Boost Your Boutique with Emily Benson

11:45.1 We did what we wanted.  We did it pretty professionally and we did it with like a level of class and style where people took us seriously.

11:58.2 We had access to these amazing creative tools, professors who really pushed us, who gave us Tons of access and free time to play and explore with our art. And like our minds were just so rich. And I think you and I, and our whole friend group, we were all just like reveling in this.

18:36.7 I need to get in to see a client. I need to convince them that what I have to offer is a value. I need to find out how to make it a value to them because Sometimes they're not advertising in with my brands or sometimes they don't believe in the types of things I'm talking about.

18:52.4 So it's a process of getting in, building awareness, making sure they understand what I'm offering, and then trying to find those fits, you know, trying to find that right fit for my clients are all for it.

21:51.0 One of the reasons I want to have you on is because you and I are the type of people were just like, we have this idea and we're going to go for it and we're going to put the blinders on. We're not going to ask for permission. In fact, like we didn't even think that we needed to ask for permission, let alone even like, you know, skip that part. It was just like, no, we're going to do this and we're going to do this.

28:00.4 follow that gut, follow your intuition, follow your thought, follow your, you know, and there's so much of that that like, that's where the magic comes out of.

31:17.6 There's so much heaviness, I think that women are still carrying and processing just from that,  that you need good girlfriends, sisterhood. You need that so bad to be able to function, to be able to function and come out of this with any kind of head on your shoulders to get through any sort of day to day functionality.

33:29.9 Owning those choices, you know, as a woman and being informed and being involved in guiding those choices gives you so much agency and so much more freedom than I think it allows. It also allows me as a business woman to operate with a lot more levity. 

34:31.0 Our dynamics and the systemic structures that have been built are not really afforded the luxuries to women that may have been afforded to men in the past when they were the breadwinner, right? 

35:12.5 Because you are commission based in your ad sales, right? So very, very similar to a boutique in that you kind of never know what's coming, but you kind of do, but like one day you're making a ton the next day you're like, Darn that deal fell through. Very dry seasons. And then there's like Q4, which is bananas, right? Which is very similar to how retail works, right? 

36.24.7 there's so many things right that'll pull you off track so many little stressors so many flare ups, whether it's a, you know, client you didn't close or it's a sale you see walk out the door, you know,  It can be, it can be really demoralizing.

37:18.0 Go back to your toolkit and what works for you instead of going down the, let me beat myself up over what a loser I am because that sale didn't close.

38:30.2 If you can master a rebound, you can master the game. And that's what it's all about is not letting that little ops offset

40:35.0 The reality of us sitting here is we are very powerful women. We have created a lot of wonderful things in our life. What's to say that cannot continue.

43:25.6 Iowa didn't win because Caitlin Clark was the Michael Jordan of that team. Michael Jordan had to learn. He needed Scotty Pippen. He needed Dennis...

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0:54.6 If you're an influencer or if you are in a position where you are ready to start manufacturing your own clothing and accessories or you already do and you want a different take on it and you want to hear from people who are really in the day to day of what's coming next, they're a little bit right ahead of the curve, you're going to want to listen to this episode.

4:24.3 We're now working with influencers, which is super fun and exciting and new. And I think that's the greatest part about the business side that I'm on now is every day is different. Every day we have different products that we're touching, different customers we're working with and really getting to adapt and continue to grow and evolve our business as our customer base changes.

5:59.5 It feels like a lot of people who want to sell don't understand that a retail industry.

7:15.9 I think when you're talking about selling to the masses and especially for what we're doing with these influencers, you know, it is about mass appeal still. And so you have to be really conscious on that trend curve to not push too fast, too forward, unless again, That is your customer. 

9:36.9 I've been saying for a long time, I think wholesale is the biggest opportunity right now. 

11:15.5 I think the biggest thing when you're starting this out is. It's okay not to know. You're not going to know. So finding a trusted partner that can help take you through that process.

12:33.2 And the other part of it is selling, you know, and you know, it is, you can have a huge following and a bunch of eyeballs, but if you don't really like to sell, then  You're going to have a problem.

13:36.3 We don't want to ever push a customer into overbuying something and then have them fail. Like that's not a win for anybody. 

14:23.0 if you don't launch the right product at the right time, at the right price point. Well, guess what? You're not going to sell it.

