255. Baking it Down - Pre-Sales Bootcamp Recap

Summary

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Episode Summary – Baking it Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing

Episode 255: Pre-Sales Bootcamp Recap
Hosts: Heather & Corrie Miracle
Date: April 7, 2026

Episode Overview

In this upbeat and business-savvy episode, Heather and Corrie Miracle recap their recent "Pre-Sales Bootcamp" for sugar cookie bakers, distilling the most valuable lessons, data insights, and hands-on advice from their signature training. The sisters discuss the ins and outs of running successful cookie pre-sales—from terminology and school gifting holidays to stock management, color palettes, and the essential marketing tactics that move product (and dough!). True to their clean and lively style, the twins blend practical advice, group wisdom, and community Q&A, making this episode a goldmine for aspiring and established cookiepreneurs.

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Major Discussion Points & Insights

1. What Are Cookie Pre-Sales? Why They Matter

• Definition: Selling cookies in advance, either as “pre-orders” or “pre-sales”, allowing bakers to collect orders before baking and manage inventory.
• Helps bakers control what, how much, and when they bake.
• Especially useful for managing packaging overflow, leftovers, and keeping things fresh.

2. Bootcamp Recap — Data and Takeaways

• The Pre-Sales Bootcamp had a lively private group: members polled, tips exchanged, and worksheets shared.
• Bakers were surveyed on language, holiday results, marketing tactics, and issues like no-shows.
• Notable Quote:
  "Sales is not about selling anymore, but about building trust and educating." – Siva Devaki [(Heather, 05:04)]

3. Terminology: Pre-Sale vs. Pre-Order

• Poll Result: 79% call it “pre-order” to clients (vs. “pre-sale”, which is more internal lingo).
• Reason: “Pre-order” is clearer and more widely understood outside the baking community, while “pre-sale” can imply a discount or a “sale” event.
• "Pre-order...is more commonplace and you're not having to explain it to your customers. They just naturally understand it." – Corrie [11:50]

4. Top-Selling School Holidays for Pre-Sales

• Teacher Appreciation Week (First week of May) is the #1 pre-sale holiday among bakers (72%).
• Other holidays/trends:
  • Graduation: 16%
  • Back to School: 8%
  • Last Day of School: 4%
• Teacher Appreciation excels because: the audience is gift-givers, schools promote it, and there are many different recipients (teachers, staff, bus drivers).
• Tip: Always check school schedules—holidays and teacher appreciation can shift based on school calendars. [21:17]

5. Benefits & Challenges of Pre-Sales

Pros:

• Puts bakers in control—pick the designs, set stock and pricing, minimize waste.
• Great for clearing out leftover packaging or odd inventory.
• Enables streamlined, efficient baking.
• Opportunity to choose set designs, avoid burnout, and promote what YOU want to bake.

Cons:

• Upfront investment in samples and packaging before knowing final sales.
• More customer personalities to manage vs. custom orders.
• Need strong marketing; it’s not “set and forget.”
• Risk of no-shows and margin losses if not well managed.

6. Product & Design Strategy for Pre-Sales

• Keep it Simple:
  "Keep it simple...the least number of steps possible." – Ashley G. [23:23]

  • Cohesive color schemes across all sets to avoid unnecessary labor.
  • Limit options to avoid analysis paralysis (overwhelmed buyers don’t check out).
  • Use same colors on multiple designs to streamline decorating [26:00].
  • Bake extras for breakable cookies (like carrots)—unexpected breakage can erode profit.

• Design Tip:

  • Ensure each cookie stands alone (pre-sale buyers are often picking single cookies).
  • Avoid over-complexity; trendy “must-have” shapes are fun but can waste time and profit if not managed carefully.

7. Marketing Strategies for Pre-Sales

• Multi-Channel Approach:

  • Early Bird newsletter (build your own “barrel” of repeat buyers)
  • Business Facebook/Instagram posts & stories
  • Personal social profiles
  • Local community Facebook groups
  • Facebook Marketplace (especially good for set-price products like pre-sales)
  • Offline: family/friends as brand ambassadors, flyers at workplaces, church, PTA, etc.

• Frequency: Don’t post just once; stagger posts for reach and new engagement.

• Reward Sharing: Offer discounts or small bonuses for customers who share your posts [43:00].

• User-Generated Content: Customer reviews/word-of-mouth are more convincing than your own pitches [44:50].

8. Operational Tips

• Managing No-Shows:

  • Set clear pickup windows, communicate boundaries, and have policies for what happens if an order is late or abandoned (e.g., donating orders not picked up on time) [65:53].

• Forms & Automation:

  • Use Google Forms for small/simple pre-sales; upgrade to Jotform for advanced stock/variant management as you grow [49:44].

• Avoid “Nickel and Dimed” Pricing:

  • Bundle costs rather than itemize everything—customers prefer one straightforward price vs. surprise fees at checkout [72:10].

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Pre-Sales Language:
  "We've talked about industry lingo...Me and Heather, before we entered the cookie world, had never heard of the word pre-sale...Pre-order does make a little bit more sense to the common man." – Corrie [08:52]

• On Customer Psychology:
  "The too many jams, nobody buys the jams. When we have so many options, the thought of losing out increases in our brains. It doesn't decrease." – Heather [30:14]

• On Marketing Effort:
  "When you open a business, you are now a marketer and a baker and the admin and everything. If you post once and think that's going to sell you out, we would all be doing pre sales because it doesn't work like that." – Corrie [33:33]

• On Sample Photos:
  "If you want your pre-sale to succeed, you have to do the pieces to make it succeed...When you try to cut corners, you get a little tired, a little lazy, and you post a graphic from a cutter shop...you will make sales, but you also will miss out on sales and you won't know the sales that you miss out on." – Corrie [41:41]

• On Boundary Busting Clients:
  "Having a boundary of I have no boundaries, you have trained them and I suffer from this people pleasing where I'm like well I, I will you to read my mind because we've not explicitly said you can't be late and now the person has now learned they can be late." – Heather [66:00]

• On Pricing Perception:
  "The best of both worlds is when you have a threshold. So hey, 20 more and you get free shipping...But we love a threshold. We love to be like, ah, I got one over on them." – Corrie [72:10]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–03:17 – Intro, Spring weather, cookie class snake story
• 03:23–06:10 – What the Pre-Sales Bootcamp was & how data was collected
• 08:00–11:50 – Pre-sale vs. Pre-order language discussion
• 12:01–18:50 – Best holidays for pre-sales: Teacher Appreciation, practical scheduling tips
• 21:17–29:38 – More holiday timing tips, managing breakage, color themes for efficiency
• 30:14–33:59 – Limiting options to increase sales & avoid customer overload
• 33:59–39:59 – Marketing methods: newsletters, groups, personal network
• 41:02–43:39 – Importance of real sample photos, family/friends as brand ambassadors
• 45:42–49:04 – Bootcamp poll: pre-sales experience, pros & cons of pre-sales
• 49:25–54:00 – Forms and automation (Google Forms, Jotform); upcoming Bootcamps
• 60:27–74:29 – Upcoming community events, managing school/customer holidays
• 65:53–69:09 – Boundary buster Q&A: managing persistent late pickups
• 72:10–73:29 – Pricing, “nickel and dimed,” and why free shipping matters
• 78:57–84:00 – Candles, scents, and making a good home impression for pickups

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Action Tips for Listeners (From Episode)

• If new to pre-sales, start simple—limit your choices, match color palettes, and bake extra breakable cookies.
• Use multiple marketing channels (newsletter, stories, groups, Marketplace, word-of-mouth).
• Don’t be afraid to set (and enforce) pickup boundaries; automate reminders where possible.
• Consistency and pre-planning are key for selling out: keep runs at six weeks with early prep.
• Build your own “fish barrel” (email list/group); reward sharing and advocacy.
• Use real photos of your samples—skip generic graphics.

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Upcoming Bootcamps & Events

• May 7–8: Intro to 3D Printing Cookie Cutters Bootcamp
• June: Filming & Marketing Cookie Decorating Videos
• July: Cracking Community Groups for Sales
• August: Designing Cookie Sets with Procreate
• Piper Park Collab, Main Street Cookie Collab, What’s Popping Con, CookieCon Orlando, and more

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Final Thoughts

Heather and Corrie wrap up emphasizing that pre-sales are a vital, empowering business tool for bakers seeking efficiency and extra dough. The strategy may take time to dial in, but with clean systems, smart marketing, and self-imposed limits, any cookier can benefit. Whether you’re a seasoned baker or a newbie, this episode is a must-listen for anyone craving more sales without the stress of custom order overload.

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For full bootcamp replays, templates, and continued learning, visit:
thecookiecollege.com/bootcamps

Stay tuned and keep rising with your reach (and your dough)!

Transcript

[A]

For it's the podcast.

[B]

It's a Tuesday and it's April.

[A]

The year is truly flying past us.

[B]

Yesterday the most spring day I've ever experienced. It was colder in the morning.

[A]

Yeah. It was warmer in the afternoon.

[B]

It was a spring day. Spring is not just hot days. Spring is a mixture of good weather.

[A]

You see what it's going to be on Friday 80 degrees, Monday 85.

[B]

Okay that's a little. A little on the worm side for me. But I enjoyed yesterday.

[A]

Tonight I'll say that this the trees have budded forth. There's not a tree not pollinating the air right now. And it's pretty allergies all time high. But I'm not the snow Crete apocalypse

[B]

that we had it it's cured me of complaining about a little pollen have

[A]

a little let a little bug land on me. It deserves it. They needed this. As much as you know, I'm not

[B]

too much with the bugs quite yet. The spiders entering the homestead all time high.

[A]

Hey, I have to tell before we get started we had teach a cookie class on Saturday and Cory and I are setting up the cookie class which we've done a gabillion times. So it's almost like rote memorization. We're not even like making eye contact like I didn't we just a few grunts in the direction and then she's like I don't know, you're setting out the piping practice sheets or something. And they look to my left and staring at us almost like curious by what's going on.

[B]

Is a snake a little inch long snake.

[A]

He wasn't thick.

[B]

He was just long.

[A]

He was very. He was probably maybe a foot at most but his diameter was like a P. So I said he had probably

[B]

been in there all weekend and he was starving. And he says it's either they squish me which is a reprieve I die here. Which I don't want to do or there's a snake charmer within the midst of them that I said come to

[A]

me my little snake.

[B]

So Heather grabbed him from. He had a tiny head but he was sticking his tongue out which I have learned over the years of Heather and her snake ownership.

[A]

If a.

[B]

If a serpent sticks his tongue out of you he's just realizing you're moving and he's just trying to catch the drift a little bit. Sound vibrations through the tongue.

[A]

There's a country song and instead of fork it tongue the reason why they had for it's the devil. You know where the here's to the Adam and Eve.

[B]

Got it.

[A]

The forked tongue is so that they can feel heat on one side and then they suck it in and it goes into something called a Jacobson organ, which oddly, cats have as well. That's why the cat6 sense is their mouth open. So when they stuck it in back into the little. It's this little hole in the back of their throat. You can just see where the tongue goes back in. And then they'll be like, oh, my goodness. There's heat to my right, not to my left.

