Top 10 Jewelry Selling Tips
TOP 10 JEWELRY SELLING TIPS
Leetie Lovendale has been selling jewelry both in-person & online for years. Here are our Top 10 Best Jewelry Sales Tips.
1. WEAR LEETIE!
This might seem like a no-brainer. But I have to admit, even though I adore our jewelry, there are days I slip out the door without a stitch of it on. That's called a missed opportunity. You never know who you will run into or who might compliment your earrings or necklace. Those small moments can lead to solid connections and ultimately sales. Wear it. And wear it in YOUR style. Style your Leetie in a way that fits the clothes you rock on the daily.
2. KEEP BUSINESS CARDS WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES
This also seems like a simple tip, but one that is so important. Keep your business cards simple & clean but with clear contact information, letting people know exactly where they can find you and your stash of baubles. Put those suckers in your handbag, your glovebox, your gym bag - in any container that goes where you go and you have easy access to.
3. GIVE LEETIE
If you're invited to someone's home for dinner, bring a pair of 'Tiny Boom Hoops' as a hostess gift. Teachers gifts? You're covered. The more you give Leetie, the more people see it & want to know more.
4. FOLLOW UP
One of the hardest things for me has always been the follow up. I love showing off Leetie! I love the initial posting of the things on the interwebs & the creativity of developing the perfect photo. But when someone says "Hey where can I find this?" I can sometimes let those things slip through the cracks. And then the follow up to the follow up can be even trickier. Someone asked you the above question & your responded. And then *crickets*. Follow up again. It's not pushy, it's providing help. There has to be some crazy sales statistic website out there that points to the fact that a he-uge percentage of sales happen, not on the initial post, intro or pretty picture. Success comes from the follow up.
5. ROCK ON INSTAGRAM
If you already have an Instagram account & just started selling Leetie, no need to start a new one. But if you don't have one, you should. Lifestyle branding has proven to be one of the most effective marketing tools of this decade. That means infusing who you are with what you do and putting THAT out there. One really successful Insta plan that we have seen work really well is to take turns posting stock/biz shots and personal/lifestyle shots. You can even tile these in the way you style them. Perhaps the stock shots all have stark white backgrounds. And then the more personal, daily life shots can be anything. Once you build it this way you'll have a feed that's super pleasing to the eye & not only brands what you're selling, but let's your tribe get to know you.
6. STYLING TIPS
Whether these take place in person or online, here are some really great ways to showcase how you style your Leetie treasures, and why it's important. As we already mentioned, you need to wear Leetie to sell it. This is the most direct & easy way to show people how it is worn. If you're at an event, be sure to bring lots of necklace displays, busts & even invest in a funky mannequin. These tools are great for showing how you can layer necklaces, match up statement necks with bold earrings, or whatever you choose to put together. Dress the mannequin & give her a name. Another way to showcase styling tips in person is to have your photos printed. Selfies, instagram or lifestyle shots look FAB when blown up and printed & hung in your market booth or put in a flip book to pass around at an in-home event. As far as online, you can of course share styling and life style photos to all of your social media channels. These can include pics of necklaces on your mannequin or yourself and how they can be worn with t-shirts and denim, or a flirty vintage dress. Another cool way to show how to incorporate Leetie into an outfit is to use a collage app such as Polyvore or even a simple app like PicFrame. Fill the blocks with your product pics of jewelry tiled with photo grabs of clothing that works well with it such as shoes, a handbag, a fun graphic tee: all color coordinated. Once people can really see how Leetie looks with what they already wear, they're sold.
7. PUSH YOUR CONTENT
The things your creating: your images, styling tools, lifestyle photos, printed materials, live videos, pictures of in-person events, emails, all of it is considered content. We love the whole idea of 'if you build it, they will come..'. But 'they' have to see it first. So since you're already creating this content, you need to push it out there. That means Pinning it to Pinterest, Tweeting it to Twitter, or including it on multiple channels. Create a really fantastic styling collage? Don't just post it to your VIP group & abandon it. Be sure that you Pin it. Tweet it. Include it on your next 'Coming Events' flyer. Use these things more than once. Even if the same people see them, it's visual reinforcement. Don't 'Do Twitter'? Don't 'Pin Things'? There are many 3rd party apps that can do this for you. One good one is Hootsuite. It allows you to pre-plan your tweets, posts and shares ahead of time. You can line them up to go live at staggered times for extra exposure. Be sure to add in hashtags where you can, especially in Instagram & Facebook. This is a keyword preceded by a # sign. These are clickable and searchable. So if someone sees a post hashtagged #Leetie and they want to see more, they click on it and your #Leetie hashtagged post should come up.
8. LIST OF LOCAL EVENTS
If you have local in-person events, or even online events, make a list of them, type it up & print it out! Take these with you to in-person events for people to take. Stuff them in shipments going to that local area. Or post them in your online spaces. It seems obvious but people can't read our minds. They need to know where you'll be and when!
9. SHIPPING STUFFERS
We mention stuffers up above in reference to events, but shipping stuffers are a super important way to ensure repeat sales. You've already turned this person on to Leetie. They have purchased & are opening their pretty package of baubles. A shipping stuffer should greet them, along with their purchases. A shipping stuffer is printed material that you or your favorite printing company can generate that includes where to find you (even if they found you once, they might have forgotten - the online world is a big one), how to contact you, and maybe even an incentive or coupon that will entice them to find you again and soon. Some options might be a free shipping stuffer, a coupon code to use at checkout online, or an invitation to have them help you spread the word about your VIP group in exchange for a free pair of earrings with their next order. Get creative! You can say whatever you want here. A good way to come up with your next stuffer is to 1. pinpoint your next goal (do you want to get them to come back? do you want them to tell their friends? do you want them to buy 3 items at once?). Your goal turns into your offer. 2. Think of what it's worth to you (do you want them to earn dollars back on their order? free stock? a punch card?). And that becomes their reward.
10. 3RD PARTY SELLING APPS
There are many apps that are being developed faster than I can keep up with for making quick, online stores readily available and attainable for small businesses, direct sales marketers and artisans. Right now, my favorite & the quickest one you could use to get your Leetie stock up & selling today is a newer app called Shoppe.me. What I love about this app is that you can send your shopping link to anyone and they can shop away. They don't have to be on Facebook. They don't have to have a smart phone. As long as they have online access, they can use it. And it's a super quick thing to build out. All you need is pics of your stock. The app was developed originally as a 3rd party app for sellers of LulaRoe - a direct sales clothing company. The developers quickly realized that they were limiting their market by just focusing on one company & expanded their branding and servicing to include other companies. You can use it to track inventory, create 'pop up events', send customized links (maybe a shopper only wants to see your Statement Necklaces but nothing else) and it's super easy to use. If you're thinking of putting up your own Leetie website, this is a great alternative or in fact, it acts almost like your own Leetie website would act. Here is the link so you can give it a whirl. There are likely many other options about there that are & will be cropping up as we speak. But this is one I'm familiar with & can recommend.
The 11th Tip (Top 11 Tips doesn't sound nearly as catchy), is one that's a given. Always show up with enthusiasm. If you're going to sell, you need to show your excitement for the product, for how it makes you feel, for what it's done for you. That type of vibe is catchy. We all have down days & sometimes we might get discouraged. You have to turn those days around by saying "WTH? I love this stuff & I'm going to make sure I put it out there today." and do it with high energy, a positive juju, and you'll be surprised at what can happen. Happy Selling!