June Meeting Recap
Wednesday’s meeting left me on a 2 day high. Once again, I’m overwhelmed by our wonderful creative, focused and dedicated group. What a joy to be on this journey with all of you.
Our agenda was:
1) an overview of where we’re at with the business
2) a Q and A on the photoshoot that Jane has been organizing the details of for the past several weeks
3) a review of Chapter 8- Lead Generation – (with Jane)
4) an introduction and read through of Chapter 9 – (with Laura-Jean)
1) Where we’re at with the business – We’ve been surprised by the quick success of the new store. We’re working hard on final tweaks to the look of the store and have a mini-overhaul planned for Queen next week. We’re excited to continue laying the groundwork for more stores, and are building sustainable systems that will take us to more. Everything we do we ask, “Would this work for 10 stores?” so you see what our goals look like!
I also am tweaking my business model to include a more selective new member process. I would rather put my time, energy, business resources and love into helping grow the businesses we already have on board further than feed a revolving door of new members with quick drop out rates. If great people come along who want to join us, we’ll have room, but they will have to be ready to really engage and make the most of what we have to offer to get a share of this energy.
We have an exciting group called Slumpbusters, and lots of new ideas to help everyone develop their businesses and live out their dreams, so stay tuned for those details throughout July.
We are reaching a point with the University where we have touched on almost all the main concepts in running a successful business, so now we’re going to roll up our sleeves and get to work in more workshop-style meetings, smaller groups and so on. Our members need practical results, help staying on course, accountability and more money coming in, so that will be the focus of our next wave of meetings.
2) The photoshoot is coming together beautifully. This is a very exciting chance to get 10 times the number of professional photos out there representing us, and the brand press package to follow will lead to amazing results. I expect to see several of our designers getting some serious press coverage for their brands over the fall because of this. Any specific questions please forward to Jane: jane.haselgrove@gmail.com
3) We reviewed specifics of the Lead Generation process. An excellent example of it happened this week when I put a picture of Guy’s Wonder Woman tote on Facebook and a woman came in within an hour to buy it. Snap, upload, $200! That communication reached out and sold that bag to her in her living room!
A key point to remember is that Lead Generation is a link in a chain. Making each link strong- an excellent product, a great brand, a focused brand message and a consistent image- before you send out the word about what you do is the way to build excellent lead generation results. Creating a calendar so you commit to a consistent strategy and follow through is the way to reach your market and increase your sales.
4) We revisited The Total Customer Experience in Chapter 9. In committing to the goal of building 10 stores, we see the need for a consistent customer experience. Spending 5-6 days a week in the new store has taught me new worlds of information about our customers needs and how to meet them. I have seen the importance of focusing my energy in the store on being ready to receive the next customer and how that can triple the day’s sales quite easily. I’ve seen how to drive the energy in the store to create a “happy buzz” and how to find the words to say quickly and easily so I’m never at a loss for words.
We still need to shed off some old habits to take our sales to the next level, and over July we’ll be reviewing our customer experience commitment individually with all in-store personnel to make sure everyone is comfortable and confident representing the group on their day. I have seen huge untapped potential in our daily sales, and now know how to get us much, much higher.
When we meet individually, we’ll make sure everyone is clear on all store operations including how to take alterations and we’ll give out the course materials (Chapter 9 and In-Store Guidebook) to anyone who missed the meeting.
It’s all very exciting stuff! I hope everyone can keep the last Wednesday evening of every month clear for our meetings. It’s such an excellent opportunity to step out of the daily grind and focus on working ON our businesses instead of just working IN them. Work smarter instead of harder. Really!
Please don’t blow off the meetings. You’re not too busy to make the meetings, you’re too busy to miss them. Get it?
xoxoxxoxoxox
Lots and lots of love from Laura-Jean and the whole Fresh Baked Inc. team
We love working with you all.
