say, “Thank you so much for that!” Vendors can tell you what’s trending, but they can’t tell you what your customers want. Go to the source. You might not be able to please everyone, but at least you’ll know your customer better.
I hope this post reminds you of some overlooked dos and don’ts. If you have a small business question, drop me an email @ karri_buck@outlook.com I’m glad to brainstorm ideas and point you to a great list of resources.