615. Tips for Product Business Owners to Maximize Their Sales This Holiday Season

Hi, I'm Jacqueline Snyder and this is.

The Product Boss podcast.

I've helped launch and grow thousands of product based businesses, even one of my own. And over the last 20 years, I've seen behind the scenes of businesses just like yours. Whether they are makers, manufacturers, artists, or food and beverage businesses. I have spent so many hours studying it all. I've discovered what makes them successful, what mistakes they could have avoided, how did they turn their ideas into a successful business, and what are the strategies that they have used to make more sales and be discovered by more customers. And this is what this show is all about.

Whether you're just starting out or you're.

Looking to become a million dollar product boss, I'm here to give you the permission to chase your dreams, no matter how big or small. All you need is the right mindset, a little courage, strategy and support, and you too can be the next million dollar Product Boss. Let's do this. Hey. Hey, Product Boss. All right, so today I'm bringing you a very special episode which, which originally aired as the Blended Live over on Instagram. So if you're not following me there yet, make sure that you could just pause the podcast for a sec. Don't go down the Instagram hole, but make sure to follow the Product Boss on Instagram because we have fun over there and we like to share and there's just so much goodness. Okay, But I also do these lives called the blended life because I believe that life is a blend. What does that mean? What does that mean? To me? I call BS on balance and on juggling, right? There's no possible way. Balance is wiggly. It's not true balance and juggling. Something's up in the air, something's falling on the ground. So I really feel like we need to blend our personal life, our personal responsibilities, the way that we take care of ourselves as well as if we're working for someone or our business, right? Our professional and our personal. We blend it together and the recipe looks different every day. And guess what? It's a little messy. And that's okay too.

Okay.

So over the past couple of weeks, I've been going live on Instagram and it's been so cool because I've been able to connect with so many people in our community, shout out to you if you're live with me in the blended life. And I think it's just really, really great to get immediate feedback and to really connect and see what's happening. Plus, when this airs, I just want.

You to know that I'm Actually still.

Going to be going live over the next few weeks on, on Instagram, doing episodes of the Blended Life. It's my show, so come say hi.

Right?

Catch an episode of the Blended Life. Make sure you're following us at the product boss on Instagram because we are going live on Monday mornings. Okay? So the topic that I shared in this live show on Instagram had such a good response that I knew I wanted all of you to hear it.

Right?

We, we have, we speak to so many thousands and thousands of you a week on every episode. And so I want to help you start to prepare and get ready for the holiday season. Okay? That is my mission. That's why I'm starting to do this all the way in August before kids are even back to school. And so what you're going to hear me talk about today on this episode of the show is I want to talk about the false truths, right, That I hear from product bosses and also some things that other coaches are saying, right. That I don't believe are actually coaching you in the right way. They're either service based coaches and you're like, they're like, oh, I'll just flip this information around and give it to you. Nope, that, that doesn't work.

Right.

Or they're coaches for very, very specific sales channels. And maybe it works on that sales channel, but maybe it doesn't. And I think there's a better way of doing your business. Okay? So I want you to take a moment and think, is my business working the way I want it to be?

Right.

I want you to think, how's it going for me right now? And if you're ready to do something different and take a different approach, you're going to hear me start to share actual advice and strategies that you can actually use.

Right?

Ones that you can use. Start to do things differently and you can be ready for the holiday season so that more customers find you.

Right.

And that you make more sales because it's time to make some money and turn your business into a money making machine. All right, you ready? Let's dive in.

This is somehow the bumpiest car ride ever, but welcome to the Blended Life from the car. Because it's the blended life. So. Hi, my friends. I know Instagram is letting you all know that I am live right now. So sort of wait.

So if you're joining and when you're.

Joining, say hello, this is the Blended Life. Let me know what you make and sell and where you're from in the comments. I'd love to Hear it. So it was the first day of school today, school drop off. And I'm traveling tomorrow for the week. And we wanted to get the blended life in this, this week. And so the only time I could do it was this morning.

And I had it at 8:30 my time.