[B]

So there's someone to the right, not to the left.

[A]

That is how it works. They have no ears and they have pretty bad eyesight. So.

[B]

But this guy said, I see my Lord and savior, Heather.

[A]

I should just post a picture I took of the snake in the group, but I'm worried that people are scared.

[B]

People will freak.

[A]

People were that he was just a

[B]

little baby and I knew Heather was gonna save him. So I be like, you little baby boy, what are you doing in Google class?

[A]

I said. Then I put him outside and he just sat with me and I said, no, no, no, you leave. There's a bird that's close to eye on you.

[B]

He said, I want to be another one of your pets.

[A]

The most exciting part of cookie class, we also. Well, we'll talk about cookie class in a second. So today is April 7th, and what we're going to be talking about is some of the data we gathered from the pre sales bootcamp. It's not a sales pitch as much as it is a recap of the the pre sales boot camp that completed

[B]

those who didn't sign up for the pre sales bootcamp. So it's the cookie business bootcamp. It was all about pre sales in the pre sales group. We asked a bunch of questions to see what people are doing, what they're not doing, what's working for them, what's not working for them, and if you didn't sign up for the presale bootcamp, but you're a little curious as to what went on in there. This is a podcast for you.

[A]

I find it interesting the pre sales are included in the cookie college membership. So we have a lot of business centric cook years that will come from the cookie college, boot the cookie college group and go to the bootcamp. So the data points are, I think, really dialed in because these are people who are actually in the field doing it. And then it's a mix of the people who just bought admission to that one bootcamp. And so that's why I like this. My quote. I'm sorry, what's coming up? This is sugar cookie marketing group, an aspect of the sugar cookie marketing Facebook group. Corey said, I'd like to listen to stuff. Why I bake. So then we added this. And you guys have been supporting it by listening for over five years. And this is episode 255.

[B]

255. 255.

[A]

Coming up in the next in the next month is Pipe Apart Collab. More on that later. The Flowers cookie class kit Corey's working on. What's Popping Con is next weekend and the upcoming 3D printing bootcamp. Because each month a boot camp drops, right? Yes. Why do you look dazed and confused? Dazed and confused.

[B]

Because that's a lot of boot camps. That's 12 new courses in 2026.

[A]

And that is not 12 new. It's 12 new boot camps, which are courses. It's 12 new class kits, which are everything you need to teach a cookie class. It's 12 new digital download kits and it's probably a hundred transfer sheets.

[B]

And that's why I'm dazed and confused. Do you have a quote for us?

[A]

I do. Sales is not about selling anymore, but about building trust and educating.

[B]

Siva Divaki I totally agree. I a thousand percent agree.

[A]

This quote will come back to haunt us in the final aspect of this podcast today. Twintellect. Oh, Pinteresting. It's your twin.

[B]

I know, I know. But I had to build it up. I had to build up this

[A]

podcast topic today. The pre sales bootcamp dropped on Wednesday and it lasted until Friday. Members get added to a private Facebook group for the duration of the bootcamp where we take polls, ask questions, give each other tips and tricks, we talk about worksheets, and then we do the reminders when the modules drop. So modules dropped on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and then everyone got booted on Sunday. Actually give you guys till Monday because they asked, because they. They wanted to see the content. And then the group resets for the next bootcamp. So within the three days, here are some interesting topics we covered. If you're ever interested in pre sales, Corey, you had a pre sale this weekend. I mean, pickup was on Friday for Easter. Did you have any no shows?

[B]

I had one no show who texted me later and I said, your stuff's out by the door.

[A]

Get it before the snake stop do. Which we talked about. I talked about in my module that you like to threaten a good time, but then you always do the whole it's on the po.

[B]

The Porch. It's on the porch.

[A]

Here's the problem.

[B]

When someone does get their order that they've paid for, it behooves me and my business. Because when you're a happy customer, you come back. When people don't show up for their orders, they have more of a bad taste in their mouth because one, they didn't get their order. Two, they didn't get to taste the cookies, they might not come back. So it, it does behoove me. But I have learned over my years of doing this that if they miss their window where I was a happy professional business owner, that's on them after that. That's you.

[A]

And my front door gets annoyed. Did they come and pick it up later?

[B]

She came and picked it up while we were at class on Saturday.

[A]

Oh, she was a whole daylight.

[B]

She asked to come that night and she texted way too late. I did on text back.

[A]

Ah, did she? What was the reasoning for missing the

[B]

she said and I listen, you can

[A]

give me any excuse you want to.

[B]

She said I didn't have my phone on me all day.

[A]

Oh, did you?

[B]

Not in 2026?

[A]

Well, we talked about sending reminder emails on Monday prior to so I actually

[B]

emailed her the day before with a reminder. She's she's a really good custom order client. She orders throughout the year. She's not necessarily a great pre sale client for this. So she gets my reminder email on Thursday instantly sends me a text, can remind me tomorrow. I sent her a text being nice because she has some orders on the books for this year already and she did not respond. It just said delivered and the day came and the day left.

[A]

Wow. That's actually one of the texting questions today. So we'll get back to the logic there because there's not a ton of it that I'm seeing. But yeah. Okay, let me before we let me do I'll go back and forth from the boot camp polls that we took and then questions I have for your you're sure Pre sale Boot camp poll number three was pre sale or pre order. Which do you call it? Of the respondents I'm going to tell you what they noted an overwhelming said 79% said they call it a pre order and the comment was that one time the twins said it sounded weird to say pre sale. So I was going through your pre order pre sale and you're calling pre order. But we do reference them. I see most bakers ask it in the group hey guys, I'm having a pre sale which I find it was Interesting that most people will say I'm having a pre sale in a cookie community group trying to get help with it. But they're saying that to their clients they call it preorder, which is what you do as well.

[B]

We've talked about industry lingo and it's common within the cookie people to say pre sales. I'm not sure where the term originally originated with, but me and Heather, before we entered the cookie world had never heard of the word pre sale. We have heard of pre ordering. That's common throughout a lot of different industries. So what I decided to do, instead of calling it pre sales where it does not necessarily make sense, pre ordering does make a little bit more sense to the common man.

[A]

I wonder if pre ordering, when I think of pre ordering I always think of a merch drop and a wall, a water bottle, something like that. Right. Something that has a long shelf. I'm wondering if there was pre order sounded like it's already been baked and now I'm just trying to get rid of it. Which is not wise in the terms.

[B]

Maybe you're right. Yeah.

[A]

Maybe pre sales. The problem with the word sale, pre sale.

[B]

It sounds like a discount. Is that what you're hearing there? And these cookies aren't discounted by any stretch. So pre sale you're having to do a little bit of expl explaining in the whole process. Whereas pre order a little bit more comments. So you kind of know what you're doing. And I feel like even you know, with fast food restaurants, as I was in Chick Fil a the other day, it said don't stand in line order on the app. Like pre order on the app to avoid the line. So I think it's becoming more commonplace that just because you pre order something doesn't necessarily mean it's been made and sitting.

[A]

Yeah. The. Those biggest, best kept secret of the cookie world is the ability to freeze cookies, I think.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And maintain freshness. And you know, cello wrap a cookie and it tastes the day it was baked. I think that that's lost on people. But we walk into the grocery store and I see a line of Oreos that we trust that in that packaging are going to be fresh. But for some odd reason, freshly baked and frozen are two mutually exclusive things. They are our mind of the consumer. I know. Yeah. I went to Walmart the other day and I got three frozen salmon. You thought. And then you bake it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But I. It just was fascinating because it was, it was like, hey, it's been frozen. This is very healthy. Salmon. Like there's no maggots in it.

[B]

Did you see where you have to over explain now? Like now you're doing two jobs. You're marketing the freshness and marketing the Salomon.

[A]

Yeah, I would say my, my take is that I would not try to educate necessarily my clients. Like I wouldn't take a proactive campaign of the education of the benefits of freezing cookies with my clients. I don't think that they necessarily need to know, except for on a case by case basis where somebody's like, hey, oh, turns out I'm not having the wedding shower after all. Can I cancel? And you're like, no, these are already baked. But great news, you can freeze them. Here's how this works. That's when I would implement that. But I do like back to the pre sale, pre order thing. Pre order, I see that word a lot. Like Corey said, she's seeing it on apps. Pre sale. I don't know. I can think of an instance that I've seen it outside of the cookie industry. I'm not saying it doesn't exist. It's just not common.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. So that's why I think the majority of us voted on pre order since it's more commonplace and you're not having to explain it to your customers. They just naturally understand it.

[A]

Like it Boot camp poll number four. I just took these out of randomly out of the group. Which school related holiday listed here is the better pre sale seller for you?

[B]

That's all right.

[A]

The better free sale seller for you. So I gave you four options.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Back to school graduation, teacher appreciation and last day of school.

[B]

I know it's going to be between teacher appreciation and the first day of school. And I kind of want to say it's the first day of school.

[A]

Oh, no. By a long shot. 72%. It's teacher appreciation. Oh, nice. 72%. That one is also what's upcoming. So I wonder how much of that is just biased towards the fact it's the next upcoming holiday. Yeah.

[B]

And I mean as Easter's ending, people are already posting their teacher appreciation says

[A]

right back to school is only 8%. Graduation was 16%. 72% was teacher appreciation. 4% was last day of school. I kind of think of it this way. Teacher appreciation. The kids are in school. So the pre sale business model works really well for that.

[B]

It's, it's 100 gifting.

[A]

It's a gifting one.

[B]

So if you're doing pre sales, it's really. Your audience is different than like custom orders. And they have a wider variety of people to buy for. You have your bus drivers, your teachers, teachers, assistants, front office staff. Whereas the last day of school, you're. You could buy for the teachers, maybe your kid back to school. Though I thought it'd be bigger because you're buying for the same amount of people. But maybe you're like, I want to see how you deal with my son and daughter before I give you a treat.

[A]

Yeah. Also, you wouldn't really know, I don't think. I don't have kids going to school. I don't have kids at all. I guess you wouldn't really know who the staff is. Back to school. Do you give Archer's teachers gifts the day he goes back to school? Have you ever? Sometimes I do.

[B]

I have, yes.

[A]

Anything to get.

[B]

When I did those. Remember that time I did a pre sale of those pencil cookies? Sold 100. That was for back to school first day.

[A]

Interesting. Will you be doing that again, Ms. Pre Sailor?

[B]

Well, I did find the boxes. And as you know, pre sales are great way to get rid of packaging. I was considering counting them out, see what I could know.

[A]

We talked about that, what Corey mentioned. There's a great point. Pre sales have pros and cons, as everything does in life. But pre sales, that's pros. It puts so much power back in the hand of the baker to control everything. If you are a personality that likes high control, pre sales are probably a great fit for you because you can do stock management. So let's say Cory's like, well, I only have three of these backers. I'm just going to sell only three of these to clear that out. Or if you have a weird amount of seven or something like that, yeah, you can say, I'm going to clear this out. And once the stock, which we talked about using drop form, we can do stock management. Once that sells out, then I'm sold out. Instead of wasting that inventory.

