by The Embroidery Coach | | Embroidery Business Marketing
I want to congratulate Howard Potter! He is a very successful student of mine! Howard started with me about 12 years ago when he purchased his first embroidery machine. I worked with him when he was working out of his home with a single head Tajima and the Tajima by Pulse Embroidery software! He has since gone on to purchasing 2 more machines, digital equipment, screen printing equipment and much more. Howard now has his own building with a beautiful showroom and very well organized workrooms for each of the different types of applications that he offers.
He is very young man with a wife and 2 children. He and his wife Amanda have worked very hard in this business, turn out top quality work and have taken their business from zero to almost 2 million dollars in this short period of time.
I trained his main graphic artist, to digitize their designs and have since trained several more digitizers as the business has grown. They have worked very hard at producing high quality embroidery designs and on time delivery.
You can visit his website MasterYourImage .
Congratulations Howard, keep up the great work!!
Joyce Jagger,|
The Embroidery Coach
by The Embroidery Coach | | Embroidery Education
When you are thinking of purchasing Embroidery Design Software, it is a large investment that you make for your embroidery business. You want to be assured that you are getting the most embroidery software for the least amount of money! There are 3 primary scenarios that will cause you to be searching for new embroidery software.
- New to embroidery and this is your first business!
- You already have a business, such as a screen printing business and you are adding embroidery to your product offerings!
- You been in the embroidery business for a period of time and you upgrading your current software?
When you are new to embroidery, thinking about adding embroidery to your current business or upgrading your services you have to make a big decision as to which embroidery software you are going to purchase. The main questions on your mind are how can I get the most software and tools with the least amount of money and how do I know that I have the right software?
Do Not Choose The Most Inexpensive Embroidery Software
Many new embroiderers make the mistake of looking for the most inexpensive embroidery software on the market, thinking that embroidery software is embroidery software. They all work the same! This is what I thought and with such a tight budget, I did make the wrong decision and as a result, I spent a lot more money than I would have if I had done some more research on my own.
Many embroidery software companies will tell you that their software is the best and that you can create any type of design with it, but when you take a closer look at it, you may be in for a real surprise! Most embroidery software suppliers offer several levels within their software. If you purchase their highest level, it may do everything that you want, but you may not need their highest level to accomplish what you want to do.
You Do Not Need The Highest Level Of Embroidery Digitizing Software
After several years of editing designs I decided that purchasing embroidery design software was the right move to take so that I could digitize my own designs. When I was shopping for digitizing software I was told by salespeople from 2 of the top embroidery software suppliers that I needed to have the highest level of their embroidery software, which was their most expensive software level. If I had any plans for digitizing for other people I would not have enough tools in the lower levels to do everything that my customers would be asking for. I believed them thinking that they definitely knew a lot more about it than I did.
At that time, I was not sure if I was going to be digitizing for anyone else or not, but I thought that I should be prepared to do so. That was a big mistake!
Before you start shopping for your embroidery software, there are several questions that you need to ask yourself and have firmly thought out and written down in your business plan. Each brand of software will offer different tools in their various levels.
- Do you plan to offer digitizing to your customers?
- Will you be sending designs to a digitizer?
- Do you plan to do your own digitizing?
- Are you going to offer stock designs from the stock design companies?
- Will you be editing stock designs?
- What is your budget for the software?
If you are just starting out with embroidery and are planning on learning how to digitize right away, you will need that capability within your software, however, you do not need to purchase the highest level in order to be able to digitize. In many of the embroidery software packages they have most of the basic tools that you need to learn how to digitize. You need to learn the basics and thoroughly understand them before you start working with the more advanced tools.
Too many people want to jump right into the advanced steps of digitizing before they have learned the basics and when it comes to solving a problem with a design, they have no idea as to how to approach that problem.
Upgrade Your Embroidery Software When You Are Ready For The Next Level
You can upgrade as you progress through your learning curve and are ready for the next level in your education. Some of the embroidery machine suppliers offer a discounted price for the embroidery design software when you purchase a machine and software at the same time. At this point it makes sense to purchase a little more or a higher level than you will be using at the beginning.
