We’ve been in the commercial embroidery business since 1991, and along the way, I have made more than my share of rather spectacular mistakes in our embroidery business. I am not writing about them to brag! Ideally, it is my hope that by reading about my mistakes, maybe you can avoid making them yourself. So sit back and enjoy this “what not to do” narrative. I sincerely hope you relate to these tales in concept only, and that at no point do you confirm, “Yep, I’ve already been there, done that!”
1) Proof it carefully and use spellcheck! One of the first large orders that I landed when I joined my family’s embroidery business was for a yacht club in Cleveland. This organization is considered to be quite prestigious by many people in the Midwestern sailing communities. The board of directors placed a small order for hats with us as a trial run, before they considered us for larger and ongoing orders in the future. I was honored and excited by this opportunity, particularly since I was new to the industry and really wanting to “make my mark” in the family business since I was the rookie. I created the design and sewed the caps. With great haste, excitement and pride, I completed what I believed to be the perfect order, which I then delivered in person.
As the board member opened the box, I waited expectantly for him to tell me that he loved the design, was impressed with the quality, was pleased with the speed of the completion of the order and that I had won his business by demonstrating such a very high level of customer service through delivering the order in person, days before the deadline.
Not quite. He looked at me with a grimace and said, rather forcefully, “Yatch? You’ve made us a Yatch club?” Keep in mind; this was a small trial order, just for the board of directors of this club - no one important or anything!
I was stunned and embarrassed, to put it mildly. I do indeed know how to spell "yacht." So, using the FBTSOMP method (flying by the seat of my pants), I promised to replace the caps, the next day. In fact, he could toss out those hats, as he would have new ones in hand by 6:00 p.m. tomorrow.
Did I have the hats in stock? Nope. Did I know if I could get them? Nope. I just knew that by tomorrow at 6:00 p.m., I would be handing him the new hats, spelled correctly, no matter what it was going to take. I worked that evening to fix the design. It turned out that we were able to get the hats the next morning. I ran the new caps the next morning. I called him back by about 3:30 and asked what time would be convenient for the second delivery. We won their business, he said, because I completely jumped into the solution.
As a funny aside to the story, for the next several years that same board ordered a small batch of the “yatch” caps which they used as an inside joke within their club membership. They even became rather collectible over time – imagine that!
Moral of the story – if your design software does not have spellcheck, or if you are creating custom lettering for a customer, double check it and have someone else take a look at it before you sign off on the design. Had I asked my business partner (and Mom) Susan to check this design before I embroidered the hats, she would have caught the error immediately, since she grew up sailing out of this yacht club.
2) Test before you invest! In the town where I grew up and where our original embroidery business was located, there is a rather well known historical landmark – the Hudson Clock Tower. Images of this distinct clock tower appear on greeting cards, posters, calendars, dishes and gift items in nearly all of the businesses in the community. Not long after I joined the family business, I decided that the clock tower was going to be our “next big seller.” We commissioned a local artist to create an original design for us, showcasing this icon. We had the large and detailed design digitized. Because it was so detailed, I paid to have this done, as what I wanted was way beyond my skill level. At that time, complex designs like this ran several hundred dollars for the original art, and again for the digitizing. Knowing that I would sell dozens if not hundreds of garments with this iconic design, I thought, “No worries, it’s worth every penny!”
We ordered a wide variety of sweatshirts, denim shirts and ladies cardigans. We ran this design for more than a week on several of our embroidery machines, creating an impressive array of inventory – which no one ever wanted. You heard me right – we did not sell a single item with this design. The design was gorgeous and the stitching was excellent. The products were good. It was just a lousy idea for an embroidered product!
Moral of the story - when you or your customers have an idea for something, test it with some samples before going into production. See what people say when you display it, and more importantly, when you wear it! We eventually gave away the products, after adding our company name on the products somewhere discreet and using them as customer appreciation gifts.
FYI – In the more than 10 years as a community resident and downtown business owner, I never did see anyone walking around town sporting one of the shirts, and it is not that large of a community! We saw many, many of our other products on folks all around town over the years, but never anything with that clock tower design.
3) Know the Difference! This is a much more recent experience; in fact it happened last year. As business owners, we have lists of prospects, people with whom we connect to convince them to buy from us. We can spend a surprising amount of money and time on these folks - mailing, calling and emailing these potential customers in the hopes that we will generate business. Here at the National Network of Embroidery Professionals, we have a list of over 30,000 people who are connected to this industry in some way or another. Sounds impressive, doesn’t it?
I have learned that what that sounds like is expensive! Here’s some simple math to demonstrate my point: 30,000 names x one direct mail piece sent first class only one time per year at the rate of $0.45 per = $13,500 per year! To really make you wince, I will add this little fact, we usually mailed everyone at least three times per year, once with NNEP membership information, once with information about the NNEP’s spring embroidery trade show, and once about the Embroidery Mart trade show in Nashville.
Moral of this story - take the time to determine if the names on your list are actually prospects or just records in your database. There are many ways you can do this. I ran a test. I sent one more mailing, to determine if each person was interested in what NNEP was talking about or not. We invited the recipient to connect with NNEP, or not, and that would dictate whether we continued to communicate with them in the future. We even offered a chance to win an iPad mini to everyone who responded as an incentive for him or her to reach back out and actively say, “Yes, please keep in touch with me.” In today’s digital era, it is very simple to connect with customers and prospects using the Internet. You will spend far less and be able to connect them much more often.
Running a successful embroidery business takes hard work and smart thinking. Everyone makes mistakes. It’s what we do to recover from them and what we learn from them that separates successful business owners from the rest. I enjoy the challenge of running our company well and helping business owners in this industry like you do the same.
I would love to hear what you’ve learned along the way, even what mistakes you’ve made. I promise that I will acknowledge your highs and lows equally and recognize you as a true and fierce independent business owner. In fact, if you would like some input on how to recover from a specific or recent mistake, let’s talk soon. I believe that owning an apparel decoration and/or promotional products business is an adventure and that the journey is incredibly exciting and rewarding. I’m glad we are on this particular adventure together!
Jennifer Cox is president of the National Network of Embroidery Professionals. NNEP members receive personalized marketing consulting designed specifically for their business. To join NNEP today, visit NNEP.net, email Jennifer at hooper@nnep.net, or call 800-866-7396.