Five Minute Friday: Turn Scrolls into Sales with Live Selling

Why every retailer needs a live selling strategy. Hey, guys, I'm Sarah, remember from the Boutique Hub. I am here to talk to you about one of the biggest things we are seeing for small business owners today. And we know it's only going to get bigger. So this, in this video is for you, the independent retailer looking to attract more customers, sell more products, streamline all your busy business days, ultimately make more money. I know that's you. Let's talk about something that is literally changing the game for these businesses, these small retailers just like you. Live selling. Yeah, live selling. I know you've heard of this. I know you've seen it. If you're on TikTok or watching any reels or on Facebook at all, you guys have seen people live selling and you may just kind of cringe a little bit and think, sarah, I hate being on camera. Are you saying that to yourself right now or something like, I don't have time or I don't have the confidence for that? Well, here's the truth. Get ready. Live selling is no longer optional, you guys. This is one of the fastest growing ways to build trust, drive traffic, convert sales, especially for you small businesses. So today I want to help you understand why it matters, what's happening in the industry and how you can get started even if you've never gone live before. Let me help you with that. So first of all, very first thing we want to do is we want to start with the why. Why is this important? Yes, I understand. I outlined some ideas and all the things and you want to do all of these, you know, get in front of more people, get more customers, all that kind of stuff. But let me tell you this. Did you know that last year US live selling generated over 35 billion dollars in sales?

35 billion with a B. And by the end of next year, it's expected to more than double that here in the United States. I'm not talking about Asia, I'm not talking about overseas. I'm talking about right here, where your customers live. And that's wild, right? Man, it's not just happening in the big box stores. It's happening with small independent retailers just like you. But here's why it's working, right? Let's talk about that. Why is live selling working? Customers don't just want to shop. They want to connect. We hear this, we see this for all of you with brick and mortar stores. How many times have you become the therapist for a shopper that comes in, Right? They want to connect with you when they see you Live. When they see you laughing, when they see you talking about products, answering their questions, that's building that instant trust factor. If you're in a store that sells candles and I shop your website, I look at the candle, I think, oh, what a pretty picture of a candle. You tell me it smells great and all of that, but I can't really get a vibe for what it smells like, right? But if you do a live sale with this candle, you light it, you smell it, it starts to fill up your space. I see your face light up, I see others around you react and interact and talk about how exciting and how awesome this candle is.

Right.

Maybe it's transporting them to a place like the forest or the ocean or whatever it might be. I'm going to make a reaction a lot faster. Based on your live sale and your live talking, your live video, I should say, like in your. Your face and your reaction to that smell of that candle versus just a pretty picture. We see this happening all the time. They stop scrolling and start engaging.

Right?

We want that to happen. Think of it like having your best customer walk into your store, but instead of just that one or five people seeing you, maybe you've got 50 people on there or a hundred or even 500 watching from their couch.

