187. Baking it Down - The At-Fault Cult

Summary

Baking it Down Podcast Episode 187: The At-Fault Cult

Release Date: November 19, 2024

Hosts: Heather and Corrie Miracle
Podcast: Baking it Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing

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Introduction

In Episode 187 of the Baking it Down podcast, hosts Heather and Corrie Miracle delve into the intricate dynamics of customer service within the baking business, particularly focusing on the concept they term the "At-Fault Cult." This episode is a deep dive into handling refunds, taking responsibility, and fostering lasting client relationships to ensure business growth and reputation.

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Understanding the "At-Fault Cult"

Concept Overview ([00:42] - [03:11])
Heather introduces the idea of the "At-Fault Cult," describing it as a mindset where bakers often assume full responsibility for any mishaps, even when they are not entirely at fault. This culture stems from a desire to maintain client satisfaction but can lead to unnecessary stress and financial strain.

Heather ([01:19]): "At fault, meaning absorbing fault at any given instance, even when you're not 100% at fault."

Real-Life Scenario: Handling Refunds ([01:19] - [08:54])
Corrie shares a personal experience where a client bypassed the established order form, leading to confusion and a potential refund situation. Both hosts discuss the balance between owning mistakes and assigning partial responsibility.

Corrie ([02:15]): "I did not send her the form. So again, we're finding fault. Although you can easily say, just as easy as Corey didn't send her the form, she bypassed the form herself."

Heather emphasizes the importance of taking full responsibility to protect the business's reputation, even if it means incurring a loss.

Heather ([08:31]): "I got to call myself out on it. We do the cookie class kits... there's a lot of work behind making those cookies."

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The Importance of Taking Full Responsibility

Client Relationships and Business Growth ([08:54] - [18:40])
The discussion shifts to the broader implications of handling refunds generously. Heather and Corrie argue that taking full responsibility, even when partially at fault, can turn dissatisfied clients into loyal customers, thereby fostering business growth.

Corrie ([12:37]): "Your happiness is priceless to me."

They compare this approach to corporate giants like Target and Walmart, highlighting how small businesses can leverage exceptional customer service to compete effectively.

Heather ([18:40]): "If you refund one order to protect the future, 10 orders. That's a promise."

Case Studies: Mistakes and Resolutions ([10:22] - [43:52])
Multiple anecdotes illustrate the challenges and benefits of adopting an "at-fault" approach. From typos in promotional materials to miscommunications in order specifications, the hosts showcase how owning mistakes can prevent negative reviews and enhance client trust.

Heather ([43:17]): "Put yourself in the customer shoes. If you ordered something for a party and it was not made correctly, are you going to be okay with it? Probably not."

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Promoting the Vendi Blendy Event

Event Overview and Strategies ([49:07] - [66:57])
Transitioning from customer service, Heather and Corrie introduce the upcoming Vendi Blendy event—a 24-hour shopping spree featuring over 80 vendors offering exclusive discounts and door prizes. They outline strategies for maximizing engagement and securing desired products amidst the overwhelming influx of posts.

Corrie ([52:14]): "So you're going to see that people are going to be asking like, wondering where. Where can I get textured part parchment sheets in the Vendi blendy group that day Heather's going to have a ask."

Heather highlights the importance of pre-shopping and adhering to budget constraints to navigate the event successfully.

Heather ([53:05]): "If you have budget, you're strict to it. That's great. You can help support the vendors and the people that you love to buy from during the year."

Vendor Engagement Tips ([55:22] - [66:57])
The hosts provide actionable tips for interacting with vendors, such as simplifying discount codes for ease of use and actively engaging with posts to boost visibility through social media algorithms.

Corrie ([60:51]): "So what you need to do is you go to the Vendys V E N D Y s dot com. That is a spreadsheet you need to see that has the vendors, their websites and how much they're offering."

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Navigating Instagram Updates and Branding Concerns

Instagram Hashtag Changes ([72:31] - [75:30])
Heather and Corrie discuss recent Instagram updates that have altered how hashtags function, impacting their marketing strategies. They advise bakers to focus on high-value, hyper-local hashtags and emphasize organic engagement over following hashtags.

Heather ([73:01]): "So just like you could follow an account and then see their post, you could follow a hashtag and see posts made by people who use that hashtag."

Listener Q&A: Business Naming Dilemmas ([77:03] - [81:09])
A listener named Lisa from Minneapolis raises concerns about potential branding conflicts with another nearby bakery named "Rosie's Cookies." The hosts counsel her on the importance of unique branding and, if necessary, considering a rebrand to avoid confusion and potential legal issues.

Heather ([79:23]): "I don't really think you have many options. You're going to hate what we're going to say. I'm going to say pick a different name."

Corrie reinforces the significance of strong, unique branding to establish a distinct market presence.

Corrie ([81:09]): "Our big suggestion is rebranding is a lot harder than coming out with your strong brand at the beginning."

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Sponsors and Community Interactions

Sponsor Highlights ([65:36] - [66:57])
The episode features brief segments promoting sponsors like The Backers Company and Bakedy Bake Meringue Powder, highlighting their benefits for bakeries aiming to enhance their product presentation and quality.

Corrie ([66:03]): "Bakery bake is a company that makes a meringue powder called Royal Batch. It is my favorite thing to use."

Community Messages and Engagement ([71:17] - [83:25])
Heather and Corrie engage with listener messages, sharing humorous anecdotes and emphasizing the value of community support. They encourage active participation in their Facebook groups to enhance engagement and support fellow bakers.

Heather ([81:54]): "Thank you all. Happy birthday."

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Concluding Thoughts

In this episode, Heather and Corrie Miracle underscore the critical balance between maintaining business protocols and fostering exceptional customer relationships through responsible and empathetic service. By adopting an "at-fault" mentality, even when not entirely justified, bakers can cultivate enduring client loyalty and safeguard their business reputation. Additionally, their strategies for navigating large-scale events like Vendi Blendy and adapting to social media changes provide invaluable insights for any baker looking to thrive in the competitive online marketplace.

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Notable Quotes:

• Heather ([01:19]): "At fault, meaning absorbing fault at any given instance, even when you're not 100% at fault."
• Corrie ([12:37]): "Your happiness is priceless to me."
• Heather ([08:31]): "I got to call myself out on it. We do the cookie class kits... there's a lot of work behind making those cookies."
• Heather ([43:17]): "Put yourself in the customer shoes. If you ordered something for a party and it was not made correctly, are you going to be okay with it? Probably not."
• Corrie ([52:14]): "So you're going to see that people are going to be asking like, wondering where. Where can I get textured part parchment sheets in the Vendi blendy group that day Heather's going to have a ask."
• Heather ([73:01]): "So just like you could follow an account and then see their post, you could follow a hashtag and see posts made by people who use that hashtag."
• Heather ([77:45]): "And you guys focus. Both your names. Is the word Rosies plural. It typically with my brain, I hardly remember anything, but I can remember Rosie."

---

This comprehensive episode serves as a crucial resource for bakers seeking to enhance their business practices, manage customer relations effectively, and navigate the evolving landscape of online marketing.

Transcript

[A]

We're doing it live. Okay. Actually introduce the podcast.

[B]

Welcome to the podcast.

[A]

If you don't know, Bill O'Reilly went.

[B]

Off and said we're not live. Father keeps yelling. Welcome to the Baking it down podcast. This is Cory and Heather with Sugar Cookie Marketing. We're actually a group on Facebook that did a spinoff and we said, you know what? People probably want to hear about marketing instead of just reading it because you're busy bakers baking it up during the holiday season. So we bring you little nuggies know hows to do's and what do's about your marketing life.

[A]

Quiria's in the worst mood this morning. Would she want. And then we want to. Okay, so this will be the third time we'd restart this. I'm going to keep going.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

We're going to do it live, as Cora said, but we're going to jump into this week's topic and then I'm going to touch on the Vendee Blendy. Corinne actually have a better deal, although she disagrees with me on it. Yep. That was why she was in the bad mood. So you guys understand what I deal with for you. But we wanted to call this week's podcast the At Fault Cult.

[B]

At Fault Cult, everyone thinks they're drinking the Kool Aid and true marketing and we always roll into the refund. So let's call it At Fault.

[A]

Let's just go ahead and make it a cult if you're going to pour Kool Aid. At fault, meaning absorbing fault at any given instance, even when you're not 100% at fault.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And Corey learned this lesson the interestingly monetary way this week when she took in an order. The lady bypassed the form because, you know, she went to go to the form. It says no availability. So they go around the form. So Corey already broke her process. Now that process was put in place. They say processes are written in blood because there was a reason that process of having this form is put in place so that this communication of the expectations of the order were real streamlined. Okay, well, the lady didn't like that course book, so she went to Facebook messenger and then did it that way. We've already deviated from the process and we were debating if this should be a podcast on processes, but then we decided, let's talk about refunds again. Our favorite topic ever.

[B]

Here's the thing, Heather. You've heard it many times. She's like, corey's obsessed with her form. The reason why I'm obsessed with the form is because it was made because of everything I've done wrong in the past. So all my mistakes is in that form.

[A]

It's a never ending form.

[B]

I know there's a lot of mistakes I made. So a couple months ago, a customer had placed an order through email. She bypassed my form. I did not say, hey, I'm going to need you to fill out this form. I ended up talking.

[A]

Corey said, I'm taking fault. I did not redirect her back to my form. So again, we're finding fault. Although you can easily say, just as easy as Corey didn't send her the form, she bypassed the form herself. Okay. And that's what we typically see with this. He said, well, she said, she said, issue is because there's the ability to push the onus the fault on the customer, which is also fair.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But there's the same opportunity to put the onus the fault back on the baker, which is also fair to me.

[B]

If you can trace it back to whose fault was it first? That's where the problem was. Like, I didn't take her order via the form. The first fault was mine. Because everything that came after that can be brought back to that one specific instance.

[A]

Well, I'll counter that. So what if you. So what if she was the first mistake? So what? Who does it even matter who the first mistake was?

[B]

At the end of the day, it does to her.

[A]

To her? To her only.

[B]

To her only.

[A]

But a lot of bakers would be like, well, it wasn't, you know, I had a part in this. I wasn't the primary and I wasn't the first fault in this. Which you could have said, well, you bypassed my form.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So then I'm not the wrongdoer. Mostly I'm not 100% at fault. So I'm going to go for the 0% at fault. So go on with your story.

[B]

The backstory is a few months ago she placed an order. We had nailed down her designs because she didn't fill out the form. There was no photos included.

[A]

So the reason, and that's the biggest issue, right. There is there's no photos. Right.

[B]

That's what it came back to. So the way she said, I would like a pill shaped cookie parentheses because my dad was a doctor. This is how she described to each cookie that she wanted in the set.

[A]

I had a football because my dad liked football.

[B]

Yeah, there's always a parentheses explaining why this random set of cookies is what she wanted.

[A]

Makes sense.

[B]

A week before the pickup, she changes it to three designs. Only a pill A football and a baseball. The way she describes it was the way she described the first ones months ago.

[A]

He likes it. He likes the doctor.

[B]

Football, parentheses. He's a New York Giants fan.

[A]

Baseball.

[B]

He's a New York Yankees fan.

[A]

Okay, so you can see right there Corey saying that it got a little bit more specific.