My kids get dropped off at 8 and there was drop off. It was first day of sixth grade. We had a parent PTA meeting. I got Dunkin Donuts. Coff as the parents got right. So it is a cuckoo day. And I figured if this is the blended life, why not do it from the car? Because gotta blend it all. So let's talk biz. So I've got some notes on what I want to talk to you about today. And I want to talk about five false truths that are happening or the things that people believe that aren't true or that other coaches are saying. And I just don't necessarily agree with it.

Okay?

So I want to know who here believes that they need to be selling to everyone in order to make more sales? Anybody? Anyone believe that? Like, if I don't have something for all the people that I. That I have, what can I do? So some people say yes, some people say no to this idea that I have to make and sell everything to make more sales. And I think that this comes up during the holiday season.

Okay?

I think a lot of times during the holiday you're like, well, everyone wants to buy. So I want to tell you that it's not the case. It's not the case that you need to be selling to everyone in order to make more sales, especially in this holiday season. Okay? We're coming up. It's coming fast. Summer's over for me. We're transitioning to fall. Halloween is in the stores. So, my friends, you have to start thinking about the holiday season now.

Okay?

If you've been around the product boss for any point in time, if you've been through these seasons with us, we start to prep early so that you don't feel overwhelmed. Things that we have to prep early. We have to know what we're making, what we're selling, what our offers are going to be during the holiday time, and then how we're going to share it. Where are we going to sell? Right? We need to know our traffic source. Where are people gonna discover us, how are we gonna market towards them and then how are we gonna make sales to them?

Okay?

And so the deal that I want you to know is that a confused customer never buys.

Okay?

A confused customer doesn't buy they get confused. And you know that when you're super confused, you're like, okay, I'm out. It's like decision fatigue, and you're out. So something that I really teach my students is to be known for something, right? You're either gonna have a puro product, a core collection, and eventually, when you start to get data, you start to know your best sellers and saying that you only sell one thing. Some of you might, but it's the idea that, like, you're not like, I'm gonna pour candles, and then I'm gonna sell scarves, and then I'm gonna also, you know, people also want bath bombs. I can make bath bombs, right? It's not that. It's. You want to get. Want to become known for something. So that's the first thing I just want to talk to you all about.

Second thing I want to talk to.

You about is that a lot of product bosses think that they have to make and sell all the things, right? But actually, actually my friends, focusing in on your product for. And marketing those specific products to specific people, it's actually the thing that' for you to grow your business. What if you want to sell an apparel piece that is common with your own spin? Listen, denim lines come out every day. Do you want to know a crazy story about. I'll give you an example of this. So I actually just found this out because my dad passed away in June, and so at the Shiva, because in Jewish families, there's a Shiva. So it's seven days, and there's a lot of conversations. And one of the things I found out from my uncle is that back when I was young, my parents were in the denim industry, okay? So they made denim jeans. And this is a time where Jordache jeans was, like, really, really popular. I don't know if you. If any of you were like children of the 70s and the 80s, but Jordache was really big.

And so.

And Jordache had a pegasus, as I think pegasus or was a horse. Maybe it was just a horse as the. The icon. It was embroidered onto the jeans. I found out that my dad found my dad. One decided, okay, well, if horse heads. We had dogs. And so he did a Doberman dog. My. My cousins just found one of these on ebay, so. So he did a Doberman dog on the pocket. Cause he's like, people are looking at animals. What's similar? Let's do jeans. Let's do the same thing. And he had a great business for a lot of years in Los Angeles, and Selling at in person markets. And back in the day, they used to do flea markets and wholesale and all that. And so there's room. And so it's interesting because I was like, oh, there was room for these denim brands, right? There's multiple denim brands, there's multiple candle brands. So in apparel, in anything, it's just, what's your own spin on it? There's not one company that makes dresses. Right? So that's what I want you to know when we're thinking about that. Okay, so what's gonna allow you to grow your business? When you niche down, when you focus, when you figure out what you're known for and whether you're doing a hero product, a core collection, you decide what your bestsellers are. And this is the thing that you push forward. This is where you get clarity. Because that's what I hear so many of you need. You need clarity. You don't know what the next step is or what steps to take to get you to the next point. Right? You're feeling overwhelmed. There's so much input. There's so many things that, that you feel like you need to do. And so then it's like, well, what do I do? And sometimes there's that, like, paralysis.