[B]

Yeah, wasting the inventory.

[A]

You're just.

[B]

That's just throwing money away right into the trash can, limiting your options and saying, I can do three of these pencils on this cute backer that maybe sold last year and I just didn't sell out. If the pack of 25 is a great way to unload the rest and

[A]

still make some cashish. Now if you're like, well, then I have to bake an extra, you know, design. No, like in Corey's presale, she had two different backers that I saw. It was a chicken and a bunny. But both of the chicken and the bunny, which I think were from Ms. Cookie Packaging, possibly.

[B]

Honestly, one was from Ms. Cookie Packaging, one was not.

[A]

They looked very similar though. They were both holding the same egg design. Egg cookie.

[B]

The egg was identical. But it was so funny. What sold out better between the two? The bunny sold out. I sold 10 of those. The chick I offered 10 sold one of those. The cookie in the photo, identical. I literally just switched out the backer. But in the bunny's hand it looked bigger.

[A]

Interesting. So was it bunny back or smaller?

[B]

The bunny backer, it was just shaped differently because the chick had a wider midsection.

[A]

It did, yeah.

[B]

So that's what in the pre sale group, when I posted that up, someone says, you know, honestly, the egg looks bigger in the bunny's hands.

[A]

That's so funny. That's a good point. Yeah. And then within Jotform, within stock management, you can also do variant management. So Corey could essentially have one product, egg cookie and then have bunny option, chick option if you wanted to. So I thought that was interesting that teacher appreciation, by and large is. 72% of respondents said their best pre sale. So if you were considering a pre sale, how's your time to shine? Because that's coming up. That's in four weeks.

[B]

It's the first week of May, so you have a little bit of time. I think it's more May 4th through 8th is what I have on my calendar.

[A]

I saw Amy asking an interesting question. She says, when is teacher appreciation? Well, it's actually almost a week long. And so the, the answers people are giving her is that the school kind of picks which day to celebrate it.

[B]

I find in my son's years at schools and has gone to many different schools, they do a themed day each day and celebrated all week long.

[A]

Interesting. Are you doing. He's in high school now. Do people do it for high school teachers?

[B]

Last year I bought the entire high school teacher. I bought all the teachers in the school and the staff pizza, which was nice. But I do have this.

[A]

Put that little halo on top of your head, I guess.

[B]

I have these apples. They're big plastic apples. I've had them for two years and I'm ready to let them go. But I'm gonna put green tread in the bottom. And then five dollar gift cards to different places like one for Subway, one for Starbucks with little mini apple cookies in there. And I'm gonna seal it up and each teacher will get a little. And you can open up and you'll

[A]

have your little gift card. Yeah, I do think, I think you know, our aunt worked for the school. She said the last day of school, she would get a lot of gifts. Or was that Teacher Appreciation? I just remember going through it.

[B]

It's according to teachers, they get the most gifts on Teacher Appreciation Week, but they also get a few gifts at the end of school. It's. It's a wash up. But it's always more on Teacher Appreciation Week. And that's because a lot of times the schools market it to the parents of the students. So I'll get an email and says, just so you know, it's Teacher Appreciation Week. Wink, wink, wink. If you wanted to do something, there's

[A]

a week to do it.

[B]

Or they'll ask for donations. Like, hey, we're trying to throw ice cream party one time. The school that my son goes to now hired a road coach. What do you call this food truck? They're fancy now. And then it was covered.

[A]

Covered.

[B]

So every teacher could go out at lunch and get whatever they wanted to get. So the parents paid for that event.

[A]

The. An aside. A food truck. They are everywhere. Here in Northern Virginia, specifically, you can download an app. They're everywhere. The food looks phenomenal, but it is the price of sitting at a restaurant, except for it really is.

[B]

I guess you're getting authentic. It's, like, made in front of you.

[A]

Oh, it's fresh. But. So the restaurant food was made behind me. What do I care? No, I know.

[B]

And you don't have ac and there's no refillable drink.

[A]

That's the thought of either eating my car, which would make my skin crawl. I can't stand spills, or eating standing up or eating sitting on a curb. None of those are appealing to me.

[B]

Some of the ones by my house have a picnic table that you can sit at for a brief moment of time.

[A]

I. The food is so good looking on these trucks because they're hyperspecific and because they don't have overhead, they can kind of be very versatile in their menus. Yeah, I found a one here, and it's a grilled cheese food truck. That sounds delicious. It looked delicious. But that price was like $18. Like, like, I'm so sorry. The.

[B]

The mar.

[A]

Oh, no. I had tons of, like, meats in it. Like, okay, that looked phenomenal, but then I would have to eat it in a weird place. Or, okay, then I hear you say, we'll just drive it home. But now it's. Now it's older. It was.

[B]

But I want to say a lot of people who do the Uber eats and Those things, which I've never partaken in my life, would probably be fine with the drive home.

[A]

I know I do not. I am somebody who says, I know baked into the price, is sitting at the. Using the restaurant's AC and ambiance and that refill on the diet Coke. So always going to opt for a restaurant. There's people who would never opt for a restaurant.

[B]

I. I know. I'm on. I'm off. Obviously your counterpart at the table.

[A]

Here's the thing. I wouldn't eat inside like a chick fil A. You won't find my.

[B]

Oh, I will eat in a chick fil A. Put my body in there.

[A]

I'll take a p. What are you staring at? The screaming children?

[B]

No. I love to listen to what other people are saying. So I'll just sit there quietly, listen to the conversation and soak it all in. Taking it all in.

[A]

My sisters are married, but when I go to a restaurant by myself, the restaurant naturally wants to put me at the bar because I'm by myself. But I think they think I'm opting for this. So I said, no, I'm not opting. So I went to Olive Garden by myself. And I was like, hey, just a table for one. And she's like, would you like to sit at the bar? Okay. You know, but you can say, no, no, I'm gonna flip over the table. Okay. Continue with pre sales instead of your eating habits. Okay. This one was not a. This one was. Give me. It says, what's one pre sales tip you'd share with this group? And I just took answers. This was Sarah. She said, pay attention to the school schedule. I always offer teacher cookies. I forgot the kids were off Friday, so I had to bump up a bunch of pickups last minute. Teacher cookies always do well for me on Easter.

[B]

This. This year, for whatever reason, they got the week off beforehand. Sometimes they get the week off after.

[A]

Or it's like.

[B]

Like sandwiched in there. So the students got off the entire week before. So it was like April 1st to the 5th. They had no school.

[A]

So that means you had to do

[B]

your part, your pickups the last day of March, March 31, in order to get it to the teachers.

[A]

Oh, but teacher appreciation is like in a. In a month.

[B]

I think she's talking about her Easter ones because a lot of people had to do March 26th, 28th.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

To get them to teachers in time. There's a little bit more grace because students don't get off for teacher appreciation Week. So you have just about any time within that week to do it.

[A]

So if the. Okay. In determining your pickup day, would you choose a day where the kids are in school or not in school?

[B]

So because people who do pre sales, people who buy from pre sales are external, they're gift givers.

[A]

Right.

[B]

You really want to focus if there's an or gift that they can give teachers. A lot of people are.

[A]

I don't understand that. Just this is a random aside. Forget every holiday. If the parents kids were in school, would you set up the pickup to be that day? Or if the parents had kids out of school. If you had two days right next to each other, one the kids are in school, one the kids are with the parents, which one would you force the parent to come pick up with?

[B]

You'd have to really kind of understand your audience. A lot of my audience also works. So they work throughout the week as well. Having a day where you know that they're with their kids and they're not working, you're going to get more people to be able to pick up versus people having to opt out because you know they're at work or they have their kids are at school and they have to go to the pickup line and things like that. Having longer pickup hours is what I typically do. So I have pickups throughout the day and into the evening to make up for that. I don't like double pickup days because my brain just, I can, I can have it on for a solid nine hours, but having it on for two nine hour days, it's a little harder.

[A]

Bang on, turn off girl. Okay, this one, Ashley G. Says keep it simple with the clapping emojis, similar colors across designs, the least number of steps possible. I agree. I think it could be pre sales fun because the baker gets to do what they want. You always see that burnout is everyone keeps ordering Labu cookies and I don't want to do them anymore. Yeah, what was that thing when they. Oh yeah, the, the cookie wish list. The cookie bucket wish list where the baker's like I would love to do the set. Nobody's ordering it from me. So if you order from me, I'll give it to you at a discount. Pre sales put all the power back in the hands of the baker to bake what they want. I think that's a double edged sword because as Ashley said, you could get very complex and have a million different colors and, and it would be cute. But that's eating into your profit which the pre sale profits go.

[B]

Me and Heather talked about it in the Live we did in the group. Every cutter shop job is to make more cutter design. So you'll have Kaleida cuts has probably 20 different bunnies over the years because it behooves them to make more bunnies. That's what bakers want. But then you have bakers who think everything is cute. Every new thing, every new idea. I want to do 6, 7. I want to do Labubu. So you'll end up offering everything because it's all adorable. It. That's how they market to bakers. It's stinking adorable. And then you end up offering everything. Maybe you offer, you know, the inches of bright green and you got red and white. But then you offer more subdued sets. Now you're in the kitchen making a million different colors. I see that when Advent calendar time comes around, if you're not priced properly, you're gonna hate doing Advent calendars because you either have 12 different designs. Sometimes people do duplicate and have 24, but some people do 24 different designs. And that's a lot of colors, a lot of mixing. And that can make you burn out

[A]

and hate pre sales. Now, I noticed on yours, you had the religious cookie across, but it was in green and had flowers next to it. And I assume that pink was the same one used in that Easter egg. It was.

[B]

You are correct.

[A]

Where did you. I think you use green somewhere else too. The green.

[B]

Green was on the top of the carrot.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

The blue was the background for a different carrot.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

And the brown being the only one for that one that I did make.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

I couldn't. I couldn't work them into another one.

[A]

So how did you approach. I know there. There's the blend of what's popular, right? Yeah, it's trending right now. There's also the blend of what sells. The. The question of what looks good by itself. Right. Sure. There's some cookies that need the set to prop them up, but pre sale cookies are typically by themselves, so they need to stand up in there. And then there's what matches the backer of the tag. Yes.

[B]

And. And all those working together makes you have a really strong pre sale. If they all look like they came out of different places and it's a million different colors and you're like, got a lot of clash. People are going to tend to scroll by. You want things that pop off the thing. So as we go into teacher appreciation, we know reds are going to be big apples are red. What you'll see me stay away from is pencils. Pencils Actually have a ton of different colors. You have the yellow, you have the silver, you have the pink eraser, the ivory tip, and then the black tip of the pencil. That's five different colors in one design. An apple, a lot easier. Well, apple without a, without a leaf, man. We're working with two colors there. So I know I'm gonna have white because the helping me grow the flowers, I, I. Ben, look, I already have them baked and everything. I sat them on the table and said what colors can run through. So in the flower, you have the yellow center. That yellow center will also be a ruler on a different cookie so that they're all working together there. So I have red for an apple. The apple design will be rather simple. And there's black on there because black will also be on the ruler. Do you see where we're tying them all in? So I'm not spending so much time

[A]

in the kitchen me. Not the baking twin, nor the cookie class kits designing twin. But I have a new respect to what. Every Saturday, Corey will come over to my mom's house and she'll make us all rate the set. And then we'll always be like, we should add a taco. And she's like, that's green yet. There's no green in this yet. So I was like, oh. Corey's like, it has to be like the continuity of the colors, the design, the restrictions within that, and then the theme itself.