So the team goes for those pair of pants, right? So your team is trying to show off these pair of pants. Changing pot, changing subjects here, right? Like you're selling jeans and you're selling jeans on your website and I don't know about you, but jeans, jeans is really hard for me. It was hard even when I had my brick and mortar store to sell jeans to the customer. There was a lot of things, a lot of moving parts in why jeans were going to work or why they weren't online. It's even harder, right? Yes. You can have an amazing product description or even your product photography can be awesome. Maybe you are even showing me a video of you putting them on. However, if you are doing that in front of me and talking about it and I see your reaction to the stretch, to the length, to the pockets, how you feel in them, I see your reaction in how you are pairing it back with certain types of shoes, what belt you're going to put on with it, like this or that kind of idea, or maybe you're even changing out your tops, your blazers, all the different things that can help me better see myself in those jeans right now. I have that confidence. I either can make a confident decision and say, yes, I want to buy those, or actually that's not for me and I can pass and now I can go on to look for something else. But, but it's personal, it's fun. You guys, that's very powerful. To give me that confidence as a shopper, to know the dollars I'm about to to give you as a small business are worth it. Right now, small retailers who start live selling early are getting the most traction. You guys, you hear people talk about this all the time, whether it's TikTok Shop, Facebook Live, Instagram live comments, sold, live me up. All the things shopify, live, whatever. They're all prioritizing creators and retailers who are going live. These platforms want to see live. They want longer videos. So if you've ever said the algorithm just doesn't like me, well, here's your fix. Try it. Go live. Live content is getting pushed further, stays in your feed longer and converts faster than static posts. Man, I know you are seeing this in your feeds, right? It's time for you to jump on this train. Let me give you another example, all right? How about a children's boutique might do like a holiday pajama party live, where they show matching sets for the whole family. Talk about sizing, giving early shopping or bonuses of discounts, right? Or what about a family photo session? You could do this like actually build this out or back to school closet refresh. Now, if you're a home decor and gift, how about like the 12 Days of Christmas Gift guide, a live series that highlights maybe three easy, not easy gifts each night. Candles, cozy blankets, or hostess gifts. All the things. Don't overthink it. What about a seasonal room refresh, right? Show the shopper how four or five key elements can completely change the look of a room. Take it season to season, right? Or give that space a fresh new look without construction and paint and all the hard work. These small moments that you're doing in front of my eyes on a live sale create the buzz, the loyalty. It creates that trust, that repeat customer. You can talk about how it's going to change your life, right? How you are going to present yourself as that authority figure to them. They can trust you more. You become the authority on said subject, whether it's children's clothes, family portraits, home decor and gifts, specialty occasion, fill in the blank. Whatever type of retailer you are, you are the authority on that subject. However, it's hard to translate that on just a website or even social media posts, right? That's why live selling really works. I shouldn't say live selling, but live video, right? Where you're interacting, you're talking to those people, you are having those conversations. So people watching those audiences, they're growing more and more trust for you every single live. The more you show them, the more they trust you, the more they trust you, the more they shop with you, the more they shop with you, the more money you make, the more products you move. Sounds like a win, right? It does to me. As an expotique owner, I know how hard you guys are working, I know how many long hours you are putting into things in this day and age. There's a new way of doing it. There's a new thing that is converting to sales. Live selling is it.

Hey guys, one of the most important things you can do to support yourself on your retail journey is to make sure you're a member of the Boutique Hub. Inside of the Boutique Hub, we really focus on four huge things for your business. Number one, community. So no matter how big, how small, how new, how experienced or whatever niche you sell in, we want to connect you to retailers at your level who sell like products. So we're going to get you connected in one of our 14 niche Facebook groups so you can build community, ask instant questions, get answer, support and build friends literally around the world in the business. The second is education. So our on demand training modules, our training library, our Ask Ashley, AI bot, all of the weekly training we do live inside of our Facebook groups for members, our seasonal trend reports and so much more up to the minute helpful training built by experts just for you. The next is wholesale. It's so important to not only get the right products from trusted vendors, but also to save a little money along the way. So as a member member of the hub, we're passing along exclusive discounts from our partners just for you when it comes to wholesale. And you can connect with those partners in our Facebook groups at market, from our showrooms on hubventory.com or anywhere else you are experiencing the Boutique Hub. Typically our wholesale brand partners are right there with us and then finally we're all about the data and the exclusives and all the limited information that you're going to get inside of the hub only. So from access to personalized meetups at markets, our trend reports, our member app, our resources, our 75 plus vetted service providers and the discounts that they are going to give you as a member of the Hub, our engagement graphic library, and all of up to the minute marketing tips, tools and resources loaded right on your training library or on your membership app. So I hope you'll take a Second, to join us, join us as an annual member to save the most. It's literally less than a dollar a day. Plus plus, as an annual member of the Hub, you're going to get access to our bestselling master classes and handbooks just for you, added to your training library. So join us today, less than a dollar a day to be an annual member of the Hub. Or if you'd rather pay monthly, cancel anytime. There's an option for you to do that too, so go to theboutiqueup.com join boutique.

