Help with your business

Bundling Prices, Take In Interview, Building A Fence Around Your Customer

Here is what Gayle has to say about this article.

"Hi Sally, what a great marketing idea, with so much
truth in it! I didn't realize how much I do for a
customer's quilt without a fee. Really an eye
opener. Thanks for sharing your experience. Gayle"

read on....

Because you are all invited to write in with questions
affecting your business, you may be interest to read the
reply to Margaret H. concerning her email "Help!"...

• How to add extra services when taking in the quilt
  with actual scripts
• Find how to build a fence around your customer
• Also pricing considerations 

Thanks so much!   I love your web-site.   Margaret H.

Reply :
Hi Margaret here are some things you can do:

List all of your services, include everything you do like pressing,
clipping threads, squaring up the backing, seaming the backing,
turning the quilt, washing backing, trim batting and backing,
thread inventory, backing inventory etc.,....any and all things
you do to get the quilt top ready, even if you do not charge for
the process. These are the things that add value to your services.

Make two lists. First the basic services that are included
that you do not charge for and second the services that
you do charge for.

Next put your pricing next to all the services even the ones
you do not charge for and make those real prices not round
up or rounded down...thread changes 2.55 colored thread
3.55 specialty thread 11.54 ...That makes your expenses
much more believable instead of 2.00, see what I mean.
When you show value use a $ sign, when you show pricing
to the customer leave off the $ sign and use the decimal.

Maybe you could have specific services at no charge that
other quilters in your area charge for...giving you a leg up
on your competition.

Then bundle the services...list the services separate and
then list them bundled, all over pattern 16.00 per square
yard, then bundle - all over pattern, trim backing and
batting, binding preparation, complete binding 24.00
per square yard.

Print it up and post it where they can see it. If they know
what you do to justify your prices as a professioanl the
added value will seem more that you are charging. Then
offer them the bundled services. 11% should take the
upsell without batting an eye. One quilter actually
increased her revenue by 30% just posting the services...
her customers had no idea.

Make sure you can make money with your pricing. Play
around with the different services then bundle the most
popular ones for your customer. If you give anything
away...make it a service not an inventory item.

Next when you take in the quilt here is what you can say.
If they just ask for the lowest price...say "That is no problem,
I can give you the lowest price but I just want to make sure
you are only interested in the lowest price and quality,
value, delivery and service not that important. I just want
to make sure that the that you have no interest in quality......
in any way. Or you could use thread choices, batting quality,
pattern selection......

If they ask for the lowest price again say "Sure that is no
problem I will be happy to give you the lowest price."

Next take the quilt dimensions and convert them to square
yards. There are 1296 sq. in. in a sq. yd.

Take the quilt and tell them how wonderful it is...that  you
love the fabric choices, how honored you are that they
choose you to quilt their beautiful top. Then say "You
have a $300 top here with all the fabric and the work
you put into it. I can do an all over pattern on it for
$18 a square yard and give you back a $300 quilt or
I can give you custom pattern, block, sashing, border
designs that coordinate (what ever would be appropriate
for that quilt) for $24 a sq. yard and give you back a
$700 quilt." Let them do the math...that is an $6 a yd
difference. If there are 6 sq. yards in the top (you need
to figure that for them) then that is only $36 more
dollars.... I call that reducing it to the ridiculous. They
have more than doubled the value of their quilt
for pennies....

Good luck with that.

Now for building a fence around your customer. When
you see them always say Hi, Suzie good to see such a
loyal customer....I want you to meet Suzie, she is one
of my loyal customers....See you later Suzie, thanks
for being such a loyal customer.  If you do that over
and over she will think twice about leaving you. Just
condition them everytime you see them, introduce
them etc.

Then make them part of a club. The "Opportunity Quilt
Club of ___ Studio" or any title like that. I buy one raffle
ticket from my guild for every quilt my customer brings me.
Donating money to a recognized accepted charity and
then giving them the chance to win is huge. Consider
what is important to them in your community. Can you
image them winning a quilt because they use you as
their quilter.

