Do you feel like you're drowning in your boutique? Sales are going down. You don't know what's happening. Maybe foot traffic's down. Maybe website traffic's down.

0:09 - Speaker 1

And you're freaking out a little bit saying, OK, like what's going on? I've tried to fix it.

0:15 - Speaker 1

Maybe this is new and maybe it's been a trend. If this is you, I want to assure you that in this video, I'm going to give you the best possible advice I could give you so that you can take the most strategic next steps and see a difference in what's happening. I'm Emily. Welcome back to my channel.

0:32 - Speaker 1

I'm excited you're here because I really want to help you.

0:35 - Speaker 1

I very recently have helped a couple of people who had brick and mortar stores figure this out because their sales have been going down over time, year over year. They keep losing money and it's mostly sales revenue. Here's the thing. There could be so many reasons why this is happening. I think our first thought is always to say like, oh, well it has to be foot traffic. It has to be my social media marketing. I'm not getting enough follows, all that stuff. What I genuinely need you to understand, though, is while that stuff is very important, the very first place we need to look at is you and your business.

1:10 - Speaker 1

So let's do that right now. Do you really feel like you're drowning in your business?

1:14 - Speaker 1

You're concerned about where things are headed and you're spending most of your days being actually really worried about what's happening. And at the same time, you don't want to close. You don't want to say, this is the end of my boutique career.

1:28 - Speaker 1

I get that. I have been at pivotal points in my own business and in clients of my business where they want to make these changes and they're not really sure what to do.

1:38 - Speaker 1

So first and foremost I need you to decide like is this something with you? Are you really not having fun doing this business? Is it overwhelming? Do you not have the support that you need? Like let's get really really real about how you are running the business and what support you have versus what you don't because a lot of times when we feel like we're drowning it doesn't come out or we don't actually address it until the money takes a hit and this is good and bad but generally what I find is that that person is way too down the road and like they're ready to just quit the other thing that can happen is that you could even just be in a rut right now you could have a couple months in a row that have not gone well for whatever reason this could be personal health wise maybe you had a baby

2:21 - Speaker 1

which I'm gonna do an entire other video on about like how to prep to have a baby. But like there's going to be natural lows in your life and your business that do correlate.

2:30 - Speaker 1

And so what's been going on in your life that has been affecting this? Maybe nothing. The people that said nothing, then OK, let's move on. Let's talk about what's happening. Are you being really consistent about posting? Are you marking things down in your store? How often are you getting new arrivals? Are you showing yourself in the merchandise or are you using an image?

2:52 - Speaker 1

Right. Maybe those are things that are easy fixes for you.

2:55 - Speaker 1

And you're like, actually, Emily, I even already do that. Now it's time to dive in deeper. I want you to know, especially if you're a woman and you're watching this, we have a lot on our plates. It is not always going to be the best season to start a business, to have a business, to close a business, to whatever scale of business.

3:13 - Speaker 1

We are always going to have seasons not only in our months, but in our lives, in our years. And so I also want to just let you be compassionate towards yourself. Maybe this business started out fun and you're like, I don't know if I want to do it anymore.

3:26 - Speaker 1

Or maybe genuinely like you just can't handle it and you need to call in the troops and get some support.

3:32 - Speaker 1

Like what is this breaking point where it's the line of like you're going to quit or you're going to stay? What do you need?

3:40 - Speaker 1

Because I'm going to tell you right now, you can't do it all yourself. You can't. There is a certain level of revenue, of responsibility, of family life, of whatever going on, being a caregiver, all that stuff.

3:53 - Speaker 1

It all factors in and we have to be real with the time and the investment we have and maybe that means you hire.

4:00 - Speaker 1

Maybe that means you let go of doing certain things. Maybe instead of posting on ten social medias, you pick one for six months and just really focus on that because you're spread thin. All of these are absolutely viable options and I think the problem is is that when you're in this situation where you feel like, oh sales are down, sales are back, you go out there and you look for, oh, what's the strategy? What's the solution? And that might not always be the case. So I want you to look at what's going on with you, what's going on in your life, and where is that line you need to really draw in the sand to say, I can keep doing this moving forward, or actually this isn't gonna work. For those of you who are like here and you're like, Emily, stop it. I'm gonna have my business. I'm just really having a moment. Okay, cool. Now, what are we gonna do? Let's dive in. Number one is we are going to narrow down your assortment and your ideal customer. So many of you guys I hear out there, oh, I have something for everyone. I like to have it all. And that just doesn't always work. So I need you to be really, really real. The amount of space, the amount of money, the amount of time you spend with a certain department, with a certain gender, with a certain, that is what's going to drive your sales. So you want to keep giving the best items all that you've got.