[B]

It was more specific.

[A]

Never with an indication as to why.

[B]

Exactly. So, so one week out, I said, okay, I have you down for one pill shaped cookie, one football shaped cookie and one baseball shaped. She didn't order three cookies, huh?

[A]

She didn't order just three cookies.

[B]

She changed it to just three designs. A dozen of these.

[A]

A dozen of each.

[B]

So I said, three dozen. Here's the three cookies. You know, nowhere did I say there was going to be a logo on there because nowhere in my mind did she order any cookies with logos on it. The form would have fixed all of this because in the form it says explain in detail what you want the cookies to look like and include a photo. So it comes down to the day before pickup. I sent her that photo that I show exactly what it looks like and she emails back a few things is what the email started off with. I was already burnt out from the week of orders. Regardless. I had a cake pop or, you know, that just ages me, 52 years. She's like, I was expecting each football and baseball to have the corresponding logos on. It sends me the logos. I'm like, oh, she's, she's expecting a miracle.

[A]

Live up to that last name girl.

[B]

At the end of the day though, there was no, there was not enough time to put logos on 24 cookies and have them dry in time for the party that she was picking up for. So I said, hey, I'm going to try to make this right. There's no way that I can do 24 cookies with logos. What's a number that's around two or three that I can. She's like, if you do four logos on the footballs, four on the baseball. So I can tell this was important for the party to have these logos on it. Okay. At the end of the day, the way she explained it, I could put onus on her.

[A]

You were not specific. You have a million reasons to come back to her and say, how would I have known, lady, lady, read your messages. How would I have known there was supposed to be a logo when there's not a logo? Is there logos on baseballs? I never even touched on it.

[B]

There's not a logo on a baseball.

[A]

So how would you infer that the logo when it was only. There's a million ways you can come at her and put her at fault.

[B]

So here's the thing. She does not need a lesson on how she describes something incorrectly. She needs logos on balls. So I said, I'm on it. I'll get you the eight cookies with the logos on it. The rest will not have any logos on it. I said, I am so sorry. And to make up for this, because I have.

[A]

Raise your panties, ladies. This is what's coming, the refund.

[B]

I said, these cookies are on the house. Plus you'll get the eight logoed cookies free. I'm so sorry, but it wasn't your fault, Corey.

[A]

It was her fault for not being part of it.

[B]

Okay? I'm. I'm number one person who doesn't like to work for free. I'm annoyed. This whole situation is so annoying to me. But I've not said anything to her about it. I had a bad attitude when I was piping the logos. I had a bad attitude when I was boxing.

[A]

A bad attitude. No way.

[B]

Okay. So she comes the next say first. So I said, this order's free. I'm so sorry. I said, I'm just trying to make so your party isn't totally ruined.

[A]

I want everyone also to notice right there, we have a second policy violation by not getting payment ahead of time.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Because she was a lake lady. Okay? So she says, corey, absolutely not. We'll speak about it tomorrow. I did feel like I was being in trouble like I was in little kids grade. We'll speak about it tomorrow. So I dreaded the whole night. But I said, at the end of the day, I feel so much better that I offered it for free.

[A]

Because her worst case scenario, she has a bunch of pretty close to accurate cookies. Right.

[B]

At the end of the day, you're going to be full because you ate the cookies you have ate with the logos that you needed on them.

[A]

Yeah. Here's my pitch. And then Cory will tell you how this ends up. Because it ends up with the kind of point we're trying to make. The hell that you live in the purgatory that you live in between a client being unhappy and the resolution is so stressful to a baker. In my perspective, Botox is $600 around. Right? The refunds cookie. A hundred bucks maybe, Right? It's. It's cheaper to buy your piece back than to live in that agony.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Wondering how much of the refund they're going to ask. Because Cory was like, it's a Full refund. She was almost released, and this became a gift.

[B]

You know, even though the order was $300, it honestly would have been more if there was logos, because those are more expensive. If anything, I felt like a weight had been lifted and I could go on for the rest of the day knowing I had done everything, absolutely everything I could to make this right.

[A]

And that's the part of the. Well, I'm losing the ingredients cost or my indirect cost or my profit. But your piece, if we could put money on the piece, you buy back from being able to say, it's on me. My apologies.

[B]

A thing full of sugar is about 2 to $3. A bad review on my Facebook page.

[A]

The rest of attorney.

[B]

And thousands of dollars. Thousands of dollars. You got to weigh out ingredients cost to eat. That is annoying. It's horrendous, the work behind making those cookies. I hated every single second of it. She ends up coming to the house. I invite her in. The house is clean. I got Christmas music playing. And I said, I have got. I have got to apologize. I am so sorry that I ruined this event for you. I said, please just take these cookies.

[A]

I ended up making bakers, yours are on fire, saying, you didn't ruin the event. She's gotten three dozen, pretty darn close enough cookies.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But go on.

[B]

So she said. She says to me, you know, I went back through a conversation. I just don't know where the conversation went off.

[A]

Oh, she was. She was going back.

[B]

Yeah. And I. And I want to tell you, in that moment, it was. Even though it was a second long, it felt like 10 years, because I so wanted to be like the way you described it. And I said to myself that she'll have to defend herself.

[A]

She'll have to. Because she's not going to say she's wrong. Right. She's going to say, well, that's how I would have explained it. Because she explained it how she would have explained it.

[B]

She's like, well, I mean, she could have been like, well, if you had a form, I would have filled it out.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

At the end of the day, it came back to me not following my own policies that put us in the situation anyways.

[A]

But Corey has the option right here. The crux of it is Corey has the option to say to the lady, you didn't follow my policies, and I didn't. I didn't force you to. So it's your fault. Or you didn't follow my policies and it's my fault. And let me be at fault here.

[B]

We so want to get our point across, because no one wants to be wrong, but I don't want to be.

[A]

Like, lady, I'm sorry, because being wrong in a bakery costs you money. Not only is it the shame and embarrassment, it's literally food off your table.

[B]

And then, even though I was offering it free, I still want to be like, lady, the way that you explain this, you know, I really, truly wanted to be like, here's where my mind was at.

[A]

And I want to be like, bakers think right here. Do you think that client's going to be like, you know what? I do.

[B]

I do write real weird.

[A]

You know, I've always had. For the 58 years I've walked around, people haven't had a clue what I've been saying.

[B]

Right? So I took that moment, I took a breath, and I said, you know what? I said, I have a form, and I didn't send it to you. And I said, that was my fault. She's like, oh, gosh, I didn't fill out your form. I said, there was no form for you to fill out. I didn't send it to you. I said it was my fault.

[A]

Do you see what happens when Corey says, it's actually not your fault at all? Although we all in the room standing there knew there was a portion of that that was untrue.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You could see.

[B]

You're not gonna be like, oh, Cory, you idiot. You're gonna say, we all know there's.

[A]

A little bit of wrong on both sides.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

However, Corey says, it was my fault. I didn't even send it to you. I'd almost suspect that that lady probably went to the form and saw it was booked and then went around it.

[B]

Probably right.

[A]

Okay. But either way, Corey's like, that doesn't matter. It doesn't solve the problem of what her expectations were, right or wrong. If she communicated, they were not met.

[B]

At the end of the day, here's the thing, and that's what I see most companies mess up on. You've done everything right in this refund process. And then you're given this little chance to explain, to prove yourself, you're going to lose all that hard work.

[A]

The cookies you're already now just stick the land in.

[B]

Right.

[A]

We have nothing to lose by being.

[B]

The giantest person to take the 100% fault because you're already out the money. So now my ego is no longer involved in this thing at all.

[A]

Once ego exit the power, I was.

[B]

Putting them in the box. So she was like, corey, oh, my goodness, you can't work for free. And I said, I'm going to tell you something, Lori. I said, your happiness is priceless to me.

[A]

If a business said this to me, I'd cry.

[B]

I said, your happiness is priceless to me. So if you think about it, I'm making the most. And she said, corey, the cookies would have been over $300. There's no way I can't at least pay half.

[A]

Now you see that the client has gotten, instead of Corey against Lori, which is funny that they ran. It's now Corey and lori against Corey's 100% guaranteed satisfaction refund, right?

[B]

So I said, lori, you crazy lady, I said, I cannot accept a dollar over 120. I went from zero dollars that morning.

[A]

To the lady trying to force feed Cory 150.

[B]

Corey would, but I'm leaving now with 120. And this is what she left me with.

[A]

This is the kicker right here.

[B]

She said, corey, I just don't want there to be anything between us. I want to come back and I don't want you to be afraid to take my order in the future.

[A]

Bam. Right there. Because Corey became the defender of the client. The client felt protected.

[B]

It was me and the client against the business.

[A]

When you can make your clients feel safe and secure, they will never leave you absolutely, nor forsake you. Because so many, so many bakers, and we get to see that in this little slice of the industry we get in this Facebook group, so many bakers are so quick to defend themselves. And it feels right because you were not, you were not completely wrong.

[B]

You were technically completely wrong. And I, I can so empathize with you because that is how I wanted to. Every single second when she emailed, when she talked to me in person, I want to be like, laurie, let me get your little bride right there. But I said, at the end of the day, I'm not winning if I make her feel dumb, not listened to, neglected, you know, that she can't write coherently. That's not what Lori wants here.

[A]

No.

[B]

And if I want Lori's future business, her friend's business, her parents business, I've got to make Lori feel like she's right.

[A]

Because, like, when a business does me wrong, there'll be no way in good conscience I could recommend them to somebody else. Even if I like a product, when I'm not safe, I can't put a, I can't put my name on a.

[B]

Referral because if it goes wrong for them, like, and I'm culpable.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

In Virginia, we are a we are in not at fault state. Meaning if you get in a car accident, you can prove that you're not completely at fault. It pits the drivers who had this accident against each other in the worst way.

[B]

They'll be like, anyone witness to this? At 2:45, they got a vendor.

[A]

So in Virginia, if you can prove you're not at fault, you get to pay less of your insurance premium. And then it pegs to the other driver. I dated this guy in Michigan and I had mentioned something about it and he was like, oh, we're an at fault state. Said, never heard of it. And he was like, yeah, if you're in an accident, regardless of who you hit, you are, pay for yourself 100% and they pay for themselves. There's no. It doesn't matter what happens. You don't even care about the other driver. You just go and handle your own problems on your own. Right. I think a lot of bakers are like not at fault states. They're like, I'm gonna prove to the client that you're actually culpable in this 70%. So thus, I'm only giving you X amount of refunds.

[B]

Here's the thing, at the end of the day, your customer is at fault. You're at fault too. We're both at fault. So who is going to take the brunt of this insurance claim?

[A]

I think it should be the baker. Here's an example. And I get to pull the examples from the groups because we get to run them. A baker said, I made just the best cake. It was delicious, it was delectable, it was moist. It was all the things you want a cake to be. There was an edible topper on it. And the edible topper tore.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Right. But the cake was still amazing. And that's in large part what you actually ordered a cake to eat and serve to people. But she was like, well, I don't. I'm only going to refund the torn paper. The thing on the top. What do you call those? Wafer paper. Wafer bear. Yeah. And she was like, because I provided what they wanted. 99% of what they wanted. The cake was provided and they were able to serve it. Yes. There was a tear in the design. However, you know, they got what they. They were able to eat it. It didn't affect the cake at all. So I don't feel like I owe them anything. And I said, well, you don't have to. At the end of the day, you can tell them, go kick rocks. You don't owe them anything. But I want you to prepare yourself because the next post you make here is going, I got a bad review. How should I respond? Right, because you did not protect the client. You know, everyone else there is. At the end of the day, the design is kind of what they paid for. So it's all subjective.

