677. "I’ve been in business several years, but need help gaining control on my pricing and margins." | Coaching Session

Summary

Episode 677: "I’ve Been in Business Several Years, but Need Help Gaining Control on My Pricing and Margins." | Coaching Session

Release Date: March 27, 2025

In this insightful episode of The Product Boss Podcast, host Jacqueline Snyder delves into a real-life coaching session with Nicole, the owner of Maison Ber, a well-established linen products business. Nicole has been in the industry for a decade, offering a range of products including pillows, table runners, bench cushions, and bespoke Roman blinds and curtains. Despite her success, Nicole faces challenges in optimizing her pricing strategies and improving her profit margins, especially as she considers expanding into wholesale.

1. Introduction to Nicole and Her Business

Jacqueline Snyder begins by introducing Nicole’s business, Maison Ber, highlighting its beautiful and magical line of linen products sold primarily through her website, a small Etsy shop, and a few wholesale stockists.

“[...] I make and sell French linen cushions, linen and grain sack cushions, fabric, table linen and I have bespoke cushions and bespoke Roman blinds and curtains.”
— Nicole (04:21)

Nicole collaborates with four to five seamstresses, handling everything except the sewing. Her hallmark product, the striped grain sack cushion with a French Provencal aesthetic, has been a consistent bestseller for nearly ten years.

2. Current Challenges: Pricing and Margins

Nicole explains that she recently increased her prices by approximately 25% to combat burnout and streamline her product offerings. This price hike, implemented six to eight months ago, led to a noticeable drop in sales volume, though overall revenue remained stable due to a decent Q4 performance.

“I raised prices just in May this year [...] I have seen a drop in sales. But in terms of revenue, if I have a decent Q4, it'll be the same.”
— Nicole (05:13)

She expresses concern over the decline in the number of sales rather than website traffic, indicating potential issues with how customers perceive her pricing and product value.

3. Analyzing Product Offerings and Sales Channels

Nicole discusses her sales distribution between fabric (sold by the meter) and finished goods like cushions. She noted a significant number of fabric sales by the meter, including half and quarter meters, which might be contributing to operational inefficiencies.

“The fabric's 36 pounds per meter. But like you say, if they just order half a meter, then that's just not worth me.”
— Nicole (10:26)

Jacqueline suggests eliminating the half and quarter-meter options to streamline operations and encourage larger purchases, thereby increasing the average order value and reducing labor associated with small orders.

4. Strategies for Improving Pricing and Margins

Jacqueline advises Nicole to establish a minimum purchase quantity for fabric, potentially setting it at three meters instead of one. This adjustment aims to reduce the time and effort spent on processing very small orders, which are not cost-effective.

“I think you should just get rid of the half and the quarter. Just have if there's swatches and they, they pay for swatches if that's the case.”
— Jacqueline Snyder (08:42)

Additionally, Jacqueline recommends introducing a swatch book—a bundled offering of various fabric swatches at a fixed price—to make swatch ordering more efficient and profitable.

“What if you just did swatch books? So what if it was all the swatches for an amount, so £10 or something.”
— Jacqueline Snyder (12:47)

5. Expanding into Wholesale: Opportunities and Considerations

Nicole is exploring expanding her wholesale operations to reach broader audiences through other retailers. Currently, wholesale accounts for about 20% of her sales, primarily sourced through Instagram without proactive outreach.

“So at the moment, it's where they've come to me from social, so on Instagram [...] part of me was wondering, you know, I've been selling that hero fabric, that striped grain Sack, for nearly 10 years and it's always been my best seller.”
— Nicole (14:26)

Jacqueline emphasizes the importance of aligning wholesale pricing with retail prices to prevent undercutting and suggests focusing on select product lines that offer better profit margins.

“Do you want to brand them? [...] it's a benefit to them for you to be well known and for people to ask for your product.”
— Jacqueline Snyder (15:47)

She advises Nicole to refine her wholesale catalog, possibly limiting it to high-margin items like table linens and specific pillow sizes, to enhance profitability and streamline production.

“If you have the margins for that type of markup, otherwise, what could you offer wholesale that isn't everything, but it could be a smaller catalog of product that you actually could get a better return.”
— Jacqueline Snyder (17:35)

6. Enhancing Social Media Strategy

Nicole acknowledges a decline in Instagram engagement, particularly after shifting her content to include more personal and self-help themes related to her 50s. Previously, her Instagram-focused heavily on product-centric content, including frequent tagging of customers and giveaways, which drove high engagement.

“With regards to tagging, I don't know, I just usually tagged all the time and I don't know, I've never worked that one out.”
— Nicole (28:25)

Jacqueline suggests reverting to more product-focused content while integrating personal elements to maintain authenticity. She also recommends leveraging Pinterest as a search-oriented platform to capture potential customers actively seeking home décor solutions.

