September 29, 2024 • 35 mins
NEW FREE WORKSHOP!! Our new workshop, How Professional Organizers Can Get Clients WITHOUT using social media, is ready for you on demand at poroadmap.com !
THIS WEEK ON THE POD:
Fresh from the How To Summit in Austin, Texas, we are diving into a live recording of a marketing panel I moderated--featuring Blair Nastri of Erin Condren, and organizers Liz Wann and Cindy Huzenmen. We are talking about ALLLLLL things marketing for professional organizers--including concentrating on marketing, authenticity, and consistency in building a business.
Key takeaways include personalized marketing strategies, leveraging customer loyalty, and the value of consistent effort.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:42 Recap of the How To Summit in Austin
01:46 Introducing the Marketing Panel
03:52 Panel Discussion: Marketing Strategies for Organizers
14:33 The Importance of Authenticity in Marketing
27:06 Consistency and Focus in Business
GET IN TOUCH!
hello@proorganizerstudio.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hey, pro organizers.
My name is Melissa Kluge andyou are listening to the pro
organizer studio podcast.
Professional organizingchanged my entire life.
After 20 years of working at hugecompanies, I started working for myself.
I opened a professional organizingbusiness, grew it to six
figures, and I never looked back.
Now I get to spend all day, every dayteaching organizers around the world.
(00:25):
How to find clients, how to marketand sell yourselves, how to turn this
business into what you want it to be.
Whether you have been in businessfor 15 minutes or 15 years, you
have a home at Pro Organizer Studio.
I'm excited that you're here.
Let's get started.
Hey everybody.
I am pretty sure that we probablyhave some new listeners this week.
(00:48):
Because I just returned from Austin,Texas, where I was at the, How To Summit.
This is my second summitand it was awesome.
First of all, it was exhaustingand just the absolute best ways,
you know, there's weekends whereyou're like talking nonstop.
Cause you have so many fun,new, interesting people to meet.
And I just was able to meet somany people that I maybe have
(01:10):
only interacted with online.
And I'm just so gratefulto everyone who was there.
I gave a presentation on Saturday.
And it was awesome toget feedback from that.
And if you are a new friend ofmine from the How To Summit,
please remember to reach out to me.
You can email me.
hello@proorganizerstudio.comor DM me on Instagram.
(01:31):
And I would love to keep in touch withyou also, if you were at the summit and
you didn't come up and say hi, or, um,I had a couple of people that are like,
oh, I didn't get a chance to catch you.
Please reach out to meon social or on email.
I would love to chat with you.
Here's what we're doingon the podcast today.
I'm giving you like a little bit of bonus.
I did a panel at the summit with BlairNastri who's the head of marketing for
(01:55):
Erin Condren with Liz Wann and CindyHuzenmen who are professional organizers.
And I was able to record it.
And I wanted to give that to you ifyou weren't able to be there, or if
you were there, but you want to revisitsome of the things we talked about.
So before we get started,though, I will say this is a
live recording and I did as much.
(02:16):
Uh, audio magic as I could, but there,it definitely is not the typical
sound quality that I would love.
I just urge you to kind of stick with it.
The first couple minutes are maybea little dicey and you're going to
be like, Melissa, I cannot believethat you put this into my ears
today, but just stick with it.
Um, it definitely gets better andthere is some really great content
(02:38):
that I want to make sure that if youweren't able to be at the summit,
that you're able to feel like you werethere a little bit, also just FYI.
The summit next year is going tobe in Dallas, Texas around the
same timeframe and the, um, kindof mid to late September timeframe.
So mark it on your calendar because it'sjust the most uplifting, wonderful event
(02:58):
to be around such awesome organizers.
The reason I was exhausted.
It's because I came home.
I was like 70 billion ideas of things Iwanted to do and, you know, people that
I wanted to connect with and everything.
So I really would love for youguys to make it a, to put it
on your calendar for next year.
All right.
So here is the marketing panel.
Again, please stick with me on the audio.
I swear it gets better.
(03:19):
And you get half an hour ofmarketing expertise from some
great professional organizersand from a professional marketer.
And also just reallyquickly before I forget.
I have a brand new free workshop.
It is called how professional organizerscan get clients without social media.
And you can get that at poroadmap.com.
(03:40):
And if you want me to send you a link, youcan DM me on Instagram, or you can send
me an email and I will get you into that.
All right.
Have a wonderful day organizers.
Alright, we are so excitedabout this next session.
Blair Nastri is the head ofmarketing for Erin Condren.
She has years of experience in themarketing world and is bringing that
wealth of knowledge to us today.
(04:01):
Joining her on stage is Liz Wann,Melissa Klug, and Cindy Huzenman.
Let's give it a warm,healthy, gentle welcome right
now.