I hope this helps...let me know how it is going. 
warmest regards,  

These ideas and more are found in the 10 Mortal Sins CD,
Marketing To Women, and 6 Step System to Building
Your Quilting Business CD.

Your 10 Immutable Laws of Quilting

1. Fabric silently takes over the whole house
2. The back-lash spring when dropped
   matches the flooring
3. You can never have too many stencil or
   find the one you want
4. The final inch of your machine quilting top thread
   deliberately runs out in the last block on the last row
5. Backing cleverly turns 90 degrees and is always a
   smidge short of the quilt top
6. Bobbin threads whoosh out or snap on your most 
   proudfully executed delicate curve in the longest feather
7. The one quilt you delayed quilting for lack of head-
   turning designs is the one that took the shortest time t
   o quilt with blue ribbon spectacular results!
8. Inspiration can come at the most inopportune time -
   the quilt room is cluttered with doodles on napkins,
   gum wrappers, utility bills; and even though it looks l
   ike garbage to others, it is very important to the machine quilter.
   Cathy Keindl, West Point,
9. Inspiration and great ideas always come the moment
   the machine goes out for cleaning and repairs. Kay Benedict
10. You vaguely remember the perfect quilting
    design for this specific area on your new prize top.
    Do I have the design??, doodling on paper is just
    not working.
    
    Maybe I didn't buy it, I thought I'd get it
    "next time". Totally frustrated I use another
    design, it's OK but not quite as special as" t
    he one that got away".
    
    Two weeks after quilting is done, I find said
    special design " in the safe place to keep it from
    getting lost so when I need it I can find it for that
    special top." 
    Linda Tramm, Wisconsin
    

a question from Carol

Here is a question from Carol, thought many of you may have the same question, so here is my response...

Carol:
"Sally, I've been looking for help with machine quiling and have wanted to be able to do feathers when I found your sight. It looks like just what I need. Since I'm still so new at machine quilting I was interested in your CD and book. Would having both of them give me the best help or would one be better than the other?"
Thanks, Carol"

Sally:
"Hi Carol, what a great question. It seems that you need a feather that works for beginners. This feather will do that. The CD is the class, with me talking you through step-by-step how to machine stitch the feather. The book takes you one step forward giving you examples, the layouts, starts and stop designs, spines and patterns to make the feather. There are 25 full page patterns and over 40 different feathers to guide you. You will also learn a great technique using stencils you may already have in your quilting studio.

The price of the CD has been reduced if you want both or you may feel the book will fill your needs. Many will take the book to Kinko's and have the spine cut off so it can be spiral bound. Then they can lay it open at the machine so they can easily follow the patterns.

 

This book should help you make quick easy feathers because no one likes to rip out what they have already stitched. Because the techique is so simple you will catch on quickly and it will jumpstart your overall quilting skills.

 

Hope this helped and answered your question.  Let me know if I can help you further...
warmest regards, sally"

 

If you want more information here is the link
http://www.sallyterry.com/utility/showProduct/index.cfm?productID=495

Hooked On Feathers Book is almost here!

Give Yourself A Lifetime Achievement Award

As we develop our craft and keep our Creative Muse happily busy in our studios, a lot of negatives are creeping into our lives. As one girl said, "I don't pay any more at the pump; it always costs me twenty dollars."

As piecers stay home more and use up fabrics in their bottomless stash, home based businesses like ours should just keep growing. Infact, I talked to another professional machine quilter and she was raising her prices--again.

On that cheerful note, if your attitude turns south, think about all that you have accomplished. Write down all your wonderful attributes and achievements. I did that one day when "some days are diamonds and some days are stone"...this one was stone and filled a yellow sticky note. I mean filled it with words like disciplined, empathetic, driven to educating others...

