Creating a Line Sheet for your Jewelry Business
Welcome everybody! I'm so excited to be here and to talk with you about line sheets. It's a topic that keeps coming up again and again and we've had such an interesting year last year. And I’m getting a lot of designers saying, you know, how do I approach stores; do I need to send a line sheet; aren't people tired of getting line sheets in the mail, they want to go paperless. So we're going to just talk about all of that today. So welcome, welcome! And okay so let me click here. Oh, here we go. Alright.
So before we get started, for those of you who don't know who I am I thought I’d kind of give you a little bit of background of who I am and my history. I actually grew up selling retail. My mom had a store, I had a sister who had a store. And then I went to college and I studied fashion and marketing and retail management. So I have a big passion for stores and all things retail. I then started working for stores like GAP, really big box, behind the scenes in the operations. I first worked in the stores and then I went to work into the corporate area of things so Williams-Sonoma, GAP and got a really good education for that type of the business. And then I fell in love with
handmade product and I ended up working for small niche brands and found my way to DOGEARED Jewelry. And DOGEARED was a 14-year-old company when I started with them. I was with them for five years and they grew 800% in the five years I was there. So it was really amazing and crazy and we grew really quickly. And there were a lot of mistakes made but there were also a lot of successes. And when I made a choice to leave DOGEARED, I wanted to share all the knowledge that I had learned with other designers and small niche brands. So just to give you a little bit more of my background with
DOGEARED is that I was working with stores like Nieman Marcus, Sundance Catalog, Ylang 23, Twist. I even worked with non-profits like St. Jude’s and Make a Wish. We worked with Anthropology. So, lots of experience - oh we were with Nordstrom and we were on a replenishment setup with them. So I actually started all of these companies, with the exception of Sundance, were companies that I personally got to work with and start with carrying DOGEARED. And in 2010 I left to start Red Boot Consulting. And in 2012 my good friend Tracy Matthews approached me about an idea she had for an online educational platform for jewelry designers called Flourish & Thrive Academy and I was hooked. I was like absolutely sign me up I want to help designers. So that's a little bit
about my background. I really love the wholesale and the vendor-buyer relationship. So I have, with my Red Boot Consulting, I really help designers focus on wholesale. It's an overall business strategy, but with definitely a wholesale component. And lately there's been a lot of the designers I’ve been working with who are opening their own stores. So all very fun. And I love it. Alright so let's get down to the, let's start with… Kelli: Hey everybody. I think Robin just got kicked out but. Robin: Oh my gosh that was really strange. I’m back. Kelli: I’ll go away and we'll turn back on your video. Sorry about that.
Robin: Alright there we go. Sorry about that y'all. Alright so “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” I love this quote and I think about this all the time with business. And if you can't get in front of your customer, and you can't be in person with them, what are the other types of things that you can do to make a first impression? And I really consider your line sheets as part of that tool that's part of that first impression. It is an extension of your brand and you want to make a really good first impression. So today we're going to be talking about the anatomy of a line sheet, your perfect line sheet for your business, and knowing your buyer - because it does make a difference.
Alright so anatomy of a line sheet. And I want to know how many of you actually are currently selling wholesale? I would love to get an idea. Oh can you pop that poll in? Kelli: Yeah on the right side of your screen, click on poll and it says do you sell, currently sell wholesale and click yes or no. And I’m going to publish the results in a minute. And Robin has a few more polls we'll put in too. Robin: Yes I want to,
I want to make sure you guys are with me and engaged and polls are a great way to do that. So we've got right now about 65% say they don't sell wholesale and 34% said they do. So I’m curious to know, and you guys can in the chat, let me know for those of you who don't sell wholesale if you're actually interested in selling wholesale. So if you could in the chat just give me a little heck yes. Oh we've got some people say that they have about 30 accounts. Alright. Okay Mary said she tried it once it wasn't for her.
