Five Minute Friday: The #1 Way to Attract Customers Who Actually Buy

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Business can be a lonely game. But it doesn't have to be. Welcome to Boutique Chat where we explore community over competition and how to scale your company with the balance and the happiness that we all seek. We'll hear from product based businesses of all types, retailers, E commerce and wholesale brands, along with industry experts shaping the future of our industry. I'm your host Ashley Alderson from the Boutique Hub and and I can't wait to chat.

Hey guys, it's Sarah with the Boutique Hub and I'm back today to talk to you about your customers. Everybody's asking, how do I find more customers? How do I make more sales? How do I attract more loyal customers? Well, there's a few exercises that we walk you through in retail bootcamp as well as in our Boutique Hub membership. But today I want to give you a few insights just to open your eyes on a couple questions that you can answer today that maybe will help you get to that next level and attract that customer and retain that customer. So therefore you can narrow your focus and you're not spread so wide, so thin trying to do everything and really attracting no one. So here are a couple things. I've got my notes. Take, take inventory of this. Who is that customer? Talk to me about. Answer these questions. What do you notice about this person or a few of your select VIP customers? What is familiar about them? What is consistent about them? Answer that question first. Now, keeping in mind that customers are everywhere and this doesn't necessarily have to be just someone local to you. Especially in the E commerce age, customers are absolutely everywhere. So it's okay to narrow that niche, focus down and really get tried and true about who you are and who you're serving. Number two, how old is this person? He or she, how old are they? What do they like to do? Where do they live? What and when I say where do they live? Like that could be all over the country, but in that space, are they rural? Are they city? Right. Do what do they like to do with their free time? How old are they? What do they like to do with their free time? Are they a student? Are they a career person? Are they a mom? Tell me about their life. Next, number four, annual income. This is pretty important to kind of identify what the percent or what the. The range of their income would be, helping you to identify what their disposal income might be for you to shop with you. What would their income be? Give a couple ranges, right? Because you don't want to just narrow in on one specific thing and start to make assumptions but it does help you get a better idea of who this customer is if you can better understand their income range. And the last thing, this is just another quick question, but what do they like to wear? Say, what do they like to wear on the weekends? What is their lifestyle like? And I know these are kind of dumb, dumb questions. You would think they're no brainers, but honestly, I will tell you the number one mistake new retailers, especially new boutique owners make when they go out and buy inventory is they fall in love with something that's really cute. If you can answer these eight questions and go back and really define this customer, then when you go to market and you're so sourcing wholesale, you will find you're directed into a path that serves this particular customer. Because I can tell you when you get to these markets, there's so much out there. You can get spread way too wide, way too thin and get attracted to all the pretty things, all the fun things, but it very well might not serve that ideal customer. And guys, if it doesn't serve that ideal customer, you're set back, you're sitting on old unsold inventory. And what happens with that unsold inventory is it's tying up your cash. So therefore you don't have cash to go reinvest back into other inventory to serve that customer. So narrow the focus down, answer those eight questions. Who are, who is your ideal customer and how do you serve this person? And to just say, well, I think they're somebody between 18 to 65 and they live in the city and they like to go to the theater, that's not enough. We need to dive in and really get to know that customer. Give that customer a name, give that customer their Persona. So when you're walking through market, whether you go to Dallas or Chicag or Atlanta or Vegas or LA or wherever you are, or you're on a wholesale marketplace and you see something, you have to say, does Sarah wear that? Does my customer, Sarah, who is a student in college, who has this amount of disposal income, who likes to go to games and hang out with her friends on the weekends and likes to do this, this and this? Is that something that Sarah would need? Is that something that solves a solution that's a solution to Sarah? If it's not, you need to walk right past it and you need to stay focused on the Sarahs that are your main customer so you can serve that person. Because if you start serving too many other people, Sarah is not going to feel like you really understand her. And then Sarah might start shopping somewhere else. Those are my tips for you today about understanding your ideal customer. Really fighting that person, serving them, helping them understand that you are there to fought to offer a solution for them and then they will stay more loyal to you and when they stay more loyal to you you have more money in your pocket.

That's it for five minute Friday you guys. I hope you found some quick actionable steps you can put into play in your business right away. As always, if you're not yet a member of the Boutique Hub I would love to personally invite you to join us. It's where all of the daily conversations happen the up to date what is working now in the industry conversations, the latest trainings, training trend reports, discounts, resources and of course access to thousands of wholesale brands that you also know and love. So please take a minute, follow the link in the show notes and we would love to invite you to join us inside of the Boutique Hub.