Episode Transcript
Nina Huchthausen (00:10.223)
Welcome everyone to the Makers Business Tribe podcast. In this week's episode, I would like to remind you guys and talk you through Christmas. Christmas is around the corner and Christmas for product -based business owners starts now. Starts in the middle of freaking winter when nobody wants to think about Christmas except for maybe Christmas in July. But for anyone
who would like to capitalize in the next three, four, five, six months time on the season ahead needs to start think about it now. Not in September, not in October, but now in July when the session is. So in today's episode, I would like to start the conversation with you
what you need to think about, when you need to think about it, and what you need to work through and map out and decide so that you can maximize the sales when the silly season begins. my friends, it's a solo episode. And I did that for a reason because I've just finished
pretty much full day planning session with our tribe members on this topic. So I thought, hey, let's jump on and let me guide you through what's fresh on our minds on everything that we've just worked through so that you guys can do this too. Because my friends and to her, this season can make such a huge difference to your bottom line. So I would hate for you to miss the boat. Yeah.
Because if you think about all of this stuff too late, you won't be able to get it done. And then the training has kind of left the station. And that will be really sad. That will be really sad. So let's talk about this now. So invitation to you. Get a piece of paper and take some notes. Yeah, because I want to have this really action focused.
Nina Huchthausen (02:23.438)
So it's not just your typical podcast that you kind of listen to and think about and you're kind of like, yeah, that would be nice. But I would say if you listen to this and take some notes and also have a look at the show notes for a summary, but then you kind of have a really good planning guide for what you need to do right now, okay? To catch.
to get focused on this season. So let's get started. Step number one. So the first thing that I'd like you guys to do is to get really clear on your key dates. Yeah. So what I mean by key dates. So there's the first date that is Christmas in itself, right? So we know it kind of happens 25th, 26th of December. That's sort of the end of Christmas. And on 25th, 26th is also big seller.
retailers of stuff that I didn't But one of the key dates before that that you really need to be aware of, and this might shock you, but these dates, if you don't really take them too hard, these are going to make or break whether you're going to be in the boat or missing the boat. so please write this down for me. So leading
to Christmas and that shopping season of our end consumer sort of starts in October. We might have some early people who are like in September, but not really. Mid -October, that's when it kind of starts. So we got mid -October all the way through November and December. Yeah. And then sort of the late shoppers, the night before. But that's really B to C time. That's when people shop a product.
whether that's online, in store, on partner websites. That's where they're keen to buy these types of things at B2B and B2C events. Sorry, B2C events, our consumers. That's our first period. So which means, well, for you to really capitalize on October, November, December, your product needs to be in store by the start of October or a retailer should have placed an order.
Nina Huchthausen (04:50.892)
the order needs to be delivered by sort of start mid of October. Yeah. Which brings us to that next period that you need to work backwards on. And that is, well, when does a retailer or a stockist starts thinking about Christmas, starts looking out for potential products, and then buys their products so that products land in store? Now, this starts as early as
That's when a retailer should start thinking about Christmas because end of June and then two year ends, July, new budgets are set. August is the perfect time. But retailers go out to B2B events, have a look at distributor catalogs, have conversations with the existing stockists and see what's up, what should I be getting? They'll be assessing the market to see what's
And what I call their customers willing to pay for it and then they're going to start spending their Christmas budget. So October they started, they will start thinking about it. September they're busy buying and finalizing the best deals. October they want to the product in the shelves. So what does that mean for you? It's July right now, meaning you got to need to kick into gear right now.
and start thinking about what can I offer to my existing retailers and to prospect retailers. Maybe you are not even in retail yet. If you want to jump onto this bandwagon, now is the time to get your wholesale office ready, focused on Christmas, so that in August you can start reaching out to have those prospect conversations. Yeah, because right now, July and August,
That's when distributors are getting ready, finalizing their catalogs and sending that through to their retailers. So retailers will be reminded by the distributors right now. And if you are a maker selling direct to retailers, now's the time to sit down and think through your offers, think through your bundles, think what could be super attractive and amazing to offer to a retailer based on what the consumers want.