[B]

It is.

[A]

Being an at fault Baker removes the energy from your client because what they're. They can't squeeze blood from. Return up. If you refund the whole thing.

[B]

Oh, then they're like. Then we were fighting on how much money I should get because at no.

[A]

Point did Corey become defiant and try to prove culpability of the other party in the accident. Right. So there was a. It was a cookie accident. We had two different versions of the story. The policy police showed up and said, you two, let me get written statements. And instead of Corey saying, well, she did this and she did that, Corey said, here's my role in it. And in fact, I'm going to take 100% responsibility here. And then the baker's begging for that next order because once you feel safe in the buying process and okay, Baker's gonna. We always take it back to target. Right. When you buy something online, I always check the refund policy, and if it has no refunds, I don't buy from them. Yeah, I need the safety. Ask me the last time I returned something, it was like 50 years ago.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm 36. Right. I haven't returned something. My last life. I hate returning things, but if there is no availability to return things, I feel very unprotected.

[B]

I mean, we come back to. Remember the shoes where my toe broke.

[A]

Through the top, but they had, they.

[B]

Had a guarantee on the shoe. And I was like, well, there's no way they're gonna give me the shoe. It was gonna be the last time I ever bought on cloud. So.

[A]

Yeah, because you're telling me, you know.

[B]

What I've been wearing ever since they gave. I have so many on clouds now because they stood behind their product. It was a very expensive product.

[A]

$150 on Cloud 8, and you may call them a big conglomerate, and they don't need nothing, and we're just small bakers. The ratio is the same, though, every order you take. If you refund one order to protect the future, 10 orders. That's a promise. We can't see into the future. We don't know if that client will come back. But we have to assume that when you make a mistake, even if you are not fully at fault, you take 100% culpability. I can guarantee you bakers you're competing against aren't doing that. Yeah. And your clients are going to love you.

[B]

Here's a case in point. That's something that's going viral on TikTok right now.

[A]

Pajamas. The pajama gate.

[B]

Pajama pajama.

[A]

TikTok never misses.

[B]

So the thing is, these two influencers are selling these cute Christmas pajamas. A lady goes to buy them. She's like, I will give you an honest review on what I think about them. These two influencers. Someone says, I think someone's gonna lambast your business. They cancel her order. They canceled her order. But guess how many Followers she had? 5 million.

[A]

I saw that.

[B]

So now she's lamb. This company is going under because they have done one single customer wrong. Yeah. And they double down. The customer had to double down.

[A]

Right. Because the pajama drama ladies, they did not. You know, I watch people now doing satire of their apology video. And it was really double edged. Right? Like, I'm so sorry you guys are broke.

[B]

So here's the thing that Lori, the.

[A]

Satire video, and I can't shake it. She starts with, hey, brokies. I'm gonna be calling myself hey, brokies.

[B]

Lori might not be anything on the Internet. She might not be big in social circles. I might never get a referral from her for the rest of my life.

[A]

You may never get another Lori. Lori.

[B]

I don't know who Lori is.

[A]

Right.

[B]

At the end of the day, Lori could be on the chamber of commerce. She could be in everyone's ears. The biggest real estate agent in the area. I don' no, but it's the gamble you have to take when you're like, I am going to fight for this bag of sugar.

[A]

If we knew, if we had a little crystal ball and we would say, if I refund this order, I gain 10. The math problem, the business math problem would be a no brainer. You're absolutely. You gain nine more orders by refunding one. It's a guarantee. Because we can't look into that future. Suddenly the math is completely different. And we say, I'm going to fight for this order. I'm going to make the client get on their knees and beg. And I don't care. I'll blacklist them after that. But if you could just look into the future and see that this would be. And you don't realize one of the best clients you've ever had, you're about to lose that because you want to fight to blame the client, who also. And this is the wild part, this is the hard part to swallow. Who is also to blame.

[B]

Who is also to blame. And that's the hardest part. Well, you said, well, you know, I've had some issues with customers I've never heard anything back from. I have a case in point for you where I was the consumer, I was the customer on this end. The cleaning company. Oh, yeah, yeah. To our next point, I wanted to hire this cleaning company everyone was raving about because I didn't want to clean my son's bathroom.

[A]

Fair.

[B]

Totally fair. It was long lost and neglected. Right. So I said, yeah, I'm gonna hire this lady because everyone seems to love her. This will be great. So she said, okay, you have to work with my schedule. Totally understand. It was randomly on a Thursday at 1:00.

[A]

That's still typical.

[B]

It was. And you know what? Was I going to be there at 1 o'clock on a Thursday? It was my coach.

[A]

You're just making a ton of noise.

[B]

Yeah, it's a. So I'm there at 1:30. This is just for her to give me the quote, not even necessary to clean.

[A]

Remember, this is a lady that's so highly recommended. I know. I don't even live in. This lady wouldn't service where I live. And I still know who she is.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I was like, wow, this will be an absolute treat. She's going to, like, clean up 50 years of grime or something. So one o'clock comes. It's probably 12:45. I'm like, she should be close. Like, I'm sitting by.

[A]

Can I tell you that time moves differently when you're expecting somebody to show up or something? I don't. When I was on a call the other day and the guy was a minute late for showing up, and I was like, wow, 10 hours have passed since we started this zoom.

[B]

Okay, so it's 1:00 and no one's at the house. I get a text message. A text message, sorry, we're running behind. These first few cleanings have taken longer.

[A]

So running behind was sent after the appointment was supposed to start.

[B]

Yeah, right. I was like, oh, no, that's okay. I'm very.

[A]

At the end of the day, the clients are gonna be like, well, still there at the end of the day over here.

[B]

Like you're cleaning someone else's house. So I was like, okay, what time would you think? She said, I'll be there at 2.

[A]

An hour later?

[B]

An hour later.

[A]

Fine. Okay, okay.

[B]

I'm annoyed, but whatever. I'm here at the house anyways.

[A]

Here's the problem. You're annoyed, but if the cleaning goes so well, you'll be okay.

[B]

Oh, then you can. That's the clean.

[A]

This is why when clients expectations aren't met, it's such a bigger fault. Because it's a fall from an expectation, not from reality.

[B]

Yeah, like I've hyped myself up that this is gonna be the clue.

[A]

I mean, I've seen the post, but I would hype myself up.

[B]

Okay, so it gets to about 1:45. Okay. Now where I'm the second, where I'm.

[A]

Sitting by the door, you're at the second 12:45. Now you're at 1:45. Same thing is happening.

[B]

Yeah. So now I've wasted like about two hours of my life. Right. So she sends me another text. Hello, madam. Hello. She said, I'm going to have to cancel and move it to tomorrow. Today is just taking too long. I said, bam. I rearranged my. Yes.

[A]

Did you say that?

[B]

I said, I'm so sorry. I put my yesterday, everything that was supposed to happen today onto tomorrow so that you could come to today. So I will not be able to do tomorrow. She said, oh, sorry, madam. That was how it left.

[A]

Stop adding the mad app.

[B]

It was wild, but okay.

[A]

You see it right here. Right here. The cleaning lady should have said, oh, my goodness, I am mortified. I can't believe I'd hate this done to me, let alone me doing it to you. You know what? I'll schedule you whenever you're free. Again, it's on me. Could you imagine the thoughts?

[B]

Could you imagine, could you imagine the.

[A]

Good review Corey would have had even if she hadn't? Even if the lady was just moderately good. Yeah. But having that at fault. Cult following of saying, if it goes wrong, I'll make it right so hard.

[B]

Yeah. Little does this cleaning company know I have a group of 4,000 people who are her ideal audience that I've cultivated. And I was going to give her this raving review if she would have come over. And you know what? While I didn't lambast her, I go out of my way to recommend someone else over her.

[A]

And it's the. It's the good person's way of being bad.

[B]

Yeah. So I mean, I'm. When you don't hear about the client that you had an issue with ever.

[A]

Again, it's not that they are fine. It's that they secretly hold resentment and instead you may not get that bad review. So you're like, it was fine. I didn't deserve. They didn't deserve a refund. Clearly they never asked for one. They've just never, ever, ever ordered from me again. And they only recommend anybody else.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That is a. That is a form of a bad review and it's still costing you money. While it's more indirect than the one star, here's everything you need to know. It is costing you money because you would not take fault when you had the ability to turn a client into a lifelong fan.

[B]

I know. So you don't know what's at the end of there. The cleaning company didn't know. I have a great group that I could have recommended her in. I could have been a nobody. You don't know at the end of the day, but you don't know. Am I the crazy client who concert business for the next 10 years.

[A]

Somebody may be just a person who really likes to write bad reviews and never writes good reviews.

[B]

I know.

[A]

You know, I can kind of see the type of baker the type of company when they get the bad review and the response is still, well, you did this and you did this. And it's like, wow, if I have an issue with this company. No to self, I'll never get any recourse.

[B]

Yeah. So the bad review is done the way now your one last bastion is how you respond to this bad review. And you're still casting blame on them. It creates such an uncertainty with people who are willing to take a gamble on you and with small bakery businesses that we're coming and going. We're turning our sales on, we're turning our sales off. They're all gambling on us.

[A]

And every one of a client. When your business is so small, when your business is one people, two people, every client has a huge impact. Now Target, okay? One person gets upset their starbies weren't made the right way. They work at an economy of scale where that person's so not impactful. Their bad review joined the 50 other bad reviews. Now, for a small business bakery, this is a huge problem. It is just the one unhappy client. So I got to call myself out on it. We do the cookie class kits, right? It's everything you need to teach a cookie class. It's all the curriculum. You just buy the cutters, do you bake the dough. You teach class. Right. And we have a lot of resources in it to make sure that this class is as smooth as possible.

[B]

The bad thing about it is there's a few hands in the pot here.

[A]

Few Hands in the pot. And I'll take full culpability on this. While there are two places to learn which colors you need, one of the places had one typo. It had the color gold because I didn't remember to replace it from the class before because I use the same template right over it. And it needed to have been white. God bless us. Cookie college roomie who went and followed exactly that spreadsheet and did gold instead of white.

[B]

She put 100% trust in Heather.

[A]

100% trust. And did not catch it until she got to her class to teach it. And I was mortified. Here's what I could say. Well, there's more. Could you not have looked at the photo?

[B]

Did you not look at the photo?

[A]

Could you not have seen the shop list and seen that it was actually right there?

[B]

And while yes, there was a small.

[A]

Type on the spreadsheet, if you had just double. At the end of the day, I said, I am mortified. I am so sorry that you have to stand in front of a group of people and tell them that their wishbones can be gold. The only benefit is that some people thought the wishbone looked like a toilet seat. So I said, at least you won't have people wondering if it's a toilet seat.

[B]

Golden dollars, whatever.

[A]

Which honestly goes with the things that maybe your cleaning lady can clean that too. So, you know, of course, she was so gracious and said, it's funny. It'll be a funny story. I said, let me at least cover a couple of your memberships payments. So. But I gotta say, that was fully on me.

