Custom Apparel Startups

1. Perfect basic online presence

2. Perfect your ecom or online showroom (if have one)

3. Physical Marketing Collateral

4. Prepare to test ad strategies (2020 might be all testing for you)

5. Invest in new products

6. Make your delivery as best it can be

It’s 2020. You are still in business. You made it.

What’s next? How will you do better?

1. Look at your 2019 review. And determine how to spend more time replicating that.

Can you go to more events? Can you meet more people? Join more groups? Ask for more referrals? Go on more sales calls?

The big question: do you have the time and/or will to do this?

2. If you had paid ads... spending more.

If you paid to attend 2 markets, can you pay to go to more?

Can you pay for more space at a market?

Can you pay someone to go for you? Or hire someone to go with you?

If word of mouth works, then you can get promotional items, or wrap your car.

The money investment logically pays off cause you know it works.

3. It is a bit of both... spend time and money.

This is a new area of opportunity for your business.

Are you too new in the business to know what works for you? You have to start somewhere, be sure to track results.

Have you tried other things but looking to expand to something new? Ideas...

How do you determine if you had a good year and plan for the next one?

There are some simple metrics that are normally used to determine a businesses success like:

These are all very important and you have to spend time looking into them consistently. However, let's look into some really specific information and how we can turn that into success for the next year(s) to come.

What were the best jobs you had?

What can you do next year to get more work like this?

Do the jobs you thought of above all have some common elements?

Did these jobs only come from certain customers?

Who were your best customers?

Take a look at their profile and determine if you can find people more like them.

What did you enjoy doing most?

Part of the health of your business is more than money, it's about living your dream.

Did you love selling more than the production?

Did you hate the selling but love the embroidery?

What skill did you master the most?

Is this a skill to can continue to take to the next level?

Create a list of these skills and prioritize them

What sales / marketing tactics worked?

Did you buy an add in a school paper and got a lot of calls?

You have to take a look at which one of these did the best for your business and consider how you go deeper into these.

Look at your 80/20 rule

Do you have a handful of big accounts that bring in most of the revenue?

The best way to make your business better each year is to not only dive into the numbers like how we started this podcast but look into yourself and your customers. Use this to figure out what's in store for you next year.

Pricing is an EMOTIONAL thing for most small business owners.

The Impact of Pricing:

In the rest of this podcast we're going to explore price testing strategies the let the market tell YOU how much you should be charging. And taking all the emotions out of it. (or at least as much as you'll let it)

1. The "Tipping Point" Method - Raise your prices incrementally until you see your customer leave.

2. New Product Change Tactic - As you bring in new blanks, new products or new designs you introduce them at higher prices and leave your older ones as is. A slower tipping point method.

3. Use discounts and offers on your website to measure the impact of lower prices.

4. Show different prices to different users and measure the relative performance.

5. Create different versions of your products and offer them at different prices to see which performs better.

6. Use an email or call list to sell at different prices and measure conversion rates.

Here are some ways to increase pricing strategically:

Adjust discounts on volume - If you normally provide your first discount at 12 shirts, bump it to 15. If the next tier is 30, bump to 50.

Add value extras - increase your price but add more value and low cost value-add extras. Include wash instruction cards for every shirt, put every shirt in a bag, offer a discount for a size exchange. e.g. 25% off size exchange if someone wants a different size. up to 3. etc.

Raise Fees - if you charge no 'set up fee' add a modest one for certain orders. If you charge a $20 fee, make it $30.

Increase cost for higher perceived value - sell glitter or digital full color and increase price much more than the basic. Then push this offering. Even though your cost might be relatively the same the product seems more valuable.

Timed price increases - You may want to increase pricing by 20% but get backlash from customers. Start with 5% and make it a goal to increase 20% over X months.

Offer faster delivery at a higher price - Some companies offer a 'rush' fee. Instead, you could offer a standard delivery that is long, and offer 'priority' for a modest fee. e.g. free for 14 days, $20 for priority 7 days, $80 rush for 3 days

Writing will captivate the attention of your customers and win you sales. You got into this business to be the best at what you do. You mastered the art of production, you’ve worked on your sales process, you are even doing your best to get found online.

Putting together great copy (writing) will show the world the true custom apparel professional you are.

When will you need to write? ALWAYS. EVERYWHERE.

Why does it matter?

People cannot pay attention to everything. Your brain filters out 99+% of everything you see. How many people read all of your website, or all of an article, or your entire quote? Almost none.