[B]

Yeah. Cohesive sets have the color appear on more than one cookie. So when you're working with a cookie classes set, you want the colors to appear on multiple cookies. It ties it in together. And that's your goal also for pre sales is to have the same colors tie in throughout all your options. So you're not making so many different icing bags full of colors running out, having to go back down to the kitchen, try to remake the color that you made, which you don't know what it was because it was a mixture of whatever you had left over.

[A]

Cory had broken some carrots, and I put her in a real foul mood. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

And, and that's something I learned from my Easter Pre sale is on cookies that are delicate. Unless you, your profits are your profits. And you know, Ms. Cookie Packaging isn't going to take a hit on her pricing. So that is locked in. You know, Domino's. The price of your powdered sugar, that's locked in. They're never going to take it.

[A]

Pizza. And you took a left right there.

[B]

Domino's Powdered sugar is what I use. So when it comes to taking a hit with something, it's always what comes out of your own pocket or your business's pocket. So either it's costing me time and money, or it's costing my business time and money. If you're not priced correctly, you could be working your whole pre sale for free.

[A]

So.

[B]

So I broke two carrot cookies that had already been baked. The dough had already been used. So I'm back down in the kitchen making too many carrot cookies. Do you see my frustration now? Frustrated, yeah. So we gotta wait for the dough to thaw, we gotta wait for the oven to preheat the time. Just sitting there waiting, rolling out the dough, cutting those two cookies, baking them 13 minutes in the oven, and then the time decorating. So what I learned through my pre sale is those things that are breakable, that I know have a chance to let me bake a few extra to save me the time in the kitchen. If I get to add those to an extra order, great. If I get to make a whole extra thing and maybe sell it the day of, fantastic. But having those in the flanks just in case, it's going to save me a lot of time and money because I was taking a hit on those little tiny carrots.

[A]

I know we talked about this in the group, but I didn't pull the question out here. But I think it's tempting when you hear pre sale or pre order, putting the power back in the hand of the bakers and I can do the designs I want. I think it's easy to think, well, I'll do all the designs because the more options I have, the more sell, the more people will want because I'm hitting all of the diverse things. But then we have the analysis paralysis conundrum. I think we talked about it in the live or in the marketing module. The too many jams, nobody buys the jams. We are more scared of losing out than we are of gaining. And when we have so many options, the thought of losing out increases in our brains. It doesn't decrease. Which I think is kind of funny.

[B]

If you're a baker listening to this, you know what Heather's saying. Because if you go to a cutter shop that has 5,000 different listings and you know you only to pay one shipping, you tend to go through each and every, let me see what I can get. Let me see what cutter I don't have. That I could just add to this order so I don't miss out on the shipping. But because there's 5,000 different listings, life happens. Your Kid comes home, your timer on the oven starts beeping. You have to abandon your cart because you couldn't go through all the things. So I don't want to miss out. I'm not ready to place my order. But you didn't place an order at all. And that's because there's too many options that you can't just get to the end and be like, all right, I think I'm happy because you have 17 more pages of cookie cutters left to comb through.

[A]

I can feel that. I can feel that on myself. When there's too many options, I panic. I. When you go to, like, I don't even call them nicer restaurants, but more boutique restaurants, non chains. And they give you the one piece of paper.

[B]

Yeah. I find like, there's enough.

[A]

There's five choices here. There's five things I can get. So odds are they're going to be pretty good. But when I see, like, you know, okay, every time I go to Cheesecake Factory with that massive menu, I will always get the same thing. You guys wondering that it is the lettuce, Thai, Asian tacos, which is lettuce delectable. But I will always get that because it is overwhelming. It is overwhelming.

[B]

I mean, Heather have sat through the cheesecake menu at the Cheesecake Factory, and I'm just reading words out, not knowing. Cookie butter versus snickerdoodle snacks. I don't know.

[A]

And then so we end up. What happens between you and I is we get a cake cheesecake to share. That's how it always comes down to. And then we are like, well, maybe we should have gone with this. We went to Coastal Flats, which is a more boutique restaurant, and they only have five things on the dessert menu at any given time. And one of those is key lime pie. We got it and we said nothing. Negative. There was no other key lime rear pie to compare it to.

[B]

There was nothing I feel like I missed out on because I don't like the bread pudding. So. Because I don't like the bread pudding. Key lime is already a favorite in my eyes and was going to be a winner because. Because it's always a winner there. They only have five options. We've eaten through all the options. Can't go wrong with key lime versus when you have cheesecake, which is like so many options. I'm like, well, we got the Oreo. We should have done the caramel one.

[A]

There's so many cheesecake options. However, I hope Cheesecake Factory never changes its business model. I like the thought of One restaurant.

[B]

I like the idea that I can have it, but it is analysis paralysis. And when we have microwave mindsets where people are clicking to your pre sale order form and they have that minute time to really seal the deal and make the sale, we don't want them clicking away because they can't be choose between the Grinch holding the six seven and the Ghost holding the six seven. We want to do one trendy one and then we want to let them be on their way.

[A]

I like that especially for pre sale where we do have more options than like customs which are, you know, custom. Stephanie P. Has a great one. She said advertise different ways and don't sleep on any of them. I advertise through Early Bird newsletter. That's where she gets most of her orders. Business Facebook and Insta Post. Business Facebook and Insta Stories. Personal Facebook and Insta Stories. I like that one. Local Facebook groups. I do four different groups. Facebook Marketplace. I do this in a staggered manner throughout the week. My pre sales live and when the new orders come through, it's almost always within an hour of one of the above postings.

[B]

Yeah, unfortunately as bakers, you thought you were just going to be baking.

[A]

You're not.

[B]

When you open a business, you are now a marketer and a baker and the admin and everything. If you post once and think that's going to sell you out, we would all be doing pre sales because it doesn't work like that. You have to be everywhere your customers are. After a while, after you are consistent with your pre sales, you're going to collect the audience that likes your pre sale options. It's going to be a little bit easier. You got to do a little bit less marketing.

[A]

Which is why she has an early Bird newsletter where she gets most rewards. I'll guarantee she built that brick by brain through other methods. Now she doesn't have to necessarily focus on the other methods. If she sells out through this newsletter. Oh yeah, I mean is preconditioned too. Fish in a barrel.

[B]

And she's created the barrel and she's put all her fish in there. When people just, they tend to skip over posting on their own Facebook page. Facebook, your Facebook page is a big barrel. It's a giant barrel. So if you've ever, you know, posted in a group and you've told your family about it, you, you ask people to click the three buttons and invite everyone they knew, that's your giant barrel. It's not necessarily a pre sale barrel, it's a big barrel. But that's still a place that you could utilize when people are like, well, I posted on my own page, on my own profile and didn't post on my page. What's your barrel doing? Like, there's still fish in that barrel that can buy from your presale. But she's made hers hyper specific so that when she does a pre sale, next time it's less harsh. Porsche. And she could possibly sell out just

[A]

with her newsletter that she sends. I know marketplace people love it or they hate it, but marketplace is hard for customs because you have to put a price. And then someone's like, I'll take it. But then you're like, oh, no, you guys wanted more. But for pre sales, it works pretty well because that is a predetermined price. It's set price. You just market it there. I was saying this in the module on marketing a pre sale. Imagine you have all four miracle sisters, Ashley, Summer, Corey and Heather. But none of us can be reached through the same marketing avenue. So Summer likes TikTok lives, Corey likes. Where do you find yourself most on social media? Instagram.

[B]

I, I don't love Instagram. I love TikTok feeds, like put whatever in there.

[A]

You'll find me in a community group and you'll find Ashley on Instagram. Yeah. If you had to sell and get each miracle sister to buy, you would have to post to four different avenues to reach us all. That's how you have to consider your pre sale, because in each one of these avenues is a hidden customer waiting to be found. Sold to. You want to buy a watch, right? So I think some of us, a lot of times, like I try pre sales, they don't work. So I go to your page and you did spam your page, but you didn't do the stories and you didn't do in Instagram. And you said you don't like TikTok and you said that you never use anything. There's a man walking in the backyard.

[B]

You might have skipped out on the community groups because you feel like it's oversaturated in there. You can't leave anything on the table. You can't say, I've tried nothing and nothing's working. You have to try everything. And I, I tell you, if you're anything like me, we all probably started off with custom orders. You made a few cookies, Someone said, oh, my, my kids having a birthday, do you mind making them? And we've launched it and we showed all of our custom orders and we've gotten people who like custom orders. They're very internal people. They like to celebrate within their homes, invite people over. Whereas pre sale people are external. They like gift giving. Those two aren't the same. So to post your page of 400 people and imagine that they're all pre sale orderers, that's insane on your part. But it's also insane to be like, well, they don't work for me, but you have to go out and find those people. And they're out there. I promise you. The kids are in school. People are constantly joining the pre sale force because their kids are joining kindergarten for the first time.

[A]

I like that one. This is actually from you. You posted in the same thread. Bake extras of things that break easily, like carrot cookies. Because I had to add a. Thaw the dough, mix more icing, decorate two broken ones after I'd finished everything. Which Corey just told you.

[B]

Yeah, punch in there. Granted, I had an Easter order, custom order for also Easter and there was carrots involved in that, so. So I was able to use the same icing. But boy, if you have to think, if you're. If you're pricing so close and your margins are so thin, that could really put you under. And while you are making sales, you

[A]

might not be making money.

[B]

So the goal for the pre sales is to really create an audience that has a big buying power. I know I've done DIY kit pre sales for years. And I told Heather if she helped me set up my form or whatever, I'd split these with her, even though that was not even part of the work.

[A]

Like six years ago.

[B]

Okay. Heather was like $600. And I said, yeah. I said, when you're selling them for $35 each, people want them around Thanksgiving.

[A]

So, okay. I had to put off on the shoulder of an interstate and then a policeman had to pull over and asked me what I was doing and I said, I'm trying out my sister with her cookies.

[B]

No, this was more recent. You don't even recall because it was such easy money for you. Is when I first moved into this home.

[A]

Oh yeah, maybe. Which was four years ago.

[B]

Pretty recently if you consider that we've been on the planet for 37.

[A]

I accidentally. This is from Autumn. I accidentally kind of made brand ambassadors out of my family. My wife and my mom talk about my cookies so much that their co workers are always highly interested. I make flyers for my pre sales that they hang up at work, which, hey, listen, Corey could get a ton of orders from my family. She just doesn't oddly want to take them I'm. I've. I need an order from Corey, which I even pay for it for real estate cookies. For the real estate agent here who says as soon as I told her about you, she was like, I have so many people who I could refer granted, Cory is not in the state. But all of those connections within your family can. You know, everyone in your family has a job. Everyone in your family has kids that go to school. Everyone in your family. You know, my grandmother goes to a Bible study that cor bake cookies for. Ended up selling cookies for. For to.