[B]

But.

[A]

Oh, my goodness.

[B]

But in the day, if Heather wanted to. You saw what the. You saw that the whipped cream is white or the eyes are white.

[A]

Oh, there's a whipped cream that's got.

[B]

And the turkey's eyes are white.

[A]

Oh, I knew the turkey's eyes were gonna be golden.

[B]

Now they'd be golden.

[A]

So, you know, And I could say, well, you know it's not, or I'll do a partial refund, but there is at the end of the day, oh, my goodness, let me make you whole twice, because that is my fault.

[B]

And at the end of the day, she's still got to stand up in front of her clients and be like, we're doing gold eyes.

[A]

I hope they took it.

[B]

Well, Lori has to say, only half.

[A]

The balls have logos. Corey, you have an example here. Elf, I don't know this.

[B]

I don't know where. Which group. This was years ago. I can't remember what group it happened in. I almost think.

[A]

Was it local? Was it.

[B]

Here's the thing. Elf on the Shelf, if you guys.

[A]

Don'T know, I don't have kids. I didn't know what this whole thing was until I started in these groups. Elf on the shelf is this little miniature elf stuffed animal. It's patented, like, he's copyrighted.

[B]

His name is Scout. He Gout Scout.

[A]

Oh, gout. He's a Scouter. Scout. Okay. This little elf gout.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

This little elf. The point is, he's kind of like a weird advent calendar of mischief for children.

[B]

He's a menace to society because he's reporting back to Santa each night till Christmas. It's to get your kids to be good for at least 24 hours.

[A]

But doesn't he get into messes?

[B]

He tries to do bad things to blame it on the children. So he's doing something mischievous every single night. You have to plan something new for the kids.

[A]

Pop up every morning and they try to find Scout and what mess he's caused overnight.

[B]

On Christmas Eve, he goes back, tells Santa, your kid was good, never comes back for the whole year.

[A]

So you have to do 24 days of scout.

[B]

Honestly, on the web, on the Internet, when I was researching him, he can appear the day after Thanksgiving or December 1st.

[A]

Cash grab.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The Scout parent company.

[B]

So Elf on the shelf, he is a little, little toy. He's super tiny. So people were doing, hey, these cake pop. People had the bright idea, let's make mini cake pops for Mr. Scout.

[A]

Cute idea.

[B]

A cute idea. This. This photo staging was a so stinking adorable.

[A]

Because I think almost it's Scout with cake pops.

[B]

He's got like a cake pops tray next to him. Here's the thing. Scout's no bigger than 12 inches. The cake pop in relation to Scout is on a toothpick. But when we think cake pops, you think of like a 10 inch or.

[A]

Stick with a ball at the end. Okay.

[B]

This lady, I cannot remember if this was you. I feel bad for you because you weren't wrong. She takes a picture, sells a bunch of these little tiny cake pop things.

[A]

Because you're selling it to people who have a scout who's scouting him Scouts.

[B]

Sitting next to these cakes.

[A]

Of course, it's also a great deal because everything's so tiny.

[B]

So you're not going to get filled off of these Scout cake pops. They're literally like.

[A]

It's more of a prop.

[B]

It's funny prop. So this lady says, I'm very dis. Disappointed. These cake pops are inedible, they're tiny.

[A]

So she thought she was ordering large cake pops. Yeah.

[B]

But the baker's like, here's the thing. Like if you have two eyeballs, you'll realize like scouts sitting next to these.

[A]

Teeny tiny scout for scale.

[B]

And this lady's mad because. But like you have to be like lady, the cake pump is not as big as scout. So they're gonna be tiny scouts.

[A]

Here's what I wanna say. If you tell the lady that she's blind and she'd have to be an idiot to realize that the cake that, that the scout's not a 12 footer.

[B]

The Baker has every right to be like 25 people bought this and did not have an issue. Except for you were the one who didn't look at the picture. Here it comes back to. In your presale description, did you have.

[A]

Doesn't matter though. Again, I'm going to wait. It does not matter if you had the declaration of independence signed in your description. If the client is unhappy, what are your options? And your options could be I'm a not at fault state or I'm an at fault state. And to be the not at fault state to somebody who's already upset set. It's just, you're just asking for a full on work. Yeah.

[B]

Granted the comment section was obviously inside like for the baker.

[A]

I mean it's even the comment section nine for the baker. Yeah. What does. And that's why I say the comment section was like, no, it's a complete answer run. Like the baker can't write that to the client.

[B]

So it came down to what she thought, the value, the cost of these tiny cake pops. She thought the price was so high they had to be real sized. Okay. Well it came down to like you have this tiny little packaging for these mini little pops. Like I'm sure the packaging alone was expensive. So it came down to more than it was just like, are you an idiot? Are your eyes not open that she felt she was swindled a little bit with the pricing behind it. So like if we dig a little bit deeper, it's not always the first thing they say that's going to make the sense.

[A]

Yes. We dug deeper and it came down.

[B]

To she felt like she overpaid the quality.

[A]

Right. Initially it was like you didn't advertise correctly and now I feel like you're overpriced.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But here's the thing. If you keep digging, if you choose to keep digging, the reasons will end up with our next point. The Ant plant. Okay.

[B]

We've talked about Mr. Ant.

[A]

This is my favorite story because it's the wildest concept of this taken the furthest way. It was a story. I think it was a group. The year we started 2020, and I called it the Ant Plan. It was a macaron order.

[B]

No, it was a sugar cookie cookie order. And it was. Someone was posting anonymously for this baker because she was so embarrassed. Here's the thing. She had already spent the money for the order. So the money meant so much more now because it wasn't there.

[A]

And that's why I always say only Corey keeps her. She keeps her payments in a holding pattern until the client is fully taken off.

[B]

Yeah, I don't want that to be my money until we know.

[A]

Don't spend the money until the client's like, I love these. So anyways, the client pays the baker. The baker makes the order, but then the baker, like, literally pays her electricity bill. So the money is gone. And there is no margin to refund this client. The client says, maybe there's an ant in it.

[B]

Client says, there's no photo in it yet. The client just says, hey, there was a ant in one of the cookies. Of course, the baker, mortified, having to defend herself. There's no way there could be an ant in these cookies. I just made them. They're fresh, you know, blah, blah, blah. Okay, now you have.

[A]

Now I've got a defense. Now you're calling me a liar. Before, we had a small issue. Now you're questioning my moral code of ethics.

[B]

She gets a response. Photo.

[A]

It's a photo.

[B]

It's a photo of an ant.

[A]

Dude, this ant. This aunt's legs were crumpled. This ant hadn't been baked.

[B]

Okay. But then the baker was like, I think it's been planted.

[A]

They implant. She thought that they. They sourced him and murdered him, Shoved him into the crack, shoved his full body, crumpled his legs. He was flattened. From what I remember the picture being.

[B]

To me, he looked. I still. I'm having a mental image right now.

[A]

I have a mental image.

[B]

Joel's like, to me, the ant.

[A]

There's a piece of gluten. The ant had spent an entire vacation in this cookie. Okay, so then. Okay, by the time it reaches the sugar cookie marketing, the sugar cookie ant group, the damage had been done. There's nothing. We would have been unplant the ant, plant, two ants. I don't know.

[B]

Like, listen, the comment section was horrendous. We had to end up deleting the post because people were blaming the clients, it looks planted, and someone's like, it looks baked.

[A]

But at the end of the day, what happened was now instead of an upset client, there's an irate client with a picture of an ant and a cookie that has the Internet at their fingertips.

[B]

Yeah, they're already on there messaging.

[A]

I know right now people are saying, well, you guys are. You're training clients to get things over on bakers. No, because you know what? I did you one better. I did the research last week. I said, how many orders did you refund in 2024 that were not due to sickness? 87% were zero or less than one.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So the overwhelming majority of your clients, they just want to be made whole. They just wanted the goodies.

[B]

I think people have this shamefulness around refunds. I just make a mistake. It's not shameful. It's almost like I want to be like, look at me. I refund people who are not happy.

[A]

If we can take off the cone of shame and replace it with the cone of a stellar business ability to handle issues, you guys will see that refunding is actually a gold star.

[B]

Yes. And it's because we've so, like, if you're wrong, you're the worst. If you admit fault, people can hold it against you.

[A]

The client liars, they're trying to get one over. I'm not gonna give them the full refund because they don't deserve it. They still get their cookies.

[B]

Yeah. And then we'll, as bakers turn around and be like, why are people buying from Walmart and Target these big shops instead of investing in small business? Target takes back the cookies.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

They don't care.

[A]

Target said, why didn't you like it? Well, I like it.

[B]

Gummies, little gummy bears. And they tasted horrendously. So when I went to return to help your brain a little bit easier.

[A]

So I took it up to the guy.

[B]

He was like, can I ask why you're returning this? I said, I'm gonna be honest. If it's eat these or be dumb, I'd rather be dumb. They tasted disgusting. He's like, that's hilarious. I'm taking it back.

[A]

Right? But I imagine he's like, well, maybe you're just an idiot and Cory's got a defend. Well, I guess.

[B]

How about you try another one? I'm gonna try one and see if I like.

[A]

Sir, you regurgitate the one you ate.

[B]

And then I'll give you the refund.

[A]

And that's what some of you guys refund policy sounds like because you're so worried someone taking advantage of you that you don't realize that you're actually taking advantage of them.

[B]

Yeah. So then we, we blame the clients for not investing in small business, but we're the ones who are making them fight tooth and nail to support us.

[A]

You know, Small Business Saturday is coming up and you always get those guilty posts that says shop small because Target doesn't need his children, don't need food. We do. You know, all those ones that kind of guilty in the shopping small. But then to say shop small and create a hostage situation with people's money is the most unheard of trade in the history of the planet. Of the world.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. So at the end of the day, you can run your business into the ground however you want to.

[A]

We have two more examples. Oh, we do? Okay. I'm sorry. Take that back.

[B]

Go ahead. What's the next one?

[A]

I'm gonna, I'm gonna. I made a typo and it kind of made less than stellar word and a client issue that we had. So a client said, and so if you want to turn this down, if you have kids in the car, it's not the most egregious word, but it's also not. Yeah, PG13 word, right? Okay, so do you mean I'm still here? Okay, then you wanted to hear it. So they're like, yeah, I'd love to hear how you messed up. This is the funniest mess up. This is my second funniest mess. So this client says, we want this flyer. They had a home show and they wanted it front and back. It had a lot of details to it and it went through. So it's like one of those clients who's like, this is great. Let me send it to everybody in the office.

[B]

What's the craziest thing about proofs is when I have to sit down to read a proof. It's like, I hate reading, but put the Internet, put social media in front of me and I'll read for 52 hours.

[A]

It's printed on something and I gotta review it. It just it all the way.

[B]

Honestly, the words become like blurred.

[A]

So we. I made this flyer. It was a good flyer. It was mostly pictures, but at the bottom, on the back that nobody would ever be reading was their address. That was something they added in the last second. Didn't even go to print. And got it, sent it back. They approved it. They approved it three times. And then it went to. Everybody loved it at the home show. They passed it out, stopped by the home show and this. One of their eccentric employees says, why in the back does it say homemaker? Ho maker? It was Hornbaker and there was a typo. It became Horror Baker and it was. They had already handed them out to people. That stuff was already in circulation.