So great feedback. Alright so let's talk about the anatomy of a line sheet. Photography, photography, photography. If there's anything you get from this conversation today is really make sure you have great photography. It's really important that you're able to really show your pieces. And I would say high resolution photography. And the reason being is now,
as you guys have experienced, we're now doing so much virtually. And even when you're printing and sending to your customers - if you're printing your line sheets - you want to make sure you have the most pristine imagery. Because if they can't get in front of it, and they can't touch and feel it, you want to make sure that all the texture everything that your jewelry offers can really be seen. So have good photography and don't halfway that. It's really important. Alright. Okay so I’ve put together a little line sheet checklist. And just so you guys know that we
are recording this, you're going to have access to this, you're welcome to even take a snapshot of it; but I love checklists and it's always good to know what you need. So your brand, your cover - you need a cover page. Have your brand logo. If you can have a model shot on there with some of the jewelry, but have your information on your front cover. Then you want your contact information. Your contact information should be on actually every page of your line sheet. Because here's the thing: if you're, if you send line sheets out to your buyer, and they for some reason that it gets unstuck or you know it's unstapled or however it's adhered together, for some reason maybe a page goes missing you want them to be able to contact you. So the other thing too is
you never, you want to make it easy. So you never want them to be without your information. Easy, easy, easy. And we'll talk about that in a little bit as well. About the designer. So it's important, especially in today's time, that people know who you are. People do business with who they know, like, and trust. And if they're just getting to know you, if you're sending your line sheet out for the first time to a design to a buyer and they want, they want to know who you are, what do you stand for, what's your inspiration - all of that. So it's really important to include
that in your line sheets. Product images. As I said first thing: photography, photography, photography. Make sure you have great images and I highly recommend doing it on a white background. It keeps it's - think of it this way: you want your product to be the hero of the picture. So sometimes when there's other things in the picture it can really distract and you want it just clean and easy. Easy to see the product, and it's going to be so much easier for the buyer. Your product name. Some people like to name their products, some of the collections are named. It can be a name, your style number or SKU - but make sure that's on there. Also product descriptions.
You want to make sure that you're describing the product. Some people want to do a little bit more of a romanticizing the product and giving a little more about it, and that's certainly a preference, a choice that you can make. But the basics of, you know, what type of stones you're using, the sizing, the colors, the variations, metals - all of that is really important when you're providing descriptions. And your wholesale prices. So I get asked a lot if the suggested retail price should be on there - it does not need to be on there.
You may run into if you do fine jewelry or you have certain price points or certain quantities that you sell, for example costume jewelry, a lot of times does. It will sell in a minimum of six to a pack or four to a pack. You want to state that, and there may be a minimum price point that they have to hit. So on occasion MSRP is okay, but I would say most buyers want to dictate what they sell in their store. That being said, when we get to the terms and conditions I’ll talk to you about how to talk about your MSRP and how to also not sell under a certain point, where you'll have to monitor the stores that you're working with.
Alright terms and conditions. You want to make sure that you have your terms and conditions in your line sheets because you also want to know, want to make sure the buyer knows exactly what your terms and conditions are in order to work with you. And I like to add an as seen in and as seen on. What I mean by that is “as seen in” would be any of the press that you've gotten;
and any of the “as seen on” would be like any of the, maybe some of your favorite clients who had sent pictures in or maybe a celebrity that's worn your work. Something like that is really fun to showcase and also gives better insight into your brand. Alright. Alright so I want to talk a little bit about the about page. You want to share about you, but also you know give a little bit about the story: how did you start, the inspirations. Maybe you have received a Halstead Grant I think that's great to put in there. If you have any special skills that you've learned or certificates that you've earned, the ethos about your business. If you
feel very passionately about the recycled metals you're using or the ethically sourced gemstones, put that in your about page. Also core values, your brand personality should show through in your about page. And I’m going to show you some examples too because I’m sure you guys are like give me some examples. It's much more fun to look at the examples. Alright before we do that I want to also add a few things. Sorry you guys I’m still kind
of a little wonky on the slides so I appreciate your patience. Okay what I said earlier is about being really easy for a buyer. And when you have your line sheets as far as making it really clear and clean for a buyer, don't put so much into it that it's going to distract again. You don't want to distract from your product. And clean and easy means I know how to get a hold of you, I know all
the you know the metals, the clasp, the sizing of everything. I want to know all about the product and I want to be able to read through your line sheet and not have any questions. That is my goal. And that should be your goal for your buyer. I also like to make sure the buyer knows your, what your best sellers are or what's new. And it's always good to include an order form.