I love you.
I love you right back.
Okay.
Is this on?
(04:21):
Okay.
While we're, while we're gatheringand sitting, I just want to tell you
guys a super quick, super quick story.
So last night, we had agathering of all of our the.
Lovely people that came here with me,and we're in the Westin bar, and at
the end of the night, I'm like signingmy, signing my check, and I just say
to the bartender, , hey, thanks, Iknow there were like a lot of people
here, and it's like a lot for you guysto handle, you probably weren't ready
(04:44):
for it, and he's like, No, he's like,everyone's like, really nice, and they're
all just in this really orderly line
like, nobody ever does
that!
And I was like, well,dude, but here's the deal.
We're all professional organizers.
And he goes, yeah, someone told me that,but I didn't think they were serious.
And I was like, no, we're avery orderly group of people.
Anyway.
(05:04):
I am so happy to be here.
I'm honored to be here, moderatingthis panel about marketing.
And, yes, we can clap for marketing.
Before I do, can we do 20 secondintroductions of everyone?
Who you are, what you do.
I am Cindy, from Cindyology,.
I'm originally from Panama.
(05:25):
But I've been in the United States,Miami, Florida, for about 27 years.
It's nice meeting you all,and like, nice to see you.
My name is Liz, and I am fromOrange County, California.
I run Coastal Organizing Company,and I'm so excited to be here again.
I've only missed one Home+Sortconference, and It's because I had a
(05:47):
baby two days before the conference.
I literally was planning on going andgetting it, because I would have a baby at
the conference.
Hi, I'm Blair I am the headof marketing for Erin Condren.
I live here in Austin, Texas, butI'm originally from Los Angeles.
Born and raised in LA.
Woo!
Yeah, just got here two years ago.
(06:09):
I am super excited to behere to talk about marketing.
I've been with ErinCondren for over ten years.
Started as a consumer andthen joined the brand side.
Super excited to be here to talkabout all those kind of things.
Fantastic.
Okay, what I want to start with is Blair,we're going to get a How to Summit MBA.
Can you give us, this may sound likewe're starting simply, but a definition
of what marketing is, and what'sthe difference between marketing
(06:31):
and sales for small business owners?
Marketing would be how you can describethe result and the value that you create.
I would say The most important thing aboutmarketing would be what is, knowing how
to clearly identify your brand, and whatdifferentiates you from other brands.
What is your competitiveadvantage, if you will.
If you can't tell me in one sentencewhat you do, and why you do it
(06:54):
well, and why you do it differentlythan other people, That's going
to be really hard to make a sale.
You need to, in marketing, youneed to market yourself efficiently
in order to get the sale.
The sale can't come unlessyou can efficiently market.
That's kind of the biggest difference.
In marketing, in marketing you mightkind of get the bad rap sometimes.
It's like a soft skill.
When I was getting my MBA, a lot ofpeople were not good at marketing.
And I If people don't know, it'sthat it's the print that's gonna
(07:17):
be a lot of the other stuff.
It's extremely important for you to closesales, see results, and really be able
to differentiate yourself on the market.
When I was in business school therewas a guy who was like a heavy
manufacturing guy, and he legit saidlike, we don't need people like you.
I make the things, I actually dosomething, and I'm like, no one's gonna
(07:39):
buy your things if you don't have me.
And he was a jerk, but anyway.
Yeah, no, that's pretty good.
And I also like what you saidabout, if you can't explain
what you do in one sentence.
A lot of people call thatan elevator pitch, but you
have to say it really simply,
Liz and Cindy, can you tell us, whatdoes marketing mean in your business?
Marketing for me, it mayfeel a little different.
(08:01):
I use social media as my main marketing.
85 percent of my businesscomes from social media.
Sorry.
It's okay, we can stillbe friends., it's alright.
But, marketing, you know, has to go on.
We have to put 100 percent of ourselves,not only face it on social media,
because it doesn't work for all.
It's, I agree 100 percent withwhat you said yesterday, what
(08:23):
works for me may not work for you.
We're in different times, it'san ever changing platform.
Use as much as you can.
I didn't use social media when I started.
I went door to door, literally knocking.
I went on kitchen companies,I went on closet companies.
I said use me, let me try.
I'll work for free in your company.
I'll do your styling on your business.
(08:45):
You can, you know, you cansell me to new customers.
I went on a container store.
I started 13 years ago and wedidn't have a container store in
Miami until like, 8 years ago.
When I finally got mine, I knocked onthat door and I said, Please, hire me.
Tell all your clients.
I would walk around The ContainerStore asking people, Do you,
do you need an organizer??
(09:06):
And, and I did.
And one of the things thatactually worked for me was in
one of those kitchen companies.
