How to Create a Successful Sales Strategy
It’s often the creative pull that lures us into establishing a fashion brand. The excited process of design and production, getting to engage your senses as you touch your samples for the first time, see your ideas drawn up as professional sketches and reach the stage where your product is ready to sell. And then reality hits.
A fashion brand is more than creative liberation, it’s a business, and it takes strategy to succeed.
I’m not just a fashion designer and pattern cutting is one string of many to my bow. When I work with my clients and we tailor a package inclusive of consultation, we sit down and thoroughly consider how we are going to push beyond beautiful garments and start converting to sales. So today I’d like to offer an insight on how to create a successful sales strategy.
So what is a sales strategy? In layman’s terms, it’s a plan to sell in a meaningful and considered way. Positioning your brand and products to target your customers through best practices and processes.
As always, I cannot stress enough the importance of research prior to starting a fashion brand and during the process to consistently update your approach and refine plan. One of the first considerations to any sales strategy is getting clear on your message.
Your Sales Message
People don’t buy products, they buy the result the product will give. In fashion this could be the indulgent sense of luxury, the confidence they feel when they wear one of your pieces because the fit is impeccable, the morals they can express through a sustainable wardrobe choice that you’re enabling them to choose or the community they become a part of when they buy into your brand (though I can’t say I’m a fan of flex culture). Whatever the result is, this is your message. Convey it well, convey it consistently.
A consistent sales message not only builds the know, like and trust factor, but can set you apart from the competition and act as a tool to clearly position your brand in the market. It should shine a light on the value you are offering, the solution to any problems you are answering for your customers. Establishing an emotional connection to the buyer and sharing your brand story can really be the difference when closing a sale. #
Customer Clarity
Although the dream may be to cater to anyone and everyone, scaling into a globally recognised brand, most labels find success and traction by starting with a niche. Identify ways to meet your customer’s needs from your research, you should survey your primary and secondary audiences to reveal behavioural trends and patterns. Who is the person you would most like to buy your product? You’re walking down a street and someone passes you wearing your brand, what do you want them to be like? What do they represent? Get accurate, get specific, know your customer.
Click here for a quick guide to writing a customer profile.
Establish Your USP
Developing your competitor advantage and setting your brand apart from the noise of the saturated market is a must. What’s the reason your customer buys your clothes? It must extend beyond aesthetics, people buy stories.
My streetwear brand gained traction and award recognition through our Journey Cards. These were like swing tickets assigned to each garment detailing the unique process from concept to creation. I named everyone involved in the process in a bid to reconnect my customer to their clothing. It worked. It set me apart from the competition and alongside my statement, unusual designs, I had additional depth to my brand, backing up my aesthetic with an ethos and emotional connection.
Customer Longevity
Imagine trying to sell to someone who has no previous experience of your brand. Now picture selling to someone who has bought from you before. Which one is an easier task?
Stop continuously and solely chasing new leads. Nurturing the relationships with customers who have already shopped with you is worth its weight in gold. Offer them the inside scoop on upcoming news and events, make them feel like they receive preferential treatment, like they are truly a valued customer, extend any offers to their friends and family, invite their circle into your world. Strengthening the relationships between you and your customer will not only create more trust but increase the value on your products. If you’d like to know more about the important difference between customer service and customer experience, click here.
Customer Acquisition
Although nurturing your existing customers is integral to the health and durability of your brand, finding new people to buy your clothes is an equally important cog to the system of sales and growth.
We live in an increasingly digital age where marketing and promotion of your brand can be done in a previously unheard of manner… for free! If you’re not harnessing the power of social media and creating an online presence you must start using these tools, resources and content marketing to your advantage. Even if you haven’t launched yet. Click here to find out why.