People need to get their attention captured and HELD.

If someone is searching online for a t-shirt printer or sifting through quotes they got on a job, great writing will help you win more than the competition. They stop on your page, they stay on your website, they keep looking back at your proposal.

Here are some great tips for putting together a great copy.

Help them see the vision.

Simply stating that you make great custom t-shirts and embroidery isn’t enough. These are just abstract thoughts, you don’t see anything. Incorporate detailed descriptions, personal stories, experiences of past customers. When someone reads what you’ve written…. they should be able to close their eyes and see something.

For example:

Our embroidery shop opened in 2018 and we have been satisfying customers all over the area. Our great reviews show that we are the #1 choice for your custom hats, shirts, jackets and more.

not bad… but…

You want great looking custom apparel. We understand embroidery is more than just a logo on a polo shirt. Your team wants to show up on the field looking amazing, your business wants to impress its clients and your mom deserves an amazing looking handbag. Our embroidery business started in 2018 with a vision to put a smile on every customers face (and our reviews show it!)

Make it personal.

When your customers read an email from you, they want to feel they are important. Don’t just copy/paste and email…. write a message for them whenever possible.

For example:

GET A FREE Shirt – Buy 4 get 1 free on all printed logos or a free hat with every 10 embroidery shirts.

not bad but.

Hi Carl,

It was great to do business with you this past summer, thank you again. I want to let you know about a year-end special we have: Get a Free Shirt – Buy 4 get 1 free on all printed logos or a free hat with every 10 embroidery shirts.

Capture attention! STOP. IMPORTANT. FREE. BIG.

Use words to capture attention. This is huge for email subject lines, headlines of ads, social posts.

You don’t get a second chance often. if someone is scrolling through facebook they will most likely miss your post. If they are reading emails, they will probably skip over yours. You have to put yourself in their shoes… what will capture their attention.

Example:

T-shirt we made for the local Busy Bee Breakfast House

not bad but…

Holy Pancakes and Bacon check out this awesome shirt we made for the Busy Bee Breakfast House.

Follow good formatting

You should create a standard format you use for everything you write. In categories.

This format aligns with how you write, your brand and your business personality.

This could be a good time to start some continuing education. Take a course for writing online, watch videos, go to blogs, pay attention to what big brands are doing.

Ultimately writing great copy is just a big win for you. Too many small business owners just throw something together and don’t ever look at it again. You can beat them every time if you pay attention to your words and always improve how you write.

Your customers have a great idea for a shirt, or a blanket or a cap. You might even agree its a great idea, but it’s just not possible. Maybe it is possible, but not with your equipment or skills. How do you still win? How does your customer still get what they want?

You can still win, your customer can still win… you just have to work it out. We are here to help!

Your customer asks for something that CAN’T be done.

– They want 5 hats with embroidery on the bill for under $10 each. You aren't getting that anywhere in the world.

– They want a DTG print that glows in the dark neon pink on a moisture wick t-shirt.

This is probably the simplest one to solve. You know they cannot go anywhere else and get this. You know they won’t find it for a price they are willing to pay.

Explain to them why, let them understand. If you explain in a way that shows how much of an expert you are they will be excited to have asked you. They will know they didn't waste their time chasing something that doesn't exist.

I agree that embroidery on the bill of a cap looks very cool, but these are actually done pre-construction. They actually sew on fabric, then turn it into a cap later. The issue is that getting this done comes with a pretty steep minimum order. I realize you only want 5 caps, so let's find an alternative solution.

Your customer asks for something your equipment cannot do.

– I want an all over print on this long sleeve fishing shirt.

This is a case where you don’t want to send your customer away, but they have very specific desires. You have 4 choices.

1. Send them away (nope! not an option)

You don’t want to just send them walking. Part of the relationship you are building is that of a trusted adviser. The minute you say “no” and don’t offer a solution means you might not be their #1 ‘go to’ person. At minimum if you have no clue what to say go with, ” Actually I want to look into that a little bit, can you give me a day? I may just have a GREAT option for you”

2. Talk to them about things you CAN do instead

You’ve got to take a shot at just offering what you CAN do for them. This could just be an alternative though, they may like your idea better.

“Actually I know you mentioned embroidered hats, but a lot of my customers have been doing heat press caps with a vinyl material I use. The designs come out really clean and they are a really sharp modern look. Want to chat more about this idea?