You know, I ran across that sticky note the other day, and remember how it got me through some tough times.

So give yourself an award. Think of all you have done to get where you are. The perseverance, training, endless hours of pouring over quilting patterns, piecing magazines and books, the time taken to learn your craft, dealing with customers and bookkeeping, it is endless really. Don't forget a former career and family care.

Then find at an office supply store or just print out a Certificate of Achievement, frame it and put it on your wall. Have your family or customers sign it for you and post it proudly. Even though we work independently is no reason to hide our achievements. You deserve to be recognized! 

Yours in the love of quilting, sally

Quilt Show Stays

Your Quilting Machine is going to love the Hooked On Feathers technique

Finally, the new Hooked On Feathers book is almost ready to ship. I must thank you for your encouragement and American Quilters Society for their great work. My original thought was to do a small 30 page spiral bound workbook...but many of you thought the concept and no backtracking technique deserved more.

It is in the large format 9"x12" which makes the patterns bigger and easier to photocopy. Many of you will have the spine cut off and spiral bound so it will lay open by your machine for reference. Any office supply store can do this for you for a few dollars.

I hope you find the book a big breath of fresh air freeing you up from wasted hours of marking and precise machine quilting so your wonderful customers and your own quilts can have the feathering they deserve without all the fuss...you will just be able to add them in minutes not hours!

And that is one of the biggest challenges today...setting up the patterns. The technique also works with all your feather stencils too. Just mark and use the stencil lines as a guide. There is even a way to make it all continuous-line, which is amazing to me.

Here is one of the drawings for the book click here to see. Happy feathering!

Yours in the love of quilting, Sally

Machine Quilting of Questionable Character

Today I was working on a quilt that had been stabilized but not finished. The machine quilter that worked on the quilt did a fine job. The reason I got it was my customer wanted Hooked On Feathers on it. As I quilted amoung the stabilized blocks I saw some needle holes where the previous quilter had removed some quilting.

There is no problem removing stitching yet I would think the remaining holes should be removed with a little water and cotton swab, or rubbed with a fingernail so the fabric returns to normal. It takes little time and leaves a good impression with the customer that you really do care about their quilt.

Sometimes we get in a hurry and forget...I do that, so I mark the area with low low tack masking tape that I can see. I do the same on the back if I need to bury threads or repair an area. I think these little attention to details mean a whole lot to the customer and to your business.

Yours in the love of quilting, Sally

Longarm Machine Quilting At Its Best

Finally, the site is up and running and I have been receiving many wonderful encouraging personal emails from you about how excited you are for the "full meal deal"!!! Well it is coming. I want to thank everyone for their kind kind words. Let me know what you want, need and cannot live without as we focus on our passion.

Today my thread was a bit loose on the top- sporadic, increasing the machine speed and quilting a bit slower made it settle right back down. Some threads are fast running and some are slow running....this was a bit slower running and I was going full speed. Also, put the thread through a small folded 1" square of batting wedged into the thread guide directly above the cone and the occasional loop disappeared as well...hope this helps.

I have just made arrangements for some special audios ...I will keep you informed on those. We are working on international shipping charges as well. Plus, have just posted new pix of Hooked On Feathers machine quilting on my longarm "Sibby-Nel", named after both grandmothers.

Yours in the love of quilting, Sally

It's The Eleventh Hour

No more FoodTV for me. It's late and I am excitedly nervous.
Finally www.sallyterry.com is almost ready go live online. But, not
until the site is set up to overflow with content that is worthy of
all the incredibly talented machine quilters I know and look
forward to knowing.

My greatest belief is everyone has wonderful talents and abilties,
but sometimes they don't know where to go to find it within themselves.

We want to provide every machine quilter with a place to go to find
that God given talent and get it out...into a quilt, a project or
simply on paper. However it should be fun, inspiring, and spiritually lifting.

Yours in the love of quilting, Sally