Whether you send it virtually - where you send line sheets virtually you can attach at the end of the line sheet you can attach an order form or you can tell them how they can order; the convenience of it. You know again it's all about making it convenient and easy for the buyer. Okay so we're going to go into some perfect line sheets and what you need for the perfect line sheet. And we're going to have some examples. But before I do that, is there anything that you all have questions about? Okay I’m seeing in the chat here Rachel is asking the best way to find wholesalers without having to go to expensive trade shows. You know what these are, Rachel, great questions and why don't we address that at the end; because I want to talk a little bit about there are so many ways to find stores nowadays. So let's hold on to that one. Kelli if you can grab that. Kelli: I’m, everybody I’m following the chat and I’m writing down all of your questions and I’m going to throw them to Robin at the end. I do have a few questions just
about the line sheet, or do you want to hold everything until the end? Robin: Let's bring some questions sure. Kelli: Well for the line sheets, people are kind of talking about, I know a lot of people do the white background photography, do you - are you anti-black background photography, or do you just think it's whatever your pieces look best on? Robin: I think just as far as showcasing, white just is standard and across the board. And also when you have it on white background press is going to prefer that. And if you're sending, and you kind of, I would say just be prepared with white. Because you're also wanting to share, I mean ideally you want to share the photos with your retailers, with your wholesale accounts so they can in turn use it - they can then with a white background - it's just easier to use for their press, it's easier to use on social media. I would say white is kind of the way to go.
And that's just across the board what I’m seeing and what I’m hearing from buyers. Kelli: Okay. And I know you're going to show us some examples of line sheets, but people are asking - obviously you want the white background product photography, but do you also include lifestyle photography in your line sheets? Robin: Yeah you can do that. And do that where, in fact I was just talking to Harris Dolby Showroom - which is a showroom based in California - and I was asking you know what are they seeing. And they said that they are trying to incorporate, because a lot of times they'll take the line sheets and rework them for their customers because they're kind of the main go-to right for the stores. So they'll take them and they'll add some model shots to that. And I’ll
show you I actually do have examples of that, what I mean. And again it's really important to take into consideration how big your line is. Is your line made up of a lot of different collections? When I was at DOGEARED we had a very extensive line. In fact at one point we had
three different catalogs of product and that can be very overwhelming for a buyer. So it's really good to know your buyer and then really pick and choose when you're working with them. So just, you don't want to inundate people. But again it's all going to depend on your brand, your line, the different collections you have. You may have two collections in your line and they may be 15 pieces each, and it's super easy and you just put it in one line sheet and you're done. So there's no cookie cutter for a line sheet, but this is going to help you really kind of define what you want to do for yours. Kelli: Okay. And then some people are asking,
I mean I’m guessing you need to have both prepared, but digital line sheets versus printed ones. And then for digital ones is there any software that you use to generate? Do you, is it a website link or a PDF? Do you have any suggestions on that? Robin: Yeah it's funny, I was also talking recently with Megan Patrice Riley who's a jewelry designer who does send out line sheets. She sends out about 50 to some of her accounts – just, that's how they work - they work through paper. And then she'll send out potential new accounts, she'll send out a hard copy of a line sheet. Have both ready. I think it's really important to have a hard copy. I think
it's really important to, or at least be able to print it out and send it on nice paper. Because if you're going to the effort of sending it, don't put it on just regular copy paper. You want to make sure they are high res images, that it looks good when you print it out; and because it again, it's your brand that's going to be you know right in front of the customer. It doesn't have to be super fancy, but it does I mean the images have to look good. And have that digital copy ready. Some of the designers I talk with use a PDF, some use a link in their Dropbox. You know it, getting
to know - and we'll talk a little bit about this - getting to know your buyer and really what works well for them. And everybody is different. I wish I could say again it's cookie cutter - it is not. And it is, there are many different ways that you can do a line sheet. Canva is a great tool. There is a company called Brand Boom that does line sheets. They're, you know, Flourish & Thrive I had a line sheet template - I can talk with them talk with, and see if we can get a link to that. You know, there are some that you can pay for. I think the most, and there are people that do