“One thing could be starting to get into Pinterest for you, specifically for a search tool to show up as a solution to people's problems or as inspiration.”
— Jacqueline Snyder (30:44)

Additionally, Jacqueline encourages Nicole to reinstate successful strategies like giveaways and interactive content to boost engagement and reconnect with her audience.

“I did used to do giveaways, and they were really. They did used to get a lot of comments, so they did work. So, yeah, I do need to get back into those.”
— Nicole (33:23)

7. Final Recommendations and Action Plan

Jacqueline underscores the importance of continuous evaluation by asking critical questions such as, "Is something broken or did I change something?" She advises Nicole to regularly analyze her business metrics and remain adaptable to market changes.

“Look, we all know that time is precious. It's a precious commodity for any small business owner.”
— Jacqueline Snyder (09:07)

To implement sustainable growth, Jacqueline recommends that Nicole:

1. Streamline Product Offerings: Eliminate low-volume fabric options and introduce swatch books.
2. Optimize Wholesale Strategy: Focus on branded products with better margins and create targeted wholesale catalogs.
3. Revamp Social Media: Balance personal storytelling with product-centric content and explore new platforms like Pinterest.
4. Enhance Operational Efficiency: Increase production units to lower per-unit costs and improve profitability.

8. Key Takeaways

• Pricing Strategy: Adjusting pricing thoughtfully can stabilize revenue even if sales volume fluctuates.
• Wholesale Expansion: Strategic wholesale efforts, when aligned with proper margins, can significantly boost business.
• Social Media Optimization: Maintaining a balance between personal and product content is crucial for engagement and sales.
• Operational Efficiency: Streamlining product offerings and production processes can lead to better margins and increased profitability.
• Continuous Evaluation: Regularly assessing business changes and their impacts ensures sustained growth and adaptability.

Conclusion

Nicole’s journey with Maison Ber serves as a valuable case study for product-based entrepreneurs navigating pricing strategies, margin optimization, and wholesale expansion. With Jacqueline Snyder’s expert guidance, Nicole is poised to refine her business model, enhance her social media presence, and ultimately achieve greater success.

For listeners seeking personalized advice, Jacqueline invites them to consider one-on-one coaching sessions, providing a pathway to elevate their own product businesses.

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Connect with Nicole:

• Website: maisonbruckant.co.uk
• Instagram: @Maisonbruck Hunt
• Contact: DM on Instagram or email via the website.

Join Jacqueline’s Coaching: Interested in gaining insights tailored to your business? Visit the show notes for links to sign up for one-on-one coaching sessions with Jacqueline Snyder.

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Thank you for tuning into The Product Boss Podcast. Subscribe to stay updated on episodes designed to help you create your dream life through effective product entrepreneurship.

Transcript

[Jacqueline Snyder]

Hi, I'm Jacqueline Snyder and this is the Product Boss podcast. I've helped launch and grow thousands of product based businesses, even one of my own. And over the last 20 years, I've seen behind the scenes of businesses just like yours. Whether they are makers, manufacturers, artists, or food and beverage businesses. I have spent so many hours studying it all. I've discovered what makes them successful, what mistakes they could have avoided, how did they turn their ideas into a successful business, and what are the strategies that they have used to make more sales and be discovered by more customers. And this is what this show is all about. Whether you're just starting out or you're looking to become a million dollar product boss, I'm here to give you the permission to chase your dreams, no matter how big or small. All you need is the right mindset, a a little courage, strategy and support, and you too can be the next million dollar product boss. Let's do this. Oh my goodness. Friends, if you are anything like me, you probably spend more time running errands than running your business. Am I right? Like, everything needs something, we gotta run around. And I knew that this was like a major issue for me back in the day, which is why I decided to get help where I could. And I decided to let Instacart handle all of my grocery shopping. So I no longer had to worry about running all the errands and having to run out and get more almond milk for lattes. Rather, I was like, you know what, we're just gonna let Instacart handle that. So I want you to imagine skipping the store and getting back to designing packaging, orders, making, or maybe actually taking a break, even a nap. Remember those? Okay, so with Instacart, you can get groceries and essentials delivered in as fast as an hour so you can focus on growing your business without sacrificing a meal. Plus, less stress and more focus. And here's a tip. I've actually used Instacart before to order gifts from my daughter's friend's birthday parties because I haven't had time to run out and get presents. And I've been able to get the packaging like the gift bag and the gift like Hel Sephora delivered to my house while I was in the middle of coaching sessions so that I could have the present right. It's like having a personal assistant without having a personal assistant. So if you want to do what I do and get the help where you can, you can try it. Now if you head to the product boss.com Instacart Hey. Hey, product bosses. And welcome back to the Product Boss podcast. I'm your host, Jaclyn Snyder, and I am so glad you're here. We talk all things product based business. So whether it's coming up with an idea and turning that into income, maybe you've been running your business for a while or you might even consider it as business. It might be a hobby or a side hustle and you really want to start making consistent sales or you have been in business for years and you are ready to level up. We love to talk all things here about products, whether it's the ideas, making them, branding them, marketing and selling. All right, so I love to do these, and I do these once a week, which are our coaching sessions. You get to come behind the scenes with me as I coach my students one on one, and you'll kind of get to hear some of the things that they're dealing with. And what I love about these episodes is that my listeners will reach out and be like, you know what? That is something I'm dealing with. It sounded like you were talking directly to me. So I want you to know you're not alone out there. You're not alone with the struggles, the wins, and everything in between. Okay, we're business owners. We're entrepreneurs. Things are constantly gonna be changing beneath us, and it's how fast do we pivot and adapt? Because those are the ways to thrive, especially in 2025. Look at that. I just rhymed and I didn't even mean to. Okay, all right. So today I am coaching Nicole. Now, Nicole is the owner of Maison Ber, and she has a line of linen products. Okay, it sounds just so beautiful and magical. And these linen products are pillows, table runners, and bench cushions. And listen, she's been in business for 10 years, and Nicole feels that her brand is in a good place, but she's really looking for guidance on improving her pricing and her margins. She's thinking about getting into wholesale, because when you start to sell wholesale, you're getting in front of other people's audiences. It's less work on you as a business owner having to market and sell everything on your own. And she wants to refresh her social media presence to keep her followers interested and engaged in her brand. Now, not to worry, because this is exactly what we're going to dig into and what I'm going to help Nicole figure out during our call. So if you're ready. I'm ready. Grab yourself a cup of coffee, a pastry, settle in. Maybe you're On a walk. Maybe you're at lunch break at your full time job. But let's jump in to this coaching session. I know it's gonna be really inspiring. Tell me what you make and what you sell and where you mainly sell it.