5:16 - Speaker 1

Let me give you an example here.

5:17 - Speaker 1

Now, I have a client. She sells men's and women's. I said to her, well, what's your percentage of sales for men's? She said, well, we don't really sell it during the year. But at holiday, it's about 25%. And I said, cool.

5:29 - Speaker 1

Get it out of your store for the rest of the year.

5:32 - Speaker 1

Why are you spending money on it? What's going on?

5:34 - Speaker 1

And she said, well, no, no. I'm exaggerating.

5:37 - Speaker 1

I do sell things. But it's very few and far between. Men don't shop the same way women do. Check, check, check. I get it. That all makes sense to me. What doesn't make sense though is during times of the year when you don't sell as much, still maintaining that 25% of the floor space for that department.

5:56 - Speaker 1

Like, no, no, no.

5:57 - Speaker 1

We need to slim down the assortment when it's not like a huge shop department and then come holiday time, come October, we'll spread it back out, right? We have to know that our assortment is very malleable and it should be because trends are changing and our business is in a moment where we we probably need to take a hard pivot. You probably need to take a hard pivot because what I've recently been realizing, now I'm sure you guys all know at the time of this recording, I am 41 years old. What I will tell you, I started my boutique when I was 28.

6:29 - Speaker 1

God, I'm so old.

6:30 - Speaker 1

Okay, now what I want you to know, we are kind of like the boutique original girlies, okay? Now I know there were boutiques like before us, whatever, but I will say the past 10 to 15 years really sort of been a golden age for boutiques where they went from being like a normal everyday like yeah there's a boutique in my town thing to like oh there's five boutiques in my town and two of my college best friends own an online boutique like it seems to be gaining in popularity. Now what I will say though is what I think is happening is it's almost like this thing has been stretched up where now when I was 28 now I'm 41 still want to shop at a boutique but not for

7:07 - Speaker 1

a 28 year old but 28 year olds want to shop at boutiques too so like that's That's fine. That's for them, right?

7:13 - Speaker 1

I think there is this really hidden little niche that's popped up with me and you guys who are my age, where it's like 40 to 58, 40 60 kind of right now, maybe even a little higher than 60. I see such a big opportunity with this age group. And a lot of it is just because we've all grown up. We've all changed. We've all had our babies. We all want to now invest in nice clothes.

7:37 - Speaker 1

We have kids in high school. We have kids in college.

7:39 - Speaker 1

like right this is the age group this is the time when you kind of have that like I can focus on myself again moment and so I think a lot of you guys who are in my situation we're like we've grown up with boutiques but also like we are now an older customer I hate to say it but like let's just sell to each other you know we are forgetting about ourselves we're thinking we have to stay in that old paradigm of like oh an average boutique customer is like 28 to 38 like yeah that's still exist, but that's not us anymore. So I think we have to graduate and grow up and say, like, what do women our age want?

8:13 - Speaker 1

Like, how do we want to dress?

8:14 - Speaker 1

What are our needs? Because they're definitely not what a 25 year old is wearing. And like, I would argue to say that I think that this age generation, we actually can span higher. But I think you want to focus on this generation and then bring in older women as well. But I do think that this core focus is a really nice hard pivot for a lot of boutiques that feel like they're declining right now. I think you just haven't grown up with us, right? We haven't grown the assortment up to where we are now. And I think that it's a very time-specific thing.

8:43 - Speaker 1

And I'll just say, if you know, you know, like you've been here as long as I have, you just kind of know, like it's time for a hard pivot.

8:49 - Speaker 1

It's time for something new. It's time for something fresh. So we're narrowing our niche down. We're narrowing our assortment to fit that niche. And we're also being really sensitive about price points and the relationship of our assortment between price points. So for example, I just worked with a client. She sells a lot of denim.

9:07 - Speaker 1

At the time that we met she was selling three different kind of price points of denim and you know therefore each one was a bit better quality.

9:15 - Speaker 1

She was selling premium denim for about $250 then the next jump down from that was around $130 and then down from that she's selling denim for like $72, $68 right?