15:52.4  I think it really all starts with that concept piece of starting to think of what kind of items could be right for you and your audience.

16:40.8 We don't want to overwhelm. We don't want to bring too much to market. Let's start with one drop. Let's figure out your customer, figure out your quantity, figure out your buy, and then. Put together a strategy and scale plan from there. 

21:05.5 I do think engagement is what's important. To be honest, I think you could have 10, 000 followers. And if you have Super high engagement. I don't think you have an issue selling 500 t shirts. 

21:26.6 Just like when you're shopping in a boutique, right? I mean, I love boutique shopping because it's unique stuff. It's different. You can't find it anywhere else. So it's taking all those exact same concepts, you know, to your own personal product and say, what is unique about this?

24:27.0 I think we also saw a lot of business where, but in really fun ways, I think women are absolutely dominating the world right now, which is super exciting. And I think they're doing it in style. So as you're going back to the office, as you're going to these events, having fun, fashionable stuff, trousers and blazers and all that kind of stuff.

27:17.1  And as a boutique owner, again, it's like making it accessible to your girl and finding the way that makes sense for your customer. I don't think it always needs to be this pushed fashion forward thing, but like, how do you bring that one piece in to incorporate and make it feel new?

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0:51.0 Our promise to you today is that we hope you will open your mind to adding more plus size to your retail store as a vendor and how to do it in a way that's going to make you money.

3:08.6 I think sizing is one of the most challenging aspects of the plus size and extended market.

3:36.7 Extra large is not plus size. No. So there's a different size grade to the plus size demographic. So a 1x is not the same as an extra large and that's a huge misconception. 

6:33.4 Size grading is crucial. 

7:26.7 If you are offering plus size, don't charge me extra. You don't charge the customer that's buying from extra small to extra large any different when she buys that size wrap. 

8:42.5 I think as a retail community, we really need to push vendors to take more risks  in the plus size community.

10:56.4 I hear these questions all the time. So,  I brought plus size into my store, Ashley. It's not selling. Why isn't it selling? Because the plus size girl is not going into your store because you've excluded her for so long.

17:55.0 We also had true representation of sizes for our models and just everybody. Cause even though the vendors will send us different photos, a lot of the time plus size is shot on like a size eight.  Which then it really doesn't depict what it's going to look like.

21:20.0 Quality is key. And to help mitigate those returns, we offer the styling. So, because we carry about 65 different brands, it's kind of a wide range, so we want to make sure that you get exactly what you're looking for. So we'll set up a styling appointment with you.

22:21.2 So what are your big top three tips?  So for stores, I think not excluding plus size in your size run when you're merchandising it.

23:26.6 Number two, quality. Number three is having fashion. We do not want. something fuddy duddy. We want really cool stuff. 

25:27.8 Because there's nothing better than having that relatability as, as women, as we go into a fitting room, we're vulnerable, or even when you're buying something online, and you take it home, and you're in the privacy of your own home, and you can put something on, and we're, we're the most critical of ourselves.

25:58.0 That's the number one selling thing is feeling good about what you wear.

27:15.0 to be honest with you, I think all of us, retailers, vendors, we started our business because we want to make people feel good for our products, right? Like, that's easy. And I think what we're up to today is there's a huge population of women, and probably men,  You don't feel good enough, though.

And we have the opportunity to help them. We have the opportunity to say, you know what? We're going to solve the problem. 

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1:04.0 My name is Darlene Mitchell and I am a retail business strategist. And my strength really is around inventory and profitability. So I help business boutique owners. Understanding inventory strategies so they can have legacy, not just so they can have a business, but they can have a legacy business, a business that stays around. 

1:32.8 I was in corporate retail for 25 plus years. And what I do now is exactly what I did in corporate retail

1:51.4 I'm teaching my clients what I learned in big retail and fortune 500 retail.

2:12.7 There's a lot of money. There's a lot of trajectory. Like it's a great career, I think for anyone interested in fashion or selling or like how products get to the floor.

2:29.8 You are not born with this knowledge. Retail math is very different math than math. 

5:43.5 So like a buyer or a merchant, like depending on what the company kind of called it, that's like the lead business person now who I think is like the most similar to like a boutique owner.