[B]

Here's the thing it could come back to. You approved it three different times. You sent it throughout everyone. But who typed it wrong?

[A]

Ida?

[B]

Heather did.

[A]

It's all right here.

[B]

So all we could do was, oh my goodness, can we refund you for that and pay for the new lot? Granted, they were. They thought it was funny. They're like, let's get rid of these guys.

[A]

Right? Not these guys.

[B]

The incorrect cards. I'm sure we followed suit.

[A]

The amount of sweat I sweated in that moment, I'll never get that. I'll never get that. But you know, it was my mistake. Yes, they approved it. You always had that. Well, you approved it. Yeah, but I don't. I want to be an at fault state. It was my mistake that I didn't check it that fourth and fifth and sixth time. And although client, yes, you did sign off on this and this is your fault. Your money to me in the long term. You know, I hope you don't fire me for this, but your money to me you're recurring is so much more valuable. Our relationship is more valuable. Let me eat the cost on this.

[B]

The reason why me and Heather are storing ourselves under the bus us expeditiously in this one is to tell you humans are behind the buses of all these businesses.

[A]

We are all. We're. We're mistake humans walking through a landmine field of mistakes.

[B]

Absolutely. So if a lot of times on social media people present the perfect part.

[A]

Of themselves, you know, I'm not going to say, hey guys, I typed Horror Baker. Yeah.

[B]

So you never see people that are messing up and how, you know how.

[A]

You see when people are messed up? When it get quiet when they, when they end up up not taking fault and they blame the client, the client takes it on their own steam to leave these bad reviews to drag somebody. And I always tell people like, you'd be lucky if it's just a bad review. If they take this to a community group where everyone's judged during execution. In two seconds, you're fighting battle. I don't think I could save you.

[B]

From me and Heather. We love pulling up popcorn. I'll send a thread that's going to poo poo in a hand, mask it to her so she can catch it before somebody deletes it.

[A]

Yeah, Cory's like new foodies right now. Get there, get there. So. Flaming dumpster. So, yeah, it's taking that. You have this other one. It's called Heartbreaker. I don't know what you meant.

[B]

Oh, here's another one where I messed up. I mess up a lot. I'm just not posting it all the time. And Kim had written us a very nice letter. She was like, it's nice to see that you two are idiots.

[A]

Thanks for giving me that letter two months after she sent it.

[B]

Yeah, you know what? It was so funny. It was under all of this, this. These trades that they had given us. So I found it while I was going through the trades last night. There was, like, this card, and it says, not for resale. I said, what could possibly. It's a picture.

[A]

It's hilarious.

[B]

Last but not least, one time I messed up. I had done these conversation hearts, which were great for the first day of school. There were hearts. I let the clients choose what the words they want on. That was my issue. Me and Heather were at a cookie class, and I got a message from one of the people saying, hey, can I pick it up? We were busy teaching. I shouldn't have been on my phone. I should have given the customer that was messaging me appropriate amount of time and attention. And I said, oh, yeah, you can come and pick it up. No, she was actually in the second lot that needed to pick up the second day. I thought she was just early for the first day.

[A]

Oh, so she shows up for the first. She's saying, can I switch the lot? Yeah, my pickup day. You're thinking she's out in the parking lot.

[B]

There's no way that she's switching her whole day. No, she was switching her holiday. And I had told her, go ahead, yeah, they'll be there for you to pick up. Of course, my mom was the one handing him out because we were at cookie class. And she's like, there's literally nothing with your name on. So not only. I had wasted so many people's time. So the only thing I could have done was I refunded it, made the order, and hand delivered it to her to make up for her whole drive.

[A]

But what Corey could have said is, you should. That there was a reason you were on the second day for you to switch. That why would it cost? Right.

[B]

So what's the point of that?

[A]

And has she ever ordered from you? Probably not.

[B]

I can't remember. That was back when I was doing.

[A]

Fairfax orders, so Moves. But, you know, it's just being okay with being imperfect and understanding that the true business prowess is a person who can handle being imperfect and doesn't shy away from them.

[B]

Here's the thing. Put yourself in the customer shoes. If you ordered something for a party and it was not made correctly, are you going to be okay with it? Probably not. You're probably waiting for a response, what happened from the client. But it's so often that we lose sight of of that when we become the person that's in the business seat where we're like, no, I wasn't wrong. And at the end of the day, you probably weren't.

[A]

You probably weren't. You might not have even been even a percentage wrong. You may have been. This is fully on them. But I'm going to take the l here and I'm going to apologize. Yeah.

[B]

At the end of the day, do you have to refund 100%? No. There's times where 100% refund doesn't make sense.

[A]

Cory and I will talk about it and we're like, this is a dizzy one. Like this poor baker. Like that. That isn't a. That doesn't feel a hundred percent refund. Y. But still, they need to make the client happy. There's a case by case basis on a lot of these, but I think a lot more of them should fall in this. Fully at fault. Even though I'm not at fault. Case.

[B]

The reason why you put your policies in place, the reason why in your returns and conditions for your cookie classes they can't cancel the day before and get a refund, is because you have nailed everything down and you're following your processes and procedures 100%. So that when it comes to that point and you don't feel like it's justified for a hundred percent refund, you have something to stand on. I did not have anything to stand on because I did not give her my form. That comes back to me. If Heather didn't send 52 emails to our class people before class started, they would have a foot to stand on. Like, I didn't know the class was tomorrow. I thought I could cancel anytime, you know, and it's taking that time to make sure that you on your end can look insightfully to you and take blame where blame is necessary and fix those holes in your business and then stand by your policy procedures. Old, you made this for a reason, and new, you does not want to discover what that reason was.

[A]

Rediscover. Rediscover.

[B]

But at the end of the day, we're all humans behind the bus. It's not if you make a mistake, it's when are you making this mistake? What will happen? Because we're making mistakes 24, 7.

[A]

I like when we have a lot of policies so customers don't make mistakes, but we can have policies so we don't make mistakes. And if we do, what's our policy?

[B]

Right? And I think a lot of the.

[A]

That I would say if you could look at your three buckets of full refund, partial refund, and fight to the death, I think most of them should fall in the full refund. There are cases where a partial refund is more than fair, and I think the client can even agree with that. And then there's very few cases to prove the point when our businesses are so small and so much is at risk.

[B]

Yeah. When I started this whole baking thing, I told myself, you will be 100% money back guarantee baker.

[A]

But it frees your thoughts.

[B]

Every time I'm going to a hard set, a hard order, especially since I started doing cake pops and they're as finicky as the day. As long as I'm going through, I'm like, at the end of the day, I can give them 100% refund in the cookies.

[A]

Cory and I, every week. Every week, we teach cookie classes. We will walk in and I'll be like, I don't know. Sometimes I like to play like, oh, my goodness, if you got this. And even though I'm just kidding, it's for you. But I'll be like, what if this scenario happens? But it always typically falls to just give them a refund.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Sometimes if it's egregious, give them a refund and invite them to the next class for free. They lose on two classes to save your reputation with these people who are paying you.

[B]

Yeah. The thing I always say, the only thing I'm taking with me into the grave is my name. So God forbid, I don't protect that until the day is long. At the end of the day, your hundred dollars is not my name. I'm going to stand behind it. So when you say the words Cory miracle, it's not this grimace, that words on your face.

[A]

You don't want anyone to do the teeth. Breathe. Oh, her, Her. Oh, I had this one time. I had this.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. It really does go a long way. So consider that. Because as we, you know, I know we hound this refund, but everyone likes that. You guys run for the front. You bet you your bet.

[B]

Listen, I trip, trip on my Way over to it.

[A]

Four trips over Horbaker Road.

[B]

But you have to realize I empathize with you. I don't like it. It doesn't feel good. I'm not like, oh, now I can sing a song. It releases me from the problem at hand, though. And I can protect my business. This is the only way I can protect it. So I'm going to take the L and protect it if I can.

[A]

The funny thing is, we came up with all these examples and then we said, let's come up with the examples where a business went above and beyond to like. We were like, it's not even your fault. No. And we couldn't really come up with the Chick Fil A gave me the five dollar gift card once an apartment complex sold me an apartment that was already taken. So they gave me two months free, which might as well been gold on cloud. On cloud. Doing that. When you do it, it kind of these stories, you know that apartment story is 10 years old.

[B]

It is. But you've never been like, don't buy from them. Apartment company. Like, I've never heard. And I will say whenever someone's like, what shoes you're wearing? I'm like, odd cloud.

[A]

You know, like, I fashioned these with my own hands. I love them so much. Yeah. So you can really create those people who just sing your praises. And maybe it is Lori and maybe it's not Lori, but in the case of you being able to go to sleep at night, some cookie college lady was like, you know what I get? Why did the twins say, run to the refund. I made a mistake. It wasn't complete. She's like, I just refunded immediately. And I just went to bed just thinking completely happy thoughts. Like, I wasn't worried that the next email the client's gonna send is gonna ruin my day.

[B]

Yeah. And I think that was the only way I was able to sleep with Lori because I was mad at myself.

[A]

About Lori Sleep Lori.

[B]

She ended up sending me an email.

[A]

And said, kissy face.

[B]

The cookies were a huge hand.

[A]

That's all you needed.

[B]

I said, lori, Lori, Lori. The lessons you have taught me. Logo, Lori.

[A]

Lessons we're learned. Thanks to Laurie.

[B]

Moving on, moving on.

[A]

The venibunny has just. It is. The countdown is on. I literally have a countdown going on.

[B]

Right now at 12. No, it's less.

[A]

It's 11. No, at 12pm the countdown goes live.

[B]

We're turning live.

[A]

We're done. Yeah. So we have the countdown. We're in the final two weeks before the Vendy Blendy, final countdown. Even the cat.

[B]

We're doing it a lot.

[A]

This is the final countdown of the Vendi Blendy. It is next. Not this Friday. This Friday is our birthday, right?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Next Friday is Black Friday. It is November 29th. That is 24 hours of shopping. Deals, deals. And we have. Unfortunately, I did the math with Amy last night, who's helping admin the group today. Each vendor, each vending gets a guaranteed three posts. It'll be two image posts in one video or a live post. If they do a door prize, they get two additional posts. They get what the door price is and how to enter it and they also get the announcement gets to win. Right. So every vendor, most, I think almost 90% of the vendees are doing door prizes. That puts them at it's around 400 posts that day. And that doesn't include the door price post. I'll be posting as well.

[B]

Listen, that group will be piping hot.

[A]

Piping what? And if you have a bad attitude and say you're overwhelmed, I want to tell you right now, overwhelmed by design.

[B]

Are you talking about me? Are you talking about them?

[A]

All of them, Everyone. And especially you. Honestly, I'm talking more to you. They're just here.

[B]

Here's the thing. The vending blendy is designed to be overwhelming. It's 25% off for 24 hours from 80 some odd people.

[A]

If you only get the sheep, you're done. That is most of what it is.

[B]

Yeah. The other stuff is just, just the icing on top. So at the end of the day, what you need to do is you go to the Vendys V E N D Y s dot com. That is a spreadsheet you need to see that has the vendors, their websites and how much they're offering.

[A]

Would you guys would love to know? Because you're listening to the podcast, you get to hear it first. Sugarloaf Mountain Designs upped their discount from 30% which I always thought was aggressive because they only had to do 25% this is her first year to 35%.