I said, I have an idea for you.
You know, try me.
And when you sell these 150, 000, 200,000, these very expensive kitchens,
rather than just giving them a bottleof champagne, give me a cigarette.
I am worth more, but you don't haveto pay that much, at least try me,
(09:27):
and, you know, to say thank you toyour client, give me, and try me.
And that worked amazing, becauseI not only got clients, but I also
got designers, architects, andall of them getting to know me
I just want to say, I feel likeyou should be really careful
when you say give me as a gift.
Oh, well, I meant it.
Everyone else was thinkingit, I just said it.
(09:48):
I
speak Spanish, that's my first language.
Take it as it comes.
Okay, so when it comes to marketing, Iknow a lot of people get overwhelmed.
I want to let you know,it really is simple.
It really is.
You just have to do something.
So I think a lot of times it's easy to belike, Oh, I'm trying to do that because
(10:10):
it makes me feel uncomfortable or itjust feels like it's so overwhelming.
So when I market mybusiness, I do it simply.
I create a flyer, and thenyou can create the same flyer,
you just change the wording.
And then I do something with that flyer.
I do direct mail marketing.
So I write letters to people andknow that they're gonna get with it.
I connect with other businessowners in my area, so your
(10:33):
community is really important.
So I connect with business owners inthe community to let them know about
our services and how we can help them.
You kind of have to do a lot of things.
I am on social media, butthat is not an end all be all.
You can get business without that.
But you have to kindof do a lot of things.
But it really isn't that complicated.
You just have to do itand stay consistent.
(10:55):
That's my biggest thing when it comes tosuccess, is just have to be consistent.
And if someone's not returning youremails, or your texts, or whatever, Or
whatever you're doing, just keep trying.
It's not a no, until they say no.
I'm like, one of those people whereI'm like, Okay, I know it's going
to be like, rejection hurts, right?
When someone's notreturning your phone calls.
(11:16):
I always say, Oh my gosh,they must have died!
Because they haven't returned a singleemail, phone call, or text message.
That's the only explanation.
That's the key context.
And then, it all responds.
You
just have to keep going.
Blair, obviously, you work with, I assume,a lovely budget at Erin Condren, which
means maybe a little bit more than someof the budgets that we are working with.
(11:37):
Can you give us some options, ormaybe some of the things that you
do at Erin Condren, but how can weuse those things to our advantage
as professional organizers.
Yeah and, so I started 11 plus years ago.
And when I started in theLA office, it was very small.
The brand was very small.
The team was very small.
20 of us.
We didn't start paidadvertising until the 2017 era.
(12:00):
And this was, you know, 2013.
All of our marketing efforts weremuch different than they are now.
So I've been able to seeus kind of scale them.
But at the start of it, what we would dowith things like stationery, for example.
If you have anything that you're gettingout, and you don't have, you know, a
significant margin on that product.
If we were printing stationary notecardsand we were selling them in a set of
(12:23):
20, let's say, or 24, we would throwin 5 extra because the cost of that
paper was not substantial enough thatsurprise and delight outweigh the cost.
So if you can give extra, if you cando something to surprise and delight
them that's not gonna really affectyour bottom line, absolutely do it.
We would write handwritten lettersand customer orders for their orders.
(12:46):
If you can reward loyalty and makethem feel special and seen and
appreciated, that goes a long way.
And when you build a customer's loyaltyfrom the start, that is invaluable.
If you can keep them loyal toyou and keep them coming back.
I would say things like that.
If you can really go aboveand beyond and have that.
we have a really good incrediblecustomer experience from the start.
(13:08):
That's going to serve you well for yearsdown the line because people like to
talk about, you know, they love to feelspecial and they like to tell other
people about that happening to themand so that would be important now.
That really worked well for us.
We also give like, refer a a friendto pay it forward cards in order to try
to encourage them to tell other people.
Obviously, we're a stationerycompany, so everything that we
(13:30):
had was branded with our name onit, so that was another reason.
It was like, give them more.
They send a letter to their friendand their friend likes the stationery.
It has our logo on it.
Like, it was kind of free marketing forus, so a lot of that sort of, that kind of
mentality really in the early days workedreally well for us and definitely helped.
And I would say in like today's climate,because things were obviously different
(13:53):
then in terms of social media andthings like that, if you can trade
services for, you know, a post, if youdon't have the money to pay someone,
I know a lot of content creatorswant and should be compensated for
their, for, you know, their content.
But if you can't do that, if you offerto organize something for them, give
them free products, let them try youout and not pay you, Authenticity is
(14:16):
so key right now in all content, soeven though somebody is gifted, if
they weren't paid for their content,I still think that authenticity
breaks through in what I'm creating.