[Nicole]

Okay, so I make and sell French linen cushions, linen and grain sack cushions, fabric, table linen and I have bespoke cushions and bespoke Roman blinds and curtains. And I sell on my website mainly. And I have a small Etsy shop and a few stockists wholesale.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

Okay, and are you making them all yourself?

[Nicole]

So I work with four or five seamstresses who make. So I do everything apart from the sewing.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

Okay. So it looks like. Because I see some, you know, settees, so it says bestsellers fabrics, French cushion. So nothing is the actual furniture, right?

[Nicole]

No. So that is an upholsterer who purchases the fabric. So yeah.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

Okay. Amazing. Are you having issues with pricing and margins or where do you feel like is your bottleneck in your business?

[Nicole]

I think in terms of pricing, I raised prices just in May this year, so it's not that long ago. And preceding that, I think reflecting back, I was just a little bit of burnout. I'm over 10 years in the business, albeit the business has changed over that time from what it started with to what it is now. I'm just doing everything and spending a lot of time in the workshop because we do so many sizes and variations. And so I tried to simplify things about six, eight months ago, so I took a lot of sizes off the website, so smaller sizes and just try to keep the bigger sizes and raise the prices by about 25% which. So I have seen a drop in sales. But in terms of revenue, if I have a decent Q4, it'll be the same. So that says to me that hopefully the price increases are working as intended. But there has been a dip in sales, in number of sales, not so much visitors to the website. So there's a lot of things going on, I think. And I just want to sort of. I feel I just need some direction on where I need to be spending my time. The business, the brand is good, the brand is nice. I'm known. I do feel like I'm known for something. I'm known for that striped grain sack at the French Provencal look. So I feel I need to just. Is it still that or is it something else? Have I added in too much? So I. As part of the simplification and the price rises, it has brought a bit of work life balance back. So I've had time to work on strategy, which has been really, you know, has been great. And I'm currently working on a wholesale catalog because I thought. And I enjoy working with shop and I thought that might be a good revenue stream for me. So it's just all those thoughts jumbling.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

Around and so what would you say, the. Where would you say the majority of your sales come from? Is it from fabric being sold or by finished goods?

[Nicole]

Both. Fabric. I sell a lot of units. The. But I think the cushion. So I sell a lot of fabric. So in terms of the number of units sold on the website, there's a lot of fabric in terms of meters d yard.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

So do you sell it by the meter?

[Nicole]

Yeah.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

Okay, so more by the meter. Does anyone ever buy the half meter or quarter meter?

[Nicole]

Yeah, a lot.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

Lots.

[Nicole]

It's available to order.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

I feel like. Is it. Is it a cutting thing? Because just right off the bat, can we do one meter as the minimum and go up from there? So like 1, 5, 10 meters. Do you have the ability to offer more than 1 meter?

[Nicole]

Oh yeah, yeah. Oh, sorry. So that is probably a confusion that's maybe showing to customers on the website. When it says 1 meter, it can be any quantity because the fabric comes in on rolls and I buy it in bulk. So if they want 20 meters, they can have 20 meters. And then I just order when I need.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

So I think. And so the half meter and the quarter meter, I feel like you should just get rid of the half and the quarter. Just have if there's swatches and they, they pay for swatches if that's the case. But otherwise I would just go meter and above. So and then there probably needs to be. I feel like you should have a minimum so it shouldn't be one meter. I feel like maybe because in order for you to cut, ship, roll, it needs to be worth something. So I don't know if it's a 3 meter minimum, but one is. One is very little and you're not a fabric store. So how do you feel about that suggestion?

