Why No-one Wants To Buy Your Fashion Products (Part 1)

Are you ready to hear why no-one wants to buy your products?

 
Are you sat watching your laptop….waiting…..waiiiiting….for a notification that some-one has gone through your check-out page?

You might be like the floundering fashion designer who has taken all the instagram courses, done everything the marketing strategists and brand experts told them …..

But still, you are waiting…..waiting…..waiiiiiting for that ping on your laptop telling you a customer has gone through checkout.

Have you ever been promised that ONE thing that will ensure you the results in your business?
I'm talking about some brand marketer or brand strategist, who more than likely has never even ran a fashion business, showing up on your feed saying, "this ONE thing is the strategy you need that will grant your biz success!”

And it's tempting…

I mean, if someone granted me all the success I could get by following just ONE step - I'd totally go for it.  Because, why not?

(Admittedly, I am speaking from experience because I have fallen victim to this marketing tactic before…)

The truth is... No marketer will know that one thing for YOUR business, especially when their only connection is through instagram.

Your biz is so specific and unique to you!

And that’s why you need tailored specific business support.

So, lets get back on topic…..Perhaps you launched your brand full of excitement and spent a sh*tload of money manufacturing a large inventory….You were so sure they would sell out because your friends, mum and boyfriend raved about them!!!….

But you only had a couple of sales and now you’re left with a pile of stuff no-one wants!

If you are like the floundering fashion designer you might even be going into self doubt, wondering if there is something wrong with your products….thinking you need to design something different…..or worse!…thinking there’s something wrong with you, or that you’re just not cut out for this!!

Well my friend there is more than likely nothing wrong with your product. And there is DEFINITELY NOTHING wrong with YOU!!!!!! It is more than likely because you have not learned all the core business skills that are ACTUALLY required.

In order to sell your products... Yes you need an audience, but an audience alone will not help sell your products unless you learn core business skills.

Take Gucci for example. Do you think for a moment that the brand got where it is today, by building a social media audience alone. Of course not. They have a CEO and teams of business managers……Heck they grew their brand BEFORE social media was invented!!

There’s a lot of great instagram and marketing advice that helps build your presence and brand on social media but you cannot build a thriving business with an IG following alone.

If you could, then every company would make their director of marketing their CEO. But you and I both know they do not!

Don’t be like those IG influencers with tens of thousands of followers but can’t even sell a $10 T-shirt.

Until you learn how to run a business successfully, you won’t start getting the results you want.

So, Im going to give you my top three tips that has helped students in Fashion Entrepreneurs Academy launch their business, and that every thriving personal brand and fashion business has that you need (HINT: you need all three of them! Which one are you missing?)

Ultimately, you know your business is unique. Say buh-bye! To sleazy marketers and brand strategists who tell you about their “ONE secret strategy” and say HELLO to understanding your biz the way that is unique to you.

So here we go:

1. Your WHY 
Do you know your higher purpose or WHY you want to do this? If not take some time to get really specific. Sit in the silence and really think quite deeply about WHY you want to do this.

Your WHY should be bigger than you. It should be something that people will rally behind. This is the first thing my students learn because it is the foundation for everything you do in your business. If your house is not built on strong foundations it will collapse very quickly.

Take Patagonia, they sell basic adventure clothing but have become really successful because they have a strong “WHY” or “higher purpose” which is “to save our home planet” and this speaks to the soul of their ideal customer avatar (ICA).

People will not buy WHAT you do. They buy WHY you do it.

To learn more about your Why watch Simon Sineks' Start With Why.

2. The Know, Like & Trust Factor
Have you taken the time to woo your audience? You cannot just start selling to strangers. If a stranger came up to you in the middle of Oxford Street and asked you to buy their product do you think you would buy? Probably not….You would probably give them an odd look and head for the store you trust!!!

…Or if you were in a coffee shop and a guy you'd never met before approached and asked you to marry him. What would your reaction be? I know what my reaction would be….because it did happen to me.... I, of course, declined his proposal of matrimony and moved away to another table!!!!

Now imagine that same guy in the coffee shop had instead casually started chatting to me….about the weather, coffee or taking an interest in a book I was reading, then maybe asked me to stay for another coffee, that lead to a dinner date, we became really good friends, partners, went out for two years……If he then asked me to marry him what do you think my answer would be?   And, do you think my answer would have been based on the way he proposed, would it matter to me if he proposed in a hot air ballon, on a fancy beach holiday, or if he just asked over the breakfast table. No, of course it wouldn’t matter because its the two years we had spent together getting to KNOW, LIKE AND TRUST each other that would prompt my decision to marry him.

It’s the same in business. You cannot just start selling your products to strangers. You first have to woo them. If you are successful in doing this people will come to you and want to buy basically anything you create. It takes hard selling out of the equation…. selling without the sleaze!!!

People will only buy from you if they KNOW LIKE AND TRUST you.

3. Sell them what they already WANT
I see too many designers disregard their audience and just design what they want.

At Uni your college tutors said everything had to be crazy, outrageous and conceptual with no regard as to who you were designing it for.

To sell however, everything you learned in college is irrelevant. Fashion school does NOT teach you how to run a fashion business. You need to do some RESEARCH to find out who your customers are, what they want with absolute precision and how much they will pay for it.

People will only buy things they WANT, unless you are a top wiz with (verging on the sleazy) persuational tactics!!!….And that’s probably not you!

Research is a skill that you have to master. One simple starting point is just to ask your social media audience. Post questions (in a meme or with a fun gif) on your feed that will extract information about your audiences likes, dislikes and how much they might be wiling to pay etc.

Now, from this research you do not just follow every whim of your audience….NO…..You only take from this research the feedback and responses that align with your brand vision. (More about brand vision in a future blog post)

The degree in which you know your customers is the degree in which you will sell your products.

In next weeks blog I will give you another three top tips to selling your products, so keep an eye out for that. To ensure you don’t miss it sign up for reminders on the link below.

CLICK HERE FOR BLOG REMINDERS

Remember to let me know what it is that you learned from this.

I can’t wait to hear your shares!

Lots of love and encouragement,

Jane
XOXO

p.s. Are you on the waitlist for Fashion Entrepreneurs Academy?  I don’t want you to miss out on all the systems and processes in my unique formula that will help your business grow.  Sign up below and I’ll let you know when doors open.

CLICK HERE TO GET ON THE WAITLIST FOR FASHION ENTREPRENEURS ACADEMY