By Jennifer Salahshor
Copyright © 2003 Jennifer Salahshor
 

What is the fastest way to grow your scrapbooking business?

Lots of advertising - great specials - open hours all night - free gifts with orders.

Well, while all of these things seem like good ideas, first let's look at the downfalls of each.

ADVERTISING

Expensive, unless you have a relative in the industry or a teenager who is willing to walk around in a sandwich board all day. And no guarantee that it will hit your target audience. Of course there will be some that see your ads and be interested in coming in to see what you have to offer; however, unless they write down your information or have a photographic memory chances are they will forget even the name of the business. Now I am not trying to negate the advertising industry, but let's face it folks, unless you have some catchy slogan that will be remembered, people just won't.

LOOK AT OUR GREAT SPECIALS

Terrific, so do the large chain stores. And chances are that they also have a much larger inventory than you carry, unless of course you have the financial resources to hold a diversity of items and the place to keep them. Specials are great draws - they will bring people in, but if you don't have other items that they are interested in or a completer set for new trends, they probably will come in, purchase the item on sale and leave.

Since scrapbooking is such an addictive hobby, scrappers are always looking out for an inexpensive way to find the items they want and will go to the many vast resources available to them to attain these items.

As an example, I just discovered the art of Pergamano. I found a wonderful book with patterns and instructions in my favorite craft shop, but after perusing the book, I noticed several of the tools that I would need to purchase in order to complete the project that I had in mind. After searching the store, I then spoke to the owner and while she was familiar with the techniques in the book, she did not carry any of the tools. Well, that is where the internet comes in handy, but again, while finding the tools, I was unable to put my hands on the necessary tool to find the ones that best suited my particular needs. So I am still searching.

Anyway, specials and sales are great, but one bit of advice - too many specials tend to devalue your product and the line that you carry.

CROPS 24 HOURS A DAY!

Yes, believe it or not, I have seen this offer. It's great for those of us who have small children and find that our creative juices start kicking in around 9 in the evening, but who wants to go out in the middle of the night wheeling our most dangerous weapon available - our portable 500 pound craft tote?! I find the monthly 5 til midnight crops much more satisfying. Aside from the fact that it's a great girlfriend night out, I also am intrigued by the sharing of techniques that goes on at these crops.

One major downfall of too many late night crops is that you, the owner, unless you are superwoman or a caffeine addict, will become ineffective in your daily business during the daytime hours and the toll it will have on your family is not worth the time. We get into this business to share what we love, but exhaustion will quickly turn this love into a burden.

FREE STUFF

"Wow, I got a free heart stencil with my $100 purchase!"

Women are funny creatures. We love to get free stuff; it doesn't matter what it is, if we know how to use it, or even if we already have 12 of them, we love free stuff! Now, when I add up how much I have spent to receive the .25 item for free, I just want to scream.

Instead of a free gift with purchase, I suggest the club approach. I really get excited when I watch my little punch card starting to get full because then I know that soon I will receive a discount (you set the percentage or $ amount) and I will use that discount to purchase something that I wouldn't normally buy. This is a great incentive for generating excitement, especially when we are able to share our new tool or kit with our friends.

One word of caution though, make sure that you as the retailer are very careful with how the discount club works. Unfortunately, there are some unscrupulous scrappers who may try to alter their club cards, and so my suggestion is this: if you have a computer, keep a record on your computer and show the customer how close they are to earning the club discount, or keep an alphabetized index file and write it down for your records. Both of these methods are also helpful at tax time when you are able to deduct these discounts from your gross earnings.

Okay, so you want to grow your scrapbooking business...

Aside from the suggestions above, the one thing that will grow your business the fastest and keep your customers coming back to you is Personal Service. How many times have you heard the saying, "When you receive bad service you tell 10 people, and when you receive good service you might tell one?" In the retail business this is especially true.

So again I will mention, Personal Service. Not just the kind that says "Have a good day," or "Hi, how are you?" I mean real Service. Remember your clients' names, kids' names and even birthdays. Notice how we went from customer to client? That implies an on-going relationship; these kinds of relationships grow over time and also are shared.

Your new clients will want their friends to meet you. They will mention how you sent them a card on their birthday with a coupon for a % discount or a $ gift certificate to redeem with you during their birthday month. They will want to come to you because you offer them personalized service, the kind that asks about their children or makes suggestions for LO's for special occasions, or shows them the hot new items and trends so they can be familiar with them before everyone else.

Sending out a monthly "Tips and Techniques" newsletter or a yearly calendar at a glance with special days marked for "VIP" discount days will not only offer a different and affordable method of advertising, but will also let your clients know that you genuinely appreciate them.

Put your clients needs before yours - make them feel important and they will keep coming back to you. Remember the theme song from the TV show "Cheers?" The line is "You want to go where everyone knows your name." Well, how true is that? Giving your clients your most important asset - your time - will bring better advertising than a full-page ad.

Offering this type of personal service builds relationships into friendships, brings new customers into your business that will also become clients, and will empower you, the business person, to grow a strong and thriving business because you have built a strong and thriving relationship with your new "purchasing friends."