[Nicole]

I do agree, I think with the half and quarter, definitely the. I guess people tend to order more than a meter anyway because you don't get. You can't do much with a meter. So the cutting isn't very time. Well, it's slightly time consuming because the fabric can have slops and carrots, really rustic. So sometimes I can roll out.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

I think it's more the effort and the labor. So it's not worth it for you to just to roll out the yard and Cut it for a meter. I just, I think, sure, they may want one, but you have to think if it wasn't you doing it, if you had hired, if you have a team member, what's it worth for them to actually go roll out the fabric, check it out. So we do want more attached to the effort of doing that. So what I would suggest to you is to look at what you've sold and to look at what the average is for the lowest amount ordered. So if your Data that it's 3 meters or 5 meters, I would just stick with that for the. To being able to buy the fabric. Meaning why go through the effort of that whole thing? So do you see where I'm going with this for Nicole? Listen, we all know this, but time is precious. It's a precious commodity for any small business owner. And I'm helping her pinpoint small shifts in her process that can unlock more of it. If Nicole is serious about growing her wholesale business, this is the perfect opportunity to boost her average order value, allowing her to reclaim time and redirect her focus to other areas of business. Are there similar opportunities in your own business where you could refine your approach to maximize both time and sales for smarter growth? I want you to take a moment and think about that, because when we really start to think about these little tweaks, these little levers that you can make in your business, that is a way that you're going to start to see massive growth versus always trying to add something new and do something new.

[Nicole]

So the fabric's 36 pounds per meter. But like you say, if they just order half a meter, then that's just not worth me. It's certainly not worth me going into the workshop for, which can then cause delays if there's not lots of other orders. So, yeah, that I, yeah, that's fine. I'll get rid of the half and 0.25. That was a kind of sort of no waste sort of initiative. But I don't think it's helping me.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

I think if you have scraps, then, well, one, we're going to be cutting in full meters. So, you know, then if you have scraps or leftovers, you can always do a sale and advertise it and be like, we've got half meters, meters, whatever. You can be a grab bag where you just put a whole bunch of pieces together and someone can just buy it for a flat rate. And I say this just because when we. It's the idea of raising your average order value. So if someone's Going to buy. We want them to buy more than the bare minimum. Like you said. What are we going to do with 1 meter? Usually I would want a bit more in case I mess up anyways. So for you, and I know it might be a little bit scary to offer more, you know, more than one as a minimums, but I would just tell you to then, even if it is the one meter, well, you just want to. I would look at your data and say, what are people actually buying? And then push towards that. So the same way that, for example, average order value, if you want to raise your average order value, a lot of times it can be raising your free shipping threshold to an amount that people are already spending plus some. So if you're like the majority of my customers already spending 65 pounds with me, what if I pushed my free shipping threshold to 75 pounds, for example? They, they're already spending the 65, they'll add something in extra. So I just want you to think about that whether it's free shipping or not. But we're trying to get the customer to spend more with you at the time that they're spending.

[Nicole]

Yeah. Okay.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

Okay, then let me. Let's see. Okay. So from the price increase, have you seen any changes with your customers or customer behavior?

[Nicole]

Well, in the web, the shop stat, they. So the orders are down and the, the average order value is sort of stable. It's gone down a little bit. But I sell a lot of fabric swatches, like a lot and they're time consuming and I need some.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

And do you pay, do people pay for them?

[Nicole]

They do, but I was just thinking today I need to raise the prices. They're 50 pence plus postage and people put like 10 in a basket. And I just think maybe they need to be.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

What if you just did. What if you did swatch books? So what if it was all the swatches for an amount, so £10 or something? Like make it a flat fee that they can get access to all the swatches whether you're cutting them or not. You can send them out as well and then send them in a stack maybe with labels on the back of them or however you label them with what the fabric is. And then I don't know if I would sell either the individuals or £3 each or something. Right. Like make it more expensive or get all of them for a certain amount. So then it's again worth it to you to ship out the swatches.

[Nicole]

Yeah, totally agree. They take a lot of time at the moment. So yeah, I like the idea of this swatch book and I'll raise the price for individuals. So, yeah, it's quieter, you know, but I don't want to be a busy fool equally. So I'm just getting used to the status quo. I used to be really busy all the time because prices were a lot lower, potentially. I've lost some customers, but people are still buying at price that they are. So I was just doing what I felt I could get away with. So I sort of did a little bit of a half measure and I didn't do it in the whole website. I just raised prices on cushions and table runners. But gradually I've increased the prices across the board. I have noticed in custom there's a lot less queries and, you know, I don't get as many of those sales since I have sort of raised the price of custom. So it's quieter. But I think the money is coming in in different ways. So a little bit of wholesale, the prices are higher and so I guess I'm happy in terms of what I'm getting for the product now, whereas before I wasn't keeping up with it.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

Tell me about your wholesale. How are you selling wholesale?