11:06.2 I don't care what your markup is. Any of that, you're pricing yourself out of the business.  If you don't get that, what are you doing to get that track again?

12:17.3 We planned out every promotion. We knew post promotions would happen. They rarely were reactionary.

12:45.5 I think that a lot of people in the  boutique space think that it's okay. To constantly run reactive sales because they're like, well, they're running it. The big companies are running it, but we're not seeing again behind the scenes, the look that Darlene and I are always going to give you is like, that is planned.

13:39.7  It's heavy duty math. And a lot of people are just not getting that. And to your point, they're running these reactionary sales. I'm like, well, you plan to run that sale? Do you need to run that sale? Or are you just doing it because someone else is doing it? Does your business require that?

15:25.4 We let a competitor dictate our business.  No, that's  awful. Yeah, that was awful. It was awful. And imagine the buyers and everyone who put all this work in to develop this product line and we were discounting it like crazy  because we were watching what a competitor was doing.

16:13.8  I think most boutique owners, most, you know, I wouldn't say retail businesses doing under 5 million.  They're a little messy behind the scenes. They're a little weird. Like I think until people start to make real money, do they think of investing in someone like a planner?

17:04.8 financial planning and your profit and loss statement is really different from your inventory management.

17:33.2 Every quarter we look at what's our intention for this next quarter. What's our sales intention? What's our profit intention? Before we place product before we buy product, what's our intention first?

18:03.0 Understand how you show value to that customer.

18:22.4 There are a couple of things you do before you even get to the product.  Because all those things, everything has to mix for your product mix and your position, right? Because if you just go in and buy products at the right, wrong margin, and it's, and by the way, everyone, it's not find a cost times four to get a four times markup. That is not, that's not a strategy. That's just, that's reckless, right? That's a little reckless. So you want to do all those other things to understand before you buy the product.  Yeah. Right. I love it. So position. Person. Pricing. Product.  And then the fifth and bonus is...

1:22.0 I use retail as a sort of the stepping stone to gain awareness about myself and to build capital.

2:58.1 It's very important that I feel that the clothes that we make are just made for a woman's body, not a specific woman's body, but like just the woman's body. So I pay a lot of attention to where themes are and how long certain sleeves are to make it to make everybody feel like they can wear it and not be self conscious.

4:06.1 I do think that the clothes you put on your body have a lot to do with how you leave your house.

4:22.6 it's really hard for boutique owners to find  Quote unquote, cute clothes in curvy sizes.

9:03.0  no matter how big or small can they know, well, hopefully they know, or are starting to at least learn what sizes sell best for their particular demographics. 

11:01.3 We're not going to sacrifice style quality or anything like that, but I am willing to  kind of do what needs to be done to stay relevant in whatever changing market is happening or doesn't happen.

13:10.7 That's all I think most boutique owners want. They want to know that like someone cares about them from the wholesale side

19:10.6 There's a big piece of feeling represented in clothing and clothing manufacturing.

26:15.3 The best way, in my opinion, to get started is two things. Reach out to a vendor that you trust and ask if they would be willing to work with you, um, with custom designs.

26:43.4 that is a great way to get your feet wet in my opinion is go to someone that you like their style already You've already built a relationship with them Ask them if they'd be willing to do custom pieces for you um and  Kind of learn about the process that way, not asking them, you know, and taking all their trade secrets, but just getting your feet wet into that.

30:01.8  that is a great way to get your feet wet in my opinion is go to someone that you like their style already You've already built a relationship with them Ask them if they'd be willing to do custom pieces for you um and  Kind of learn about the process that way, not asking them, you know, and taking all their trade secrets, but just getting your feet wet into that.

35:08.2 you're talking about building more income because you have that unique stuff.

37:24.4  in the course that I took with you, when we worked one on one and looked at  Um, the timing of when I was launching things and we learned that I was kind of a step behind.

So when I, it wasn't that what I was launching wasn't good and people didn't want it. It's just that I was bringing them in a little too late, which made me not sell as much as I could because for a lot of my customers, the time had already passed for them to successfully bring in that style.

44:21.2 you want to be basic, but you don't want to be too basic. I think that's a big piece of it.  And at the same time, the hardest part about being a fashion forward,  bold dresser is. The basics always sell. That's why I'm like, how much, you know, if someone says, Oh, I did a t- shirt and it did so well in, in black, I'm like, did you do it in white? 