[B]

And I've got. Yeah, someone from the Bible study.

[A]

You guys have such a network.

[B]

And me and Heather aren't even as involved in our community as we could be. Like, there's pta, there's church functions, there's the soccer team, there's your kids ballet. Those are all ways to get your name out of there. And I, I know that you just said that she posted to her personal profile.

[A]

That's fantastic.

[B]

She collects people there. I'm not friendly enough to have people that are local on my personal profile as friends, but what a great way people that already know you from. Maybe they pass you by in the breezeway at church.

[A]

And like I didn't know you offered

[B]

cookies and things like that and you collect them in one place.

[A]

Yeah, I really like that. Those are two different people. It's Autumn who said the brand ambassador, Stephanie, who used her personal bridge. But I like all of these. You can kind of see where pre sales have a really nice niche because it allows you to know what you're offering before you have to kind of really bake it the second time and grant you how to make your. Your samples, which we talked about. So I think it was even Autumn who asked it. Or is this. But they were like, hey, do I have to make the samples each time? Yeah, that's how you're going to move more product. Like in a perfect world. No. But in our local foodies group, I know the temptation is to use AI generated because I'm going to make them anyways. In our local foodies group, they finally banned any AI generated content, even down

[B]

to the caption they said no. So they said any AI graphics, any AI written captions?

[A]

No Go.

[B]

In the foodies group, probably a number one heavy hitter for a lot of bakers to do their advertising because they let you advertise every weekend.

[A]

Weekend.

[B]

The thing is, if you want your

[A]

pre sale to succeed, you have to

[B]

do the pieces to make it succeed. So creating your own things sometimes I

[A]

see people do a pre sale and

[B]

they've used the cutter image from the cutter shop.

[A]

And you had talked about that on the recap Q and A live. And Corey had said, that's hard for, it's hard for me. You know, Corey's got me printed. She got me, she got an order from coach. Congratulations. But I'm printing the cutter. But I'm like looking at this shape and I'm like, I'd never be able to figure out what this is.

[B]

Yeah, it's easier for bakers who have looked through thousands of cookie cutter files to be able to kind of picture what a cookie would look like at the end. To everyone else it looks like a cartoon coloring book. And to say like, this is the idea that I have and it's, you know, got Kaleida Cuts written all over it. You're, you're doing mixed messaging. You're asking a lot of your audience to, to picture something that isn't even there. And then you're like, well, only a few orders trickled in or I was able to create my, my samples a week beforehand. When it's all locked and loaded. When you have all the pieces there, you have a recipe for success. When you try to cut corners, you get a little tired, a little lazy, and you post a graphic from a cutter shop. I, I, you will make sales, but you also will miss out on sales and you won't know the sales that you miss out on.

[A]

That's true. True. Another one is I get by with a little help from my friends. Winky face. I only do three pre sales a year. Easter, back to school, and Christmas. And I have two strategies and I try to switch it up. So a strategy, share to my personal page with a little blurb about liking sharing to help boost engagement. B, in my newsletter, I asked them to share one of my holiday social media posts and then I offer a discount. I don't verify. I just have them put it in the comments on the order form. Similar to the collabs. It's a way to boost engagement and make my presale post more invisible. I really like like that. I think sometimes we're like, our prices are price, don't ask for discount. No, no, no, no. Your price is your price and it's got a built in profit margin that you can play around with once your costs are covered. Once we have profit, we can still discount within that profit to gain traction. And what she's saying is, she's saying if you guys go to my page and share, would Be easy to be like, did you share it? Did you share the post? The goal was making the sale. So she says, if they're filling out my order form, they're already buying from me. And if they say, well, I shared it, whether or not, you know, whether or not you can verify it, privacy settings, she's like, hey, I still got the order. And hopefully they did it. And hopefully it boosted engagement.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What's a little discount?

[B]

Yeah, a little discount. If it's DIY kit, you add an extra cookie to it. There's ways that you can incentivize your customers. And when it's such a heavy algorithmic world, we can't be like, well, I think it's cringy that Heather comments on Corey's things. Because guess what? I'm going to make Heather comment on Corey's things. It's she's my built in and womb made. Gosh darn if I don't use that to my advantage.

[A]

Same with your friends and family and you commenting on your own post to add more additional details. If you feel weird about it, you don't have to be like, wow, this look great, Corey. Thanks, Corey. I love you, Corey. You can be like, hey, guys. And hey, just adding a little more. I see bakers add more photos in the, in the comment section. But yeah, people talking and liking and stuff like that, that's worth its weight in gold. Remember, if somebody is willing, you have this one client. I think she was a little bit of an issue, but she's everywhere now because wherever I'm commenting, she already has. Yeah, you may like be like, oh, that's great. Like how do I get my clients? I don't want to give them a discount, but the cost of a Facebook ad is quite high. So the cost of reach. There's a cost of reach and if you can bake that in with free stuff or a small discount, that's better than paying for the Facebook ad, if you could.

[B]

Me and Heather were just talking about finding new swimsuits. It's so hard to go off the listings online because one, they're AI two, the ladies are have been airbrushed and edited. But what we do go to to is real reviews from people who've posted in the reviews portion. When a customer can sing your praises from the mountaintops, it means so much more than them just going to your page and feeling like they're being sold to. When someone's like, wow, Corey is the best customer service. And our cookies are soft and freshly baked. That's Going to get me so much more sales and her rewarding her customers behind the scenes. Love that. That's a strategy in and of itself.

[A]

Last point, I snagged a poll. Have you completed a pre sale before? 80% of respondents said yes, 19% said not yet, but I plan to. And then 1% said no and I don't plan to. I mean sometimes it's just good to.

[B]

The reason why pre sales are great and the reason why I like pre sales is one, you are in control. You choose the day, you choose the designs, you choose things that make you happy and you actually get to grow your marketing base so much wider because you are dealing with a lot of people versus the one or two custom order audiences you get a week. The cons of it are also just as big. You buy all the packaging, you don't sell it. You make all the samples, the time and energy.

[A]

It doesn't move anything. One of your biggest con was dealing with so many more personalities.

[B]

That is still my con as I've just delved into so many pre sales this year. It's a lot of people people. It's a lot of back and forth. It's a lot of different personalities. It's, you know, some people are quick, they just grab and go. Some people want to chit chat. They want to have like, you know, talk about their entire life. I see the pluses for it. It's a great way to make a lot of money on a single day. But it's not just you turn on pre sales and the faucet of cash just starts flowing. It is a growth thing. And I've been, I mean I've been baking for years and I'm still seeing that I have to market my pre sales because I haven't necessarily grown my pre sale audience.

[A]

This is very interesting. The pre sale business model is one that I think most bakers should consider. If you're considering cookie classes, I think the pre sales is another one. Another one of those differentiated avenues of income generation that could land you a lot of money. Yeah, yeah. This is a business marketing podcast. So that would be the goal. That is the goal.

[B]

And if it's not the goal and you're just baking for the fun of it, I that there's room for you in this space too. But this is for the person who wants to add more revenue to their business and also not burn out by way of custom because you're tired of the baby and bloom set for the

[A]

50th and maybe you, you're like I'd be horrified to teach class. I was even standing in class and I was like, this is a lot of yapping. This is a lot of personalities. You know, having it with a lady who was a perfectionist on my left and in the. The two people didn't even show on my right. And, you know, stuff like that. Yeah, it's just. So if you are like, oh, I want, you know, I feel like based off of my numbers that cookie classes have the highest margin because we can. Because it's instructional. But if you're like, well, customs is just so labor intensive. I want something that's a hybrid of both. Well, you still get to meet the people without having to teach them, but you still get the ease of these smaller designs. It's more. Yeah. Controlled sets. So you're not. They're not. You're not disappointing somebody's expectations when you are the one who created the sample. The customs are like, I sent a picture and they didn't like the way the cherry looked.

[B]

It didn't match this invitation that they had. Like, you're making the colors and everything. Cookiers divide their business into basically three realms. You have custom orders, you have your pre sales, and then you have popups, and then you have cookie classes. Is the extra.

[A]

A lot of vendor markets, if you wanted to add that?

[B]

Yeah, yeah. The more internal people who are like, I'm just not a big people person tend to do those big three. You, you know, want to be behind a shield of the kitchen, you know, and just deal with someone for a few moments of time. And those are great ways to expand your business beyond just customs or just pre sales and not burnout, but add different avenues to your business that will make you so excited about it.

[A]

So if you liked this boot camp, the. The live aspect of it ends after the boot camp ends, but you can still take the courses and watch the live. Live Q A replay. You won't get access to the Facebook group, but if you want to go and check out the past boot camps, they're all available for 13. You can go to the cookie college.com forward/boot camps.

[B]

And someone said, I had Heather film the forms portion because she was the one who ideally, she set up my first form. What's great about these pre sales? I can clone that form and I just clone it. Change a few emojis, change my pickup days and that time saved. And someone says, just the forms portion alone was worth the 13, let alone the rest of them.

[A]

It. I think it's. Yeah, we went through Google Forms, which is free, and we went through the limitations of that platform, but then we did some interconnectivity, some automation so we could be organized. And then we went through Jotform, which is paid after 10 paid submissions per month. And we talked about why it is a better thing to grow into because it has more stock management capability. But if you're like one of those bakers who like, I'm going to sell everything I can and then I. Then I'll go bake then, then Google Forms might be an option. And now it has a lot more. They've. It's not a massive change, but they've incorporated more options. So each question could have an image, which is great for pre sales because we want them to say, how many do you want? So, yeah, we have the Cookie College.com Bootcamp if you want to go join. Our next bootcamp is coming on May 7th and 8th. It's intro to 3D printing cookie cutters. Corey, my student, called me this morning with some printer issues, but she solved them herself. Turns out her filament has gotten too humid, too moisture. Too much moisture. It's causing the filament to split. So I'm giving her a new fresh box of PLA Basic, which if you're like, what are these words she's saying, we'll sit through and go through the bamboo website together as we order the supplies we need. We'll. We'll put the printer together and then we'll print cookies. And it sounds so technical, but when you have somebody holding your hand who's only teaching you how to 3d print a cookie cutter, I think it. That'll be a nice little way to. Now that Corey's tasted of the sweet nectar of no shipping costs. Well, I.

[B]

Even on top of the shipping cost, the problem with waiting to. If we're talking about pre sales, the first to market, the one who markets on time with enough runtime is the one who's going to make the most sales. When you're always waiting on shipping and then, oh, it got here. But now I have to make the samples and everything like that late in the game. So there's a lot of ways that the 3D printer can help. Like, I got an order for Coach, which is great. They want, of course.

[A]

Wonderful. It's great. Yeah, it's great.