[Nicole]

So at the moment, it's where they've come to me from social, so on Instagram, so I haven't done any outreach yet. So it's just a few shops that have found me on Instagram and I sell the cushions, fabric and table linen. Sorry, cushions and table linen to them. And this, they sell really well for these shops. So I guess part of me was wondering, you know, I've been selling that hero fabric, that striped grain Sack, for nearly 10 years and it's always been my best seller. Have people fallen out of love with it? But that's not what the shops are saying. They love it and their customers love it.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

Yeah, I think. I think that the French provincial sort of look is not. I'm sure there's times that things will be more trendy or less trendy, but the stores are telling you they're not. I just want you to just take into account that it's. The world is a little bit different right now. So it's, It's. It's a bit challenging in the way of just moving product. And then I love where you're going with this because you're looking for, how do I improve?

[Nicole]

So with the wholesale, it's 50% GP, I tend to try and double and then. So the retail's not quite high enough for that. But they price because my cushions aren't branded, they price how they wish. So there is a question whether it should brand them.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

Let's dig into that. Do you want to brand them? Do you want to be known for this?

[Nicole]

Well, I guess, yeah, I think it'd be nice to brand them going forward. I do have the odd shop that wants to sort of not let anyone else know who they buy from, but I think I should brand them.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

Yeah, I think, I think maybe moving into 20, 25, you brand them. Because if you're telling me people are searching, you have 17, 18,000 followers on Instagram, like you have a good size following. People are following you as an influencer. You're influencing their choices to how they want to design and decorate. So I think that, you know, if somebody wanted it not branded, then they should. Maybe they needed you charge them more. Amazingly, you can always do circle circumstances for them where you're like, sure, I'll do custom for you, I can do yours branded. But there's, you know, it's a higher fee or a higher minimum to almost do a white label for someone else. Otherwise you're very much established. You've established a brand and a look and a feel, and people are buying into that. And so at this point, you've got the ability to position the brand right. And so when people are looking, well, where can I shop? You can say, like, grab us in the shop. Grab us in the shop. And. And it's a benefit to them for you to be well known and for people to ask for your product. So what percentage of the money you're making right now? What percentage of it is direct to consumer? So what you're selling through your website and Instagram versus wholesale.

[Nicole]

Wholesale is probably this year about 20% direct to consumers. The biggest. Well, yeah, most of it really wholesale is probably about 20% at the moment. Yeah.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

And. And why do you want to grow wholesale? Your margins aren't. Your margins aren't completely aligned for wholesale just yet. So you're making less money per unit anyways. And I know you want to talk about growing wholesale, but I almost want to see you have a better margin because right now only 20% of your sales are coming from it, which is 80, 20 rule, which means 80% is coming direct to consumer.

[Nicole]

I guess I thought with a catalogue, because I've never done any outreach, but with a catalog and outreach, and I know there'll be a time lag that I could get the shops on board and the idea was to sell more to them. So the shops that I do have tend to Buy, you know, if I show them something, they'll buy. So, you know, they. Their spend goes from 1,000 to three to four. So I wanted to sort of collaborate more with some shops. Shops and sell more to them. But yes, I agree that the margins need to be right.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