So clarity.

Yes. So if you are like, I want more clarity, then a big part of this is going to be that you start to understand what is your offer. How are you going to be discovered by more customers? Right? How are you going to cast that wide net and be discovered? How are you then going to reel.

Them in and hook them in and.

Where are they going to transact? Where are they going to buy from you?

Okay.

And so the thing is, is that if you're making all the things and you're constantly making and making and making and output and output and output, you're not spending the time on bringing them in. You're not spending the time on focus on marketing to them, right? Showing them this is what you should buy. Right now I want you to pay attention to what's being marketed to you right now. Check your inbox, check your text messages, look at commercials and ads. Walk into a store, you walk into a home goods. Right now, Halloween is starting to be set up, like right in front of you. I was in Class plus World Market a few days ago, just trying to put stuff together in my house and all the things. And the whole, whole center area was empty where my daughter literally asked, mom, can I dance around here? It's because they moved all of the patio furniture out and they're gonna be moving in. And I heard the guy, someone's like, where's all the stuff? And he's like, we're setting up for Halloween, right? So they're all starting to market Halloween. People are starting to spend their money on Halloween. I know that feels really early for you. You're gonna have to, to catch them somewhere soon. You're gonna have to catch them in September and then the late people are in October to market to them. So if you know what you have to sell for that season, then you know what you're selling. And now all of your marketing materials, your website, or wherever you decide to sell, right the front of your booth. I was even at the Rose bowl flea market this weekend in la. It's once a month, it's huge. And I started seeing costumes out. People were, I mean, they were weird, creepy, big head, like weird, like bunny costumes. And like, of course, like all the hipsters in LA are. This is what they're looking at. But they were towards the front of the booths, right? Because Halloween is coming, so there's more costume type stuff out. So this is just what I want you to think about. So that's another reason why it's going to be so much easier if you narrow down.

Hey, friends. So how many times have you thought about waiting until the week before Black Friday to even think about your holiday promotion plans? I mean, I know, I know. I'm not calling you out here. You're not alone though, right? Because there's so many other things on our plate during the fall and holiday season that when we finally get to that week before Black Friday, Cyber Monday, I know we're like, oh, no, I got to figure this out. Well, guess what? Not this year. Now I know that successful product bosses know that the key to making sales, growing their businesses and making good money during the holiday season is to prepare.

Right?

We want to prepare what we're going to make an offer around and to start to build their promotions now. So that's exactly what we're going to do together. Yes, together. During our five day challenge, which is going to kick off on September 9th. So if you're someone who's wondering if a free training, if five days spent with me is really worth it, I'm going to say the answer is yes. We know that there's so much information out there and it's hard to tell what's actually going to move the needle in your business. But here's the thing. The Rock your holiday promotions challenge is 100% worth. Your time and energy because it actually creates results in your business. And that's not just me humble bragging. It's what we hear from our previous students who have shown up year over year over year and taken action on what they've learned. And they've seen some incredible payoffs. Okay, so like Jenny, who had been in business for 10 years and felt unorganized and all over the place. But after going through the challenge, she walked away with a roadmap and a clear plan. She said, I can actually breathe now, right? That breathing that weight off your shoulders. Or how about Ashley, who never knew what she was going to sell or offer and was always last minute in planning for the holidays. But after attending the challenge and implementing what she learned and knowing exactly what she's going to sell during the holiday season, she was able to, wait for it, triple, triple her sales from the previous holiday season. I know, I know, this all sounds incredible, right? I have so many other stories to share with you and you might be thinking, okay, cool, good for Jenny and Ashley. But what does this have to do with you, my friend? Well, let me tell you, that is just a small preview of what you can do. What you can do after spending five days with me learning how to turn your business into a money making machine this holiday season. I know that you need more customers. I know you want more people to know your business exists. I know that you want to make more sales. And a small part of that is creating your promotions with us. But I'm going to teach you so much more over the five days together. You are going to feel so clear. You're going to walk away with a plan and your promotions are going to be built. And so don't forget, we start Monday, September 9th. It's totally free. And you can join us by signing up at rock your holiday promotions.com or just click the link in the show notes and make it super easy and you can get all signed up and I'll see you inside. All right, back to the show.