So those are a couple differentthings I think we've done along
the way before we had a largebudget that really added impact.
Can you talk
a little bit more about authenticity?
Because that's a word that I'mkind of obsessed with these days.
(14:38):
And like, just talk about its rolein business and how personal that
you can be and how authentic youcan be and why that's important.
I
mean, I think, you know, we're, it's sucha tough line to straddle We're like, we're
trying not to be overly consumer and,but we're still trying to make sales.
So it's like, how do you push people tobuy things that are maybe discretionary?
They don't absolutely need, but it's,it's really hard to try to do that.
(15:01):
Right.
And I think we're realizing as peopleare being more aware of this culture
and trying to not just push somethingon Amazon that people should buy.
Like, how do I authenticallytell them like, no, you're
buying this one planner, right?
service, whatever, because it'sgoing to serve you every single day
to make your life easier, better,more productive, less stressful.
It's a one time investment ina year round return on your
(15:24):
own productivity and happiness.
And when we distill that message, andI talk to, like, our affiliate group,
People that are creating content,and like, I don't need you to just
be saying, Oh, they just launched newpens, they just launched new notebooks.
I don't want you to be pushingevery single thing, because it's not
authentic that someone's ready to buyevery time they drop a new product.
But if you can authentically tellthem, Hey, this is the one purchase
(15:46):
I made last year that I have zeroregrets, because I am Way less
stress, I'm on top of my schedule, I'mproductive, I'm happy, that I believe.
And so I say, be as authentic as youcan in your content, because we are
no longer believing that we need tobuy every single thing that people
are pushing with their link in bio.
Authenticity is absolutely essential, andI think That translates to just better
(16:09):
sales and a better response in general.
This is a really specificquestion, but How do you do the
balance of like the hard selling?
So like, you know, let's justsay it's a social media poster or
it's something that you're doing.
What is your line between just, we'redoing a post to do a post, or we're
doing something just to say, here'swho we are versus, I want to tell
(16:31):
you about this thing that I have
that you can buy.
I mean, it's, it's really, really hard,and for us, where we kind of draw the
lines, like, we don't do, and this is avery arbitrary line, and for us, like, we
don't do in key posts that are, like, agraphic that just is advertising a sale.
I never want you to justsee, like, 25 percent off.
When you're scrolling on our feed.
Some people on our team will argue,we don't think you should, because
(16:53):
we want them to see it, and wewant them to go to the website.
And we're like, of course.
But I also want them to begetting something valuable.
If they're on our feed, if they'rescrolling, if they're being served
in their for you page, I want them toget something educational about it.
We need to be givingthem something valuable.
That's it.
A hack, a way that they canget more out of using this
product than just a flat sell.
(17:14):
Because to me, there's so muchcontent out there, I need them
to, to see something valuableand have that grab them.
And then, bonus points if they realizethere's a sale, but social media
for us is not a huge revenue driver.
It's very different obviously fordifferent channels, but for us
specifically, it's much more of aeducation, You know, sort of bottom,
(17:35):
bottom funnel, trying to like get themto, to bring awareness, understanding.
So we approach it alittle bit differently.
I love that.
Okay, so I am also obsessed withwhat I call analog marketing.
So you have both discussed it.
Handwriting notes, things like that, someof these non digital marketing efforts.
Can you talk about this?
Yeah, I, I feel likepersonalizing it is so important.
(17:58):
It's the fact that authenticity,connection, that human touch
that I miss a lot these days.
And so like, after, it's easy.
After you have a consultation withsomeone, whether it's on the phone or in
person, take five minutes and write thema handwritten note and put it in the mail.
(18:18):
And I promise you, either they maynot hire you because they can't
afford you, but they're going totell all of their friends about you.
Like, that's going to mean more to them.
than someone else, right?
It is so valuable to do somethinglike that, it is thoughtful.
Every time we go to a Project2, we leave a handwritten note,
thank you note, and a little gift.
(18:40):
But in marketing, youmake it personal, right?
Like, we used to leave branded cookies,and they would be like, oh, what a hard
day it was, and now they're drinkingtheir coffee, and they're like but
they do a special and there's a newpicture, so it's just that little
added touch that we have a connectionand have that relationship and we're
going to continue to come back becausewe're different, because we're human
(19:03):
and we're showing them that human side.
So I think it's old school,honestly it really Works..
And we even leave postersafter we finish a project.
Take ten minutes, walk the neighborhood,drop flyers, and it says, I just
organized a neighbor's home.
Because those neighborsaren't going to be talking.
Who's their home organized?
Tell me about it.
Like, you gotta be creative,and it's really that simple.
(19:25):
Get some exercise.
I don't like calling it oldfashioned, I like calling it vintage.
That makes it more special, Cindy,I know that you are marvelous.