[B]

They want specific designs that no cutter shop would have. But what I'm doing is with my 3D printer and with cookie design lab is designing a cutter that will be used for this and to Pay a cutter shop to make me these custom cutters will would cut really into my profits or I'd be handing a big bill over on top of the order. They can pay it or they cannot. They can be like what's this charge right here? But just having this here and knowing that I can print it for 50 cents is a game changer when it comes to corporate orders. When it comes to custom work, getting your pre sales out on time is just, it's, you know, for the two issues I've had with it, it's been a gentleman.

[A]

Them. Yeah. And 3D printers are amazing and they'll have issues because it's just machines in the module. On marketing the pre sale we talk about a six week run time for the average. The Christmas, the holiday holidays that sell better, you need less of a runtime. But six weeks, week one is prep, week five is big. But if week one is order cutters and weight, then week two is actually prep. And now your marketing run time gets shortened which means yeah, you have now

[B]

maybe three weeks in there that you're actually really marketing it and trying to, to rake in the sales. And if you're late on any of that, you're cutting into your marketing time. That's the most important part of this.

[A]

If you are leaving your pre sale form open to week six, the week of pickup, you're, you're pretty stressed and that could be because you didn't start early enough or because you were spending so, so 3D printing. There's no baker. I'm going to tell you shouldn't get a 3D printer. I'm going to tell every baker to get a 3D printer.

[B]

Yeah, now that I'm on this side, it's just I don't even on Etsy, I just say if you don't have an STL file, it ain't for me.

[A]

So if you, if you hear what we're saying and you trust us, May 7th and 8th is going to be the intro to 3D printing cookie cutters boot camp. You can sign [e-mail] I'll have that up later today, but it's out there as well. And that's only 13 bucks. But you also get the discount code to upgrade to the cookie college membership. So the boot camps are one offs. But if you sign up for the cookie college, if you join, you get that 13 back in the form of a discount. And for as long as you're a member of the cookie college, you get access to access to These boot camps, which is how these people are able to come and pick and choose which ones they want to take without any loss there. Yeah.

[B]

And we did the food photography one. Huge. You'll get that in the room. We review. And then we did cookie classes at the beginning of the year, which will just set you up for success. If you start classes now, not necessarily in July, by the time Christmas will just be a. A game changer for you. If you can, you know, practice it with your family and then get it under your belt, it's a whew. I. I love classes. I hate prepping for them. I love the cash to get from.

[A]

Yeah, we had a class on. Well, obviously we had a snake come to our class on Saturday, but it was a lot of fun. We had all completely new. People had never come before.

[B]

I know one was a custom. I custom order client. She is with Make a Wish Foundation. I've just donated cookies to her over the years, and she brought her and her daughter. And then outside of that, we knew nobody.

[A]

See, charitable nominations do pay back, but it did take years for it to pay back. We sold two class tickets to them at 85 a pop, and I get the vibe that they'll come to a future class as well. Yeah, she's sweetheart.

[B]

She is a sweetheart.

[A]

So may 3D printing cookie cutters. That'll be in three weeks. We try to. People say, what's the schedule with boot camps? Last two or three days of the first week of the month. That makes sense. Someone's like, I wish they wouldn't be so close to holidays. They're just falling within the first week of each month. And that will be close to holidays. But the last part of the year, it won't be close to holidays. So you can always go back. They don't expire anymore. We walk that one back. Because you guys were like, hey, I. I don't have time. So now you have access to the content. It's the group that expires. So if you want to be boots on the ground because it's a boot camp, you want to be sign up before they happen. Then you'll get in the week of that bootcamp, and then we'll have all the questions, comments, and workshops. June put a bug in Corey's ear, and she bit. She said, intro to the basics of filming cookie videos. And I told her, I don't want something complex. I want someone who said, I've never filmed a video of my cookie decorating, and I would like to. I mean, that is it like, because Cory's like, well, no, I said no, no. Basics like tell me where to put my phone, tell me which stand to buy, tell me how to do the lighting, tell me how to hit record and then where do I edit it and where do I, how do I post it to Instagram and how do I put my voice on top of it or add audio? So if you guys want, which I'm seeing, the questions are like, just tell me how to get started. Don't tell me how to make a Steven Spielberg production. I just want to know how to get started. That's going to now be our June boot camp. It's going to be on June 4th, July. We're going to do cracking community groups. Obviously Stephanie in the comments had community groups were a massive way for her to clear out of pre sales. I do believe it is the number one lead source right now for bakers. So we definitely want to know because the biggest question is, well, they don't allow sales. So how would we go about using community groups in a way that's compelling sales? If there's a sales restriction or if there's only a day or a thread you can sell on, you can optimize for that. And then in August, I'm going to do Procreate and that's going to be designing and sets in Procreate. I feel like I've taken enough Procreate classes over the years your that I can get you started in the right direction. Granted, it takes a talent that's you're on your own for that. But I can tell you how to use the tools within Procreate to start designing sets.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What do you think of that? You're just looking at. I, I am.

[B]

I, I told people, someone's like, do I get a mockup? I'm like, if you got a mockup for me, you would not buy for me because it's so bad. I'd be using a pencil and a piece of paper.

[A]

We talked about that in the tiered pricing. Good, better, best. Maybe your best tier has designs and that you charge accordingly for granted. If the talent ain't there, just pipe and pray.

[B]

That's what I do.

[A]

When we had somebody come to class and she was learning, she said, I'm here to learn how to sell these. So she said, I just, how are they doing the writing? I was like, it's all projectors. I said, ask Corey to write her name right here and then ask her to pipe it on a cookie. You'll, you'll wonder what Alien took over her body with great penmanship. So. But yeah, there's some same stuff. There's some, there's some shortcuts in Procreate to make you look a little better than you are.

[B]

Yeah. And time is money. So if you can get some shortcuts that will be. I mean to add that I've never sent a rendition of what I'm going to do. I'm sure it's costed me money in the past, but if you can add that to your top tier, I'm sure you're able to make some slam dunk sales.

[A]

Great. Moving on to upcoming events, we have the Pipe park cookie collab. That's in two weeks. I'm going to get the copy to those who registered on Monday. However, if you don't register, you can still join us. I'm going to say try to be available on that Friday at 11:00am Eastern Standard Time to post there because some scheduling people are thinking that they're under shadow ban for scheduling. I schedule but if you want to make sure boots on the ground again. The more active you are in your business, the more activity you'll see. Piper Park Club. You're going to go to a park with a flower cookie and you're going to tell your audience about this local park and then other bakers are going to read about your local park and we're going to say oh my goodness, I love that and engage with that post. Post.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. You're becoming a resource and you're tying yourself to a location. So that's the marketing behind that one.

[A]

We have Main street, the Main Street May Cookie Club. I'm going to post about it today. We've done this every year for the last few years so it's nothing new here but it just does so well for people. It's a great way to get corporate orders, especially in the dry J months of June and July. So we want to. We're putting it in main because the play on words there, Main street, it's done for the pun. Right. But then it also might be a nice little setup. Did you have you thought about which company?

[B]

I thought we might do I think a quarterly intro post to yourself. Intro to the baker post.

[A]

Oh no, I'm sad like who are you featuring for mainstreaming? Oh, oh shoot.

[B]

That. I don't know. Maybe the fig place that just opened. I don't know.

[A]

It's a good one. So how we're picking it is what resonates states which one, which business will your audience say? Oh, I've been there. Right.

[B]

Last time I did this pizza place in this quaint little town right next to us. So that was nice one. And we went there, had pizza, was able to support them and they sold out that day. They said wow, we had too many people.

[A]

You're welcome. Upcoming events what's Popping con is in two weeks going. I'll be speaking on Saturday at 4. Amy, if you're listening and I said the wrong time, please let me know. Cookie con is in 11 weeks. July in Orlando. July. Oh yeah. And then I meant to add this. There is a Cookie Con meetup hosted by Heather Campbell Rookshire and Kim demils Hill Sims that will output. It's actually in the events tab on the Sugar Cookie Marketing Group but I'll post more of it. Just I need to add in my countdowns. The Vendi blendy is in 33 weeks. Thank goodness. But the year's flying by. I mean we're already in April. It's April 7th. We're in April.

[B]

It's insane.

[A]

Upcoming holidays Teacher Appreciation Week. A big seller for people. A great one for pre sales. That's in four weeks. Nurse Appreciation Week. According to you guys, nobody's baking for it. However, I did mention that in the cookie college this week and a girl in a member, she said I live in between three hospitals. It's a great seller for me. So it's going to be like location dependent like Corey said during the pre sales boot camp. Marty GR is not big in Northern Virginia, but if you're in Louisiana it's going to be one you definitely want to hit up. Yeah, Mother's Day is in five weeks. Hit or miss. A lot of you guys say mothers don't buy for themselves. Graduation nine weeks. That was a big seller. People were saying of last day of school, 10 weeks. Father's Day 11 weeks. Now's Father's Day a decent seller.

[B]

It's better than Mother's Day for sure.

[A]

Okay, Summerween. I've added it to the countdown corner and I've been in talks about it.

[B]

I like it. It's getting bigger and bigger every year.

[A]

And that'll be June 27th. Yeah, I did see it kind of get talked about a lot last year.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then the 4th of July is in 13 weeks. Moving on to the STL Me About it segment. If you text into 571-556-5644 you have the chance to win a month of Cookie Design Lab. It's that STL software Corey talked about. It'll also be A portion of the modules of the boot camp that's coming up really, really neat software makes designing cutters a breeding these cookie design lab. If you do not win this week, you could use code twins for 15 off. They have a yearly plan, a monthly plan and I think a seven day pass. Which is great if you just say I just want one cutter. But that 15 off works for those. Yeah.

[B]

And it's easy for someone like me who rarely likes to sit through a how to tutorial. I was able to put something in there, get something out.

[A]

Yeah, really neat little software, very flexible. But just, just it's not inundated with too many features. Like it's like exactly what you need in and out. Here's your SEO.

[B]

That's why I like it. I don't want to be overwhelmed and be like, oh, I just built a, you know, a four story house on accident. Like I just want the cookie cutter and that's all I need.

[A]

Right. We have two texting questions this week. Which one would you like? We'll read them both. But which one wins the number two?

[B]

I think I chose number one last time.

[A]

602 Arizona. If you're listening, you can email me at heather sugarcookiemarketing.com and I'll put you in. You know where I, Corey had a great idea. I think I'm going to ask Amalia, who's behind Cookie's island, her husband, to teach a Facebook live in the bootcamp group during that bootcamp to kind of walk us through it. And I'll upload her live to the modules. I have a boundary buster question. I have a client who always shows up late, but it's never egregiously late. It's like 10 or 15 minutes late. Definitely not a day runer. Nor would I want to blacklist them. They order often. How can I go about guiding them back to showing up on time? It would make my day easier if I just knew they were going to be showing up when they said they would. It's a good question. That is a good question.

[B]

And it's hard because you don't, you don't want to ruffle any feathers and be like are you gonna sure you're gonna show up at 2 o' clock or are we just saying 2 o'?