3. Outsource the job

You should be building relationships with local decorators. Screen printers, embroiderers, sign shops, award shops, etc. The more you have the more of a resource you will be

Have a wholesale and pricing table that you can quote and charge. Remember these should be profitable!

Quote as usual, be sure to build in time for delivery. Don’t over promise.

4. Refer out the job

If none of the 3 above can work based on your customer or business, be sure to refer out the business to someone very specific. Also they should know you sent them. You can do a conference call or a group text or CC on an email.

Your customer asks for something you won’t do

– I want this bible passage on a shirt (its 350 words and will need to be .25 inch font and you cut vinyl)

This is where it can get tough.

This is your time to be the expert and explain to them why it isnt a good idea. You can explain how the method you decorate apparel wouldnt look good this way. You can explain how in general this isn’t best practice for decorating a shirt.

Be the expert and offer good solutions (maybe the solution is outsourcing).

For example:

The bible passage example, they might want 100 shirts which means it could be a good candidate for screen printing. Outsource it.

The digital transfer won’t feel or wash well. Figure out a way to alter the art to make it work out. (stripes, remove colors, etc)

The embroidery job can be turned into a transfer or vinyl or dtg job.

Your customer asks for something you can’t do.

OUCH. You know that this CAN be done, you just haven't learned or perfected the art.

I would like to get caps embroidered (but you haven’t taken training or practiced on caps)

I would like to get a logo made and put on a shirt (but you arent a graphic artist)

This is a time when you might think. ‘ok I will buckle down and learn this. Then I can fulfill the job’ – PLEASE be careful doing this. You might not realize how long it could take you to master this art. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Some people pick up graphic arts easily, others struggle. If you haven’t done it before, you don't know how hard it might be (for you).

NOTE: Don’t just go to facebook and ask if XYZ is easy. The 3-4 people probably aren’t a big enough sample size to get a true answer.

So what do you do?

You can do similar to the above – sell something else, outsource, refer.

You could try to produce and learn… but make sure you have two things in place

Enough time to learn it – definitely no rush jobs

An exit – have a place to outsource to so you can meet your deadline if you get stuck

Once all is said and done, evaluate. Is this something you want to do? How long will it take you to master it? Is the time / effort going to pay off.

Takeaway….

The big takeaway is that YOU are the expert your customer is coming to. The same works for all other experts right?

I remember a friend telling me this grand cake they wanted for wife's birthday. The baker said if they wanted it this many tiers tall, it would need to be a certain size (which was 2x budget and fed 2x the people). They agreed to the small cake and it was spectacular.

You might walk into a mechanic and say to replace your spark plugs, but the mechanic will tell you that for this job you should replace XYZ with it as well. Or they might tell you that the problem is misdiagnosed.

The reason people keep going back to trade experts is that they trust them. If you build that relationship with your customers, you both win.

Mark S. : This is Mark B. from Contract-DTG. If you didn’t hear him before on Episode 86 then make sure to listen to it here: https://customapparelstartups.com/episode-86/

During this episode we’re going to ask Mark to walk us through 3 questions that many growing custom t-shirt businesses have:

#1: How do you know when it’s time to REPLACE a piece of equipment?

You’ll hear how Mark tracks escalating maintenance, part availability and more to figure out when it makes sense to say goodbye to a current piece of hardware.

#2: When should you change or upgrade to a BETTER system?

Hear his story about how he decided to go to replace a perfectly good manual screen print press with an automatic and how you might apply that same logic to what’s next.

#3: How do you evaluate NEW equipment?

Mark has a busy shop and he is a VERY technical, hands on equipment owner, so various manufacturers have asked him to test drive their new products. Learn what he looks for and see what makes sense for your business.

[Hint: it includes speed, quality and consumables cost]

In this CAS Mini-Cast we are going to talk about the anatomy of email and how to structure powerful email using the Mailchimp.

Mailchimp is a marketing automation platform and an email marketing service. It’s perfect for businesses of all sizes. You can start using it for free and upgrade as your business grows.

The greatest part about the Mailchimp is that it’s easy to use for beginners.

Facebook groups can be very powerful if you want to increase sales for your business… but they are completely different compared to Facebook pages.

Groups are about community, participation, conversations and less about selling. But it doesn’t mean you can’t sell.

Here’s how to do it:

Selling is done by helping people. This way they will learn more about you and how you can help them.