Nina Huchthausen (07:13.006)
Okay, so that's the most important thing to be clear right now. You gotta act now and sit down and work through this. Cool? So nobody is getting a bit overwhelmed right now, but that's what we gotta do. But here's what we need to do to then actually work through this easily because it's not rocket science of what we need to do. So step number
Very important to get clear on who is buying your products or bundles, because this is the primary person you need to market to. Because it's very easy to just think about, who's my current consumer or current customer? Let's say you are selling lingerie, organic, premium cotton lingerie. Yeah.
The person that might be outside of the Christmas season is a female most of the time if this is female lingerie. Now, but who buys that during Christmas season? Well, maybe those are females who want to buy it for themselves. But traditionally, it might either be the partner, the husband, the lover.
the best friend, you name who else would buy you lingerie if you're a woman. So if you're manufacturer or maker of that lingerie, you need to shift your marketing and your positioning a little bit to talk to the person who's buying, who is gifting, not just to the woman. So it's very important for you to think through, all right, who could be the poor
Who would be buying for the person that I'm making a product for? And what do I need to shift and change when it comes to my offer, when it comes to my packaging, when it comes to my communication? So they think about, my gosh, my product is something that they should buy.
Nina Huchthausen (09:34.018)
That is step number two, and that is very important to get clear. Now, why is the next question that you need to ask? The next one is really defining for yourself the story that drives purchase behavior. And there are a few factors to it or a few things for you to take note and unpack. The first one is the story around the purpose of Christmas.
or the purpose or the situation what surrounds Christmas. So here's literally what we work through and I invite you go through the show notes or just take note. Here's what we came up with and this is universal. So number one, it's the gifting season. So people are looking for gifts, looking for teacher gifts. We're looking for partners gifts. We're looking for an excuse to spend money on ourselves. We want to be together as a family. We want to spend time together, take time
time of work. There's also relaxation going on holidays. It's barbecue time. There's outside, there's beach, there's fronds, there's camping, fish, pool, sunscreen, surfing, dinners, Christmas parties. There is gifts amongst colleagues. And then there's also the gift of giving back or just saying thank you. All of those different purposes
and are really important to consider because based on where a prospect customer is at of what they want, that's what they are looking for. If for them the most important thing is saying thank you, they are looking for thank you gifts. If for them the biggest thing is just to like have an excuse to give something to themselves, they're looking for gifts that are made for them.
So important for you to unpack and get your thoughts going around those elements. Then we talked about the background story behind this event. And we also asked ourselves, why does it exist? Yeah, so it exists because of love.
Nina Huchthausen (11:57.536)
It exists because we might be celebrating to see the light in the
You know, another reason could be that it should really remind ourselves that we are all one and let go of any differences in views, opinion, beliefs. It could also be a reason to express hope and gratitude, giving back or helping others. But it's also a great way for us to reflect on the year that's been and focusing on a fresh start.
But it could also be around news resolutions. We know a lot of people, they set resolutions on time, gifting more time to things, to family, to friends, to ourselves, more time to physical health, mental health, self -care. Those are all the things that we are looking for, that we want in some shape or form. Different consumers are looking for different things,
those topics I really want you to think about because this is the stuff that people are searching for, that they're looking out for, that they're kind of drawn to. And if you know, my gosh, like people crave for more self care and I happen to have a lot of self care products. Can I create a, you know, end of year self care bundle? Is there something that
creates a hug or nourishment or something that creates more glow for a person. Think about your product and those different topics and see how they can kind of intertwine. So then took another step and looked at what gifts, items, or services do people seek out during
Nina Huchthausen (13:55.224)
during that event, during that season. Yeah. What are the things that people are like, okay, well, I need a gift for, what am I kind of like being drawn to apart from these different topics? So we spoke about Christmas bonbons. We spoke about stockings, ornaments, stockings, fillers, cheesy t -shirts, Christmas outfits, books, gift vouchers, alcoholic or non -alcoholic products, chocolates, gift packs, clothing, games.
perfume, something personal or thought through, or that gives that sense of it's really personal. Really cool Christmas wrapping, beautiful Christmas cards or something that's kind of like really done for me. So I buy the gift and I'm done, I don't need to wrap it and it looks really good. People look for advent calendars. Women get their nail and hair done, so there's a lot of traffic.