46:26.9 If you're starting in April, you're going to want to be working out winter, for sure, as someone who's just starting, because there's no way in hell that your first samples are going to come and you'd be like, yep, perfect, love it.

50:03.4 You probably aren't seeing fully or like making the connections and you know, I just remember our calls, like I would get on and I was just like, Oh, this is the...

1:27.0 So when should you start an email list? Like Day one. Okay. If you don't have an email list or you only have a list of people who purchase from your boutique business, that's fine.

1:38.4 Even if it's 20 people on your list, even if it's five, get signed up with an email service and get going.

1:54.7 What are we doing with email? Why are we doing it? One, we're staying top of mind with customers.

2:01.5 Email has the highest return on investment, somewhere like 38 for every email you have, like you get in return every time you send an email.

2:20.0 Most people aren't going to unsubscribe. So don't feel ashamed or bad or whatever about sending emails.

2:26.8 They signed up with you. Okay. And you're just communicating with them. You're saying, Hey, this is what's going on in my store. This is what you should know about.

2:43.4 Now, how often should you be sending? I say at least once a week and please don't call this a newsletter. 

3:15.5  Can't tell you how many emails I've gotten that have this title that I'm so excited about and then I open the email and it's like, it's not even in the email

3:24.2 I'm sure that increases their click rate, but it doesn't actually make me click. It makes me annoyed.

3:47.5 So at the baseline, we're sending one email a week. At the most, we're sending three to four

3:52.3 On a busy sale week, on a Black Friday weekend, like any big promotion weekends, we're probably sending a lot more

3:59.8 Also, what time of day is best? It doesn't matter. Test all the different times.

4:17.9 So even just that your name pops up, whether or not they open it, You're there, you're in their inbox. That's what's most important.

4:42.2 You want to make sure that you have a general list with everybody on it. Then you want to separate into three different categories.

4:48.4 You want abandoned cart emails. You want. customers like people that have actually bought because you're going to have people on your list that haven't bought. And that's going to be the third one never purchased or haven't purchased within the past 30 to 60, 90 days.

5:31.1 If they haven't purchased yet, the best way to communicate with them about you and, and warm them up to a purchase is going to be. Informative things. So how to shop with us? Why we started? Um, what are great styling tips? 

5:50.6 It is part of your content strategy So you should and could have an email Sequence where when new people sign up for your list, they go through a sequence.

6:40.2 ​​Next, we're going to talk about how to shop with you, uh, where can they shop, what nights do you launch, like what credit cards do you take, the questions that people have.

9:21.5 You release it to them and it's like everything's 5 off automatically applied. Something like that. That's going to give you number one, a quick boost in sales. Number two, an urgency to buy because their discount goes away at noon, let's say, right? And then when it's released to the public, it's a full price item.

10:16.6 Social media is great and we love it and it's great and it's going to get us out there. It's going to help build that email list.

Resources:

Visit Boutique Training Academy - If you want to make more money in your boutique or retail business you're in the right place. We'll guide you step by step in your journey...

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Sky's the Limit Boutique Business Accelerator in 2024

Sky's Boutique Business Accelerator teaches a proven, professional level framework that has been revolutionizing how boutiques scale. What if in 3-4 months you could reduce your inventory liability, become more profitable and start making passive income?

Sky's the Limit Boutique Business Accelerator

Retail Riches Free Workshop

Does this sound like you? You work so hard. You feel so broke. You have racks, boxes, basements, storage units full of inventory. You never have quite the right items or quantities in stock. You feel disorganized and often overwhelmed at what your next step in your business should be. At the same time… You’ve told yourself that you’re all over the place and that’s just how every boutique or wholesale owner is. You don’t know how much a boutique or wholesale owner should make so you feel like you’re floating out there alone. You know your boutique or wholesale business is good, but it would be nice to have it be a well oiled machine. You’ve told yourself that your boutique or wholesale business is different from the rest so “this wouldn’t work for me.” Hi I’m Emily Benson and following me you’ll get a Business Consultant with a background in corporate retail and boutique entrepreneurship. I teach Professional Retail Industry standards I’ve learned from corporate training programs, retail industry mentors and actually making millions of dollars for myself and big companies. I use a proven framework to help Boutique Owners and Wholesale companies start, grow and scale to as much as a million dollars a month in sales revenue. This is deep, transformative business and life work that will make you money within 6–12 months of implementation. In Retail Riches, a brand new, FREE Live Workshop I’m teaching you how to: Work from your ideal personal income to determine your business's financial goals. Identify the REAL money drains in your business, whether it’s revenue, inventory or expenses. Create a workable plan that creates predictable revenue from your Boutique or Wholesale company. Say goodbye to financial stress and hello to the thriving business you've always envisioned. Register for the Workshop: https://www.boutiquetrainingacademy.com/retail-riches