[B]

You'll also be wanting to hear that Sweet Pink Olive texted me yesterday and said every order will get a free surprise in them.

[A]

Love these vendors this year. Different breed. Different breed. I mean a lot of them are from last year, but the vibe is vibe.

[B]

So here's the thing. What you want to do is go to to the spreadsheet, get your must haves and then your wants. So you're going to hit your musties. Then you're Going to hit your one teeth.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Okay. It's not going to be 84 shops you're buying from.

[A]

First off, 81.

[B]

81 shops you're buying from. I'm sure you're going to let someone in.

[A]

I'm really drawn the line.

[B]

It's not going to be all shops that you're buying from, but there's going to be a lot of shops you want to hit first. They're not guaranteed to have everything in stock. They only need to have something in stock at the beginning of the day. They will run out.

[A]

They are not punished for selling it.

[B]

Right. So if you're like I want to get the meringue powder that's going to be first stop on your list because.

[A]

That will probably sell.

[B]

Yeah. If you are later on the day, you know, I ran the numbers. I have about $25 I can throw around at the shop. You can now shop freely. Freely.

[A]

And the vendors throughout the day, those people, they'll be vying for that $25 by demonstrating some products that they think are worth it.

[B]

It for you at the end of the day, if you have budget, you're strict to it, you stick to it. That's great. You can help support the vendors and the people that you love to buy from during the year by coming and supporting them in the group that they.

[A]

Comment makes a difference.

[B]

You guys know we talk about algorithms. What gets to the top of algorithms is engagement. So you might not be able to invest in them monetarily on Friday, but you'll be able to invest in them engagement wise and help their post get.

[A]

To more even a heart reaction.

[B]

Oh, absolutely. Even a gift comment in the Vendi blendy group. As we get closer, you're going to see that people are going to be asking like wondering where. Where can I get textured part parchment sheets in the Vendi blendy group that day Heather's going to have a ask.

[A]

Where it is thread in search of thread in search of the vendors are allowed to help you. The other the thing is 81 websites is hard. It is to sort through.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

However, imagine that the there's around almost 8,000 people also sorting through these websites for you. They're going to have eyes and ears on things you don't know. And in search of that you could say which vendor is running this now this year I've had the vendors and my new requirement is that they must tell you who they are. Website discount, discount code and their shipping policies. Right. And then within that spreadsheet, that spreadsheet will also have their shipping policies and their customers.

[B]

I am going to put some pressure on you right now. I want everyone to have the same code.

[A]

I'm really trying.

[B]

They need to.

[A]

I do this every year and it's so easy. I say, if you're getting this email, you're getting a little spank.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because you are adding an extra step. Because if 90% of the people have.

[B]

The same code, I can remember one code. I can memorize that.

[A]

But if you have like a variable code, somebody just created the code. I recommended Opsin, and I said, crazy. That is fine.

[B]

Yeah. But here's the thing. If you're a vendor listening to this, US consumers, memorizing one code is going to give me less frustration when I go to checkout from your shop.

[A]

Stop. You guys create friction. And I have to go back to a Google spreadsheet on my phone, which.

[B]

Is, listen, I don't got that kind of time. I'm trying to buy.

[A]

I'll really try it. But if the vent. The vendors are allowed to set that themselves. If they choose to make it difficult on you, that is on them.

[B]

Yeah. There's a lot of shops carrying a lot of products of places that you love to buy from. So that's something to keep an eye out, too.

[A]

Something to keep in mind. Wholesale exemptions. The shops. Some shops are running full. Here's the thing and why wholesaling is exempt. Exempt shops. Last year, you guys wanted them, you begged for them. They were like, hey, we'd love to do this, but on wholesale, the contract negotiation, every product they sell, you lose money on. Right. So we'd like. Well, we'd rather have some of you than have none of you. So there's a wholesale exemption. Now you'll have to. You'll be able to ask the vendors, hey, was this for sale? Like, blah, blah, blah. And they can help you there.

[B]

What I don't want to hear is I bought five cutters and a gel food coloring from the shop and the gel food coloring wasn't discounted. So discipline. Disappointed.

[A]

Don't do that. Actually not allowing any bad vibes this year.

[B]

No bad vibes.

[A]

No bad vibes. Only uppers.

[B]

You have been marketed to strategized with game planned on since June.

[A]

It's been a while. I checked yesterday. The group name went from Null to Vendi Blendy in April. Oh, really? Yeah. You remember when you're like, it's happening. It's not.

[B]

Yeah. So here's the thing.

[A]

It's.

[B]

It's overwhelming. It's A good overwhelm. It's a hype day. Day. You're gonna get some stuff that you've truly wanted. You're gonna miss out on some stuff you've also truly wanted. It's not filling up your Santa's sleigh fully and completely. It's getting the things you want you need. So you have a great start to 2025.

[A]

And then maybe spend. Loiter for the rest of the day and see if there's anything that somebody.

[B]

Here's how I do.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I go for my musties.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Those are the first things. I'll stay up around midnight to get what I must do.

[A]

We should actually do this as the next podcast. The shop Strategy.

[B]

Shop strategy.

[A]

Okay. Yeah.

[B]

So I. Should I wait?

[A]

I don't know. Should you? That's a real big cliffhanger. I'd almost really want to know. So maybe I'd almost listen to the podcast next week.

[B]

So what?

[A]

So don't say it.

[B]

Don't say.

[A]

Tell them if they want to know it.

[B]

If you want to know what I do.

[A]

And Corey knows how this thing works because she's behind the scenes as well. I do not let her shop before you guys are out.

[B]

She does not let me shop. But what I have done and I've been able to do is pre shop all the vendors.

[A]

And you guys can do that too. It's actually a great strategy, especially if you're like, does anybody have this? You have that. Thevendies.com. that's a spreadsheet. You can go through each one of those websites right now.

[B]

What I learned today, because I did the video yesterday for the Dessert Depot west base. She has a bunch of those green cutouts that we all like to collect.

[A]

Green canals. What are these Green cutters. Cutters. Kaleidicuts. Kaleidicuts.

[B]

They're on our website.

[A]

Is that wholesale?

[B]

I don't think it is wholesale. I don't know. It's on her list of 20% off that day.

[A]

You're allowed to ask those vendors anything. Yeah. And they're allowed to answer. My spreadsheet will be pretty clean, pretty easy to find because I'm not going to bog it down with extraneous information. But the vendors can clarify for you.

[B]

All day on their post when they're. They can go live. They can make two posts. That's a great time to ask them about things.

[A]

Considered engagement as well.

[B]

So it is. And it's great. You can get the conversation going. You'll have vendors answering. You'll also have other Consumers, buyers also answering, especially the ones that are like die hard fans of the shop that you're shopping at.

[A]

Yeah, they'll be able to help you. But no bad vibes. No saying they never. I want to, I want to stress to you the amount of notifications these vendies will get is over the top. Especially when they're running the door prize. Door prizes can't require purchased entry. Yeah, entry.

[B]

You have to realize entry. They can post anytime they want throughout the day.

[A]

I give them some guidelines, but they can do whatever they want.

[B]

So their first post might be like showcasing something but their second post maybe an hour later can be the door prize. The door price post notifications are going to reign supreme in their notification box. So if they don't get back to you right away, that's okay. Retype the question. Just retype it, press enter. It'll hit you at the top of the notification.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

That is a way to be. Come back the next day. I think I was ignored by so and so. Listen, there's so many notifications, it's unreal.

[A]

I know it's not going to be good on my phone. My notifications are already kind of fumbled right now and you've got to post.

[B]

Every hour on hour.

[A]

Yeah. Not only are we Vendys, but I'm also hosting the 10 big door prizes. I know you guys have been hearing us talk about the door prizes on here forever. Just to go. The vendi teaches me one marketing lesson each year and it's that algorithms do not show your content to people. People don't. So I unveiled this past week. Of course I've been telling you guys for a month now. But I failed this last week. Kind of like an every hour on the hour. Obviously I'm a fan of that. A new door price. Of course they were all 10 Bosch mixers. But people were like seeing unveiling number one and number four and then number seven.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And they were like when's number 10 coming out? I came. That was two days ago, buddy. They're all crazy.

[B]

But that teaches you that notification posts everything but everything on that specific day is going to be insane.

[A]

Insane. Overwhelming by design. It's an upper vibe. Jump in, enter some door prizes. Worst case, you win. Yeah.

[B]

Listen, I'll be finding you guys over some boxes in there. I got my eyes on a few.

[A]

Some boxes or some Bosches?

[B]

A little bit of both.

[A]

Yeah. So it's. We're, we're chugging along here. Winimosh summer. Okay. So there's a couple That's a great question that we should talk about this next week. But I'll just now how the big door prizes work. These 10 Bosh Makers answers, they start, the prompt goes at 8am Eastern Standard Time and the prompts will go up on the hour.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Now, most of the prompts, I cannot guarantee all the comments will be open the whole day because eventually they get overwhelming and the thread becomes unmanageable. So some of the prompts will close. I can guarantee. You have an hour per prompt. Yes, that's what I can guarantee you. Some of them may be open all day. Some of them may be only open for that hour.

[B]

And the prompts are. Heather's gonna ask you to do something to be eligible to enter in simple.

[A]

Follow on Instagram sign up for newsletter are weird.

[B]

Some of them.

[A]

Some of them are. Will be fun.

[B]

Some of them you're gonna hate.

[A]

Okay. If you're like, well, I already follow Instagram, I'm gonna press the unfollow follow button again. We're gonna pick from a follower. So it's gonna be random. Those ones. That's just a numbers game. Just. It's gonna be picked randomly. Close your eyes, scroll down, pointed screen. Then some of them are gonna have a little bit more effort into them. And I. And we're gonna have our little sister Summer pick the winners. We do that every year. Put some effort into it. Saying the word me, that's not a lot. I have. I know I can. I can know that that girl likes pictures and she likes emojis.

[B]

We'll save this for next, the stretch off.

[A]

So that'll be starting at 8pm until 5pm for those big door prizes. There is another big door prize, which is that color mixer machine. She's got to get some more details on it, making it actually 11 door prize. But the vendor's door prizes have to be announced. I finally nailed it down by 9:00pm Nice. And the big door prizes by 10:00pm Nice. Yeah. So we have a little staggering there because there'll be almost 80 vendors picking door prizes. And then we have the fake ones.

[B]

Just to help you're overwhelmed. So you can kind of digest this. During that day in that group, there will be over 400 posts that go up.

[A]

That's a lot.

[B]

That is a lot. Your feed can't handle it. So you're going to feel overwhelmed because every two seconds a new post is going to go up.

[A]

It is different. When we were like, run Eddie's being given away. That was real stressful. There's 10 Bosches, you have 10 chances and then all the vendor door prizes. No needs to be stressed.

[B]

No. Me and Heather talked about it when I. And it's probably because we're twins and we had to share everything, which was annoying to hear that you could only win one thing. I. I was like, well, forget it.

[A]

I would never even enter something you could only win.

[B]

But if I have a chance to win 10 things, I'm so much more excited. So that's why we went with this. Instead of one giant, one thing of a door prize, we went with 10.

[A]

And I think it's been well received. Yeah, I. I like the shot at getting more shots.

