What am I doing wrong?

[Sarah Winchester]

I've only had this shop about a year, but it was in pretty good shape then, with meticulous records, everywhere, including the computer. While my previous framing experience had been as a co-op student in a d-i-y frame shape in a previous century, with alot of help from nearby framers, tremendous help from suppliers, and advice from some of the previous owners friends, I'm doing okay. I thought I might have to put some money in at the start, but didn't need to. My husband offered to help, but didn't need to, and I haven't touched my pension. I'm not bragging but my business has been steady, and I haven't don't any advertsing. True, it is all repeat business from before me, but I must be taking care of them okay, because they keep coming back. All right, maybe I am braggin, but I feel good about my new venture.

PS. I actually met Audrey Levins several years ago in Texas before I ever thought I'd be in the framing business. graemlins/kaffeetrinker_2.gif

[Cliff Wilson]

maybe nothing?? why ask? Something bothering you?

[HannaFate]

You can the the exception that proves the rule! I'm glad it's working for you.

[Matoaka]

Congratulations, Sarah! If the former owner's "repeat business" is also "repeating" with you, then you have found the secret to retaining the customer. Positive "word-of-mouth" is the best form of advertising that there is.

Keep up the good work!

[Grumbler F.K.A. Harry]

Sarah,
All I can say to you is, If it aint broke, don't try and fix it.
Congrats on a succesful year.

[Jerry Ervin]

Do you feel like you are doing something wrong?

[CAframer]

Sarah
I'm doing okay... I thought I might have to put some money in at the start, but didn't need to... I'm not bragging but my business has been steady I feel good about my new venture. Glad that things feel good ... a couple of thoughts though ... have you WRITTEN a business plan? Rhetorically, what are your SPECIFIC goals and expectations? How are you tracking against them? Do you believe you are investing adequately to achieve your planned growth?

Is the volume you are experiencing sustainable? More specifically, if you can normally expect say 70% of your volume to come from repeat customers, then inversely that means that you are losing 30% of your repeat base. This needs to be replaced by new customers. To feed this shortfall you need to take some kind of action (advertising, selling, networking, etc.)

Do you analyze your sales to determine patterns? Can you deduce an improved strategy from this?

Generally, the more specific you can be about your expectations and the more thorough you are in planning, and the more diligent you are in following your plans, the better your business will be.

Just food for thought... to plaigarize another Grumbler, use what you can and discard the rest!

Good luck,
Andrew

[Baer Charlton]

Andrew address a very good point.

Somewhere in all the great PPFA research over the years...I seem to remember that only 8% of the population as ever been in a frame shop.....

Which is a good one to remember, but the better one to remember is:

The average customer only frames about 8 things over a 6 year period.....

Eventually a house becomes full of framed art and photos. And that usually coinsides with people retiring and "down sizing" (less wall space).

So you ALWAYS need to grow your customer base. And one of those places, when you have been at it for quite a while; is to get your good customers children to start coming to you.

Now (and I do mean 2005) it is even more important, because these 20 somethings don't pay much attention to advertising and such.... they get info off the internet and rely heavily on flowing along with their friends.

So as you make strong new customers out of these kids, they in turn will be refering or even bringing in and introducing their friends.

Word of Mouth, in a weird way, is back.

[Sarah Winchester]

Cliff, Hanna, Susan, and Harry.......thank you for your kind comments.
Jerry,.........yes, I do have a slight un-easy feeling.
Andrew and Baer,.......business plan graemlins/shrug.gif I definitely need to work on that. And think about where I am going. I just have been enjoying each day so much, keeping busy framing. and meeting people. Much better than my previous job, which wasn't bad at all.....even thought I put in 30 years in a quasi-government job, I enjoyed that too. My sister says I'm too dumb to know I'm not happy :confused: , but I don't do any drugs(meds) so I think I'm okay.
It's odd, one of the regular repeat customers(from previous owner) after she had been in over 6 times, said "Who are you?....and where's @#$%^&*(the previous)?" and when I explained she just went "Oh, okay".
I have a good customer base, I think ???, of schools, sports groups annual auctions, business', and referral customers from an art school, and several photographers. Maybe I should try to think more about where and how I should grow.
I am paying myself a decent wage, and putting some aside for emergency, and future major equipment purchase.
Thanks for you ideas. graemlins/kaffeetrinker_2.gif

[Sarah Winchester]

Baer: I just took a quick count through my customer list, and find that I have added over 45 children of previous repeat customers. That is only children who have been in more than once.
Wow, I think,.....Pretty good....huh??? ;)