Helping Customers Thrive Through Business Education
Since Covid started, one casualty that the quilting industry faced was that several Quilt Markets were canceled. For fabric resellers a.k.a. my customers, a huge negative about not having Quilt Market was that they were missing out on the education that they would normally attain through the Schoolhouse series portion of Quilt Market.
For those that are not familiar with Schoolhouse, that includes a day or two series of educational classes that take place before the Quilt Market begins. The classes are offered by vendors like the Jaftex Companies, people we sponsor, designers, quilters, authors and so many others.
In an effort to keep the education going and fill the void, we at Jaftex pivoted to deliver education to our customers. As such, we developed a program called the Seminar of Success. It started with 30-45 minute lectures from industry leaders and educators once a month. These would be broadcasted on the exclusive Jaftex Retailer Facebook group and have remained there to be viewed ever since.
These short lectures were well received, but we at Jaftex wanted to give customers even more. As such, the Seminar Of Success Masterclass was born. This was a Seminar of Success on steroids so to speak.
The first Seminar Of Success Masterclass was a 7 part lecture series from Kizer and Bender. They are a team of retail gurus or anthropologists as they like to call themselves. The series was fantastic and chock full of info on how to traverse the new retail environment that ensued since Covid hit. They offered so many fabulous actionable ideas for retailers. We received accolades from customers that took the time to watch the series. Needless to say, we were very pleased to have been able to offer this.
We were so pleased with how it went with Kizer and Bender that we went back to the well to seek out another Master to bring to our customers. One of our customers suggested Gwen Bortner. We reached out to her and we came to terms for the next Seminar Of Success Masterclass.
Gwen has 35 years of experience as a business consultant, trainer and executive working in a variety of business arenas. Her focus is business operations, management and communication.
The first session was on February 16, 2022, and it is still available to be viewed on the Jaftex Retailer Group Facebook page if you are a Jaftex customer and member of the group or join as a new member (make sure to answer all 3 questions). The first session was focused on goods, while specifically addressing inventory metrics, using an open-to-buy system, product mix, focused purchasing, and more.
The next sessions will be as follows:
Session Two: March 2, 2022-Effectiveness – Team management and effective activity, time management tools/techniques (specifically for owners/managers).
Session Three: March 16, 2022-Accountability – Goal setting, tracking, and key metric reporting.
Session Four: March 30, 2022-Resources – Improving cash flow with a simplified tracking system (based on Profit First).
Session Five: April 13, 2022-Systems – Creating SOPs and consistent systems within your shop without having to write a giant manual.
The times are surely changing from the days of just selling fabric and that’s it. It’s now about the partnership with our valued customers. We at Jaftex are fully embracing this by doing all that we can to help our customers thrive. This is one of many things that we have been doing to help our customers thrive and will continue to do to strengthen the bond with our customers.
The bottom line is that if we help our customers to win, we will win too. It’s a very simple concept. Also, if we help them, they will want to continue to do business with us. Another simple concept. That’s the plan and we are sticking to it.
It’s never too late to get on the Jaftex train (email scott@jaftex.com for info on becoming a customer). We welcome your patronage and partnership. And, of course, a big thanks to our current customers! We look forward to the opportunity to continue to serve you through business education and however else we can. Please share any ideas you might have in the comments.