line sheet work. So you can even hire somebody, a graphic designer, to do your line sheets. It all is dependent on how you want it to look and how you want, there's InDesign also which is another program. There are a lot of different programs that you can use. I’m a fan of Canva. And it's, ideally what you want to do is set it up so you're not having to reinvent the wheel each time; that it's you know a look that you can just drag and drop where you need to. And I’ll show you some examples that'll probably help you with just visually how it's gonna work. Kelli: The questions that are coming through as Robin moves through and you see examples,
I think it's gonna make a little bit more sense. A lot of people are asking about one-of-a-kind pieces. Robin probably will be able to speak more of this, but if you have a basic design and the stones are one of a kind, that's definitely a way that that works. But Robin probably has some other
advice on one-of-a-kind for wholesale. Robin: Yeah what's exciting about one-of-a-kind is that if you'd asked me probably 15 years ago, if one-of-a-kind if you are one-of-a-kind designer if you can sell wholesale; and I’d be like yeah not really, it's a little tough to do that. Nowadays stores are really enjoying one-of-a-kind. So yes you can. And we'll talk a little bit, don't let me forget Kelli about one-of-a-kind and I’ll address that towards the end. Kelli: Okay
for sure. Alright, well let's keep going through and then some of these questions I think will be answered so. Robin: Alright. Okay your perfect line sheet. So we talked about the about page and I wanted to show you these two designers. This is Sierra Winter Jewelry
and I’ve had the pleasure of working with Sierra for three years; and Elizabeth Moore Jewelry and I’ve also had the pleasure of working with Elizabeth. And if you look at their about pages, they're really you can tell the personality of the brand. So Sierra is a little more fashion forward and she works in gold and she has some vermeil and she does a little bit of fine jewelry, but it's really more fashion forward. And Elizabeth is all fine jewelry. It's, she's very etho-conscious and environmentally conscious. It's all made in New York where she lives. And she as you can even see in how they're writing, Elizabeth has more details
about her inspiration, her background. And you get you get a feel for their personalities even in their pictures. So it's important to have an about page that reflects that. Okay and let's talk about, we talked about photography a little bit and how important it is. But also aesthetically when you're working through a line sheet and how it's going to look, don't smash everything in there. You want it to be really easy to go through, you don't want people to kind of have to get a magnifying glass to see what, you know, what the style numbers are and all of that. So spacing's important, having your collection name - it's great to have. If you
name your collections, it's always good to put that on the page where the each collection - and again I’ll show you something, I’ll show you some examples of that, because I think it's easier to see it and to get the idea when you see the actual pictures. Product name - a lot of designers name their products so make sure you include that, the materials, the style number or SKU, sizing, color and variations, wholesale price, and product description. We touched a little bit about that earlier, but these are things that are that you must have on your line sheet. Okay so here's a great example. This is from Sierra Winter Jewelry. I’ve taken off the pricing just as a respect to her so you don't see her wholesale pricing. But you can see how easy is this to be able to shop. So the pictures are good, the placement is really good, it's very…it's just
easy, it's clean. You see her logo in the left-hand corner down at the bottom. You can, these are all ways to get a hold of her to see, you know, she's got her contact information and she's given you a lot of information about each product. It's just really easy and clean. And the next, this is Elizabeth Moore’s collection. And this I just chose,
it's not even the full collection, but it's a couple pages of her Circle of 5ths collection. And what I love about this too is you can, she really wants you to know what her Circle of 5ths is all about. So she goes in, she has a page that's just dedicated to telling you about the Circle of 5ths and what inspired her and what inspired this collection.
So I love that. Because you're really getting a feel of what this collection is all about, she's telling you. And then as you can see, she also has not only her logo but she has the Circle of 5ths on both pages. And she, you can see the clasps there for the bracelets. You can, it's the photography…you know, Sierra's was very, very linear. It's, you know, you could see things, it was very orderly. This has a little more movement to it, but it still works beautifully.
Alright and this is courtesy of Sunday Girl Amy DiLamarra. And she has also, this is a collection that she has called the Crystal Intention Collection. And she also had a page that was dedicated to naming the collection, so you know what this collection is about.
And then she goes into some detail here in the, just a little blurb of what the Crystal Intention Collection is about. And she shows you all of the different bracelets that are involved in this collection, that are part of this collection. And then she also shows you the back where you now see the clasp, how does it close. And so she's giving you that information, as you can see I took away the pricing here so you just, didn't want to share that with everybody. But this is very again clean, straightforward. She tells you what it is and you know exactly what you're getting.