If you plan to send all of your designs out to a digitizer you will only need an embroidery package software that will allow you to set up lettering and add stock designs to it. You want to make sure though that you have good editing capabilities within that software. This is extremely important. This is something that is not always covered when you are talking to salespeople about which software you need to purchase. I just want you to be fully aware of that fact.
Look For Design Editing Capabilities
Some of the embroidery lettering packages will not allow you to edit the lettering; you can only create your basic lettering. If you want to do any editing, then you have to purchase additional software. I have found that some embroidery design lettering packages do not even offer editing software. You then have to purchase another brand in order to do any editing and they are not always compatible. This is a very inefficient way to create your designs and a huge time waster.
You are better off purchasing embroidery design software at a lower level of one of the higher end software packages that will allow you to upgrade as you grow your business and increase in your editing skills. You want to stay within the same brand of software for each one of your levels. This will give you a better end result for your designs.
It is great to have all of the bells and whistles in your embroidery software but if you are not going to be using them, it is a waste of your money. I found though years of experience, that I did not use the advanced tools until I had been digitizing for many years. I only used them as a source to speed up my digitizing, but they did not increase any of my skill level. Without that basic knowledge and skill level along with the thorough understanding of the embroidery process, all of the extra bells and whistles were totally useless to me.
Before you think of purchasing embroidery design software, thoroughly analyze your situation and do a lot of research. Ask other embroiderers and digitizers their opinions. Do not just take the word of the software salespeople. If you have an embroidery coach or mentor, get their opinion. They can usually help you to make a decision that will save you time and money based on their relationship with you and their knowledge of your situation.
It is easy to get caught up in all of the hype from each of the software companies but when it comes down to making that final decision it can a tough one. You always want to get the most software tools for the least amount of money, but in the end, that wrong decision can be very costly in both time and money!
by The Embroidery Coach | | Embroidery Business Marketing
Did you know you’ll spend five times more money attracting a new customer than you would satisfying an existing one? It’s not rocket science to figure out customer retention is far more cost-effective than customer acquisition. It only makes sense, or should I say cents to focus on creating more sales with current customers, rather than keep trying to continually search for new customers.
Increasing sales with your current customers is all about creating relationships. Creating good customer relationships is the most important duty that we have as business owners and this is something that does not cost a lot of money. Many times, it is the little unexpected things that we do that mean the most and keeps a customer coming back to our business over and over!
Here are some simple ways of creating more sales with current customers.
- Offer Exceptional Customer Service
- Offer More Low Cost-High Profit Services To Your Existing Customers
- Build A Relationship With Existing And Former Customers
- Offer More Than One Price Level Of Products
- Create A Good Web Presence with Social Media
Offer Exceptional Customer Service
Offering exceptional customer service to all of your embroidery customers is extremely important in today's competitive market place! Offering better service, or a bit more service than your competitor can make all the difference in the world.
Here are 7 Tips that if followed by your entire organization, will change your business and give it a whole new life!
- Start Out Each Day With A Positive Attitude!
- Always Wear A Smile!
- Have A Clean And Well Organized Environment!
- You Must Be Willing To Work With Your Customer-Give Them A Reason Why They Need To Come Back!
- Always Return Phone Calls And Always Respond To Emails!
- Take Accurate Notes
- Never Show Anger With A Customer!
Offering Exceptional Customer Service is not hard! If you give all of your customers more than they expect and you will be greatly rewarded.
Offer More Low Cost-High Profit Services To Your Existing Customers
Acquiring new customers can be very costly. It costs more money to acquire a new customer than to offer more services to your existing customers. Along with your embroidery, you can offer your customers many other complimentary services. Many of these services can create a low cost/high-profit income center for you. Here are 5 low cost/high-profit services that you can offer to your customers almost immediately.
- Bagging or Packaging Garments
- Sewing Services
- Banners
- Heat Press Transfers
- Promotional Products
When you can create a one-stop shop for your customers with many products and services, they are inclined to be more loyal and think of you first with all of their promotional and gift giving needs!
Build A Relationship With Existing And Former Customers
The best way to start building good customer relationships is to connect with each one of your current and lost customers. Start out by making 3 lists.