[B]

Plus, a Bosch is a game changer.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. And if you already have one, you'll get another one. But you can do whatever you want with people are like, more than one. Bosch is just more production. It's a great idea.

[B]

I. When I load up my Bosches, they do it at the same time.

[A]

You have two.

[B]

I have an artiste.

[A]

An artist day, which is that one sold out. No, the refurbed. This is a Bosch affiliate sale, by the way. It's an affiliate sale. So I really like their affiliate program because as long as you click their link, you get not only their sale, but an additional 20 bucks.

[B]

Yeah. Nice.

[A]

We use that to fund the Vendiblendy Facebook ads. But I want to talk about this. And it's moving on. The Vendiblendy, it is chugging along. If you haven't seen a post about it, go to any of the Sugarcoogie marketing profile. You'll hate it. It'll be the only thing you see. And we'll just keep keeping that going and it will be annoying, and then suddenly it'll all disappear and we'll even delete every single mention of it. Okay. Corey allowed me for the cookie collage, which is on sale in the Vendi Blendy. She finally allowed me to do three months.

[B]

It's been a lot of money lost.

[A]

For me this three months free on the yearly plan. So right now, the Vendi, the cookie college is $76. During the vendi blendy, it will go to $63, the cheapest. It's never been. Our introductory price three years ago was 68. So I did a Facebook live with the cookie college current roomies. They all can switch to this plan as well. In fact, I'm telling them if one of you doesn't switch, I'll be so upset for you. I can't switch for you.

[B]

I heard you.

[A]

But the the adding that third month for. So for the yearly plan, you always. For all of our yearly plans, you get two months free for this vending planning. Corey, allow me to do three months free, which takes the monthly cost. So if you pay the year up front.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Divide it by 12. The monthly cost would be under 50. Would be 47. That is a product that we sell typically for 76amonth.

[B]

It will never.

[A]

Cory's got the worst attitude about this.

[B]

Will never happen again, madam.

[A]

And I will. Thank you, Vanda. I will disable that at midnight Eastern standard time that day. So it'll only be enabled for the 24 hours. There's no exceptions. I can't turn it back on. It's not how the platform works. But this. This should be good.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, we're excited. I mean, we're in the thick of it right now, me and Heather. The thick of it is all we've talked about. But it's always a great vibe. There's a lot of planning. We gotta thank the vendors for actually making this happen. Without them, this would be nothing.

[A]

The chicken or the egg. The vendors show up and then the penders show up. But it's the vendors who take the risk. Like, what if those girls don't have anyone buying?

[B]

Without the vendors, me and Heather would just be on Bendy's.

[A]

So funny. Corinne are switching to a new account. I'm excited about it. But the new account, he was like, tell me about your business. Like, well, there's something called a vendetta. Blendy. Like, how to say that to another adult who's been in business for 30 years.

[B]

To me, last night, the Vendee blender.

[A]

It's weird when you hear its full name in the world. I know.

[B]

I said, that's so weird coming from your face.

[A]

But then to the account, I was like, well, it's a vendor blend. It's a vendor blender. As if that was like, less. Yeah, it's a blender of vendors.

[B]

So next week, I guess we'll have another Bendy blendy podcast.

[A]

We'll do Vendi Blendy.

[B]

That'll be on the only thing on our mind next Tuesday.

[A]

Anyways, don't talk to me. I'm out of commission after my birthday. Yeah, after I watch Gladiator, I'm out of commission. I'm Vendi blendy brained.

[B]

The group will be useless.

[A]

There will be no marketing value. That said, it's such a fun vibe. And then after next week, you'll never hear.

[B]

I know.

[A]

Can't wait myself I can't quit it. Corey and I go on a decompression mall run.

[B]

I know. Let's head over to our sponsors real quick.

[A]

I'm going to pull up text while you look.

[B]

Okay. Our sponsor number one, they'll actually be in the Vendi Blendy. It's the Backers company. So the Backers company used to be called a core backers. If you're just now listening to this podcast, she switched names. They rebranded to the Backers company. The Backers company is a rigid, food safe, matte, waterproof, scratch resistant backer for your photos. A lot of times in our houses, specifically mine because I live in a townhouse in the middle, it's very dark, it's very. Wherever the sun isn't is where I'm trying to take these photos. So by buying these nice backdrops, I can transform a 23 by 23 inch square of my house into what looks like a gourmet kitchen, which is awesome. To be able to help make more sales. People buy with their eyes. Social media is huge right now so people want to see what they're getting. And if you want to make more sales, we always suggest up your photo game.

[A]

That is really this a real big.

[B]

I'm going to tell you, unless you really need one right now and you don't want to sell out, she'll be 30% off at the Vendi Blendy next Friday.

[A]

Backers co gets it. They get how the vending works.

[B]

If you're like, I'm not willing to risk it for the biscuit. I can't wake up at midnight. You can use code sugar cookie to get 20% off now, but I would highly recommend you could get two. You know girl math for the price of one if you waited till the Vendi of Valenzi. But you can check them out now. Put down your must haves if you want to know what I always gravitate towards. I love the white matte finish for a starter one. I actually still use it almost on every single set. I love a wooden one if you're doing things like sourdough, anything grainy. I like a wooden one. It really makes it look homemade.

[A]

I like it.

[B]

I like it fancy.

[A]

I like it.

[B]

And if you can't go wrong with a marble, cannot go wrong with marble. Pickford is nice too.

[A]

Okay, what was the last part?

[B]

Pickford. A gray. Pickford looks like a gray. You know, like the ship lamp.

[A]

I don't think I've even seen heard that word in my life before. Pickford.

[B]

I think It's a been floating around.

[A]

Here three or six years and never got that one.

[B]

Next up is the bakedy bake meringue powder. So bakery bake is a company that makes a meringue powder called royal batch. It is my favorite thing to use. I've been a convert ever since she first approached us and I gave it a testy. It's the only thing I use. The great thing about it, it has white food coloring in it. Corn syrup, which gives your royal icing a soft bite. And it has vanilla extract in there. Did I say that twice? White food coloring, corn syrup, vanilla extract. So three ingredients you already add to it. It is in there.

[A]

Nice. I have no idea if you said twice paying attention at all right now. Here's the thing.

[B]

She'll also be in the vending blendy. Ne'er before have I ever seen her offer 25% off.

[A]

She did 20% off last year. We were shocked.

[B]

We were shocked. So I'm gonna tell you the first place I will be at on Vendi Blendy.

[A]

And she's not allowed to buy it.

[B]

Before you guys do 1201. I know Heather will be letting you in. I'll be shopping.

[A]

I know she will. I know she's too thing.

[B]

She does sell out because people do love her products. She's really has stocked up though. So you have a good chance of getting. Getting it. I will be getting the five pound bag because I'm greedy. Yes. But there's one pounders out there.

[A]

One pounders.

[B]

If you're like, I cannot take the chance. I cannot wait. You can use code twins. Save you 10% right now.

[A]

It told a lady in the group. She was like, what's the code? She called it is royal batch. She called it, like on batch. And I was like, I don't know what that is. Daily batch, Daily batch. I was like, is it daily as well? Daily batch. Ran out of a daily batch. I said, if it's a real badge. Dakota's twins, 10% off. I said, it'll be on sale on the Vendy Blendy, but it may sell out. So don't, like, get mad at me.

[B]

Right?

[A]

Because it would be bad if you're like, well, I really, really need it and I'm also going to buy it. Yeah.

[B]

So I said, hey, listen, tell them about Eduardo.

[A]

Last but never. Eddie is not in the Vendy Blendy, nor is he on sale, nor has he ever been on sale. I've actually read somebody who's like, are you running a black Friday Sale. They asked Primera in the Facebook group and Primera's like, we would actually run a Black Friday sale on our refurbished units. But they get sold so quickly. We never have any. Oh, wow. They were running a sale on like a sticker thing. But Eddie is a direct to food printer. It sounds crazy. It should be at the top of your cookie Christmas wish list. And just tell Scout to tell Santa that you were really good this year and you made all your little mini cake pops and they were delicious and you listened to the twins and you ran for the refund and your business has grown and you want to scale it into corporate orders. That is the move. It is a pretty interesting machine. I almost can't describe it to you and make sense. So I'm going to tell you, go to Primera's website, their Facebook page, their Facebook group. Actually it's Eddie Printer users group on Facebook. And then I actually found this other group. It's called Unofficial Eddie Group. Yeah, definitely. Great resources to see how far you can push this machine now. $3,000, gosh, not chump change at all. But you could start allocating some of your sales to pay for Eddie. I know they do have a financing program. Again, you're going to pay interest on that. You know I feel about interest payments, but if that. If you're like, I'm going to market this now, again, you can buy every machine in the world. But if you don't market effectively, what's the point if you market this effectively? Corey has a running relationship with Neiman Marcus that's solely built off the shoulders of Eddie Printed cookies. That's all those people want. And they want them last minute and they want 200 of them. So if you want to check that out, go to Eddie Printers users group on Facebook. Love it. I would love to know what you're typing on your phone.

[B]

I have to post the Dessert Depot to you.

[A]

Just randomly had to do that in the middle of the podcast.

[B]

You know, it had done it this morning, but I didn't let it stay open long enough. So it didn't do it. It's a part of my processes, so.

[A]

I must do it. The thing is, it's what Corey's talking about now is some of the vendors. The vendors have the option to send Corey products for her to turn into a video to tell you guys what to pre shop for the Vendi Blendy. So Corey's been running through boxes.

[B]

It's their highlights.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So what they.

[A]

I've enjoyed watching.

[B]

You'll like what they want to show you that you'll like and it kind.

[A]

Of gives you a taste test of what the store has it really kind of.

[B]

I've actually discovered a lot just for videos.

[A]

If you just open some of these websites and peruse them, you'll be like, whoa, there's a lot more here than I realized. And then if you want to check out Corey's posting them to Sugar Cookie Marketing Underscore on Instagram. Or you can do this sugar Cookie marketing page on Facebook. Or I think you've been posting into the groups. Every baking group.

[B]

Yep, that one.

[A]

Not as much. Do not check in with the I.

[B]

Feel like they're just duplicates of the sugar cookie. There's actually a lot of people in the baking group that aren't in Sugar Cookie.

[A]

I know. It really is surprising when you guys go to request the vending bunny. It actually tells us which mutual groups we're in. I always love to see you gals and are we dating the same guy group? I see you.

[B]

I always see my sourdough friends and family.

[A]

So, coming to the end of this, do you? Dude, I thought you were going to.

[B]

Pull up the little text things.

[A]

Oh, shoot, they're right here. Sorry. The lawyer wrote me back and it seems official. I do not like okay. Hi SEM ladies. Or @ least I hope that's who I'm texting. Quick tangent. I could not for the life of me figure out if your texting number was posted anywhere. I ended up finding this number searching for the word text in a transcript from a past podcast. So if this isn't the SEM gals, I'm sorry for bothering you. This is Tiffany from Simply Joyful Cookies on a Dance. Dallas, Oregon. There's a Dallas, Oregon. Dallas, Oregon.

[B]

I'm confusing.

