Fear & Fabric Sales Don’t Mix – Welcome Fabric Fans!

From 1995-1998, I attended Benjamin N. Cardozo Law School in Manhattan, New York. I must say that I wasn’t a big fan of law school, but I finished and passed the bar exam. That was the extent of my law career in a nutshell.

There is one thing about law school that I will never forget….in a bad way, that is. One horrible day in my life, I was barraged by two law professors during a moot court pseudo-trial event. I totally froze, forgot the material and endured an especially not so fun moment in time. You know, the kind you can never forget! I can still remember how badly I was sweating. It seemed like an eternity, but was probably just about 5 minutes which in the scheme of life isn’t much at all. It was the impact of the 5 minutes which would linger for many years.

As you could imagine, this experience didn’t help my cause for the balance of law school. I was just totally shell shocked and the glossophobia (fear of public speaking) set in horribly. The fear is real people and this is well documented. So what’s a guy to do?

Fast forward to my career at Jaftex in the early 2000’s. The public speaking fear was still in full effect. What could I say? I was traumatized.

As time went on, it was inevitable that I would have to overcome my fear. There was no medication or an easy fix. The only solution that I could come up with was to just do it…PUBLIC SPEAK! And that is what I did. The rest is history. Now I embrace public speaking like it is my business. Well, it is kind of part of my business now….a big part. You can now find me doing all kinds of live videos on Facebook at my @jaftexpresident page and you can find me doing speaking engagements where I talk about all that is fabric. I have overcome!

The point of this blog is to tell shop owners that they are not alone in their fear of doing social media and live videos. You are not alone! However, you can overcome the fear just like I did. You just need to get in front of the camera and do it. Then do it again and again and again. It definitely gets easier and each video will be better than the next.

I am telling you this because if you don’t do it, someone else is going to do it before you and they are going to steal your business right from under your nose. Social media is where it is at right now and I don’t want you to be the last one on the boat before it is too late. Pretty please! I am begging you to get out of your comfort zone and embrace social media in 2019 like no other.

Before I go though, I am going to offer a small challenge to shop owners out there to get their feet wet before they dive into the 2019 social media frenzy. The prize will be a big pat on the back for making a video. The other prize will hopefully be that you gain some new sales through social media and see how social media can work for you.

SHOP CHALLENGE!

With that, here is the challenge:

Create a 2 minute or less Facebook live video asap as Christmas is quickly approaching.
The video should be a sales pitch for a top selling holiday item where you have plenty of stock. Don’t select something that is very inexpensive because it won’t be meaningful or worth your time. Recall my visit to the Old Country Store where I showed the clocks on the video and then I created a single post photo of the clock to follow the video. The shop also offered free freight using a special code. They sold over 30 clocks in about a week and the clocks were of $50/per.
Sell the item to all your followers. Give your best sales pitch. Plan accordingly and know the product. Tell us: Why does everyone need one? What can they do with it? Why will it make a great gift? What are the features and benefits? Why has it been so popular? Why do they need to buy one right now?
Consider giving the first 5 people that buy the item free freight or something else.
Consider offering a discount using a special code.
Consider bundling this item with something else in your store. For example, buy this item and get two fat quarters. Use this as an opportunity to move some slower selling items. Put thought into this and it can work for you in more ways than one.
Consider offering a coupon in with the package for the next time the customer comes to your shop.
Consider offering a discount on anything else that is purchased with this item.
Leave the offer out for a week or so and then cut it off. However, during that week, make sure to draw attention to the promo. Keep it at the top of your page. Consider email blasting it to your email list. Post single video or non-video supporting posts to keep the focus on this item for the entire week. By the end, you want them to be begging you for this item.
Consider spending a little money on Facebook to promote this offer.

Those are just a few ideas, but I am sure you get the drift and can put your own twists on this concept. Shoot me an email at scott@jaftex.com to let me know when you are done with your video and where I can view it. Unfortunately I have too much going on at my page for the moment to post them there. Sorry!

Let’s do this and have some fun. Show me what you got.

Let’s Get Social Scott