So how many people have the question of, like, I'm already not making sales. I'm already like, really not having the sales that I want. So how will the holiday season be any different?

Right?

Okay.

And I know a lot of people because I talked to a lot of people about, you know, making sales or making sales, how do they grow? So the thing is, and this is what I want you all to know, have you heard the saying, if a tree falls in the woods and there's no one around to hear, it doesn't even make a sound, right? So if a product boss has a product to sell and there's no one around to know that it exists, does it make a sale?

Right.

That's like a little saying that I say a lot. And the reason why I say that is that if people don't know your business exists, which happened to me with my products when I launched Customers couture, I put $20,000 into making the product and building a great e commerce site. And I was like, yes, I did photos. This is gonna look amazing. And I put it out there and I made no sales. And that's because nobody knew I existed. Nobody was, this is my typing. No one was on the computer typing and being like wearable wrist wallet to wear out when you're dancing. Right? Didn't even know to look for it. And even if it was making something other people were making, like candles or T shirts or pottery or dog collars, whatever it is, if they write in any of those words for an SEO search, big companies are going to show up. Petco is going to show up. Bath and Body Works, that'll show up for candles. So the thing is, is that they're not going to find you SEO. They don't know to look for you. They don't know that you valor. They don't know that you exist. So if you are thinking this isn't even going to be a busy season, what we have to work on over the next few months is to show up where your customers are.

Okay?

That's what we have to work on. We have to figure out where are my customers buying, what am I going to sell to my customers when I meet them, where they're at.

Okay?

So from a candles perspective, someone was like, I'm selling. I met in person. I've got candles. I'm like, tell me about your candles. And she's like, they're $90 candles. And she's selling in like a small town where people don't typically buy $90 candles. There's nothing wrong with her product. There's nothing wrong with her pricing. It's where she's selling. Her ideal customer isn't there. So that's the thing, right? So people are going to spend money where people are going to spend money. You just have to be where your customers are. So if you feel like you're not making any sales, why would this holiday be different? Let's not give up. We have five months to go. Let's make it different. So if you put the question marks in, I want you to keep listening. I want you to listen to the podcast. If you haven't listened yet, Okay. I want you to make sure that you're up on all the things that we're doing here at the Product Boss. In a few weeks, actually, we're going to be hosting a brand new challenge which is going to be amazing, which is going to help you figure out what are you doing this holiday season, right? Like, how are we going to get more customers? All things. How are we going to market to them? How are we going to make this holiday season different? And so that's what I want you to know. You just have not been discovered by your customers yet. So we have to get out in front of them. Does that make sense? So here's the deal. So part of that is identifying who your customer is and where they're shopping. So Deb. Deb's here, right? Deb sells and rent. She's from Rancho Marietta, where my husband's from. I remember going this summer, like, they have like a local outdoor market where like makers and creators, crafters come. And it is a very. The customer that shows up is a very different customer. They're the stores that are available to them in the small town in Northern California. Like, it's a lot of like Ranch Land are not like Neiman Marcus or Bloomingdale's. Right? There's like a lot of like Target and Nordstrom's Rock and stuff like that. So that's okay. If that's where you live. It doesn't mean that your product is gonna fit the customer there, which means we have to get your product on a selling channel that has the ideal customer there.

Okay.

That might be through wholesale, that might be through online E commerce. That might be through selling on Amazon.

Right?

It might be through selling through social media shops. It could be that you still sell in person, but you just go to. You actually pay to travel to markets or places that your customers are. So Paloma Danger, she sells reusable dish sponges. I talk about the story a lot. So she was selling reusable dish sponges and she was from like the Northwest, but she's like, I would.

I couldn't sell these.

They were 18 sponges and nobody would buy them and I couldn't sell them.

And.