And this is Suzanne Schwartz, Suzanne Schwartz Jewelry, and she, so these are actually two separate pages it just looks like they're one but it's two separate pages, and it's part of her collection. And what I love about this collection is that you can see, even the way it's laid out again, very clean, it has a little more product than the others that I showed you. But it's very clean, you can see the product, and she gives you all the information. And she works in gold and
silver, and this, she provides you with the sizing of it. So again and at the top you'll see that it has her name, it has how to get in touch with her. So it, she's giving you everything that you need in order to place an order. And you can also tell that her jewelry is more art jewelry. Alright and this is courtesy of Towne and Reese. Towne and Reese is more of a costume jewelry, fashion costume jewelry line. And you can see they have, they're going to have, a product shot that's going to introduce them, introduce you to the actual category. So for bracelets,
it's a really nice shot of that bracelet and then she goes, and then they go into the bracelet collections or the bracelet category. And all they have in that category are bracelets. So they've set up their line sheet a little differently than Elizabeth Moore has done. Elizabeth Moore is going to do collections and Towne and Reese is doing categories. Same thing with the rings, it has a really nice product shot and then they go into all the rings offered in the line. And then we had some questions about model shots. So this is a really great example,
this is courtesy of Martell Studio and this is exactly what somebody was asking about, what we were talking about. Is that there are model shots to show how are the pieces being worn. And then you have the pieces and the details and all the information there. And this really helps a buyer too. Now the only thing here that I don't see is I would really love to see how to get in touch with the designer, the vendor. I don't see any of that. And that's the beauty of seeing these different line sheets - you see where there's some missed opportunity there. So my feedback to Martell Studio has already been that I would love to see their information at least at the bottom of how to get in touch with them.
Alright colorways and metals. So ways that you can actually showcase the different colorways and metals that you offer, is doing something like this. So this is courtesy of DOGEARED, and most of DOGEARED product is carded. So they're showing you the carded product and then in the smaller little circle they're showing you a different version of it - which is a really acceptable way to do this where you can actually see what it would look like and then the different metals that are used there. And then here's another way of also showing a model shot
of how the necklace looks on and the different ways, the different colorways that it comes in. Another way to show colorways and gemstones, and this is courtesy of Viv & Ingrid Jewelry. That they have all the information here; but then as you see below they're going to tell you, they're going to show you the different gemstones that it comes in - the different semi-precious gemstones. And this is a really easy way to do this where it's showcasing the jewelry, the pieces
and then you can choose the different stones with it. And they do a really nice job too of, I want to just point out that the Viv & Ingrid logo is in the top right-hand corner. They also have their Facebook, their Twitter, their Instagram, and their Pinterest too. And here's another, this is also courtesy of Viv & Ingrid. They do, they're mostly work with gemstones. And one of the things that they've done is they have this one sheet that is just all the stones. So a buyer can reference this in a really easy fashion. Unfortunately my
picture isn't as clear as what, how it comes out for them so but you can get an idea of being able to do that. And I can tell you also a buyer who is a jewelry buyer is going to buy very differently and look for different things than a buyer who is a gift store or lifestyle buyer. Jewelry buyers know what they're doing as far as like, they know exactly what their customer wants, they know what kind of stones they want, they also know there's going to be some variants of the stones that they order. So it's definitely a different buyer. Okay and also in your line sheets you want to talk, you want to make sure you have your terms and conditions. And a couple of things that are really, we're going to go over what you need for your terms and conditions. And then we're going to talk about some add-ons now that we're in this coming, we're still in a pandemic but after last year, what can you provide to make sure the buyer knows how to work with you best and what's going to work for them as well. So for terms and conditions you want to let them know how to place an order. Where do they
go? Do they email you? Do they call you? Do they go, do you have a form that you can send them? They also, you want to let them know that what the order minimums are and what the reorder minimums are. You want to talk about your pricing. So I had mentioned earlier if you don't have to have your MSRP on every single piece, every product right there with your wholesale pricing, what you can do is in your terms and conditions you can talk about your wholesale you, excuse me, you can talk about your MSRP and say that our MSRP is times 2.5. And you can also say you know we reserve the rate not to sell if you sell under a certain amount. So for example when I was at DOGEARED,
if a buyer decided to sell under keystone - and keystone means that you're doubling the price, the wholesale price. So let's say something is $5 wholesale and then the store decides to sell it for $7 retail, you can - because it's in your terms and conditions - you can choose not to sell to them because they're underselling what keystone. And keystone would be $10. So if you have questions about that let me know, but you can state in your terms and conditions what your MSRP, and again it's really important to know your, who you're working with and have a conversation. You know, ask them what are, what's your markup?
