Don’t ask if you won’t listen
Posted 13 December 2011 by Kristina Shands
So, normally I write blog posts that hopefully provide a tad bit of knowledge and/or wisdom.
This time, I need your help.
I have a dear friend who has decided to open her own antique/collectibles store. She has been pretty successful selling items at antique malls and upscale flea markets, so it is time for her to grow some roots and find her own space.
I was honored when she turned to me for advice. I spewed all the basic marketing and business gems that I have learned from amazing coaches over the past three years. But it seems the one piece of wisdom she didn’t want to hear is the same one I struggled with the most: know who needs your products/services, then go where they are.
She has her heart set on a storefront in downtown Knoxville. No matter what I said, what question I asked, what statistic I questioned, her answer was always, ‘But everyone I know says that downtown needs for retail stores and I feel that it is where I need to be.”
I cringed when she went all emotional on me. How do I explain that intuition is a good thing, but emotional attachment can destroy businesses. My questions about her ideal customers, product price point, repeat business, overhead, promotions and marketing, cash flow- they all went unanswered. My final bit of advice was to continue doing research, get very, very clear on who will not only visit your store but buy something (repeatedly), watch the desired storefront for several hours at different times of the week to see who is walking by and talk to the neighboring business owners to see how they are doing.
So, here is where I need your help. What advice do you have for new business owners? What is the one mistake that you made that you wish someone had warned you about? Please leave your nuggets of wisdom in the comments below. Thanks!
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Kristina, I am now doing a pretty good job of tracking time. I wish I had done that better from the start. To us, time really *is* money. I wish your friend the best but she needs to know where her target audience is!
Tracking referrals was what I didn’t do initially, so I had no idea what marketing was paying off or what relationships were working for me. I really didn’t know where my clients were coming from.
I’d ask her to categorize her current customers – are they already repeating where she now sales? What can she do to get them to come to her new place? How can she capitalize on her existing customers?
Really looking at where my leads, referrals, and new clients were coming from. In the beginning I didn’t track anything … then I did and I never looked at it. When I finally took the time to evaluate where my business was getting it’s business EVERYTHING changed for the better and my marketing was more focused and produced better results!
Jennifer Bourn, Bourn Creative