You're an amazing,amazing online presence.
Do you have any analog things that youdo, or do you keep everything online?
Well, dinosaur, you're not a dinosaur.
(19:48):
I
write, I write these, everything.
I don't even have a digital.
I do the cookie thing.
I, I give a gift.
I give them incentivesto call me again to.
And more than that, Ibuild a relationship.
It's very important.
I know there's people that, like to walkin a house and do goals and, like, the
house is magically organized, and kindof, you know, disappear, but I, I don't.
(20:10):
I make a presence because most of theresponse from my client is, We miss you.
We miss you and your team, when yousay that the, the energy that you guys
brought to this house was incredible.
So I try to build that relationship.
I speak to them.
I, I mean, I don't become friends,or I don't have a wife, but
I could if they asked me to.
(20:30):
But it's, it's kind of like buildingthat relationship because not only will
they call you back, but they will telltheir friends, they will tell their
neighbors, they will tell everybody.
And also, like I said, we don't haveto give them a discount, but I do
tell them, you know, if you tellfive friends, I'll give you whatever,
15 percent off the next thing.
(20:52):
Kind of like that.
They, they do do it.
They actually do it.
And I've seen the difference whenwe don't, when we have to rush out
of a project, we have somethingnice, and I forget to do that.
I see, I see the difference, yeah.
So this is another How To Summitan MBA question for Blair, but
the, the difference between thecost of acquisition of a brand new
(21:14):
client versus an existing client.
I think one of the things organizers needto think about is how do you leverage
people who have already used your
services?
Can you talk a little bit about that?
Yeah, so the cost of acquiring anew customer is significantly more
expensive than a returning customer.
If you can leverage, that we areconstantly trying to leverage is
like, and also the AOV, like youraverage order value in our suite,
(21:37):
but how much they're going to spendwith you, is dramatically going to
increase if they get a second purchase.
So like, if they come back for a secondorganization project, and they come back
to you multiple times, their lifetimevalue is going to grow exponentially.
Managing that loyalty and trying to keepthem loyal to you is extremely important.
And, you know, when you have to worryabout winning them back, you know,
(22:01):
retention, last customers, winningthem back on the e commerce side,
that's an extremely expensive project.
So you want to keep them active,even if they're not currently active.
Working on a project withyou, just keeping them warm.
I don't know if you send Christmascards or how you keep them engaged or
remembering who you are, but that iscrucial that they don't forget that
you are top of mind, because it just,the longer it goes, you know, the more
(22:23):
expensive it's going to be, the harder itwill be to get them back in the funnel.
You talked a little bit aboutreferrals, do you have any sort of
like active referral program withexisting clients referring other people?
I did in the beginning, I think alot of times too, as you grow in your
business, it's okay to make changes.
It's okay to say, that worked forme then, it doesn't work for me now.
(22:45):
So in the beginning, I, my first,This client situation that I got
was because I asked my first client,I asked her to post on the mom's
Facebook group in her neighborhood.
It's like a very active page.
And I asked her, can youplease include some photos?
If you do this, I will give you $30 off.
I don't know what I was doing.
(23:05):
$30 off your bill.
She did it.
And I got 10 clients from it.
So I had ten paid clients for it.
Then again, when I got those tenclients, I said, can you guys, and
I had, I'll say, can you guys writea review and put photos on your
Facebook page and help me get $50 off?
Right?
(23:26):
They did.
That was my referral program, and I kepton doing it, and so my first six months,
I was slammed because I asked, and theydid it, and I used a referral program,
fifty dollars, not a big deal at the timefor, you know, then to be incentivized.
Now, I don't I work with otherbusinesses, you know, closet
(23:47):
companies, or garages, and we refereach other to business but I don't.
discount my services anymore.
But there's a time and aplace where you may need to do
that, and that often will in
front of us.
(24:10):
Well, I, I reach out.
I, I knock on doors.
I've, I've always done it and nomatter how many years I'm in the
business, I still do it becausethere's always room to grow.
And what I think is that we shouldnever be afraid because the worst
thing that can happen when wetalk about this is to say no.
And, and, and, and no, it's, it's awindow closed but then another door opens.
(24:32):
So I've never been afraid toreach out whether it's, you know.
On social media, or just anemail, or somebody that I saw.
Even an interview on TV, I go, you knowwhat, I'm gonna reach out to everybody.
It's easy, Google rightnow will get you anywhere.
I find an email, I find the company, Ifind whoever it is that I need to find,
and I say, hey, by the way, this is me.
(24:54):
Look at me, I have social media, Ihave a website, I have a history.
Hire me!?
I want to
share one funny storywhen you mention that.
You know, the whole thing about asking.
You just gotta ask.
You gotta go big.