What do you, you know, what's your margin for the jewelry that you sell? So okay to ask that. Payment - so how are you, how are they going to pay you? Are they going to, do you offer Net 30? What credit cards do you accept? Do you do any wire transfers? Any type of payment that you accept, you should put it in your terms and conditions. Production - so this means what is your lead time? Where is your, where are you shipping from? All of that information should be listed under production. And shipping - how are you shipping? USPS, UPS, FedEx? And other, you know, if you're shipping overseas - do you ship overseas? Shipping is something that everyone's going to want to know how you're shipping. Repairs - you know it's always good to put that you stand
behind your product. That if there's a repair that needs to happen, here are the steps in order to make it happen. And that's when you have a return authorization number which is called an RA, but let the buyer know how to go about getting a return authorization. Returns and cancellations - are you going to offer any cancellation time frame? So if somebody places an order, do you give them a five day or seven day grace period? Returns - is there a time frame where when they get the product that they can return it? Also too, if for some reason they get the product and it's not moving, maybe there is some sort of arrangement you can do, you know, if pieces aren't moving but in a certain time frame we're open to doing an exchange. So again this is a great place to put that information.
Alright and also I wanted to mention with production, you know, I talked about lead times - you can also say with production are there any, can you do a rush? Are you doing any customization or personalization? You can talk about that in your production as well. Is everybody, is this, how's everybody doing here? I want to check in and see. Kelli: I popped back in. So a lot of people are just having questions a lot about terms. And obviously it's going to be different for every type of person, but here's some for you. So is it normal to have a 2.2 markup now? Is doubling not, what are you seeing? I guess what is your
suggestion or advice or what are you seeing with the markup? Robin: Well I what I’ve been seeing, and what I’ve been seeing for some time, is it ranging from 2.2 to 2.5 for a markup. I rarely see it just doubling. Just keystoning. And I think it's and even, you know, catalogs - there are some catalogs that do a three markup. So there, with your line, you're going to come into some situations where some, your margin is going to be lower on some things and higher on others. So you just have to weigh that, weigh that out. But I think the most important thing is what will you not accept? So if somebody is selling, like I said if somebody is doubling the price I, from when I was at DOGEARED, we were fine with that.
We prefer them to do a times 2 or times 2.5 but, and we sold on our website a 2. I think it was a 2.25 markup. But, you know, if they're underselling, by underselling keystone you can just say that's not something we're okay with. Kelli: Your terms right? Just so you, if you are doing retail and wholesale you don't want to undercut your retail sales. Kelli: Yes. Yeah you and, you know, now I think now so many people are online, so many designers are online, that a lot of times you're selling the same price online as the stores are selling in their stores and that's okay. But if you plan to sell wholesale, it's always nice to be a little higher on your retail site on your, excuse me, on your website just to support those wholesale accounts that you work with. In fact I still amazingly enough even last year when
everyone needed to be online, I still know some designers who sell wholesale and they don't sell at all online direct to consumer; which I think is a mistake. I don't think you should, I do think you should have your own site. I think it's really important to have, if you're selling wholesale, you need to have other - it's like having a one-legged chair. It doesn't work. You need a three-legged chair. Have, diversify your business. Kelli: Right. And some people are asking like
how important is it to have a line sheet if, I’m guessing these people have a back-end wholesale, maybe you log in through their website to get to the wholesale pricing? I mean I’m just, if you meet people in person you want to have something to give them. But I mean what are your thoughts on that? Robin: Well I would say before you invest a lot of money in creating a whole other site, it's like you've got your website and before you invest in doing a wholesale site too, is find out what your customer wants. I mean do you have the demand to do that? Having a line sheet, you can work through by just having your line sheet. I have, I can tell you Sierra Winter Jewelry, she has her line sheet but her customer - she's got young, fun buyers - they go to her website and they, she has a lot of great model shots. And so they really enjoy going through her website and seeing all the product - and that works well for her. And it's, that's works for her. But other designers, you know, it just depends on who your buyer is and
what they feel comfortable doing. Kelli: Right. And so one other question was how you talked about a jewelry buyer is different from a gift shop or a lifestyle buyer. Can you just kind of explain the two different types of buyers? Robin: Sure. If you're working with a jewelry buyer,
they're going to come in and they're going to know exactly what they want. They're going to tell you, you know, they're not going to question your pricing. They're not going to question, you know, the variants and the stones. They're going to know that information. They're really smart about their buys. They're really, I can tell you when I’m at trade shows we would have buyers come in,