nail salons and hair salons and facials. Yeah, that's where people hang out. Massage vouchers, bought a lot of self -treatment vouchers or the gifts that kind of gift somebody else such as buy this product and you'll be planting a tree. Yeah, or you're making a donation. Or just simple gifts that already say
Thank you. Yeah. So that question, that category should kind of like spark an idea. Okay, so based on the product that you have into which of these categories could you service or which of these could you partner with? Yeah. And some shape or form. So if you were to sell chocolate
Could you partner with someone who sells chocolate and create these little thank you kits? Or can you create like sort of a little thank you kits just out of the different type products that you do, for example? And then another really cool thing that we did was, what is the average value your favorite human or customer would spend?
Nina Huchthausen (16:22.976)
Woodspin because
If we are underpricing or overpricing whatever bundles of packages or gifts we're putting together and are not meeting people where they are at, it's also really hard to sell it. Yeah. So now this is, need to validate this with your stock is because it depends on which value arena your product place in. If you have a super premium product and you are serving people with a super high disposable income.
This might not apply to you and you need to add some zeros to these numbers. But we just ideate a little bit with the tribe and they said, hey, you got to validate this with your stockers. But we kind of said, gifts that are kind of being bought for a sister or brother, we said about 50 bucks. For mom and dad, could be 50 to 100. Grandparents, about 50. In -laws, 50. Teachers, about 20. Partners, 100 plus. Best friend, about 100.
20, children, 100 plus, staff, 20, pets, between 20 and 50, it's 20 and 100. We said pretty broad range. That's what our pet focus chart members said. If we want to give something to our stockists, more of a gesture give, $20. Other service providers, a bit of a gesture, $20. So for us mapping this out, it gives us a really good understanding, OK, which
price point do I need to meet and how can I reverse engineer something that can be seen by a sister to give to their brother within the price point that she expects it? Yeah.
Nina Huchthausen (18:08.76)
So after we've gathered all of that data, then it's time to, for the next step, step number four, bing bing, you wanna craft an irresistible alpha. Now, what do we need to do for that? So first step, now it's time for you to probably wanna pause this podcast and kind of list out your bundles or gift ideas.
So, because based on all the data that we've just gathered with the questions I mentioned to you, and
And by looking at your products in itself, you want to start just quantity over quality, thinking about different bundle options, different ideas, different things that you could be doing. So for example, we came up with a very simple one of buy two and get the third one for 50 % off. We said, cool. OK, that means.
We are offering three products of the same world. Then the second question is, well, who is that for? Well, it's for someone who maybe loves a certain product and is like, I just want to be done with and give it to my mom, to my sister, and to my grandma. They will love that. Bang on. So best to do that type of sale online or at B2C events, because that is the next question.
is when you are coming up with an offer like that, you're going to need to think through not just think through what's the offer, but you need to think through who is for. And number three, you need to think through, well, where can I best sell that? So the stock is to go for it, sell it online, do a sell it at markets or events, and other specific outlets, like other service providers would go for something like this.
Nina Huchthausen (20:15.49)
So action here, list your bundles, think who is it for, and then think who would sell it to the person that it's for. Once you've done that, then you want to go a little bit deeper and think about, RRP, what's the price for this? Then you need to do a bit of checkpoint, because if you
said, OK, you want to give something to your mom and sister and grandma. Well, we had pulled together some price guides, right? And I think for all three, was probably sitting at about $50. Now, that means that this bundle by two get the third one 50 % off. Well, in its entirety, it should not be higher than $150 at that discount because
If we're correct with our assumption of the price threshold, you gotta need to meet that. It can't be too high because otherwise people are not gonna go for that. So you can need to just double check that, okay? Then next step, okay, what is the wholesale price and what's the wholesale margin? That's your internal work that you need to do. So you need to have a look at your cost of goods and you wanna calculate, okay, what's the best wholesale price and what's your wholesale margin?
So you can see, are you happy with your margin? Because chances are when you're putting a bundle together like that, maybe you want to use additional outer packaging or something like that to dress it up and make it more Christmassy, additional wrapping or packaging, or even just something to hold it together as a bundle so that will cost you a bit more. So have a look at those margins and only do buy one, get one 50 % off if you can afford it.
