New School Year Offer 25% OFF

New Year, new friends, new clothes, and new teachers and for some of us sometimes new schools. Are you ready for this new school year? I know I am! As moms we are superwomen tackling every new school year with a bang. The excitement and joy soon goes away when we start to realize how busy our days are going to become. From waking our kids up in the morning to getting them ready and then picking them up, cooking dinner, play time and starting all over again the next day. Oh I remember those days watching my favorite episodes of Sex in the City late at night sipping on a home-made martini. But I have to say I enjoy every minute of being a mom to my two little girls and watching them grow up. I absolutely love seeing them at school, such innocence. Now that I made it thru the first day of school I am looking forward to the rest of the school year. Let me not forget to mention with the new school year I am officially on recess duty! Any suggestions?Wish me luck!

(Not so happy Rekha at school orientation)

I wanted to share with all you moms a crafty back-to-school idea to personalizing your children’s notebook and make them feel special! Or why not treat yourself with this design your own quilted notebook and show it off at work, school, or out shopping.

This is a made to order listing for a custom made quilted notebook cover for small notepads. It fits a 4x5 writing pad. Now you or your child can look stylish and cute all day long. In honor of the new school year and our little ones going back to school order now and get 25 % OFF, use BK2SKOOL code. To order visit www.craftystitches.etsy.com.

Every Client is an Opportunity to Improve

Turning a complaining customer to a positive experience!

I think that is probably the hardest thing to do for online businesses.  I have had my share of complaints that's for sure.  But I have to say that I really do try to turn every contact into an opportunity to improve my product or increase my service.  I see that every client contact is an advertising expense that is more valuable than placing an ad for thousands of dollars.

So here's my quick low down on what it means to turn every client contact into an opportunity to improve. 

Why be pleasant?

• When a customer contacts you, they are actually giving you an opportunity to fix it.  That's a good thing!  :)  So take every advantage of it - no matter how ridiculous you think the request really is - unless you really can't do it - like I make quilted accessories and a client asked me to make a chain for her with metal.  So that's not my medium and I know I don't know how to do that.  :)  So do it. I really do try to do it.  ... 
• It's at a loss for me... I can't offer that... Offer a refund - even if it is a loss to me.  Offer to redo the product, even if it is at a loss to me.  WHY?  well, it imagine this as a ROI for advertising.  So if the client spent $50 at your shop, it's your chance to advertise how great you are as a business, as an artist, as customer service.  So it's worth it.  REALLY!
• The client is ALWAYS RIGHT!  I know this one is an old one.  But it is still true! So one time a client order a bunch of totes (10) in green but did not indicate a specific color.  Later she claims she didn't order it in that color.  But of course I told her that I'm happy to change them for her ... later she discovers it and reveals that she made the mistake and said she apologized profusely.  She was soooo happy with the result and service that I got lots of referrals from her as she as an event planner.  Scored!  :)  So you never know who your clients are and every client is an opportunity to improve.  

I hope this helps your business as it has helped me truly understand how to improve my business.  

HelloEtsy - Sustainable Business Event

As a Etsy Street Team Captain I'm excited to announce that the Capital Region Etsy Street Team (CREST) will be featuring and volunteering at the HelloEtsy Smithsonian collaborative event on Small Business and Sustainability through human artful economy.

The event is this September 18 at the Smithsonian Museum.  To get your free tickets, click here and register!  HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL THERE.

Business Analytics

It's all about the Numbers!

Fellow Etsians Shop Owners ... It's time to study your shop and sale analytics. This is an important tool and process to understand in the age of information technology. This was my day job before I quit my day job to go FULL TIME ETSY. :) Sharing with all my peeps today.

So I'd like to share a few tricks I learned!

• Track your traffic/customers

• Track your sales
• Track your search words

If you have not already started viewing the new settings on your Etsy Shop - be sure to visit your ETSY SALES STATS and learn to understand what you see. Some quick items to look for...

• Where are your visitors coming from (top traffic source)
• When do they come visit you (hour by hour traffic visitors)
• What are the key word searches that get them to see your shop (top key words)

These are the key things to look for... but what does that tell me as a shop owner?

• Top traffic source tells me if I am advertising properly. So if I placed an ad spot on a website and it tells me that I am getting lots of customers from there, then yes... it was good to do that again. If not... it's time to change up or update your ad.
• Hour by hour visitor tracking helps me understand when is a good time to relist. I love doing that. if I see a dip.. i renew. :) it's a simple one for me.
• Keywords help me type in all the important words that my customers like to see.
  

Sales Stats... this one is the hardest one to understand... here's a few things that I do to track my sales...

• Average daily sale (I have a chart that helps me track all my daily sales and then gives me an year to date AVERAGE of all my daily sales. Helps me budget)
• What are my TOP days when my visitors purchase? is it a Monday/TUES/FRIDAY? This helps me with my marketing so I know which is my HOT days.
• Again monthly sales reports helps me understand whether my marketing efforts paid off. If sales increased + web analytics show the traffic source is from a marketing effort, then looks like at least I'm moving in the right direction. ROI baby! :)

For more on spreadsheets and other tools to help you with analytics, feel free to post your comments and questions and I'm happy to help.

The Bridal Show - January 2011

The Bridal Showcase in Fairfax Virginia Patritio Center on January 23, 2011.

My booth turned out beautifully. I really enjoyed the show. Brides from all over the Washington, DC metro area attended and we had lots of visitors at our booth. The Twisted Cow and I shared a booth and we were so excited about this event. Our booth featured both our products (quilted accessories by CraftyStitches and dog collars and groom accessories by The Twisted Cow)

We worked really hard at keeping our design simply while able to display our products and signage. We stuck with a simple white furniture so that all of our products stood out from the booth. We had over 500 visitors at our booth and received raving reviews from the brides. By the end of the night all of our marketing materials were gone. We even had a few sales. :)

The event was mostly to market our product rather than cash and carry. The Twisted Cow offered a drawing for a prize of her coveted and beautifully made crystal bling dog collar or cuff links.

I thought it was a successful event and would like to do it again.

Buyer's Market of American Crafts (Baltimore, MD) August 22-25, 2010

My First wholesale booth

I'm so excited to be attending the Buyer's Market of American Crafts in Baltimore Maryland (Convention Center). It is such an exciting show where all Handmade Gifts artists will present their products to buyers. So I created my own booth and here's a rough home picture of it.

More CraftyStitches News

So here are more of my recent business accomplishments:

1. CraftyStitches LLC completed May 2010
2. CraftyStitches VA business license renewed and updated
3. CraftyStitches Supplier Wholesale accounts set up (West Minister Fabrics, Fiberco, Inc., and Zips) It's a big step for me because this really cuts down the costs and now I'm able to create freely with all the update styles and fabrics.
4. CraftyStitches sold over 160 listed items on Etsy and sold over 500 pieces of handmade quilted accessories to date. I'm so excited.