So let's simplify this. You don't need fancy gear, you don't need full product setup. But here's like a live selling kind of starter plan. Let's do this. Number one, pick your platform. Start where your audience already is. If you have a loyalty Facebook group, start there. If you're more visual or you're more, you know, maybe a younger audience or I shouldn't even say younger audience, but maybe TikTok Live is for you, right? Use an amazing platform like Live Me Up, Comments Sold, Apptile, Shopify, all of them have streaming capabilities. We partner at with comments sold and Live Me up here at the Boutique Hub we have great point of contacts that help all of our hub members, you know, get started, make the most of all of their time and energy and effort. But ultimately what we want you to do is be able to go live tonight or today on one place, but broadcast it on multiple channels, right? So you can meet your audience where they are. Okay? Number two, create a theme. Don't just go live with show new arrivals. Nobody cares. Everybody has new arrivals. Give it a theme like the new year, new closet refresh five under 50 or gifts for your mother in law that she'll actually love. I mean those are just three quick little easy themes. You know, if you want more advice on this, you can always ask Chat GPT to help you give hooks. Give theme ideas for your lives, right? You don't have to always come up of it on your own. Next thing. Background. Good lighting is key. A plain background is, is, is congested. It makes people get confused. You can't always see your products, right? And all you can, you can do this all from your phone. Yes. You can level up. You could get a ring light. You could do all the things. Yeah, and you can do that very inexpensively. Look, I should have thought about my background before. I literally have horns coming out of my head because of, because of this. But again, progress over perfection, right? Just go live, get the information out there. Number three, plan your flow, right? So you're going to have an intro. This is your welcome. You're going to have a showcase of however many items you're showing, right? And then you're going to recap and you're going to have that repeat call to action. And you're going to keep this flow, flow going, right? Don't just assume that whoever came on your. Your live or your video was there at the beginning. So you have to be on repeat. Remind them what is the called action. How can they buy this from you? All of the diff. All of those different things. And I can tell you, most of these platforms have AI tools built in that you can. You can have those little announcements already on the screen, right? But yes, be on repeat and don't worry if you mess up. That's what makes it real. You guys. I watched the Live one time that I could not shut off because I was so drawn to it. It was a husband and wife and he actually fell over the rack. The rack all fell down. On the Live. They're trying to get everything put back together. They're bantering back and forth. I felt like I was watching a sitcom. And ultimately at the end, guess what? I bought a few things. But it was engaging, it was exciting. It was more than just little black dress, pair of shoes, right? No, it was fun. It was. They. They were laughing at each other, which got me to want to laugh with them. It was infectious. This is what makes it real. All right? And then the very end here, end with a clear direction. Make sure you've told people exactly what they do next. If they're commenting, sold, if they're tapping the link in the bio, if they're going to grab this at your website, you're giving them that quick, easy, actionable item, right? You don't want them to have to go off of your live to action. That's why we really like these platforms, like Comment Sold and Live Me up, that you can stay right there, add everything to your cart, check out all the good things. Plus there's all sorts of really cool tools built into those platforms to recycle lives, do giveaways, all the things. So if you're thinking, but no one watches my lives, don't give up. Maybe you're that person that's like, I did that one time and I didn't have any luck. I'm over it. I'm never doing it again. Growth takes consistency. It does. So try this. Go live the same day, the same time every week. Make it A show, not a surprise. Make it a show, not a surprise. Promote it. Post teaser reels.

Right.

Send emails, drop a countdown in your stories. Reward engagement. Maybe you're offering a giveaway for people who share or comment during the live. The most important thing is to have fun and don't think just because I told them once they know, they don't know. They don't know, right? When you build that confidence with them and they learn to trust you, I promise they are going to want to spend more time with you and ultimately open their wallets. Think more like a movie premiere, right? You know when that movie is coming out, long before it hits the theaters. Your lives need to feel more like this, right? Maybe they're not. You don't feel like they're the bigger, biggest blockbuster hits, but they're going to be. We need to keep hyping them up and make people feel like, hey, I've been waiting for you. Come join me. This is a thing you don't want to miss out on, right? They're going to come in, they're going to get engaged and they're going to stay focused. And remember, your lives will get better over time. Odds are you aren't going to hit it over the park on the very first try, and that's okay. But you've got to start somewhere. The key is actually just to start. So live selling isn't about perfection, it's about connection. The longer you stay on your live, the more passionate you are, the more engaged you are, the more people are going to see you and feel infectious towards you. Right?