and jewelry buyers and they would be buying by just saying pointing and saying I want 5 of those, 10 of those, 20 of those. They just don't hesitate because they're really well educated in what they're, what they need and who their customer is. And a lot of, and I’m not going to say all of them but, a lot of gift store buyers or lifestyle buyers, they're buying many categories. And so they're trying to know as much as they can about a lot of different categories. And if jewelry is not a big, it's a good category for them, but it's not necessarily their only category, they're gonna need some more help. They're gonna look for the best sellers, they're gonna need you
to tell them you know, put together - and I can't tell you how many stores, gift stores that I would just do the buys for them. I would find out what I can about the store, what their customer was like, the magic price point that they had for their store. So let's say it was $200 was their magic price point, it would sell all day long, then I could put together an order for them based on asking them specific questions and we would try things. So they're just not as sure of their buys. They need more help. Kelli: Right. Okay well I think some of these other questions about getting some tips for getting accounts and stuff, I think you're gonna kind of get through in your presentation. So I’m going to hold some more questions to the
end because I think some are going to be answered. Robin: Okay awesome. Alright so additionally, it's great to have on your line sheet and as I was saying earlier you know we're in this unchartered water that we've been in for a little, almost a year now. And what are some things that would be really good for a buyer to know. So additionally how to become a
wholesale account. I would suggest also having on your website a place where people could sign up to become a wholesale account and just have a form to ask questions. What their, what is their resell number? How long have they been in business? What type of store are they? What type of product do they buy? You know what's the location of their store? Getting that information, because these are questions that you might be on the phone with them and asking that, that could and if they say oh well I don't have a store or I don't have a resale license yet or…it's saving you time. So if you could put together a form and have it available either to send to them directly or that they can access on your website that would be ideal. So here on your terms and conditions
you can, to become a wholesale account and give them the different ways that they can connect with you and doing that. Add, you know, materials. Do you offer any displays or you know what types of materials are you working with. As I said earlier in the about page, if using recycled metals and ethically sourced stones are really important to you put it in here as well. Because it's also good to just remind them that that's really part of your brand that's really important to you.
New product - how it's great to put like you know a little. if you go back to Sierra's…let's see I’ll take you back there. Oh I don't know if I can, let's see I’ll go back really quickly. So you can see that in Sierra’s that she, oh maybe sorry I think it's this way. Just remembered it's under terms and conditions I’ll put it here. There we go. So this is Sierra Winter Jewelry, you'll see
that up here she has a little asterisk, a little indication and that indicates a best seller. So she does that throughout her line sheet, which is really helpful. So if you have new product or best sellers, it's great to have some sort of asterisk or some sort of color differentiation, or even saying the word new or best. It's just really again, really helpful for a buyer. Also terms and conditions - it's great to talk about exclusivity and proximity. Because you're
going to get that, you'll be asked that quite a bit - are you, can you be exclusive to me; or do you monitor the, you know, by mileage or, you know, how do you monitor so, you know, the store next door doesn't buy what I’m buying. So this is a great place to address it. And diversity - I think with everything that's happened and continues to happen regarding around diversity and Black Lives Matter, I think it's really important to state that you, your business is a, you know, is supports and is, you know, you have a diverse, you know, if you have a diverse team to state that, that it matters to you. Also the safety and cleanliness. With the pandemic, I think it's also really important to note like how are you caring for the product.
Your environment, you know it's your team, your health, the health and well-being of your team, the health and well-being of your customer. And you can say here's our protocol. Everything that, you know, we wear masks, we do extra cleanings, when we package everything to ship we're wearing gloves and masks. You know, how are you taking care of the product before it reaches them. And also what's happened more is virtual appointments. So that's a great thing to have in your terms and conditions. We're happy to have a virtual appointment with you. You can even have a link if you have a calendar where your people can schedule appointments with you. You can have
the link to that, you can offer Facetiming or Zoom calls or other, you know, texting is something else, if you're offering texting. So ways, again, ways to communicate with your buyers. And really important partnerships - how are you going to be a really good partner to your buyer. And think about the ways that you can help them sell your product. How can you help support them because if they're successful with your product, they're going to buy more of your product and it's just a win-win all the way around. So the partnership; are you providing them with images, are you providing them with copy to put on social media, can you do dropship for them. You know, what are the above and beyonds that you can do for your customer to let them know that you're supporting them. Another thing to do is giving them social media shout outs, you know. So just having it all there in your terms and conditions is a great thing to have.