And da da, da, da, da. And she's like. And then I realized. I realized that my ideal customer wasn't at these markets I was at. And so she started doing the unique LA shows and Renegade craft fair and she started paying to travel to places like San Francisco, Louisiana. New York, those kinds of places where people are spending more money, are eco conscious in a different way and they're just up on trends and stuff. And she started selling out, selling out of $18 reusable sponges.

Okay.

So she's a great business. She just wasn't in front of the right customer. So we talk about that a lot here at the Product boss. And someone said the last episode with recycled theater material is a good listen for helping with ideas for sales and traffic. Yeah, that's with my masterminder, Jen of scenery bags and just a great, great, great episode. So what I want you to know is if you're not making the sales that you want to be making, right? If you're not making as many sales as you want, you're not making sales. You don't feel like you're busy. I want you to know you're not alone.

Okay?

So it's really, really, really important for you to start to plan your holiday season early. We really need to figure out where are my customers going to come from and how are they going to know that I exist? Right? Because again, if a tree falls in the woods and there's no one around to hear, it doesn't make a sound. Same with you and making sales. If there are no customers to know that you exist, then what's going to happen? So what we really need to do early on is we really need to start to figure out how are we going to gather these customers, where are we going to find them from, how are we going to market to them and all the things.

Okay.

And I want you to know that anything is possible. And if you're new here or if you're not new and you haven't listened to the show, make sure you're following. Click the follow button. Because Apple, a lot of you listen on Apple. Apple, like automatically unsubscribes you if you don't listen to five at the episodes in a certain amount of time. And if we come out with two episodes a week, that means in two and a half weeks you might be unfollowing the show. So just make sure that you're following the show so that you get the new episodes delivered to you Monday, so a new one dropped today and on Thursdays. And then sign up for stuff like we have free challenges coming up here on Instagram. If you type the word dream and you comment, we've got your dream business checklist. We've got our resource guide. We've so many amazing things to just give you and gift you and support you in growing your business. So I'm just glad that you're here, whether you're new, whether you're just catching me now, whether you've been around forever, which I see a lot of my friends that have been here forever. So that's what I want you to do. I want you to start to wrap your head. The same way that my kids went back to school, we're going to start to wrap our heads around our game plan for the holidays. How are people going to know we exist? What are we going to sell? Right. So really, what are we going to sell? How are people going to know that we exist? How are we going to communicate with them and market to them, and where are they going to buy from us?

I hope that this episode and everything I shared inside of it helped you realize what you need to focus on in your business.

Right?

And it gives you this really good.

Starting point so that you feel that you're fully prepared for the holidays as best as you can be. Now, you also heard me mention our rock your holiday promotions challenge. And while that is something that we do and maybe you've been a part of, I have a brand new bootcamp coming to you in just a few weeks. Yes, it's going to help you rock your holiday promotions, but it's going to be a five day holiday sales bootcamp. And this five day bootcamp is going to help you increase your holiday sales, right? So that you can actually make sales, so that you can grow your business, so that you can make a profit. You can make good money doing what you love and not working for someone else to pay the bills. Am I right?

Right.

This is like, yes, let's do this. So as I mentioned, that's happening and this is in five days. We're going to do all these amazing things. So if you want to join me and thousands of other product bosses, all you have to do is head to rock your holiday promotions.com to grab that free spot and you can just click that link below in the show notes. And my friend, if you are feeling called, if you're like, you know, this is. I'm just, this is really being very helpful to me, growing my business and knowing I'm not alone and having clarity and hearing someone speak in the language that I understand, would you be so kind? That would be my early Christmas present. Would you mind leaving a review on the podcast? I love reading every single one of them. They help other product bosses find us. But not only that, it helps some me know what kind of shows to bring you, right? Who I should coach, what kind of information you're looking for. So when you leave those reviews, it really, really, really helps me as well to help you. Let me help you, or whatever Jeremy Maguire says.

All right?

Remember, I'm here to support you and encourage you and cheer you on in your business journey. And I want you to know, if no one's told you this today, I am so proud of you. You are doing amazing. And, my friend, you are amazing. You are amazing. All right, till the next one.