- Current High-Volume Customers
- Current Lower Volume But, Repeat Customers
- Former or Lost Customers
Create some scripts that will make it easier for you to talk to people. I have found that by having the scripts in front of me, it just made it easier as you are talking to them and you do not forget anything. You can also print out a script for each customer and fill in the blank as you are talking to them. Keeping notes makes it a lot easier to recall what they said for futures reference.
After you finish talking to each customer, fill out a thank you note, thanking them for taking the time to talk to you and insert the business cards. Make sure that you tell them to sign the back of the business cards before they hand them out. This handwritten Thank You note will go a long way in helping to build your new customer relationship with that customer and it will be something that they will not forget!
Getting your customers opinions and feedback is extremely valuable to your business and makes it a lot easier to plan your strategies as to how to work with them and provide them with the type of services and products that they will be anxious to purchase from you. They really do appreciate you asking them what they need. This can be the beginning of a long working relationship with each one of your customers.
Offer More Than One Price Level Of Products
Another way to increase customer sales dramatically with your existing customers is to offer them an alternative. Many times they do not need to have the best quality shirt for their promotion. Maybe they will be just as happy with a lower priced shirt.
I found that by giving my customers three choices in the quality of products I could increase my sales and create a happy customer at the same time.
I would not compromise on the quality of my embroidery, but maybe they would settle for a Stock embroidery font rather than the digitized lettering in a logo. This could make a significant difference in the price of their one time set up. It would not change the running time of the design but between the price of a lower quality shirt or cap and the lower price of the initial set up, you could save the customer many dollars on the total order.
I always gave my customer three quality choices.
- A-Lesser Quality – Low-level price
- B-Average Quality- Mid-level price
- C- High Quality – High-level price
I followed this formula for all of my sales. I always asked the customer what type of budget we were working with before I ever showed him or her any garments. I had them show me the logo and then I would go over what could be done and what I could do for him to meet his budget. At that point, I would show the customer the products in the price level that would fit within the given budget. You gain their confidence immediately when you show them that you are willing to work with them to meet their particular budget. This method will work 99% of the time to increase your sales.
If a customer came in with a certain product in mind, that meant that he had been shopping elsewhere and was looking for a lower price. I was always up front with them and told them that if they were here shopping for a lower price that I probably would not be able to help them, but I would show him what I had and go through the exact same process. Sometimes what I had was better quality than that was already offered. Most of the time, they would go with my suggestions and work with us instead of continuing to shop around.
Create A Web Presence with Social Media
Creating a web presence is a major part of any embroidery business. This is just as important to a local embroiderer as it is to one that is trying to reach the market globally. Before you can begin to reach a worldwide market, you must first reach out to your local market and the best and most cost-effective way to do this is through your own web presence.
Everyone in business needs to create a web presence. The best way to accomplish this is to start with Social Media. There are several Social Media platforms that work great for your particular market, but Facebook is the first one to get started with. This will help to get you out in front of your audience and let people know what you have to offer.
- Facebook
- LinkedIn
- Twitter
- Pinterest
- Instagram
These are the most popular, but as I said, start with Facebook. If your audience is primarily professional people such as doctors, lawyers, business owners, then you will want to be on LinkedIn. In today’s world, every business needs a Facebook Page. This is the first place that people go to start searching for you.
Focusing on creating more sales with current customers is far more productive than constantly marketing to new prospects. Yes, you need to always be marketing for new prospects, but that should not be your focus.
Many times, we have a gold mine right in front of us and don't even realize it. Our customers are our gold mine and without them, we do not exist!
by The Embroidery Coach | | Embroidery Business Marketing
Here is a link to an article about a new idea for embroidery on a cap back. This is a project that I created for “Wearables Magazine”. They requested a new idea and I had been working with one of my private clients, Linda Gadwood from “LogoLinda.com” that had a customer request this very idea. I helped her create the quality embroidery for a cap back and her customer was thrilled. I decided that this might be a great idea to share with other embroiderers. This was featured in the Decorating Solutions section of the April-May 2019 issue of “Wearables Magazine.” Embroidery on a Cap back
I have a step by step PDF copy of the article called “Back-Words Cap” for you to download and keep for a new idea for you to use for your customers or clients. This was very easy to do and a fun project!