Yeah. So once you've done all of those checks for your bundle, so finding a bundle, identify who's up for the RP is good. You know where to sell it for and the margins are good. Then the last thing that you want to do is give it a name. Okay. How do you want to call this bundle? And
Nina Huchthausen (22:38.06)
I really like this framework that I was taught a few years ago. It's super simple. It's incredible. But it works pretty much all the time. That's the code I want blank framework. Because really, if we can name a bundle something that people deeply want and look out for, and that's the name of the bundle, for example, let's say you know that your mom
your grandma, your sister, they've had stress for a year. They've all had sleeping problems. They've been like, anxiety. They've been like, man, their tanks empty. Yeah. And then you bring out a bundle that me Nina sees for my mom, for my, for my sister, for my grandma, that is like the, that we kind of call like the chill bundle or the glow bundle.
or the relaxation bundle or whatever you want to call it, whatever the words are that my mom, my grandma and my sister just constantly tell me, I wish I could just like relax or the relaxation bundle. Then I'll be like me, you know, I was like, that's why I'm going to get them. Because if this product can help all three of them relax, banger, buy it done with it. Okay.
So you simply want to really tune into, the people that you're serving, what do they want most? What could they have been telling their friends, their family around them, what they want, what they need, or what they're struggling with? And can you name your bundle that? 99 % it'll be bang on. If you don't know, do a little bit of customer research at your next market or to a bit
surveying on Facebook for that.
Nina Huchthausen (24:40.014)
Cool. So, okay. I hope you guys are able to digest this a little bit and feel free to keep pausing. Yeah, because I'm talking to guys a little bit. But step number
You need to think through what are you going to say and when are you going to say it. Yeah, because ultimately, once you've got your bundle, you're going to market that bundle. Meaning you need to talk about it either early or in the written word. Yeah. Or a bit of mix of both. So chances are you got some type of B2B.
that you want to talk to unless you're pure e -com B2C. But I would assume you either want to partner with someone or you might want to bring on new stockers or work with your existing stockers, get some stuff in. You might want to do some corporate offers or buyers or whatever that is. Anyone who would help you sell your product. You got to communicate to them. Now the question is, what do you need to communicate to them and when do you need to communicate to them?
So I will run you guys through in detail. But what I'm going to do, this comm schedule, because I think it's so helpful, I will put a link in the show notes so that you can download that. So in July, that's when you need to plan the offer. I'm just going to give you a reminder. In August, when you need to start reaching out to create awareness, to co -create your offer, and to kind of judge interest.
on your offer and so that you can then in September, October, focus on selling your offer, October delivering your offer. But that's when you sell it to stockists. And then November, December, we're selling B2C. They're selling for you. You've missed the boat if they reach out then. So July planning, August, September, October is when we are selling, creating the offer and getting it up. Now, meaning
Nina Huchthausen (26:56.108)
that in a nutshell, here's what I would like you to do in July. In July, so big, you're just coming to the end of it. You're drafting your office, you're playing with it. Any stockers that you need, existing stockers or future ones that you wanna pitch to right now or need to check in with, just mention to them, hey, have you guys thought about Christmas yet? What are your plans? What are you thinking would run really well?
I'm just drafting a few offer options. Can I run them past you? I'd love your feedback. What you're doing with that, number one, you're planting the seed. And if they haven't thought about Christmas, you'll be the first. Number two, if you go in first, they still have all the budget available. So that'll be super beneficial for you because they have a hundred percent of their budget, much more likely to buy from you than if they already spent 90. Yeah.