Alright so because, again this is Sierra Winter Jewelry, her terms and conditions. As you can see, hers is not lengthy and she has everything that she needs to state There. And this is Viv & Ingrid’s terms and conditions their whole, they call them the wholesale policies. And they even talk about you know, how if working with non-profits. So there's a lot, as you can see, they have a lot more on their terms and conditions than Sierra had on hers. So it's again it's going to be based on your business. And one thing I also like to encourage is surprising and delighting your customers. This is something that Viv & Ingrid does. They said they included this in their line sheets and
just a “do you know” or “did you know.” Did you know that we actually will replace an earring, that we stand behind our product. It's just a nice way to present that they actually care a lot about their product, and this is what they can do. They give you a phone number, they give you an email address, so I love that they did this. And here's “as seen in” and “as seen on.” So as I was saying earlier, as seen in would be like the press so on the left hand side here is press that Sierra Winter Jewelry has received. And on the right hand side these are some of the celebrities, singers,
and even her cat who's wearing her jewelry that her jewelry has been seen on. So it's all so you can see the personality of her line showing through. And just even how she's arranged this. And this is press from Towne and Reese. And you can see that they get a lot of magazine press and it really looks, it's clean how they present it. It's just a whole different look than what we saw with Sierra. So again the personality of the brand is coming through as well.
Alright. Now let's talk about knowing your buyer because it really does come down to knowing your buyer. And I know some of you are saying, oh my gosh well I’m not selling wholesale yet how do I know my buyer without actually having met them. Well a couple of things. You want to research, and you want to ask questions, and you want to listen, and you want to follow up, and you want to have a partnership, and you want to connect. All of these things are important when you're working with a buyer. And research is, you know,
look on Google, look on Yelp, go to their website and see, you know, how are they - how are they merchandising their website. Do they have a blog post? You know, read the blog post. Do they have a newsletter? Sign up for their newsletter. Get to know their brand and follow them. Get to know them on social media. I actually have a designer who has gotten a couple stores because she's followed them on social media, she's been engaged with them. It takes a little while, but they've gotten a nice rapport. And she bought something from one of the stores and it was a cute sweater. And she put her necklace with the sweater and did, just took a picture of it
and then tagged them in it. And it started this whole wonderful relationship. And the store is now purchasing from her. So there's lots of different ways to go about getting kind of in front of a buyer. The next thing too is the phone is always a good tool. And whether or not you're actually
getting a hold of the buyer, I always say that sales associates are a gold mine. They can share with you, you can, you know, you can ask them questions of like oh I just, you know, let them know that you've done your research. I was on your website I really loved x, y, and z about it. I would love to know, you know, tell me about the store. I would love to know more about it. I just think it's so great. And get to know them. I can't tell you how many times I have just
done a cold outreach because I saw a store, I’ve researched them, and I, you know, wanted to find out more about them and got ahold of a great store associate and got some great information. And then asked for, I’d love to reach out to the buyer, do you have an email address I could have or what's the best way to contact the buyer? So associates are great. And even in this time - and I know some stores are closed and other stores are partially open - and the phone is still a great tool.
Also listen - so when you do call or when you do email, make sure you're asking a lot of questions. It should always be about them and not about you. And find out how do they buy, where do they, do they attend any shows, do they, when do they buy? Typically for jewelry there are five shows that used to dictate when jewelry buys would happen and they would be in January, March, May, August, and October. And things have changed. And there's a lot more; people are wanting more newness on a more regular basis. So you'll see people doing smaller collections throughout the year or maybe even coming up with a couple of different pieces. But typically,
so that's for jewelry - jewelry buys five times a year. But typically I would say if going to a gift show, that would be January and August would be the two biggest times of year that people are buying. Because they're buying right after holiday and buying for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and going into spring and then August is going to be fall and holiday.
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