We want your direct to consumer price to be the same as they would retail it for. I don't ever want you undercutting the retailers because people will be like, oh, I'll just buy directly from them. So if you feel like you have the margins for that type of markup, otherwise, what could you offer wholesale that isn't everything, but it could be a smaller catalog of product that you actually could get a better return, like profit margin on. So instead of it being bags and bench cushions and, you know, every. And table linens, maybe it is just table linens. If you have a better margin on your table linens, for example, or table linens and like two types of pillows, the bench cushion and then a certain square size. Because you don't have to offer everything wholesale. I want you to offer wholesale what you could look at this and say, the more I make, the cheaper I could bring my unit price down. So maybe the entire collection's not available wholesale, but there's certain pieces that are. If you're going to sell wholesale, just note that perhaps so your seamstresses or whatever you do, the more units you make, the lower per price it can be. So instead of being reactive, you can really think through, you know, per season or per time I'm going to sell, I'm going to make a hundred of each. And then with your seamstresses or whoever makes it, you think, if I make a hundred of these, what's my per unit cost? So the more you can make in one go, the price per piece should be less, including cutting, right. When you lay cost, when you lay the fabric out and you cut it all at once, it's one cut versus individual cuts. Same with the sewing. Mainly. It looks like they're all probably sewn with the same thread color, but it's just like the operation going faster. So you can lower your cost. You can lower your cost by raising your production units and getting a better margin there. That would be one. One way to do it to keep selling wholesale. So I would say constantly, always, we're always working on reducing our. Our margins or reducing not our margins, reducing our costs so we can have better margins. That's step one. Did you catch that? As Nicole works to ramp up her wholesale sales, she should focus where her Margins can handle the growth. And here's the thing, she doesn't have to offer her entire collection wholesale. Remember, a powerful strategy to wholesale is actually to dial in what you're making, what you're selling, really merchandising and creating a line that customers know what to buy from, right? And when you do this, you'll also be able to dial in your production process. So the more more you're known for things, right, the more units you get to make. And guess what happens when you're making more units. You actually get to lower your price per unit. And that's what boosts profitability. That is the goal when you get to sell in bulk to retailers. Hey friends. 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The thing I don't actually have time for, all I have to do is simply mix a stick into my water and I'm good to go. So if you want to try this because I so believe in this business, I think it's amazing. It's done so many wonders for my skin and my gut, which are two things that I need help with. And you want to simplify your wellness and your beauty. All you have to do is click in the show notes and you can use the code Jaclyn Snyder. So it's my full name. Use the code Jacqueline Snyder. And I'm hooking you up with 15% off your order. So cheers to glowing skin and a thriving business. Hey friends. Are you unsure of what to say on social media or what to even send in your weekly emails? Well, what if creating content could be easy? Would you Be looking for a shortcut to creating consistent content. Yes, consistent content. Because you know, consistency is. Well, let me tell you, you are not alone when you feel like you're struggling on what to post or what to write in emails. And we know that you have that product part of your business down. But as you're listening to this podcast, you probably already know that to get more people to your products, to buy your products, you need to create great content. Oh, I know, I see. I keep saying content and that's the dreaded C word. And we can't tell you how many product bosses tell us that they want to create great content for their audience and their customers. But. But they don't know what to say or they are so busy they can't find the time or they really, really, really don't want to be the face of their brand. Well, no worries because that's exactly why we created a year of content. It is your shortcut to creating consistent content that resonates with your audience and brings more loyal customers who can't wait to buy your products. If you want to see how easy this is and how easy it is to create content for your audience and your customers, head to www.ayearofcontent. second part I teach us a multi stream machine, but with wholesale it's creating a line sheet with collections for them. So you might say the starter package or the starter kit includes these pieces. So it's a very easy yes in there. Meaning it's like, okay, I'll start with you know, two square pillows of each color, two long pillows of each color and you know, three of each color of the table runners or something. You may know what a good collection would look like to go into a shop and make that suggestion so they don't have to come up with it. They might be like, great, thank you, Nicole. That's amazing. Make it easy for them to say yes. What tweaks can you make direct to consumer with orders already coming your direction? And maybe it's not gifts. The table linens might, but it's constantly suggesting how to use this product during the holidays because it is a massive time right now for people to be buying products to update their homes because guests are going to be staying with them, they're going to be hosting the holidays. You're red, for example. It might be like provincial Christmas. And you're sharing that kind of content because yes, you can do wholesale if you have the bandwidth to do that right now. And we've kind of talked about all the things, but we're also heading into the season where direct to consumer again, if we could do slight tweaks. Other things to think about is a free shipping threshold. What's the minimum to get them to order? Can you do cross sells and upsells? If you get the customer, I just want you to see, can I make that customer spend? Not make, but encourage that customer to spend a little bit more money with me. That means you're going to see a significant lift in your revenue without having to need more customers. The customers that are coming are just spending more and that's how we start to kick your sales up.

[Nicole]

Yeah, it's sort of good to hear that. I did think I need to concentrate on direct to consumer in the holidays, certainly, you know, before I think, well, get on with wholesale. Maybe concentrate on wholesale in January when people are buying on. So, yeah, it's just to, it's good to, to hear that because I don't, I didn't want to abandon it.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

Yeah. I think with wholesale, then thinking about that, if you can start to tweak and test and try and crush this quarter, you can think through because especially in the uk, the weather is going to take a bit longer till it warms up. And so I remember when I lived in New York, I was like, I couldn't even think of spring dresses, even though in Los Angeles it's always sunny. Right. So we, it's this transition of opening your windows after the winter. It's not necessarily a thing here, but when I lived on the east coast then it was like it was. You wanted to transition your home into spring. Like you, you really wanted to shift everything. And so your product I think would be really great then to show, you know, when people start to garden again, you know, they, they're going to start to have Easter brunches. And Valentine's Day is probably not the product. So you really do have time and let's say I'll call it January, Febr, Be pushing wholesale to get this product in the stores. March, April, May.