But number three, if your offer doesn't match what they think their customers are going to look for, you get that honest feedback, and you can go back to the drawing board. Yeah, and you're probably going to get a lot of guidance on what they think they can sell. And that's really important because they don't want you to go away with designing an offer and printing a bunch of Christmas packaging and all of that, then nobody buys it. Yeah, so in July, have phone conversations, face -to -face conversations.
about that and get some ideas. Then in August, you need to have more certainty around your offer. And that's when you want to reach out to all of your stockists and get their interest on your offer on your bundle C. Does anyone want to place a pre -order? What do they like? What do they not like about it? That's when you also want to finalize your collaborations. Let's say you have these beautiful Christmas cards you might want to collaborate.
with a chocolate manufacturer and bring those beautiful Christmas cards and chocolates together, things like that. Yeah, that's what you want to have done in August. And as part of that, you need to have your wholesale catalog done and you want to have any beautiful photography done so that you can send that through. Yeah. Then in September, that's where you want to sell. That's where you want to go out, speak with new and existing stockers, with partners, with everybody to sell that offer
Nina Huchthausen (29:22.114)
get your deals in. In October, that's when you're going to deliver your orders, you're selling closed deals. That's the key thing that you want to do. November, December from B2B's perspective.
It'll down down. You're going to sell much to B2B anymore because they are now busy selling to B2C. But what you want to do is check in with those stockers and partners, make sure the product is selling, see if they need any support, any staff training, point of sales material, or if you need to drive some traffic to them, or if they need a top up. That's what your focus is November, December.
Again, you can download the schedule because I might be sharing a fair bit. In nutshell, B2C, don't need to talk about Christmas until October because we don't care. But what you need to start thinking about in September is to get your website updated and all of that stuff ready. Get your point of sales material ready for them.
and get any of your social media plans ready, your email marketing plans ready, so that October, November, December, you have a really great flow together to reach out to them direct and either drive them to your online office, drive them to your stockist, drive them to markets and events that you go to, and so forth.
So I hope this is exciting for you. Now, next step, you're going to need to think through. And this is easy. OK? As I said, you will get this to download. But so here's the in that show. You need to think through what you need to make happen. What do you need to produce? So I call it your marketing and sales material production. What do you need to create so that you can then do these things? In that show.
Nina Huchthausen (31:24.162)
You need to think about website updates in September. Email templates, email copy for your email marketing ready, written October, November, December throughout. Email calendar set up. Probably want to sit down September. Same with social media. If you have that mapped out, then you can focus on execution. August, really important to have your office and pricing finalized. New photography taking if you need to, and your wholesale catalog.
because you're going to send that to your stockist. Social media assets, have them, you want to plan September, October, November, December is where you need to create them. In -store materials, staff education, September, because you're delivering in October. Events and markets, you need to book it now. Okay? And any Christmas outer packaging, wrapping, cards, designed and ordered by August the latest, my friends.
depending on your time, but you gotta need to get onto that ASAP. Okay, so in a nutshell.
That's what you're gonna need to make happen. And then the last thing, what you gotta need to really think through is your production timeline, right? So it's either your product ordering timeline or if you are the maker, you need to think about the first step. How much product do you need to make by when based on your sales forecast? How many ingredients do you need to order by when?
So with that, you have the ingredients ready to make your product on time. And then you need to think about, you need to work backwards and see, if I need to have my product in market by or in retail shops in October, when do I need to make the product in September? And what needs to happen August and July? OK.
Nina Huchthausen (33:30.932)
And then last thing for you to do is define your sales goals. How much revenue do you want to bring in ideally? So if you are aiming to get 100K in revenue for October, November, December, define that for yourself as your sales goal and then map that out per channel. What's the wholesale revenue goal? DTC, markets and events. Split that out for its entirety and then map it out October, November, December.
because then you'll have it super easy to see how much volume do you need to sell. So my friends, and if you work through that list that I just put into the show notes and download the document that I'm going to attach for you, and work through that and do that over the next few weeks, you will freaking kill it you will be on the front foot. But if you wait another six weeks, you might miss the
I hope you wanna be in the boat and I hope you're gonna have a lot of fun with it. And over the next few months, we'll be recording a lot more podcast episodes that will help you execute over this period of time. Number one, and number two, also inside the Makers Business Tribe, if you're interested at all to get some really awesome guidance on all of the steps that you need to take and what you need to do and focus on when, have a conversation with us, reach out.
Yeah, but other than that, I hope you got a lot out of this episode and you have now a lot more insight and guidance on what you need to focus on and when in order to smash your Christmas sales. Have an awesome day, my friends. Bye bye.