I remember my first year, I was sittingand I was watching The Bachelorette.
I don't watch that showanymore, but at the time I did.
And I was watching The Bacheloretteand I told my husband, I don't
(25:17):
want to organize that girl's house.
Because I think she's awesome andI would love to be her friend.
It's And he's like, okay, soI'm like, watching the show, and
I send her a DM on Instagram.
I was year one, I had neverdone a partnership or anything,
knowing what I was doing.
I just wanted to be your friend.
DM, he makes this laugh, and he's like,yeah, right, she's not going to respond.
(25:37):
And then I like, I started looking onsocial, and you know, a couple days later,
nothing happened, like, okay, whatever.
Then I'm like, I'm justgoing to email her.
So I email, nothing.
Four months later, I got a call.
And I helped her.
I laughed at my husband, hey, you saidI couldn't do this, and look what I did.
Because I asked.
And then I did it multiple othertimes to people that I thought
(25:58):
would never respond to me.
And they responded.
Because I asked.
It's just as simple as watchinga show and typing in a message.
And I, on my phone, will keepa message that I think is very,
like, personal, and kind, and nice,and I have a draft on my phone.
It's not in line somewhere, becauseyou're always in line somewhere,
(26:18):
or waiting in a bar somewhere.
I copy and paste into Instagram.
Use Instagram as a tool for marketing.
It doesn't have to be somethingthat you're on every day.
Use it as a tool.
I will reach out to the top ofthe top builders in my area, send
them the DM, and then we willschedule a time for coffee for that.
Then I start following them,and I'll message them about
(26:39):
nothing to do with organizing.
And then we become friends on Instagram.
Never met in person, and so we scheduledout, you know, in person time to
talk, and now they refer me business.
Sometimes I don't even have a chanceto meet them, but I send them packages
and we talk a lot on Instagram.
They send me business,because I asked for it.
It's just that simple, you know?
Well, that kind of leads into something.
(27:00):
We had a very lively conversationyesterday, the three of us.
So I probably shouldhave just recorded it.
It was really good.
It was really good, you guys.
But, Blair, can you talk to us alittle bit, actually, all three
of you talk to us a little bitabout the concept of consistency.
And one of the things that I see alot, and I hear a lot, and we talked
about it was you know, you don'thave enough clients, you're not
feeling good about your business.
(27:21):
What have you done today?
What have you done in line for coffee?
Whatever.
Can
you talk about consistency?
Yeah for us it's obviously a little bitdifferent, but making sure that we Like,
when I hear consistency on the incomeside, because my job really involves
making sure that no matter what channelyou're getting an ad, you're getting
(27:41):
an email, you're getting a text, you'reon a website, no matter what channel
you're on, you are getting a consistent,sane, cohesive brand experience,
brand message, brand viewpoints.
So that's what I'm looking for, is like,I'm making sure that my team is delivering
the right message to the right audience.
that they're all being consistentwith what we want you to understand.
But from a consistency side, arewe doing all the things that we
(28:04):
should be doing to get business?
I would say, like, when we werestarting out and we were smaller,
it looked, it looked a lot like, forme at least, running our numbers,
revenue were we at at 10 a.M.
that day?
What could we do to getmore revenue that day?
So was it like, okay, we need topost something on social in order
to hit our numbers that we will notsee, that, like, we want to see?
So I'm going to talk a little bit aboutthis collection, have you sent an email,
(28:27):
should we maybe do a smaller email to ourtop customers, like our Rose Gold Loyalty
Program, and not even do a design email,but just do like a personal email that's
like, hey, what did you do here for me,we want something new, let me know, we
did a lot of like, Personal shoppingat the start when we had these big
customers and we were a smaller business.
And for many years, even when we grew,these customers still thought they
(28:48):
could just, like, email us to order.
And it's like, who's going to tell them?
But we would do that a lot.
We would, fulfill orders for people.
Like, they could justplace on the website.
You could just do it for them for years.
Just trying to make sure that you arechecking all those boxes and really,
on her side, what you said about theBachelorette story reminded me, I
tell my team, I'm like, if there's apie in the sky, influencer, someone
(29:12):
you feel like really needs to betelling, her 5 million followers
about Eric Conner and the Planners andeverything that she's using for her
kids, I'm like, We know her kids names.
Send a box to her office.
We can't get her, we can't find her homeaddress because she's not responding.
Her office is public.
We know where her office is.
Send a box of planners and kidsplanners and personalized handwriting
(29:33):
notepads for her kindergartner.
Like, make it thoughtful.
Make it very apparent that we didthe research and we customized a
beautiful personalized package.
For her family, worst case scenario,someone in her office takes it home and
uses our notebooks and I'm like, bestcase scenario, she's touched and her
kids like it and she posts about it and 5million people could potentially see it.