[Nicole]

Yeah, that, that feels right. Yeah.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

Yeah. I think otherwise it's just a big push for. You could test it a little bit, but don't give yourself this overwhelm of needing to get into, you know, I know you want to get into a hundred retailers, but then build a cadence and, and don't go to your, like your number one store off the bat because what if you mess up? Right? So start with some smaller stores, start with local shops. Start with what you feel more comfortable around before you go to These stores other ways. Other interesting wholesale ideas for you could be hotels. So, so if there's certain hotels that have the look and feel you could provide cushions and pillows for like decorating the beds outdoors. So just always think about different because they may like for example, I was at or I don't know if it was Ritz Carlton or Four Seasons. It was a very expensive hotel when I was in Boston. And you can buy the, like they give you on part of the thing. You could buy the mattress, you could buy the pillows, you can buy the down comforter. And I've seen that once before at another kind of like high end place that I went to because people with money are like, yeah, ship me this, you know, $3,000 mattress to my house. I loved sleeping on it. So there's this element of also knowing that there could be spas, there could be resorts, there could be places that could sell it in their gift shops. It could feel it could be in lavender fields or wine regions, you know, things like that that you could just think alternative places to sell as well.

[Nicole]

Okay. Yeah, I've not thought, ever thought of wine regions or. That is interesting.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

I can imagine your stuff out, you know, on the Adirondack chair, you know, the chairs that are out when you're in the fields and drinking, you know, so thinking of places that already are creating that feeling for people and those are alternative places you can sell. Also you could think of event planners. So people who are hosting showers, wedding showers, that kind of thing. They can also buy product from you, the table linens and whatnot. Just, just, just thinking of other ways that people can buy from you. And maybe they're not buying wholesale, wholesale, maybe they're buying a reduced, a reduced amount. But I just want you to think alternative because the more eyeballs you can get in front of, the more your look and feel feels established and you're building this brand around it, the more people are going to want to recreate what you've created by buying your products.

[Nicole]

Yeah, I, I mean on Instagram I used to get tagged all the time, but so I used to spend all Saturday mornings responding to tags, which was amazing. Now not so much. And I don't know if it was, it seemed to fall with the, with reels and a lot of people didn't really want to do reels. My customers did nice. You know, there was similar age to me, posts and nice pictures and I'm not sure, but I just get a lot more. But that's just. My Instagram is very inconsistent So I think I can do something better there.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

So what do you think you could do? Get to get back into your Instagram because it seems like it was working and then it looks like maybe you've shifted and not continue to do the same thing that you used to do. So if success leaves clues and you were to go back and say this used to work, what do you think could be a new thing that you do, let's say for the next 90 days to try and get it going again?

[Nicole]

So I guess that is. It's a good question really, because in the way I have approached my Instagram lately is less sort of one level transactional selling and more in line with. Because I've turned 50 and I'm doing a lot of self help and all of this sort of, I've kind of joined the two. So there's a lot of sort of thought behind trying to sort of link it to the product. But I have, and I have gained a lot of followers. But I'm wondering if it's necessarily for what, what I want, you know, for the right followers. Are they liking the fact that you have struggles in your 50s or, you know, and they're relating to that more than the product. So I'm still figuring that out. But I really, with regards to tagging, I don't know, I just usually tagged all the time and I don't know, I, I've never worked that one out. All I could think about was tagging stopped when reels began. But I don't know.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

So I think that, you know, the concept of, of there's, there's two metrics here. So there's vanity metrics of people following you and coming for content that maybe doesn't make sense. And then people. And they're, and they're attracted to you to talk about that. Right. Versus people who are home interior aficionados that are, you know, they're on Pinterest and they follow stuff. Do you do anything on Pinterest?

[Nicole]

Not really.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

Okay. That could be because Pinterest is a search engine and a lot of times people are using Pinterest to search for something like they're moving into a new home and they want to redo their kitchen or they're looking to design their outdoors. There's a lot of searching for that on there. So one thing could be starting to get into Pinterest for you, specifically for a search tool to show up as a solution to people's problems or as inspiration, if that makes sense. Then thinking about the quality of the Leads you're creating. That is a good question. You know, it's like you might poll them and say, do you follow me for, like, comment. Put in the comments. Do you follow me for, you know, personal content or interior, you know, design content or something? Like, you can ask the question. I think there's this element of them being into what you share, but you may want to transition back into what you were doing. And then why were people resharing it? You know, it could be like, send this to someone that you want to copy, cuddle up and read a book with on this couch, right? You could think about using your. Your stuff. I know that there's this. There's these trends on reels right now that it's like, for travel, you know, someone. If someone sent this to you, like, they want to go to Sweden with you, you know, and so you can come up with different reels where you're showing your product. But then, you know, send this to someone where you want to read a good book with. Send this to someone that, you know you want over for the holidays. Like, so think about ways that they can use the image and maybe the trending audio that's with it. But it's a way that they can share it, but it's still about. It's like, oh, yeah, I want to visually see myself there, you know, because the new thing with virality on social, not new, but they really care about how many people are sharing it, how many people are saving it, and how many people are commenting. Not so much even the views. So we all know that there's certain. I just sent my husband, like, four different reels this morning. One was about, like, parenting and making our kids do chores. Another one was a funny one about something, you know, and so we send stuff to our spouses, our siblings, our parents or whoever. That's what that might be. One viral point, a way for you to get your stuff to be shared. I was gonna say another thing. Could be one thing that I never know how to do, which could be a great piece of content for you. Whether you use somebody else's content or your own, is like how to style the pillows on your couch, right? Like, what format? Anytime you can create that kind of content, they save it. It could be like you've been fluffing your pillows wrong the whole time. And then it. You know, we don't do the. The kung fu shop in the middle, right? Like, maybe it's some other way of doing it. So anytime you can create content that's like learning Teaching, shareable. That's the virality part. That's the part. But I want it to be around more. So around that. Now, you could be like me getting hot flashes on my linen. You know, like, that could be one thing that you do, but not all of it. Another way is getting people to share the content more.