9:26 - Speaker 1

Obviously the $72, $68 is much more boutique-y like much more a little more fast fashion but still good quality whereas the the stuff that's the premium denim is like probably made in LA, probably hand washed, probably like a very particular stitch, all this stuff, right?

9:40 - Speaker 1

The fit is really great.

9:41 - Speaker 1

What I said to her, she told me that she's been struggling to sell the really premium denim at 250. So I said, you know what?

9:48 - Speaker 1

Here's the thing. Get rid of it for now.

9:50 - Speaker 1

Put it on hold. Maybe we come back to it later.

9:53 - Speaker 1

But what we need to figure out is how do we differentiate now that you've gotten rid of that top tier? Now what's going to happen is your 130, $150 jeans. That's your top tier now. So those can't be basic unless it's like a really crisp white denim, right those styles What you really want them to be is something special Embroidered a special wash it like it's just that over-the-top. It's that that fashion item where now the 68 to 72 dollar denim can really live in like an Everyday price point you still get the variation from high to low But these are everyday jeans if you want something special special, come up to the $150 price point but like what you buy there is gonna be so juicy and awesome. You're gonna not care about paying $150 and that's going to help her narrow the assortment, really push what is selling and what is working and show that she has levels, right? If you've been around me before, you know I talk about chicken and steak.

10:49 - Speaker 1

You always need the steak dish and you always need the chicken dish, right?

10:52 - Speaker 1

So for her, the steak would be the $150 and the chicken would be the $72 denim but that's the ideas you like you're always going to have people who will want one or the other or they might want one of each right so make sure you don't cut everything down too much.

11:07 - Speaker 1

You still give yourself a juicy assortment that is looking and feeling really good in terms of end use price point material all that jazz that is going to be your homework is to go into your product assortment go into

11:20 - Unidentified Speaker

your customer avatar and get more specific and when I say get more specific what I primarily mean is go and find the top things, the top things that are converting for you in your online store, the top best-selling items, that one customer who buys everything you sell. What about them is special? What is interesting about them? What do they like, What is their price point that they will play in? All of this information that you have about your business, you really need to take it now and pivot hard. If there was any time where I said to you something that really helped your business, take my advice right now too. I believe in 2020, before, we've got to make some really hard pivots. And I know, I've said this before. I've said, oh, we've got to change. We've got to do new things. I mean, it is like now or never, guys. Like, I think that we are seeing boutiques drop like flies right now because you get in your head. Like, you have a couple bad months. You get in your head. Then it's just this downwards spiral. I'm not going to do the new arrivals live stream. I'm not going to run the event because no one's going to come. Like, we get in our head. So stop and pivot. This is your time, OK? Let the other people who don't watch me or let the other people who don't want to pivot or don't want to figure it out, let them do their thing. You and I, we are marching forward together and we're doing it in a way that's really cost-effective, makes you more profitable, and honestly like buys you more freedom because that's what this is about. Your declining sales don't mean necessarily that you're doing anything wrong. It means that it's time to make a change in your business and listen, if you've been doing this 10, 15, 20 like I have, you know that these moments are happening in microcosms all the time, I think this is a big one. This is a big pivot. This is the big earthquake. I want to encourage you to go for it, to believe that things can change, and that you have the stuff that it takes to make those changes. That's really what I'm gonna encourage you to do is go look at your data. Go look at what's been selling. Go look at who that ideal customer is. Who are your top five customers that have spent the most money with you this year? How are you gonna cater to them in the next four or five months? How are you going to really double down on that? And what are the results you're going to see in your business? Well, I'm going to tell you right now, probably awesome. Probably you could change this wave, right? And if you need help, I'm here. I'm here. I want to encourage you though, this is the time to do it. If you're drowning and you have a business that's doing 500 a year, 700 year or more, a million a year, whatever that looks like for you, I want to encourage you to email me. I can give you very specific advice for your business so that we can get you out of this murky water, right? The analogy here is we're drowning. Let's get you out of the murky water. Send me an email. Hello at boutiquetrainingacademy.com or go down below. We'll have that in the notes. Send me an email. Tell me what's up with you. Tell me how you want to pivot or where you need help pivoting. I'd love to get back to you in a way that feels supportive, that feels like yes, this is the new vision and maybe that is us working together too. I hope you'd love this video. I hope even if you're not in a state where you're drowning, you found some really good juicy tips. And as always, make lots of friends and make lots of money. I'll see you in the next one.