From Affordable to Unforgettable: The Power of Experience-Based Sales

Something that is working right now across the board, across the industry, no matter what you sell, is experiences. Selling experiences anymore to stand out in a crowded marketplace. It's not about what you sell and what price your products are, but it's about how you make people feel. And across the board, I've heard from so many retailers that through those experiences, things that are working are permanent jewelry, charm bars and hat bars. And today I'm so excited because we're going to talk to a retailer who I think excels in all three of those areas. She is an expert in the space of permanent jewelry and she has three locations where she offers these three services as really the mainstay of her business. She's someone who when she speaks inside of the Boutique Hub, I listen. I think that we're on the same page so many times. And so I'm excited for you guys to get her insight into how she built these businesses, how she charges more than anyone else and is busier anyone else offering these amazing experiences. So meet my friend, Ashley Donnell. She is going to blow you away with some new opportunities of what is working right now in business. Get ready to take some notes and get ready to implement a few of these strategies. 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 score 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 I can't wait to chat. Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast this week. For those of you who are listening and are members of the Boutique Hub, this is going to be no stranger to you because Ashley, Ashley and Ashley, this is going to be great already. But one of the things I admire about you so much is when it comes to just big conversations and big thinking in the hub about what's working, what's not working, where are we headed? You always have an opinion, you always jump in, you always are uplifting to people. And I find that we're very often on the same like thought process when it comes to things. So I'm excited to dig into that today. What do you think?

I'm super pumped to be here. Thanks for having me.

Excited to have you. All right, before we get into all the nitty gritty stuff, let's start with just backstory. How did you get started in this industry.

So I started our company in 2018. And like so many other shops, I started as a trendy, affordable company. I had all these inspirations from jewelry designers like Kendra Scott and Uncommon Dreams. And I realized I was spending 50, 60, $70 on a pair of earrings and not knowing why or where that was going. And so I decided I was going to bring those same trends in an accessible way. And I started by selling just 16 and $18 earrings. And I was attending markets and I was doing hundreds of transactions. And I super quickly learned affordability did not equal profitability because I was walking out of a market after 100 transactions with like $2,000. And that just wasn't worth my weekend, basically. So I went out to try and increase our average sale and we added hats and purses in 2020. And then I also took the business full time in 2020 because I got laid off due to Covid. And then I added the hats and purses to increase our average sale. And then I went on a mission again to double our average sale in 2021. And we started adding our hat bar because we were selling again a ton of hats. And so it was like, how can I increase that spend with that customer? And so we added our first hat, our experience. And then I also added permanent jewelry in 2021. And our business has not been the same ever since. Now our business is very little retail. We're only selling about 20% of our sales as off the rack and 80% now are experience based. So whether that's our permanent jewelry, our custom hat bars, or our term bar.

That is incredible. You were one of the first people that I watched in the Hub really go down that road, that experience road and these bars now, I mean, I see everybody all over the country doing this. So kind of break down for me if somebody is like, how do you do that? What? Let's start with permanent jewelry. How does that start for you and how do you really maximize that? Because again, you could go affordable permanent jewelry. But how do you really maximize with the staff time and the training that goes into it to make that experience one that's really profitable for you at the end of the day?

Absolutely. I, the first person to not only admit, but I actually brag about not being the cheapest in town to our customers and I give them that confidence in what we offer. So our average price is probably 30 to $40 above most of our competitors who are doing this in a pop up nature. So our average bracelet is between 75 and 100. We have bracelets that go up to 125 and then our margin on that is about 85 to 90% because they're not really paying me for the bracelet at the end of the day. So when customers leave our store, they're not talking about the bracelet they got, they're talking about the experience they had. And they leave saying, oh my God, that was so much fun. Oh, and I got a cute bracelet out of it. So it's more so that I'm selling the experience of what we offer and I charge accordingly for that. It's by far most profitable thing.

You got to tell me more about that. That is incredible. So what does this experience include? What does it entail? What does it feel like for them?

So we have three different locations and two of them are like full retail shops. And in those we're able to enhance the experience a little bit more. Our third location is very much an untraditional retail setup. So we're actually in a shipping container district. And so we're not able to serve food or drinks or anything like that because we're in a shared space. And there are three bars on site and seven food options. So when people go to that location, they're not just really choosing us, but they're choosing like the whole vibe of the shipping container district. But in our traditional retail shops, that's where we really focus on enhancing our experience. As soon as the customer enters the door, whether they're here for an appointment or they're just walking in within about two minutes, we try to offer them something to drink. So in our shop we offer prosecco as well as margaritas, which, if you know me, is so on brand for us. And we also have coffee, soda, still water and sparkling water to offer them just for a little something extra. And then we just also make really beautiful photo locations as well. I'm sitting in front of one of our photo ops now, but people love to just snap a photo after that experience.