[A]

Clock? Can I give sure. My ex boyfriend solution? Yeah. He would always be late. He would be egregiously late though, so. But either way I just sometimes I could feel it was gonna be 30 minutes later, two hours late. I hated showing up late. To things. These are things where we were showing up together. So I would tell him a different time. That was an earlier time, I agree.

[B]

But when they're ordering, they're probably letting her know what time that works for them. So she's saying two to the baker, but showing up at 2:15.

[A]

What if the order form said you can pick up between 11 and 1, whereas the baker knows full well they're going to be around till 2? It's unfortunate. It, it's the least confrontational approach to this. It's not fair to the baker.

[B]

Here's what I've done in the past that has been able to work for me. Imagine that you had a doctor's appointment at 2:15, so she could only be there at 2. You wouldn't be available at 2:15. What would you probably do? You'd probably put on a table out front and just let her know, hey, I have a doctor's appointment I have to be at. Your cookies are on a table out front. You know, I'm just hoping it doesn't rain or the sun isn't shining too bright because cookies don't like hot weather. But it'll be there for you when you get. Sorry I couldn't see you. What we want to do is just make them a little bit more uncomfortable because they're making you just a little bit more uncomfortable if you are always taking the brunt of it. There's. There's nothing that's uncomfortable for them. So there's nothing making her arrive on time. Time. What you want to do is, hey, I have a meeting that's starting I have to be at might not be a meeting, but just something that's going to use you as an excuse. Your cookies are on a small table by my door. I've put them in a plastic bag because I think there's rain in the forecast. If you just want to get those quickly. Thank you so much for ordering. I can't wait. To your next. What we're going to do is not address necessarily, hey, you're always late and it's annoying. We're going to make her uncomfortable. She doesn't want this order that she paid $100 for to get one wet. Or she doesn't want the butter bleed to come out because it's so hot. So what we're going to do is explain, hey, cookies don't like moisture and it's about to rain. Or hey, cookies don't like direct sunlight. It actually makes the butter come up from the bottom and it can turn we're going to explain why it's helpful for her to be on time because it behooves her. It doesn't necessarily mean anything about you. She's you, she knows you exist and she's not showing up on time. So we're going to explain why it makes sense for her to show up on time.

[A]

Time. In the pre sales boot camp, Corey had me write up some email templates which we use Gmail to schedule so we could be ahead of schedule because efficiency is key. But in the templates I incorporated a a small list of disclaimers. I don't want the email to be so long get screened out. Right. But the it says like hey if you're running late I can make a one time exception, just text me. Right. But if you don't show up by hard number hard times time, just know we'll order. Your order will be donated in your honor to the local homeless shelter or senior center or fire department that way. Because the issue with what it sounds like has happened here is enough of these times have happened that the client knows they can. We need to walk that back without being aggressive because essentially by not having a boundary you have the boundary of I have no boundaries, you have trained them and I suffer from this people pleasing where I'm like well I, I will you to read my mind because we've not explicitly said you can't be late and now the person has now learned they can be late. We need to be just as soft in getting the what do you say like when you go bowling. The bumpers. We need to get the bumpers back up.

[B]

Yeah. For my customer that didn't show up on my pre sale day, I'd send her the reminder. She asked me to send her a text. I graciously sent her a text.

[A]

She didn't show up.

[B]

She texted at 9. I did see the text come in but I was already in my jammies and my face was washed red and I was ready to go to bed. I didn't text her back because she had me for the time that I told her she had me which was between 9am and 6pm for pickup. What I did was when it behooved me the most. So when I woke up in the morning I saw her text message. I decided to get ready before I even texted her to back when I was on my on the way out the door for the cookie class I said you can catch the bag, it's by my door. I try to put it out of the sun. You have all day to come by and snag it at 2:00'. Clock. So I left for the class at roughly 9.

[A]

You left at 8:30 because you got there. I left at 8:30.

[B]

2 o'. Clock.

[A]

Her son came.

[B]

The cookies could have been eaten by bugs. I don't know. It was now on her plate whether she wanted to pick them up. And you saw she, if it really mattered, she would have been there at nine in the morning to get them. When I, when I originally sent her

[A]

the text back, what happened? She's like, I, they, they now they're not what I wanted. Like now we got that situation coming

[B]

up, then I would just, it would honestly have to be a little bit of a breakup. I'm so sorry. I could guarantee freshness at the time of pickup. I can't do much and say that.

[A]

When you said she could pick up late, like I can guarantee freshness and I think that's what you're saying. But I would just make sure it's explicitly said. If you're showing up late and this is sitting outside. What happens now is beyond me. But I'm willing to do you a favor because you didn't show like whatever your boundaries are there for you to bend, but they have to be there in the first place. Yeah.

[B]

So I, I, the cookies will taste good, warm with butter, bleed. I know the cookies will taste fine with little rain on them. So it's, you're gonna have these soft breakups as you come with these boundary busters. And that's okay to have a soft breakup. It sucks to lose the money. But they're not always your ideal person. She's an ideal customer for custom orders. She's not my ideal person for pre sales because I don't text anyone for

[A]

their pre sale order.

[B]

You get an email along with everyone. That's the automation part. That saves me time and money. Me sending you a personalized text message is costing me time and money.

[A]

Yeah. What a ostentatious request. Can you, can you be my reminder? Please Be my alarm clock, please.

[B]

I know we, if we had. Me and Heather had a marketing client that said. I knew you were going to say

[A]

that because I was thinking about that too. She said, could you wake me up on Mondays?

[B]

And I said no, friend.

[A]

That's an alarm clock job.

[B]

And it's not named Corey.

[A]

Girl, that's crazy. Um, yeah, we talked about, we even barely touched on. We went to call Fire. I showed them how to schedule text reminders and then I mentioned an app called Mailshake. Where you can do merge tags within Gmail so you could make it customized to them. That would require them to read it though. Last text Ashley who is one of the tips I read above. Ashley says Good morning ladies. Ashley's with Ashley with Apple Bakery from Houston here. I went to order market materials this morning and the first company had really affordable pricing for the product 5481 for 600 pieces. Oh, it sounds great. But shipping was more expensive. It was $68, almost 69. When I checked another company, the product prices were higher. 116. But they gave me free shipping even though the total for the company 2 was slightly more expensive and shipping was longer by a week. I have the worst taste in my mouth from company number one. I feel like I fell in love with the price and then got bamboozled by shipping. Why are we like this and how can we apply it or avoid this in our own pricing strategies? This is very true. This is how humans work. We'd rather have bundled pricing than see it's broken up. And I think that what happens is we price anchored to the lower price only to realize that the lower price was never the lower price. So we anchored to 116 or she's got 54 more than the price of the product. Her shipping was 69. Remember the product was 54. Shipping was 69. I would never. My brain couldn't logically say that the value of shipping exceeds the value of the thing I want want.

[B]

I can tell you though, neither company is making a loss. So the more expensive company has just put their shipping cost within the price of the product.

[A]

Absolutely. But our lizard brains like it better that way. Even though we know it's baked in when we see a bundle to pricing instead of. You know, there's a reason why we if I say this phrase, you're going to say positive or negative connotation, Nickel and dimed. Negative. Because we do not like to say this is the thing. And then you see that problem with Airbnb. Airbnb. I think I was reading an article about it. Airbnb. It's like here's this price, but when you're at the check it's like this, that fee, this fee, this fee, this fee. And now I went to Airbnb. I've never even actually booked with Airbnb. I just like looking at the price of rentals and it was like the Airbnb guaranteed out the door price. Like even they know the audience is tired from seeing this really low price. But out the door it's really high. We're going to go back to just booking with hotels. Now they have this out the door. Price. All in the reason why we hate buying from car dealerships is the nickel and dime added on fee fees. Yeah, sure, right. I'd rather not just tell me what it is. But they say, well, if I'm priced the lowest, you're going to be price conscious, you're going to come to me first and then I'm going to try to convince you of these additional fees.

[B]

The best of both worlds is when you have a threshold. So hey, if 20 more and you get free shipping one, they both went out, they get one box with a bunch of things in there and they're shipping it to you, they're still not making a loss because it's built in there. But we love a threshold. We love to be like, ah, I got one over on them. The $10 is fine, but you added $30 dollars to get to the $10.

[A]

It's a risky click. I find myself when I say spend 25 more, I'll be like adding all the stuff to car and then I'll be like, what have I done? The card's so much more expensive than the original product. But taking it back to applying it to bakers. The tiered pricing versus the custom quote. So the tiered pricing tells me I'm going to fall within this range so I know what I'm getting. And then the custom quote says, well this is the minimum, but I have no idea where this the maximum. And then you get that whole like what's your rate? What's your budget? What's your rate? What's your budget? Because everyone doesn't want to get kind of screwed over on the price here. So when you can bundle the pricing instead of saying do you guys want me to put a bow on it? Do you want me to sell a fan rapid? Do you want me to charge you to put it in a box? You want me to charge you deliver? You'd say hey, you can get all this for this flat fee. The closer you can get to that pitch there and still make the profit, I think the better. It's the thing is, what's so interesting here is the shipping exceeded the cost of the goods and that, that's, that's

[B]

a hard pill to swallow for anybody. I mean I would be like, woo, maybe I gotta shop around.

[A]

There's a book called Dollars and Cents Worth a lesson for sure. And it's on the psychology of pricing and the. They ran a Test and they had two bowls of chocolate. One was full of Candy Kisses and one was full of Ghirardelli. Okay. Ghirardelli Little ball. They were more expensive. Just everything about them was more expensive. The production, the quality is more, you know. So the Candy Kisses were labeled free and the Ghirardelli were priced solo at 10 cents. But people always went for the free even though the value was actually in the Ghirardelli at 10 cents because it was a higher value product. Our brains love the word free. We just, we just cannot separate ourselves. Even though we know the higher, the better deal, the better value was with the Ghirardelia. 10 cents. The cheaper chocolate at no dollars. Our brains are like, yeah, that is so when she saw the word free shipping, even though the total came out be a higher price, the free shipping just triggers something in our lizard brains to really like have an affinity for it. It feels great to get something for free. Yeah. Pinteresting. Good one, good one, good one. Cookie Design Lab is our sponsor of the STL me about it segment. Thank you so much. They, they went above and beyond to offer that, but they also are the sponsor of this podcast using Code twins get you 15% off. And if you join that boot camp, assuming Amalia will be down because she's down for most things, things she will teach a live on how to use Cookie Design Lab, which is a really neat software. Bakedy Bake is the meringue powder of your dreams. 10% off when you use Code Twins. Stock up on that even though it does have the expiration date. But you kind of know how much you're going to use because when it sells out. Meringue powder supply chains have had a rough year in 2025.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Hopefully it's leveled out in 2020 26. We're just waiting for generate gold, I guess, and then we're good. It's Popping Con. If you haven't. I think their ticket's still available. You can see the twins up front. You can hear these voices echoing through your brain ear canals. Right to the brainstem. Yeah, that's from Daisy makes. She's a really fun lady. She's been a part of the venue blame for the last couple years. And then she put on this, what Popping Con in person convention with hands on workshops about the big bad cat Cake pop.