Retail Riches Workshop

0:24.5 You don't need a lot of money to start a boutique business.

0:36.6 Let's say that the first way is through dropshipping. There are lots of dropshippers that are now connected through Shopify. So all you have to do is have a Shopify website.

0:55.4 You pay for the good as the person buys for it, but it's a really nice way to start a business with very little money. You will have to pay the Shopify fee and sometimes drop shippers do have initial setup.

1:08.6 Then you don't have a whole shipping station in your house. You don't have to worry about getting inventory shipped to a warehouse or storing anything. 

1:22.4 Another easy way to start a boutique business with almost no money is to do it with your own clothing.

1:28.6 Start a consignment store. If you can source really beautiful stuff from your own closet, from other people's closets, and leverage that to start a business, then you can start to make money. 

2:19.8 You do need to design the merchandise that you are selling and you actually really need to make it cute because everyone thinks they can do print on demand now, but you have to make sure it's great.

2:31.6 The cool thing about print on demand is you can do apparel. You could do notebooks. You can do mugs. You can do. Bags. You can do so many different things now.

2:53.6 It's a nice way to add income streams to your business and it's a great way to start. 

Resources:

Order your 2024 BOUTIQUE CALENDAR today! 🎉

Visit Boutique Training Academy - If you want to make more money in your boutique or retail business you're in the right place. We'll guide you step by step in your journey through Boutiqueland. 🛍️

NEW BOOK #TheRetailMindset available on Amazon

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Mentioned in this episode:

Retail Riches Free Workshop

Does this sound like you? You work so hard. You feel so broke. You have racks, boxes, basements, storage units full of inventory. You never have quite the right items or quantities in stock. You feel disorganized and often overwhelmed at what your next step in your business should be. At...

0:41.2 One of the things that I know for sure across all of my clients that I work with as a boutique consultant is I want them all to relax.

1:18.4 I think we need to set much better boundaries than we have in the past. And I think a lot of people just were hustling and that's like how they were raised. And that's what patriarchy tells us to do.

2:25.4 So every time you expand, every time you make more money, you're going to have to put more support systems in place.

3:47.8 So in for 2024 is relaxing and out is hustle.

4:32.4 You've got to have a basic plan for your business. 

4:50.0 You need to be examining your business at a really granular level. 

5:47.0 A plan safeguards you against these feelings of things aren't going well.

6:28.6 If you've been in business for a few years, you've got to stop looking all over the place at what you should be doing.

7:01.7 What is out right now is looking at anyone else in boutique land, anyone else, what they're doing and trying to copy it.

7:39.5 We have to stop looking outside. We have to go within. 

8:30.6 you're going to sell more when you are excited about the stuff that you're selling. 

10:04.3 I've always internally had a problem with a dupe because you're just copying someone else you're literally copying and Selling it and then saying you're doing it like it's very strange to me that anyone would think that this is okay not to mention it's just like  It's not original.

11:20.0 I think graphic tees are good on their way out I think everyone is doing them and I don't know who's wearing them 

13:47.7 I think what's in this year for 2024 is being super specialized, like being a beach shop, being a really boho shop, being like really leaning in like to what makes you feel good.

14:29.0 Your marketing will be that much easier and like you'll have something to be known for.

Resources:

Order your 2024 BOUTIQUE CALENDAR today! 🎉

Visit Boutique Training Academy - If you want to make more money in your boutique or retail business you're in the right place. We'll guide you step by step in your journey through Boutiqueland. 🛍️

NEW BOOK #TheRetailMindset available on Amazon

Let’s be friends! 😊