Exhaustimicated

Okay team, I spent yesterday afternoon and all of today out in the field, stockist hunting.

Stockist hunting, in case you’re unsure, involves getting fashionably frocked up in your own collection and hitting the pavement with your lookbooks in hand. You have to be able to tell a shop assistant from a manager/buyer in the blink of an eye (and they’ll often try and throw you off the scent by claiming to be the other). You need to be ready to answer any question they might ask with gusto and enthusiasm (but not so much that you look desperate).

It’s tough and it’s tiring, but it’s so worthwhile.

Case in point: in a very notable store I went into today, the person I spoke to started off by saying ‘welllllll… you can leave it if you like, but we aren’t taking on any new labels at the moment’ (my policy: thrust it into their hands and start telling them why they should make an exception). By the time I left, she’d asked for the pricelist, given me two email addresses to send it to and said how excited she was about the label and the collection.

So, for all new designers out there (not just fashion I’d imagine either, but homewares, artists, etc.) here is what I’ve learnt…

You might be showing them the same thing electronically as you are in person, but in person you can read their face and overcome early objections that you wouldn’t otherwise even get to hear.

The biggest objections I have encountered thus far are:

• You’re new, so I don’t know how well your label is going to sell. I’d prefer to stock something safer. Solution: tell them about the press coverage I’ve received, my marketing strategy and what I can do to help them sell it. Postcards, social media, PR, etc.
• You’re new, so I don’t know if you’ll actually be able to deliver this collection financially. I’d prefer to stock someone who’s been around a while. Solution: tell them I have secure financing (Bento does), so they needn’t worry about me going under.
• I’m interested, but I just want to dip my toes in the water. Solution: tell them I don’t have minimums like other labels.
• The economy is really bad right now and my store has experienced a downturn. Solution: tell them all the reasons why Bento will HELP their business.

The best part is I actually don’t even need to wait for them to object. I just throw these things into conversation… I *think* it makes them feel like I understand where they’re coming from.

For those people that I can’t go and see in person due to geographical reasons, I hope that this experience makes me better equipped to contact those that I must by correspondence.

Anyway… that’s my day in a nutshell. Exhausted, but happy.