[Nicole]

Yeah, I did used to do giveaways, and they were really. They did used to get a lot of comments, so they did work. So, yeah, I do need to get back into those. So, you know, I can probably pull those levers a bit more because I sort of stopped doing that for quite a while. Really.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

Anytime that anything feels different, I always want you to go back and say, what's changed? So is something broken or did something change? This is a critical question I usually ask my clients, and then I ask them to ask themselves regularly. So if you're ever thinking, okay, something seems super off right now, I want you to ask yourself, is something broken or did I change something? So for Nicole to get her social media following back on track, what I want her to do is reflect on what was working before and pinpoint when that decline started. She should also be open to experiment with fresh strategies and trends to stay relevant. Listen, don't forget, your followers can serve as invaluable sounding board. Right? Let's dig in and ask them. Let's pay attention to their actions. So whether you're noticing shifts in your audience's interest or you're testing out new ideas, I really want you to pay attention. You want to go back and ask yourself, is something broken or does something change? So a lot of times when I'll ask if something happened, it might be like, oh, I changed over my one student I coached one on one. She's like, my emails are just not working anymore. And I was like, well, what happened? Did something break? And she's like, well, actually, I moved to a different email platform, cable. Then we did some, like, diagnosis there. And then a little while later, she goes, oh, my God, I didn't transfer the. The. The emails over. So she moved it. But she, like, didn't have her welcome email sequence in her abandoned cart. So for you, I always want you because you've got history, you've got data to pull from. I want you to always ask yourself, is there something broken? What. What change did I make? What used to work? And what if I come back and try something different or try it again in a different way or the same way? Because marketing especially is cyclical. Like, mailers are back in, you Know when at one point we were like, we weren't getting mail ever again. So just always ask, get curious with what's changed. I'll bet you not saying that I don't want you to work with me one on one, but you could probably answer your questions a lot of times if you ask yourself a curious question question.

[Nicole]

I think so, yeah. I think sometimes you just don't want to go searching too hard in case you get some bad answers.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

It's like, why don't I have money? Well, I'm not going to check my.

[Nicole]

Bank account, but you know, I've been doing a lot of my numbers obviously for this call and it's got me back into doing the numbers. And, you know, it's just these behaviors that just, you know, just habits that need to be in place really back in.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

And sometimes we get into a very busy season or something personal happens and it throws us and then it's, it is hard to come back, back to it. But if you can just say, well, what was I doing? Try, you know, just check, just check in. Slow yourself down a little bit. Check in or give yourself a date once a month where you, you know, this is the date I'm going to look at my numbers or this is the date I'm going to recalibrate. Okay, so tell us if we're in the UK or if you ship internationally, but how can we buy from you, follow you and support your company?

[Nicole]

So my website is maisonbruckant.co.uk and my Instagram is Maisonbruck Hunt. Want and you can DM me as well on Instagram or email me.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

Amazing. Thank you, Nicole. And your, your line, your brand, everything is just so beautiful. So excellent work on such a good brand.

[Nicole]

Thank you. It's been lovely to meet you.

[Jacqueline Snyder]

Oh my goodness. It was so fun connecting with Nicole and learning more about her beautiful, beautiful line of linen products. Now what she's looking to do is elevate her pricing and boost her margin so that she can have greater success in her business. And the way that she's going to do this and what we talked about in this episode was working on ways to increase her average order value, expanding her wholesale reach and diving deeper into her social media strategy. And I know that when she focuses on these key areas, she will start to see significant improvements in her business. I have no doubt in her that she can do this. And for you too, my friends, I want you to take small steps in a direction and always come back to that question. Is something broken or did I change something if you ever see something massively feel like gets changed. So I hope you found inspiration from this conversation with Nicole and maybe some hot tips or tips that you can bring into your business. If you're curious how you can get a coaching session with me and have it aired on the podcast, I'm gonna drop a link in the show notes for a way to sign up with me for one on one coaching. Sometimes we'll have spots open, sometimes we won't. But if you're curious and you're listening to this now or in the future, go ahead, click that link, see if you've got any spots available, and I'd love to have you as a guest on the show. All right, my friends, until the next one.