Incredible. So how do you also like, do you incentivize them then to share with a friend, to share on social media or what is like the follow up experience after permanent jewelry?

So we do offer a discount if they bring a larger group. So groups of four or more get 10% off their purchase. So we really encourage them to come and share the experience with a friend or group of friends. But really those experiences are automatically something that you want to share with friends. So I am able to capture multiple customers by only marketing really to one. I just have to get one girl in the friend group and then the whole group comes in in, which is awesome.

So awesome.

And these events are automatically something people want to share on social media because today's consumer is all about that fomo. So they're like, look, I went to this cute shop, look, I got a bracelet, look, I got free champagne. And it just, everything we do just drives them to want to post.

So how is that different? Now that you've added charm bars, hat bars, do they come in and they get to choose what experience they have or is there set times for certain or like appointments for some of those experiences? Or how do you intermix or keep them separate? What's that look like?

So we offer all of our experiences by appointment or walk in basis. In all of our marketing, we encourage appointments if they have a strict timeline. So if they're on a rush or if they're coming with a large group, that way we can make sure that we can fit them in. Something we've seen a ton of success in in our shops now is bachelorette parties. I don't know when it happened, but Kansas City has kind of become a bachelorette destination in the Midwest. And so almost every weekend last weekend we had three separate bachelorette parties booked coming in. And they love coming to us because they're not tied to one experience. So they can come with a group of 12 girls and if three of them want wide brim hats, they can get them. If three want permanent bracelets, they can do that, three can do charm bar and three can just hang out. And that's totally fine. To really incentivize those group bookings or birthday parties or anything like that, we've started doing kind of a package deal for them where if they come in and they purchase six or more pieces for their group, then the host gets a $75 credit. So. So kind of taking a little page out of the Tupperware book, but in a more modern way. And a lot of the times the girl booking is the friend of the birthday girl or the friend of the bride. And so we give that credit to either the birthday girl or the bachelorette or whoever is hosting. We've also done just friend girl groups and that's been a lot of fun too.

Yeah, huge opportunity. So tell me what your staff looks like, what your team looks like to operate all this. And then obviously the training that you provide has to be, you know, pretty consistent in order for you to have three locations and to offer these experiences across all three. So what's your team look like and how do you Train them.

So I only have one full time employee. It's actually my big sister. So I brought her on in 2021 as my inventory and kind of general manager. Because the other half of our business is that I travel like half the time doing out of town pop ups. So when I'm out of town I need somebody to basically that I can trust with my full heart and mind that can operate what I need. But then she does all of my shipping receiving kind of our stock movement. Because with the three locations we notice that one store shines with turnbar, another with our wide brim hats, and then the third is selling the crap out of trucker and bucket hats. So so we kind of have to move things around sometimes to make sure the right product is in the right shop. Just kind of watching those trends happen and then also making sure that those trends aren't an anomaly. Right. And then beyond that, right now I have a team of eight part time girls. My goal is to grow that to 12 by the end of the summer. And I have really focused on kind of two demographics for our part time staff. So one is college age girls who have a little bit more of a creative mind. So we're not just hiring cashiers. I'm looking for girls that love art, that are creatively minded, that can help style the customer and really take it to the next level. Because it's not just the customer picking out whatever feathers and florals she wants on her hat or whatever patches she wants on her hat. It's our job to take what she picked and make it look good or to make suggestions that will enhance the look overall. And then I have quite a few of the girls that actually went to the same college I went to, which makes me really happy that I'm able to provide those jobs for the fashion students. And then the other demographic is kind of the mom getting back into the workforce. That has been really great to help fill some of my daytime shifts. But again, I look for creative minded people and I actually, I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I love to hire people who eventually want to own their own business and own their own boutique because I'm able to help teach them and make them grow. And that's one thing that I hear over and over from our team is that they love that I'm willing to teach them anything. I'm very much an open book when it comes to, to management and to my business. And I tell my girls that I'm not going to tell you everything on day one, but as soon as you've earned my trust and shown that you're here for the right reasons, I'm totally willing to tell you anything and everything. So my girls know what our rent costs. They know that our supply budget is 7% of sales. So I want to say it's for every dollar in supplies that we spend, I have to make 4:40. Four, I think was the number. I don't know what it was. I told a girl one time, so like, if you want me to buy a $20 tool, then I need you to sell. It's like $1200. And for them to like understand all of that, it also makes them, I think, a little more respectful of the overall business too.

