There are a lot of factors that contribute to running a successful SU business – one where you can earn a good income and acheive big goals like Founder’s Circle or the incentive trip.  I always find it hard to answer these kinds of questions because for me anyways, there is no one answer.  It’s an approach that I take to my business, a frame of mind I suppose you could say, which then influences the activities that I follow through with to achieve my goals.

I think the biggest and most important thing is to HAVE a goal. In a post to the LNS Demo Only group, Patty Bennett said “Be true to who you are” – that is a very powerful truth.  You have to set your goal for you – it has to mean something to you, be in keeping with your values, and with where you are in life. For example, I set my goals of earning the incentive trip and Founder’s Circle 3 years ago. I earned Bermuda, but then for the next year and a half had to take a step back from my SU business when our life as a family turned upside down (new baby, moving, renovations, moving my grandparents in, my grandmother getting ill and passing away, etc.)  A whole slew of things, all one after the other.  Although it was really hard to put my SU dreams on hold, I needed to focus on my family. Once things settled down, I was able to re-focus on my business.

Once you have your goal, you then have to figure out how you are going to achieve it – you need to break it down.

Work your business consistently.  I put time into my business consistently 5 days a week. I try not to work weekends because that is a commitment I made to my husband – that weekends would be family time.

Love what you do. Don’t try to fit yourself or your business into somebody else’s mold. Just because someone says “you should be doing this for your business”  doesn’t mean you have to, if you really hate doing it.  There are many paths to a successful business – you have to find the one that works for you.

Use your business as a means for blessing others. I look at my business as my ministry. I look for ways that I can use my business to touch other’s lives.  It may be through sharing and inspiring, it may be through gifting those that are struggling or less fortunate with SU products (I often donate product to local charities and organizations), it may be through providing employment. 

Value your time and your expertise. Charge what you are worth. If you want to make money through your SU business then you need to start thinking like a business person. I see way too many demos that undervalue what they have to offer, and undercharge for their classes and events.

Make your choices in terms of what is good, better, best.  There are a lot of good things that we can do for our business, but, in reality we don’t have enough time to do everything.  So when I think about what I am going to invest my time in, I think about which of my choices will yeild the best returns for my business. 

Anyways, there is lots more, but I think these are some of the key things that I do.

One of the things that I love to do is to shop online for art & papercrafting materials…I admit it, it’s a bit of an addiction LOL.  Most of the time, when I open up my much-anticipated package, there’s a thank you note and often a small gift.  Sometimes it’s a yard of ribbon, sometimes it’s a package of embellishments, sometimes it’s a small stamp….and I’m always pleasantly surprised.  One day though, I remember opening up a package from a sizeable order I had placed, and there was…nothing!  I searched through the box wondering if I had somehow overlooked it, but nope, that was not the case.  I remember feeling quite let down.  Thoughts such as “They could have at least included a little thank you note”, or “They obviously don’t appreciate the fact that I chose to spend my hard earned money on them” ran through my head. I even went so far as to contemplate not ordering from them again.  

Is that fair?  No.  And in fact, as I realized what I was thinking, initially, I wasn’t proud of myself.  After all, why should we have to reward people for their purchases?  As I got to thinking about it more though, I realized two things.  The first is that as a society, it’s something we’ve gotten conditioned to…it’s started to become the norm.  The second thing though, is that as I examined my feelings I realized that when a company expresses it’s appreciation to me for choosing them out of the multitude of companies I could have purchased from, it makes me feel special and valued.  Is it wrong to want to feel like you are valued as a customer.  Personally, I would have to say absolutely not.

THAT is why if you were to ask me, I would say that as a business (which is what I consider my Stampin’ Up! demonstratorship to be), it is important to look for ways to show our appreciation to our customers on a consistent basis.  So what does it mean to show appreciation?  Does it mean you’re going to have to give away the farm, or dip into your profits?  Thankfully the answer is no.  The key is to keep in mind that it’s the gesture that has meaning, not so much WHAT it is. 

Some ways I try to make my customers feel valued and special:

• for my online orders, they receive a personal email from me thanking them for their purchase.
• all customers get a little thank you note in their orders, or if it’s an online order, mailed to them.
• I monitor the delivery of their shipment (for online orders) and within a few days of them receiving their order they get an email making sure everything was okay.
• For individual customer orders which I package up myself, I may staple a little ziploc baggie to their thank you note which contains with a yard of ribbon or a few embellishments.  Sometimes I might break up the extra sale-a-bration or hostess sets I earn and give them one stamp.
• For online orders greater than $50, I may give them a free pdf tutorial

I think the most important thing to keep in mind when deciding what you are going to do to show your appreciation to your customers, is that it is the gesture that’s important.  Don’t make the mistake of giving away too much off the bat, because you’re going to set a precedent that you’ll then have to keep living up to.