(29:55):
We always will try to do something,but when you We customize it when
we make it, you know, special, thepossibility of it a return is much bigger.
And I totally deviated from your question.
No, it's great.
You can take it if you want.
I don't care.
How about consistency?
What does consistency look like?
Look like in your professional organizing?
It's everything.
It really is.
(30:16):
And it's one of those concepts thatI think, again, can feel overwhelming
because it's really just that simple.
Just gotta do a little bitevery single day, right?
And maybe it's at lunchtime ifyou're on a project and you don't
have time to do it before or after.
That's what I would alwaysdo when I was in projects.
I'd be texting and calling people atlunch whatever you gotta do, you know?
(30:36):
But consistency is really important andyou just can't stop because once you take
your foot off the gas, you're going to seeand it's going to affect your business.
So it's just slow andsteady but it's important.
I think that consistency alsoneeds to be focus of what we saw,
again, that great conversation,the shoe show, where we were first.
(30:59):
It's, it's about focus, but I, andI say from personal experience, I
focus on one million things at a time.
I said, oh, I want to be there, and Iwant to do this, and I want to grow into
this, and I want to get to do this, andI want to do everything at the same time.
And I accomplished.
Absolutely nothing.
So I think the consistencyis also focusing on that
(31:19):
one priority in doing that.
And once you get to do that,then follow for the rest.
Because otherwise, even thoughwe are super organized, I don't
think that our brain is capableof accomplishing all that.
Though we're very ambitious,I don't think we make it.
And congratulations to the onethat made it all at the same time.
Three's a lot to me, three somethings.
(31:41):
Because it's hard.
So I think that focus, be consistenton that when you accomplish
that goal, go for the next.
I
would also say
too, like, there are amillion things you could do.
And it's very easy to say, oh my gosh,I'm so overwhelmed, her favorite word.
Because there are a million things I coulddo, and so then you do none of the things.
You do zero of the things insteadof just one of the things.
(32:02):
There are so many things to pick from.
How do you decide what are thethings that you want to do?
And what are the things that aregoing to get the priority time?
On my side, it's looking at the return.
Like, what possibly, like, yes, we'veall scrambled to include a marketing
card, and we've seen that thisliterally happened a couple days ago.
I was, like, asked to, you know, fasttrack with a marketing card, that
we could include a pop up every day.
(32:23):
And I was like, okay, what is thisgonna pull, what resources do I have
to pull my team off of to make thishappen, what is the potential return of
this card, does it absolutely have tohappen for this game, this season, you
know, this started a couple weeks ago.
And so you kind of have to weigh,like, what would you be missing out
on if you took time off to do that.
And what potential returncould you see there?
But it is hard, and I would say, on theoverwhelmed side of things, this is my
(32:48):
pitch, my personal pitch for a paperplanner, if you're not using them, because
that's how I have to holistically, like,obviously I use a digital calendar, we all
do, but like, I have to physically write.
If I know I I have a ton of stuff goingon that week, I have to physically see
how I'm going to break it down intoeach day, and then how many things I
have in that day, because that is howmy brain works, and that is the only way
(33:09):
that I can see how I will possibly getthings, because otherwise we will just
absolutely spin, so that's personal pitch.
That everybody needsto use a paper planner.
Yeah.
And you, if you write everything down,you can have a breakdown more easily about
how many things you have to do and visual.
Right.
So sort of like the Oscars, we arebeing played off the stage with
(33:29):
silent music, but I just wannasay I came up with a great idea.
You guys wanna hear it?
Okay.
In the analog marketing thing,which I really do love you can buy.
from Erin Condren, a Home+Sort Planner.
Leave a lovely note for yourclients at the end of their
project, and then they have a paperplanner from our lovely hosts.
Your store is beautiful,by the way, so beautiful.
(33:50):
And then you can leave your clientsall that nice, nice stuff to keep
them organized and remind themthat you're around, all right.
Can I say, can I
say something?
Absolutely.
I don't think I've spoken enough.
Thank you so much.
Off topic, I just want tosay thank you to our hosts.
I know it's been said,but this is incredible.
(34:10):
I've been here with them.
I've been here, and I've seenthese girls grow and be the nicest,
most humblest people in the world.
They ask all of us for feedback.
They implement it the year after.
They are incredible and I am eternallythankful to them for being so special.
(34:32):
They are the loveliest human beings
Yeah, alright, well thank you.
Thank you guys so much.
I have a brand new free workshop calledhow professional organizers can get
clients without using social media.
It is available on demand24 seven at P O roadmap.
(34:54):
com.
That is a wrap on this week'spro organizer studio podcast.
I will see you next week.
Have a great day.