Yeah, we, we talk about that a lot in retail bootcamp and we call it open Book management and that con. I'm so glad that you brought this up because that concept is so sc. The idea that. And granted, like Sally, that works for you, like, she's already run the number. She already has a assumption of what he thinks you make. All business owners are rich, right? Like when I was growing up, I married a banker and so my parents were like, all bankers are rich. And I was like, dude, he made 25 grand a year. He was not rich. But that's a perception and perception is reality. So talk to me more about how those listening could also take that same idea of open Book management and have a respectful conversation with their staff to give them just a bigger picture view of what it takes to operate at the end of the day.

Yeah. Like you said, I think it makes them respect the business more. But for me, it also gives that like, emotional buy in to where our girls want to stay with us. I have girls that drive 40 minutes to work, which is unheard of in our city, because they want to work for me, because they want to learn and grow and develop. I am truly of the mindset. If you treat your staff like they're the solution, they'll be the solution. And if you treat them like they're a problem, then they're going to be a problem. Like, if you have to enforce all these little rules and tell them they can never, absolutely ever be on their phone, that's unrealistic. Nobody is going to listen to you and they're going to resent you. So I've just found for me, the more open and honest and realistic I am with them, like, the better they are. Our shops run about 90% without my physical presence in them, which I'm really proud of.

Ashley, that's incredible. It true. That is truly incredible. I think we all need to pause and write that down. If you treat them like the problem, they're going to be it. If you treat them like the solution, they're going to be. And going back to your margins too, I would assume your team knowing the back end of what it takes to operate your business for the most part prevents them from saying, I'm going to just do permanent jewelry on the side, but I'm going to charge 50% less than she does. Because it's not about the price. Like you said, it's about the experience at the end of the day.

Right. And our team, our team is right alongside of me bragging about not being the cheapest in town.

That's awesome.

And they know that, like, you get what you pay for and that's the customer's perceived value. And they also see the difference in clients, clientele. When we're selling to the hundred dollar customer or we're selling to the $20 customer. Yeah.

So good. Hey, are you on the list yet? I know you want to be on this list. You don't want to miss this list because we are deep diving into your business college style. Not 101 style, not 301 style, 501 style. And that is inside of our college level course for boutique owners called Retail Boot Camp. Now, many of you may have already taken retail Bootcamp because the cool part about this course is not only do you get to watch it at your leisure, but then join us for 14 weeks of live group coaching twice a year. That's 28 weeks of live group coaching every single year. Once you're inside of Retail Bootcamp, you're always inside. So you get that same two semesters of group coaching every single year for as long as you want to join us this year inside of Retail Boot Camp, I can't wait to go back to deep dive into the six layers of your business strategically, step by step, we what do you need to grow before you're ready for the Facebook ads and digital traffic, which we definitely cover. First, we have to make sure, how's your pricing, how's your profit, how's your inventory, how's your team management? We're going into literally every single topic of your business throughout Retail Bootcamp. So it only opens twice a year, January and June. Make sure you're on the wait list again. Once you get in, you're in for life. Why didn't college allow us to do that?

Right.

Whatever happened to all that college debt we had? That was silly. I can make way better use of your time inside of retail bootcamp. So I hope you're on the list. Get on the waitlist right now so you're the first to know when we open the doors of our 2025 session. I can't wait to see you inside of retail bootcamp. So all the stores that are listening and they're like, hey Ashley, foot traffic's dead, my pop ups are dead, my business is stuck. What do you tell them?

I absolutely agree. Yes, but traffic is down. So my solution has been to increase our average spend so I can attract one $100 customer compared to having attract two $60 customers. I would rather sell to fewer people at a higher price point and that higher margin than to try and be for everybody.

So, so good. And if someone is listening and they're like, you know, I think I should probably try to have permanent jewelry or a charm bar or a hat bar once in a while in my space. Where should they start?

So you have two options. You can bring it in house and do it yourself. I would say all of our experiences for me have cost me about a 4 to $5,000 investment to start them. And that's per location. So for me to order the right amount of stock, the right tools, the right selection, I don't think any of these experiences are something that you can do halfway. You can't have four hat colors and think that you're going to have a successful hat bar. You have to like really hone in on it and own it as a genius in your shop if it's something that you want to offer. I think the same thing with charm bar. You can't have 10 charms and call it a charm bar. And then permanent jewelry is definitely about a five to eight thousand dollar investment to start between buying the quality tools, buying the quality chain, and if you need it, investing into training as well.