[A]

Dallas, Oregon, Texas. I'm wondering, with our constantly changing social media platforms, our hashtags still relevant? This is actually a great question. I used to use them religiously, but now I've noticed lately it doesn't feel like I'm using them or not using them. If does that change anything on my end as far as post reach, I'm wondering if it's still worth the time. Thank you. And thank you for all you do heart. My life wouldn't be the same without the two of you in my ear every Tuesday.

[B]

Same with us. Dallas, Texas.

[A]

Or thank goodness this texting goes some random grandpa.

[B]

All right, the biggest update that came to Instagram last week was that you can no longer follow hashtags. That was something I actually truly, really liked because it allowed me to interact with businesses organically.

[A]

So just like you could follow an account and then see their post, you could follow a hashtag and see post made by people who use that hashtag. Which is actually how we used to run the collabs.

[B]

It was. Yeah, you could follow the hashtag. Here's the problem. Now you cannot follow a hashtag anymore. Those posts won't organically fall into your feed. The reason I was able to interact with businesses that were local to me was because they ended up in my feed. So it seemed less stalkerish, more organic.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So I don't.

[A]

Removing this feature.

[B]

I don't know. So I actually can see. You can actually go into anyone's account and see which hashtags they follow if they're your followers. Yeah. So I go and see what people are following. They'll follow like, what are you doing?

[A]

But it's kind of nice to follow the hashtag DMV foodie. We live in the dmv. That was then you could find people who were trying to end up in your feed and then you can follow them because it's almost like they came in knocking first.

[B]

I know. So that's going to go away. So I think it's going to now come down to either which hashtag you engage with the most or which hashtags you use.

[A]

Like the explore feed become. I mean, if I accidentally tap anything on Instagram, my Explore feed is now that.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. So I think the ability to follow those hashtags won't be there anymore. You'll have to go out of your way. The ability to search them will still be there.

[A]

So still use hashtags.

[B]

Yeah, still use them. And I just don't know. That was such a nice way to show up.

[A]

The depreciation of hashtags has been rampant within Instagram.

[B]

The for you page has transformed a lot to it just being whatever you interact with is going to show up in your feed.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And as bakers, we love to interact with other bakers.

[A]

So your for you page will look.

[B]

A lot like bakers.

[A]

This cleaning up your feed of only the people you truly want to see. Like now your feed becomes a feed of everyone you're following. It removes the hashtags randomly showing up. Right. Y. Although my feed is now like, hey, here's random stuff.

[B]

I think it's absolutely. So I think it comes down to whatever you engage with. The problem with us bakers, we love to see what other bakers are doing. So baking stuff ends up in our feed. And there's no way for that random brewery down the road to end up in my feed.

[A]

Now learn Wild question.

[B]

So I think you'll have to the strategy will be each week to set out about some time, have your goal hashtag list of locals and go interact with each one of those by searching them out.

[A]

Another spreadsheet has entered the chat. Yeah, very interesting shift there. I don't say that is don't use hashtags. I'm going to say make the few that you use the most valuable. So gone are the days of hashtag follow for follow and in are the days of hashtags that are very hyper local. Yeah, remember, whatever your hashtag you use, if you use hashtag sugarcookiemarketing while I love that you're gonna get more bakers, Mike Itcore clearly looking at the hashtags you follow.

[B]

Gotta do that.

[A]

Very good question. Next up. Hi twins. This is Lisa from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minnesota. Minnesota. First off, thanks so much for these podcasts. I just love listening to them while I bake, decorate and clean. I think you two, both of you are great teachers and super funny to listen to while giving us invaluable information. Thanks so much. My question has me worried and I'm truly afraid of what you two might say as I explain this dilemma of mine. I haven't read this yet. We're on to the refund. I already know my business is very new in that I'm just getting my cottage food license and a page. A graphic designer is currently designing my website, Facebook and IG page. I should quote unquote officially be up and running legally in another couple of months. Yay. However, my dream and conception of creating this business started a few years ago, so I have just been baking for close friends and family. Family. I even have the name of my bakery and I just love it. It is near and dear to my heart. I'll use another name to try to keep my dilemma under wraps. My problem is that my bakery name is fake name Sweet Rosie's Little Baking Co. Princess. Right? And there's another cookie about four or five towns south of me, 24 miles. And it has the name Rosie's Cookies. So I'm nervous because I can't imagine another name for mine. My grandma who raised me as a small child and taught me to bake. Her name is Rosie. My business is all about her from a lot of recipes I use, my aesthetic of my brand, everything. It's all about my gram. The other bakers named her after her mom. That is a tough one. So we got. Just to recap, we have. And these are made up, named Sweet Rosie's Little Baking Company. And the other company is Rosie's Cookies. So both. Only one has the word cookies in it, but both have Rosies. Plural.

[B]

Is it both starting with Rosies?

[A]

No, Sweet Rosies is. Is the example name the other baker. Rosie's Cookies. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. The. Unfortunately, when me and Heather say fall in love with the strategy, not the name.

[A]

And I think that's why she's like, oh, I hate that. Let me ask you this. Is Rosie's Cookies the example, the other competitor, Are they really active? Yeah.

[B]

Are they active?

[A]

So my first offense is if. Was it a project in 2020 that was ghosted?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

If they're really active, go on to the next product strategy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And you can do whatever you want. At the end of the day.

[B]

At the end of the day, we want you to love the business that you're now going to pour your blood sweat into your.

[A]

I always say, the best website I ever made. If you don't want to look at a client, then it's not the best website I ever made.

[B]

Absolutely. Here's the thing. It will be an uphill battle. If they're only four or five towns away from us here in Northern Virginia, it's okay because.

[A]

And she's from Minneapolis. That's a city.

[B]

So.

[A]

Okay. What Corey's trying to say is when you have a really high population 4, 5, 30 miles away here, it's a whole different. It's like a different continent to people who live here. Because to say, I'm gonna go pick up cookies 30 minutes away, 30 miles away could be 2 hours of traveling time. So people will not cross the county lines. They'll hardly cross the city lines to go get a baker across the world to them.

[B]

Preferably, if your town is tiny, you will be being tagged accidentally. People will forget your name. Tag her until you're working against yourself.

[A]

Because you guys focus. Both your names. Is the word Rosies plural. It typically with my brain, I hardly remember anything, but I can remember Rosie. So I'm going to. At Rosies and whatever populates. Populates. But I'd also hate for you to experience is that Rosie's mom comes and says, meet me in a dark alley because I was here first and now you're copying me, which I typically see. The bakers will come to the sugar cookie market group and say, somebody stole my name. You have the other option, the trademark thing. Unless it's like, word for word, I don't Think that there's a case there. You got the state registration. But again, you guys aren't the same name. Name.

[B]

Right.

[A]

You aren't the same. So I don't really think you have many options. You're going to hate what we're going to say. I'm going to say pick a different name. Is there. Did. Did Graham. Did Graham have a different name? She have a middle name? Could we call her Graham's?

[B]

She's called you a little bean.

[A]

Graham Crumbs.

[B]

Bean bum. Get it?

[A]

Graham's called you something.

[B]

Yeah. We can incorporate grandma in there. I love that.

[A]

I love that you called her grandma. That's also very cute.

[B]

I know. Graham cracker.

[A]

Grandma. Could you possibly change a name and have the products be about Graham? So Graham's favorite cookie recipe. Graham's favorite. We have Graham's favorites, Rosie's favorites. Yeah. You're going to see that an established bakery has already built in terms of that SEO, that brand recognition, the social media following, and you're going to be picking up literal crumbs from that.

[B]

If they have kind of waned. Waned. They don't have a website.

[A]

Jump on in.

[B]

Yeah, you can jump on it. Pounce. It's hot.

[A]

Battle of the Rosies.

[B]

But yeah, you don't want to poke a sleeping bear.

[A]

Yeah. So you don't want to wake. Awaken them like, oh, you trying to get on my turf? I'm going to double down. What you would really, really not like is for them to take this conundrum to a community group and say, someone's trying to steal my name. I've seen it posted a lot in our groups. Those names are close enough. I know. These are just examples that we'd see it.

[B]

We're just opening your mind's horizon license to just, you know, me and Heather are never really attached to names at all. So we're not great to ask that because we're like, nah. Strategy in, name out.

[A]

How can I. What's the easiest distance from me in that dollar in your pocket. If I have to jump the hurdles of proving, well, I'm not them, but I will take your order. That's so many, you know, we call clicks. You extend your funnel so much longer trying to get over the hurdles of who are you again?

[B]

I know, right?

[A]

I thought I ordered from you. What if I thought I ordered from you and they actually remember I was.

[B]

The crumb cookies and I had to change the name because Crumbl dominated the area.

[A]

People were. People were complaining to Corey about a crumble cookie.

[B]

Someone applied to work for me. I said, okay, we're getting too close.

[A]

I'm gonna do that. W do you start tomorrow? So that'd be my example. At the end of the day, you can run your business as you please. That is not trademark infringement. I don't think there's any registration issues there if you want to talk to an attorney.

[B]

But our big suggestion is rebranding is a lot harder than coming out with your strong brand at the beginning. Especially because you have a graphic designer.

[A]

Yeah. You've got website involved. You're getting big URL probably. And it sounds like you've already spent some money on this. Too late in the game to change it. Would I rather spend money now and fix it than two years when I have an established band? I gotta change it. It was hard for us to do it for Corey. And companies that I've worked with that have rebranded always go through suffering.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Last text. Hi, Heather and Corey. I just sent a little. Oh, this is so fun. I actually posted this in the group yesterday. Hi, Heather and Corey just sent you a little digital birthday present via text. So don't mistake it for spam. Thanks for all you guys do. My business is growing so fast and I owe you a large part of it. Thank you all. Happy birthday.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

And then she said all. Bummer. Doesn't look like you can send it through text. I'm resending it through Hello, Trigger. Cookie marketing was a gift card.

[B]

We should go today.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Wood one.

[A]

No, that's very far. That's very far. We can go on her birthday.

[B]

You love the drawing.

[A]

My brake lights are not working. Did you have your twin? Twins?

[B]

No, I don't really have anything.

[A]

I'm gonna give a twin to that guy I'm seeing. Yeah. Listen to this podcast. Last week, done. Roll your eyes. And he got me the Joe Malone.

[B]

This is Heather and Snap. We have like a family Snap day. You taught him that. That isn't my favorite scent. Come. Are you just right now?

[A]

Are you just Dallas?

[B]

Come party.

[A]

Did you spray it on yourself?

[B]

Did you tell Bride Bride about my favorite?

[A]

I saw you squirting it on yourself in the morning.

[B]

Listen, the scent that we had talked about on the podcast last week and Heather ordered it. They canceled it because there's none left in America.

[A]

It was from Europe. They canceled it from Europe. Yeah. There's nothing.

[B]

None in the world. Okay, Ryan.

[A]

Because he's listening. Ryan. So I said, wait, Brian didn't get me one. Didn't he? Because we're twins.

[B]

None of my other's boyfriends have ever showed up for my birthday. I think Rob did one.

[A]

Brian sent you flowers last year.

[B]

What happened to this year?

[A]

Did we.

[B]

Are we already flailing?

[A]

I don't know. Ryan.

[B]

Get back on that.

[A]

What's your twin twist and your bad attitude? My husband bought me since my dad. That is very nice.

[B]

It was very nice.

[A]

Get your head out of your.

[B]

I just wanted to be a gingerbread.