[B]

The big old bag cake pop. But she really does demystify it and you can kind of see her in action and she does the Daisy Makes molds, which makes it a lot easier

[A]

use code twins for 25 off at what's popping con and then we'll see you next week. Primari Eddie. They should be a feature on this a guest on this podcast in the next couple weeks. Here they are. The direct to food printer which Corey. Well if you don't mind posting about it will make these coach cookies with a blend of eddie print printing, 3D printing and then piping. And it sounds like you're incorporating some kind of gold. Yeah, I think so.

[B]

I have to decide do I want to paint them gold or do I want to use the different layers of

[A]

and do wet on wet to like

[B]

mimic what they already have as design?

[A]

I don't know yet. Wet on wet. But you're using printer.

[B]

Yeah, because the coach at the small part I it would be harder to pipe that little coach word since it's so thin.

[A]

It would be very difficult. Oh, I see what you're doing. Okay, interesting. And then not a sponsor but Bosch Nutra Mill use code sugar cookies to get 20 dwellers off of their mixers. Should I buy a mixer from them? I don't have a mixer.

[B]

I mean I love I I love my kitchenaid is pretty and I use it for icing or like a one off recipe but for dough and like big class days. I really do love my tube.

[A]

Could I get by with an artiste for a regular food? Yes, you can. I don't even know what you'd be

[B]

making because you don't make stuff.

[A]

The world is at my fingertips. My fingers.

[B]

Yeah, you could. I really do like the artiste for it's got a built in little paddle attachment versus the boss Universal has an extra paddle attachment. So it's one less thing to to clean. It's one. It's attached.

[A]

I feel like the RT state took up very little floor floor space. Oh if you're doing a kitchen aid or a universal plus the universal plus

[B]

a lot bigger KitchenAid and the RT stain maybe take up the same amount of floor space. KitchenAid being a lot longer but thinner.

[A]

I would like that description to be applied to me in my bathing.

[B]

Longer and thinner.

[A]

She's longer and thinner. Twin trist. I have discovered a new type of bullet bug here in West Virginia. West Virginia loves them some bugs. Although we did find the snake in northern Virginia. Midges. Midges. It feels like that's a made up word. I I had a package delivered and it was nighttime and on a balmy day, a balmy night, I opened the door and all these little winged insects flo it in like probably 30 in 2 seconds I slammed the door and I killed them all. But I said, what are these little suckers? When I woke up, I found a bigger one. Like yeah, had fluttered in somewhere and came off the ceiling. I took a picture and I say, hi, what is this? And it was like, oh, it's a midge. It's a non biting family mosquit, from the family of mosquitoes. They grow annoying. Annoying. Just annoying. Non biting. What do they eat? I guess ponds. But no, I googled them yesterday because I was doing a little bit of research on them. They are great to keep the population of other bugs down probably. It's just the other bugs are annoyed about the sheer amount of midges however. So at least they're not biting. But they were quite prevalent. So that's a mid. Midge. What a name. A Mitch.

[B]

Speaking of bugs, my twin dress is. I can't remember what it was called but it's like bug Jackie or something. A jacket. And it's just made of mesh materials.

[A]

It's, you know, it's almost translucent.

[B]

It, you can see right through it. I could see your outfit, what you were wearing, but you wear it and it doesn't. It's almost like a bees suit, a beekeeper suit. But just a jacket that you can wear on a walk so you don't get eaten by the mosquitoes because the mosquitoes in northern Virginia will take you a lot.

[A]

5. So you said it came as a set but you just got the jacket.

[B]

I just got the jacket and you know, I had to pay for shipping unless I added the pantaloons. But I said, you know, that's just a lot going on at the gym. I saw this thing and it just gives you tips and I was just staring at it and it said if you use the hydrocoil patch, like the pimple patches on a bug bite will stop its inflammation.

[A]

Do you think that's because you're not itching it because you can't itch it? Know, yeah, maybe.

[B]

And then you have like the little circle of.

[A]

You see that, that mosquito bite shucker outer thing? They sell it out right now. Does that work? Not a clue.

[B]

But when I get a bug bite, it stays around for weeks.

[A]

I hate it.

[B]

It's a big red bump for there for like the entire summer.

[A]

You know, like I'll get a bug bite and I'll be like, heather, you're an adult. You're almost 40. Don't itch it. And then I'll be like, it's a girl.

[B]

When you Accidentally touch it on something

[A]

and it starts the itching.

[B]

You're like well it's already been itched once. Let me just itch it for okay.

[A]

But then the itching feels like the best feeling and then it feels like the worst.

[B]

It hurts after and you're like I have to continue itching. Otherwise the pain.

[A]

I know. Just crazy. So Corey, mosquito net jacket. I would like to see a photo of this in action.

[B]

I know I got a medium. I didn't know what size most like. Did you want it to be tight fitting? I couldn't imagine. I thought you want to like a little space between your skin and the net. But yeah, I came in yesterday.

[A]

Is it medium wrong or good?

[B]

I haven't tried it on yet. I just looked at it, I held it up and look right straight through.

[A]

Mosquito bites on your arms. Because I usually get them on my ankles, both arms and an would they. Would the pants be in play if you got enough mosquito leg bites?

[B]

I think so. I remember when we went to that one little trade show not led trade show was what a vendor market And I got the turtle minded.

[A]

Yeah, it's right.

[B]

I thought if I spray that lower and just wear the net higher maybe I'll be good.

[A]

We curious if anyone has solutions. Mosquitoes in northern Virginia will fly off with your first born. They bite you. They bite the first on their way out to intellect. Do you have Archer saying he doesn't like people coming in the house?

[B]

Well, it was funny. I was doing Friday, my son had Easter weekend so he was off. But 85 year old pre sale client who had never ordered from me before came inside to get her order. Since my son was in the kitchen, he felt like he was a prisoner in there because he didn't want to pass by. He didn't want anyone to talk to him. But he sat there listening into my conversation the whole time as he bag of chips. This lady, she's 85, she's been in the area since 1986, was a teacher for 30 years, has a dog, loves to shop at the same ice cream man that I shop. That's what I gathered over the 20 minutes where she talked to me. So she leaves and my son comes out, he's like I don't like that you let people come into the house. And I said I'm not sure what you thought this 85 year old woman could do but it wasn't going to be much. And he was like well I just think it's very unsafe. And I said you know what you're not wrong. But if you, you just have a moment, I'll explain the marketing part for you. I said I could have her order just sitting outside. She could grab it and go. But her coming inside now I know

[A]

that she has been in this area

[B]

since 1986 and she explained that Telegraph Road was actually not paved in 1986 and it reminded her of Alaska. I was able to ask about Alaska and I've also been to Fairbanks, Alaska

[A]

where she was a teacher at and she loves it.

[B]

She misses it. I said, she has neighbors, there's 11 of them. And she was buying the cookie cookies for her neighborhood kids. That's 11 new people I don't know about. I said, she's in the local group that I'm in and she says, I love when you post about traffic accidents. I text my neighbor who commutes in from D.C. and he's always so thankful. I said, that lady could have been a one time client, but because she's come in, she's petted my dog, she felt comfortable enough and that this space was clean that she put a purse down and sat down on the couch. Couch. I think I could turn it into a customer for life because she feels now so much more comfortable with me. The baker behind this Facebook page and Archer was like, that makes sense. I agree.

[A]

Now put a crown on top of her head. Tell them what candle you burn. Some of them. Some of the podcast land likes to track what we find at Bath and Body Works right now. Mahogany vanilla.

[B]

I burned it all of Friday. It was like not an overwhelming vanilla. So sometimes the bakery ones are so

[A]

insanely caramelly, especially for like a smaller space, I think. I think space has a lot to deal.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

With how overpowering a smell can be.

[B]

And so I live in a townhouse, so I can't have it too overpowering because it's like just wafting through the main level where people come in. The mahogany vanilla was very fresh spring like, but still had bakery aspects in it because I love a vanilla scent, but I don't like when it's like pancake waffle, like pumpkin waffle. That's just too much. Too much. Or even though I like the Paris Cafe in a small space, you're like, where's, where's the barista? Where's the air to breathe?

[A]

So if you guys want to check that, then we also got a beachy one. I can't see that far. I can see it.

[B]

It's like salt water breeze or something.

[A]

It feels very fresh, very fresh without Being too coconut cabana. Like, sometimes the bath and body works is like, this is a starburst that we've melted down into a candle and going. But this one was like, fresh ocean breeze house. Yeah.

[B]

Like, clean, beachy house where it wasn't overwhelming. Like, they had, like, pineapple pina colada. It literally smelled like a coconut and a starburst.

[A]

Guy. Yeah. Great drink. Which is, if that's what you want, you're gonna nail it. But if you want that kind of like, you know, houses, like I always say, you can't. You can't peg what a hotel smells like, but it smells refreshing. Yeah. If you're going for those vibes, then I think those two are nice. Little spring scent, summer transition.

[B]

I'm a big candle burner person because just like, first impressions, if you have an off smell or, you know, your. Your dog just got washed and has a dog smell in there, that's not what you want to leave with your customers. What's funny, I had a sugar cookie one. It smelled straight up like those ones, those loft house cookies. Someone came in and they're like, you're baking. And I said, baking the candle right over there.

[A]

I didn't even notice. It just smelled so good. Hilarious, I think. Yeah. I think the problem with living in a house is you can't smell anymore. What's it called? N. Nose blindness or something? Whatever you call.

[B]

You know what your house smells like.

[A]

So you can't smell it. You can't smell it. My grandma's neighbor, we watched her plants. Sometimes she's out of town, but she smells like mothballs in there. I know they can't smell it, but it's like. Oh, yeah. So, yeah. I kind of feel like the finding a common scent just. It's going to take care of whatever you can't smell. I know.

[B]

I'm a. I'm a big candle fan. I love me a good candle. I. I love. Give me pumpkin spice. Heather loves leaves come in the fall.

[A]

She will. I actually have it burning right now. I love anything. Leaves, cinnamon. There's cloves, patchouli. Yeah. I'm gonna restock back up come fall. But if you're like, I don't want to burn a candle because the fire risk there. I agree. My mom and my sister and my grandmother all use candle melters. And they work right with the. Yeah. Candle warmers. They all work with the. The bath and body works that you just get on.

[B]

Yeah. Those are a great, great way to smell.

[A]

Just as good. I feel like that smell doesn't last as long when you melt them because it is truly melting the whole candle. But for a pickup day, we could definitely be on light.

[B]

I I love candlelight. I think it makes it nice and cozy.

[A]

That's all I got.

[B]

That's all I have. Guys, thank you so much for tuning in. We will see you in the group. If you are excited and want to learn about 3D printing, you can purchase the boot camp for 3D printing. We won't add you to the group quite yet till we launch it, but you can always pend there waiting for it for when we do. I appreciate you guys always tuning in and listening. I need a Goss column question answer someone to submit that this week and please keep sending in your text message questions cuz those are fun to answer and we appreciate when you do.

[A]

Thank you you thank you so much.