What about you?  What are some of the ways YOU try and make your customers feel special?  Please share.

I think the biggest problem often stems from the fact that whenever we sit down to try and tackle a business-related task, it seems so big and overwhelming, and it seems to require so much time.  Which is why we often resort to procrastination.  We tell ourselves, “I just don’t have time to prep for that workshop right now”, or “I just don’t have time to make follow-up calls to my customers”.  So we decide to wait until we actually have a chunk of time in which to do it.  The problem of course is that that free chunk of time rarely shows itself.  Next thing we know, it’s been several months since the trade show and we still haven’t made our follow up calls to the leads we got.  And “well, we can’t possibly call now” we tell ourselves.  Before you know it, the money you invested in the trade show is wasted.  Maybe it’s not a trade show, maybe it’s contacts you got at an event you hosted, or a workshop you did. Either way, it’s business opportunities lost. Does this scenario sound familiar? 

So how do we get a handle on this and stop the vicious cycle?  The best way to break this cycle is to train yourself to do 1 thing for your business every day.  It could be one phone call.  Make one card.  Put together one hostess packet.  Send out 1 thank you card….

Just one SMALL action everyday is all it takes to get you started on the path to consistency.  What you’ll often find is, that that simple act will help get you into a business mindset, and will lead to more.  And if it doesn’t on a particular day, then you can still rest easy knowing one more thing on your to do list has been crossed off.

Early on in my career as a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, I remember struggling with the exact same thing.  Month after month at my stamp clubs, there were two customers in particular, who kept talking about the fantastic deals they were getting on SU product off of ebay.  They essentially came to my clubs to learn, put in their minimum orders, and then spent hundreds of dollars on SU product on ebay which they were buying from a US demonstrator. US prices on SU product are lower than CAN prices - so I just couldn’t compete – nor frankly did I want to – I wanted my business to make money!

Then of course there were some of my other customers who would talk about buying their adhesive at the dollar store, or buying stuff at Michael’s with their 40% off coupon.

So what’s a demonstrator to do? Do you just hold it in, grin and pretend that nothing is happening, hoping that they’ll eventually stop? 

The short answer is no. Unfortunatey you will find that there are ALWAYS going to be people like that, what you need is to find some strategies for dealing with them.

If it’s an occasional thing, you can try some gentle humor to diffuse the situation.  For example, if they talk about a great deal somewhere else, you can jokingly say “yeah, but you don’t get a built-in teacher and customer service agent with it, like you do when you buy from me!”

If they just don’t get the picture, and the behavior persists, that’s when you need to work up the courage to talk to them directly.

The good news is that most of the time your customers don’t realize how their behavior is impacting you and your business. My suggestion would be to take the time to speak privately with each of the culprits one on one – not during the club or class - and gently say something like “I totally understand how excited you are about the coupons from x,y,z store – I get excited about great deals too! I’d really appreciate it though if you would refrain from discussing it during my card classes. As much as I love sharing my ideas with you guys and spending time making cards together, this is my business. When you discuss other companies and products here, it hurts my business.”

While this is a difficult conversation to have, in the long run, it’s in your best interests to be frank. If your customer gets so insulted that she doesn’t come back, then frankly, you are better off without her as a customer. If she values you and the service you provide, she’ll be understanding, and will respect you and your expertise.

Now it’s your turn….share your thoughts on this situation.  Has this ever happened to you? What did YOU do?  Did it help?  Do you have any other customer situations that you’d like me to talk about?

What about you?  Do you want to make money with your Stampin’ Up! demonstratorship? It doesn’t matter how much money, if you answered yes, then you ARE a business demonstrator. Plain and simple. 

Think about it.  What business do you know that doesn’t want to make money?  None of course. The whole purpose of a business is to make money.  Now think about what it means to have a hobby.  How many people do you know that consciously engage in their hobby to make money?  Probably very few.  A hobby is typically done for pleasure and relaxation.  If you are lucky enough to make a little money at your hobby…great!  If not, so what?  

Now that’s not to say that a hobby can’t turn into a business, or that you can’t make money doing something you love. 

The bottom line is that if you EVER want to start making some money with your Stampin’ Up! demonstratorship then you are going to have to get in the “mindset” and realize that you need to start thinking and acting like a business demonstrator.

In the next few posts I’m going to share with you what I see as the key principles of running a successful Stampin’ Up! business.