So if you can help one customer in your store, you can help one online, that's awesome. But we want to. You want to start helping multiple customers at the same time to do one thing but serve the bigger audience, right? That's how you're going to be. That's how you're going to work less in your business, right? I knew when I had my boutique, man, I felt like I was on repeat. Every single day. A person would come in, I'd repeat basically the same situation. I'd show them different products, but I was having to repeat it constantly. On a live, you could be speaking to thousands of people with one message and getting them all to take action. Right? But start small but just smart. Just start. Don't worry about being the biggest live there ever was right from the get go. Get started and be brave. Have that confidence. You're building a brand that people believe in and that's what creates that kind of loyalty and profit. That keeps your business thriving long term. So my challenge to you today, today, right, we're going to do this today. Pick a platform. Pick a platform that works for you. Investigate these, reach out. Let us help you with these. We partner here at the Boutique Hub. We partner with comments sold and both live me up because we both believe in their platform and they have people that can help our members specifically. So if you have any issues or any, any struggles, right, we have a point of contact that we can lean on to help you have that success. Number two, choose a theme. Could be anything, could be anything. And then go live. Do it this week. Don't wait until it's perfect. Just start. As you notice, this live isn't perfect. I mean, I'm in my office, my hair is not actually really done, my makeup's not professionally done, and again, I have these feathers sticking out of my head that looks crazy. But I did want to get this message out to you. That's why I went live, right? That's why I wanted to do this video. That's why I wanted to do this pre recorded video. Whatever you guys want to say, I wanted to get it done. I didn't care how I looked. I don't think anybody jumped off this, this video because of those feathers. No, they might be like, man, she should have fixed those. That was a thought going through their mind. But I don't think they jumped off because of it. And they certainly didn't jump off because I forgot to use an eyelash curler this morning. And that was not a reason enough for me not to bring you this information. Same for you in your store. Don't hold out on me, the consumer with your amazing product that want to see your amazing products because you haven't had your hair colored or whatever it might be, or you're waiting to get your nails done. No one cares about that kind of stuff. Be real, be authentic.

Be real, be authentic. Because the retailers who show up now will be the ones everyone else is trying to catch up with next year.

Do you think that's going to be you? I hope so. Do you feel a little bit more empowered to start doing live video and possibly even hosting live sales? I hope so. The technology I talked about today, you guys, it's easily accessible. If you have questions, please reach out to us. You don't have to be sending invoices to your customers anymore. No, you don't. You don't have to just say, okay, this is available. I will send you an invoice. And I'm going to go through this whole manual process, both live me up and comment sold. Make that very easy for you. So if you guys like this, let us know. If you have more questions, let us know that too. Here at the Boutique Hub, this is what we do. We want to empower you to build the very best business you possibly can. But we know doing it all on your own can be very stressful and you're going to run out of time trying to reinvent the wheel every single day. Let's not do that. Let's do this together. Lean on us here at the Boutique Hub. Let us be your eyes and ears in the industry. Let us help you by introducing you to tools and services and technology and education and empowerment for you to build the business of your dreams, whatever that might be. So you guys, I hope to see you live very soon. I hope it comes across on my feed so I can engage with you and watch you in action. Be you, be who you are. Be amazing. Start with some live video. Thanks for joining me guys. If you like this and you want more information about what we do here at the Boutique Hub or want to ask us other questions or grow together.

Please click the link below. Thebotiquehub.com we are here to help you and all small businesses be successful. Here's to an amazing next live sale.

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, 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.