That's so helpful. And then when I think about your business, what else is on the shelves to support these experiences? Like what else really helps your average ticket value? What else is the upsell that goes along with these experiences for you?

Yeah. So we have really recently in the last year or so made a shift from being affordable jewelry to honing in on quality. I saw it happening in 2021, 2022, where customers were asking about metal quality and they were wanting higher quality items and willing to spend on it. And so we've introduced our luxe collection, which is a lot of ion plated stainless steel, steel sterling silver. We have some gold filled product in that luxe collection. But we advertise it as, you know, these are hypoallergenic, tarnish resistant, water resistant. When it comes to jewelry and metal quality, it's really important that you. There are a lot of legal things that you can say when you're selling fine jewelry that you have to follow the right guidelines. Like you can't actually say that things are waterproof because no metal is actually waterproof. You can say water resistant. And you also are legally supposed to share gold content accurately as well, per the ftc. But we really shifted our focus in that direction to selling quality. So like I said, when I started we sold $16 earrings and I still have some now they're probably 18 or 20. We still have some of that, but we sell two to three times more in our luxe collection. And then we also carry a good selection of gold plated items as well that are not water resistant but are hypoallergenic and aren't going to turn brown sitting on your dresser. And I've just really found our customer values, our openness and our integrity about sharing that quality information.

So good. When, when you look across the industry and you see other people picking up on this trend now and offering more bars of any kind, what do you think the most successful people that you're watching from afar have in common?

I think creative minds. I think not being afraid to jump in with both feet. Yeah. I think that those two qualities are super important. But then also anything you do to add that enhanced experience. Right. You can't shove it in a corner and expect it to be successful.

Yeah, that's what I'm gathering from listening to you is. And I've been in that situation where I walked in stories stores, you know, and you walk in and, and there's the table sitting there and you ask them about it and it's kind of an afterthought. Like oh yeah, we do permanent jewelry versus that being like such a staple of the business and marketing that and having full, you know, appointment books all day long. I could only imagine that for you with hairdressers and salons and just so many like similar industries, there's just all kinds of potential for cross marketing and collaboration, right?

Oh yeah, yeah. We've really been trying to do a lot more of those smaller pop ups in Kansas City. But also like emphasizing that one of our like extra things that makes us different than the pop up vendors is that we have locations and so they're never going to have that customer disappointment by having that brick and mortar location where you can say, hey, we're able to service your clientele if there is a problem that to gives even more confidence in like our offering and pop ups have been super successful for us. We've also been doing a lot of like fundraising pop ups and that's something we're really pushing over the summer too. For the softball people that ask for donations or we're partnering with really large charities in the city as well and attending their like galas and events. And then we donate a portion of portion of our sales back to that charity.

That's really cool. What a great way to get your name out and get the word out. Give people like get them started on the experience while you're also doing good, but then build a repeat customer base. That's really awesome. I would bet. And maybe you have stats on this, but people that have one piece of permanent jewelry, do you find that they often have multiple. What's the customer rate?

Honestly, it's usually about one every six months for us. So because we aren't cheap, you know, Our average is $100. It's not something that you do every day or every week, but our average customer returns to us two to three times a year just across the board. And then we have a lot of customers who are fiercely loyal to us because they know that we'll stand behind our product and they know where to find us and they're willing to spend more for our experience because of that.

Yeah, cheap ain't loyal, right? Cheap.

That is. Right. So good.

All right, well, Ashley, this has been so good so far. So let's do a little lightning round. Are you game?

I'm ready.

All right, I give you two hours back in your day to work on income generating activity. What do you focus on?

Staff training.

I don't think I've ever had anyone answer that like that before. Income generating activity and it's staff training. I like where your head's at. I like this angle. Okay. What is the unsexiest but most important system or process in your business that you feel like. Businesses generally don't talk about, but it's wildly impactful.

I would say our inventory movement because like I said, some stores in our area, like one store is popping for wide brim hats and it's like where we put most of the inventory for that. And if we are down to 10 of a hat color, that shop's going to get the priority and it's really made a difference by having the right products in the right place.

Yeah, you can't sell what you don't have. Right?

Exactly.

Perfect. Okay. Hardest lesson you've had to learn.

Oh.

Okay.

I have two. So one would be over buying. So for expanding. We tried to expand in 2022, and I totally overbought, and we sat on that product for about a year and a half, and then we weren't able to bring in fresh and new and keep things going, really. And so I just had to keep selling through it. So not over buying. And then the second would be to treat your staff with respect and they'll return it for you. I had some bad staff in the beginning, and once I've really honed in on the type of people we want and making sure that their style of employee matches our style of management as well. If you need a boss physically in the store, we're not the right shop for you. And once I've really figured that out and found the right, more independent people, it's really made a difference.