The cap that I used for this project was a New Era Cap #1020 Stretch Mesh cap that I purchased from Sanmar.com.It was a structured cap of 100% cotton in front two panels, 100% polyester Spacer Mesh in mid and back panels. It was a mid profile with a stretch fit back.
The biggest challenge was to make sure that the embroidery was totally centered on the back seam. I placed my start point in the center seam on the outer edge of the first word, NEW. I tried using a regular hoop for this, but it was much easier to use the Slimline HoopTech Clamp with a 2.5 x 4-inch window. It made the project very easy to do.
Try this, have some fun with it. You can start the embroidery at the top or even at the bottom with the embroidery reading up the back instead of down the back. This type of embroidery on a cap back is different and fun!
by The Embroidery Coach | | Embroidery Business Marketing
Are you Branding yourself a specialist in a specific market? It is hard for any small embroidery shop to grow or even survive unless you are marketing to a Niche or a Specific Market. Let me ask you some questions that may help you to think about your current situation:
- Do you sometimes feel trapped in your Embroidery business?
- Are you an embroidery business owner with a struggling small shop?
- Do you have issues trying to make enough money to pay all of the bills at the end of the month?
- Do you have employees that get paid and you still do not have enough left over to take a paycheck for yourself?
I understand just exactly what you are going through. That scenario described me perfectly for many years as I continued to struggle. It just did not matter how much work came into the shop, I still was not making enough money to make ends meet.
The main problem was that I was going after the wrong market! I was doing contract embroidery for sporting goods stores and promotional products dealers. I was continually growing in this market, but my prices were not high enough for me to make a living doing contract work. I was told that I could not market to retail customers because I would be stepping on the dealers‚’ toes, so to speak, so I stayed inside of my shop and just kept working. I thought that if I had enough volume this would work, but it truly did not. Doing contract work alone can work for large shops with many embroidery heads, but for small embroidery shops you need retail to balance out the mix. Are you branding yourself a specialist in the right market?
Afraid To Raise My Prices
My embroidery shop was well known for high quality work and good customer service, but like other embroiderers, I was afraid to raise my prices. I just knew if I did that I would lose the work! I felt so trapped and I really did not know what to do.
My accountant said to either raise my prices or go out of business. This was very difficult for me to do. I loved what I did and I knew that I was good at it but he was right! It was ridiculous to continue in this manner and be the only one in the shop not getting a pay check!
With the help of my accountant I created a new pricing structure and raised my prices. Did I lose customers? Yes, I did, but it was customers that were with us only for our low prices. I did not lose the customers that were with us for out high quality embroidery.
Created A Plan To Sell Retail
Even though I was told that I could not sell to the retail market, I created a plan to start selling my products and services to retail customers. I decided to go after a market that we were not servicing through our sporting goods stores or the promotional products dealers. I opened up a small retail location and increased my selection of gift items. I had been selling gift items with monograms but it was small single items, not any type of volume.
Are You Branding Yourself a Specialist In A Niche Market?
My Son-in-law was a police officer so I had the state police logo digitized and embroidered some sample items that he thought would sell. He took these items to some of his meetings and conferences and I started receiving orders from the other police officers. Soon the word spread and I started selling Police Corporate Wear to all of the other Police agencies in our area and throughout our state. I visited the other agencies and arranged meetings to find out exactly what types of items they would like to have available to them to purchase at retail.
I started carrying a small selection of embroidered items in my retail shop for the local police agencies to come in and purchase on the spot. This included caps, t-shirts, golf shirts and casual jackets. I required a Police ID card for the sale of this merchandise and I created ID cards for the police officers to give to their wives, parents and husbands. This worked out very well and helped to bring in profits and it also brought in a lot more sales for monogramed gift items.
I had finally found my niche; a market that was not being serviced that clearly needed servicing! Are you branding yourself a specialist?
How Do You Find A Niche Market?
The answer is, you do not find a niche market, you create or carve out a niche market! It is hard to survive in today‚’s marketplace competing for the same business that every other embroiderer is competing for. You must find an area of the market that you can specialize in; one that other embroiderers have overlooked or aren‚’t willing to service. In this way, you can brand yourself as the specialist for that specific market.
You can quickly become the leader in your chosen market and will have less competition if you market to a specific niche rather than trying to compete with the masses, so, are you branding yourself a specialist in a specific market?