So it's so important and so impactful. Right. Like, you're. And you're building your culture as you go. You're really trusting them to build their culture with you. All right. How do you set boundaries and take care of yourself and the most important aspects of your life?

Okay, well, I have the probably very unpopular opinion that balance is bullshit and you can create balance in a new way. So for me, I definitely. My shop goes in seasons, and they're not necessarily the most similar to the rest of retail. So holiday is not it for us. The month of December is dead until the week after Christmas. And then January and February are not high months for me either. And so I look at my year, and I kind of intentionally plan that April and May are going to be chaos for me. Like, don't expect me to have a personal life in those two months. However, once June and July come, then I get to breathe a little bit more. And August is a month for me to go on vacation, basically. So August, I kind of check out of the business and let it sort of run itself. And I do the same in January and February because during those months, as long as we have things set up, I'm not necessarily going to make a difference if I'm physically here or not. So it's better for me to take that time to recharge and recover and reset, basically.

I love that.

So, yeah, I don't really have boundaries.

It's all. I feel like balance is BS too. I totally agree with that. And I think that life and business both come in seasons and you have to just know what season you're in. And like, what can I let go of during this season? Or what can I pick up in this season? And then where do I just like, where do I need to put my head down and run?

And.

And where can I give myself a little bit of grace to take a step back? So. Totally agree. I think that's spot on advice. Speaking of advice, what is the best business advice you've ever received that sticks with you?

I don't remember who I heard it from, but somebody told me to create systems and processes for the business I want, not the business I have. So sooner you create those systems, the better you're going to be when you actually need them. That's one. And then two would be as far as like your brand, the more polarizing you are, the more people you are going to attract and repel the right people.

I love both of those. And I'm writing down build systems for the business you want, not the one you have. I have to remember that. That's incredible. That's really good.

I can't remember where I heard it, but it stuck with me.

Well, we're gonna repeat it because. And I'm gonna give you credit for it because that was really, really good. All right, I'm gonna guess I already know the answer to this because I've heard you say it a few times now. But what is one metric that you live and die by and you must know what it is at all times.

Average feel. Hands down, I cannot control how many people walk in my door.

Yeah.

But I can control and focus on what we do with the feet in front of us. So average sale. And it every time I've focused in on that metric and added things to enhance that metric, my business has just skyrocketed. So average sale, very helpful.

What is one metric you wish you knew more about but you don't?

Our conversion. So I've thought about adding traffic counters to our shop, but it just. They're a very expensive investment. And. And I don't know that I'm ready to make it. But I do wish I knew more about our physical conversion in shop.

Yeah, helpful. All right. One tip. You would share with retailers on just how to be a great boss.

I would say definitely make sure that your management style matches the needs of your employee. But then also spend some time caring about your employees. Get to know them as a human. Especially this new generation. That college age girl, she wants you to care about her as a human as well as an employee. And to teach them.

Yeah. So helpful. Couldn't agree more on that. Man. Ashley, this has all been so awesome. I have obviously notes myself, so I can't wait to share this with everybody. But I have just one last question and it's, you know, it's the big picture question. Like, I love the perma jewelry, I love the charm bars, I love the hat bars. But at the end of the day, we're going to say fast forward 30 years into the future and you're looking back with your friends and family talking about the life you live, the journey you've been on, the businesses multiple that you've built, the influence you've had on our industry. I know that's huge for you as well. When you look back across all that, what's the thing you want people to really remember the most?

I think I truly like my drive is to build a brand that I'm proud of, one that stands up for what we believe in. And I'm very outspoken on things that we shouldn't be in business. And I share that with my audience and then probably also that I poured into my team and helped them grow to the next level. And nothing makes me happier than watching my teammates graduate and move on in their life and be better.

So good. Ashley, this has been so awesome today. I am so thankful you got to jump on the podcast with me. I can't wait to share this. As always, thanks for just the light that you are. I think you're real, like a treasure in our industry and I'm so thankful for the way that you share and pour into our friends and members here at the Boutique Hub inside of our membership groups as well. So thanks for being here today.

Thanks for having me.

Thanks for listening, guys. I hope you took away all kinds of nuggets and new ideas from this week's episode. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a rating and review. We love to hear your feedback and give you a chance to be featured on the show each and every week. For more information on our spirit of community over competition and to access guest downloads and bonuses and all the resources we talked about on the show, head on over to the boutiquehub.com and join the community. We'll see you next week.