Organizers.
Hey, pro organizers.
My name is Melissa Kluge andyou are listening to the pro
organizer studio podcast.
Professional organizingchanged my entire life.
After 20 years of working at hugecompanies, I started working for myself.
I opened a professional organizingbusiness, grew it to six
figures, and I never looked back.
Now I get to spend all day, every dayteaching organizers around the world.
(00:25):
How to find clients, how to marketand sell yourselves, how to turn this
business into what you want it to be.
Whether you have been in businessfor 15 minutes or 15 years, you
have a home at Pro Organizer Studio.
I'm excited that you're here.
Let's get started.
Hey everybody.
I am pretty sure that we probablyhave some new listeners this week.
(00:48):
Because I just returned from Austin,Texas, where I was at the, How To Summit.
This is my second summitand it was awesome.
First of all, it was exhaustingand just the absolute best ways,
you know, there's weekends whereyou're like talking nonstop.
Cause you have so many fun,new, interesting people to meet.
And I just was able to meet somany people that I maybe have
(01:10):
only interacted with online.
And I'm just so gratefulto everyone who was there.
I gave a presentation on Saturday.
And it was awesome toget feedback from that.
And if you are a new friend ofmine from the How To Summit,
please remember to reach out to me.
You can email me.
hello@proorganizerstudio.comor DM me on Instagram.
(01:31):
And I would love to keep in touch withyou also, if you were at the summit and
you didn't come up and say hi, or, um,I had a couple of people that are like,
oh, I didn't get a chance to catch you.
Please reach out to meon social or on email.
I would love to chat with you.
Here's what we're doingon the podcast today.
I'm giving you like a little bit of bonus.
I did a panel at the summit with BlairNastri who's the head of marketing for
(01:55):
Erin Condren with Liz Wann and CindyHuzenmen who are professional organizers.
And I was able to record it.
And I wanted to give that to you ifyou weren't able to be there, or if
you were there, but you want to revisitsome of the things we talked about.
So before we get started,though, I will say this is a
live recording and I did as much.
(02:16):
Uh, audio magic as I could, but there,it definitely is not the typical
sound quality that I would love.
I just urge you to kind of stick with it.
The first couple minutes are maybea little dicey and you're going to
be like, Melissa, I cannot believethat you put this into my ears
today, but just stick with it.
Um, it definitely gets better andthere is some really great content
(02:38):
that I want to make sure that if youweren't able to be at the summit,
that you're able to feel like you werethere a little bit, also just FYI.
The summit next year is going tobe in Dallas, Texas around the
same timeframe and the, um, kindof mid to late September timeframe.
So mark it on your calendar because it'sjust the most uplifting, wonderful event
(02:58):
to be around such awesome organizers.
The reason I was exhausted.
It's because I came home.
I was like 70 billion ideas of things Iwanted to do and, you know, people that
I wanted to connect with and everything.
So I really would love for youguys to make it a, to put it
on your calendar for next year.
All right.
So here is the marketing panel.
Again, please stick with me on the audio.
I swear it gets better.
(03:19):
And you get half an hour ofmarketing expertise from some
great professional organizersand from a professional marketer.
And also just reallyquickly before I forget.
I have a brand new free workshop.
It is called how professional organizerscan get clients without social media.
And you can get that at poroadmap.com.
(03:40):
And if you want me to send you a link, youcan DM me on Instagram, or you can send
me an email and I will get you into that.
All right.
Have a wonderful day organizers.
Alright, we are so excitedabout this next session.
Blair Nastri is the head ofmarketing for Erin Condren.
She has years of experience in themarketing world and is bringing that
wealth of knowledge to us today.
(04:01):
Joining her on stage is Liz Wann,Melissa Klug, and Cindy Huzenman.
Let's give it a warm,healthy, gentle welcome right
now.
I love you.
I love you right back.
Okay.
Is this on?
(04:21):
Okay.
While we're, while we're gatheringand sitting, I just want to tell you
guys a super quick, super quick story.
So last night, we had agathering of all of our the.
Lovely people that came here with me,and we're in the Westin bar, and at
the end of the night, I'm like signingmy, signing my check, and I just say
to the bartender, , hey, thanks, Iknow there were like a lot of people
here, and it's like a lot for you guysto handle, you probably weren't ready
(04:44):
for it, and he's like, No, he's like,everyone's like, really nice, and they're
all just in this really orderly line
like, nobody ever does
that!
And I was like, well,dude, but here's the deal.
We're all professional organizers.
And he goes, yeah, someone told me that,but I didn't think they were serious.
And I was like, no, we're avery orderly group of people.
Anyway.
(05:04):
I am so happy to be here.
I'm honored to be here, moderatingthis panel about marketing.
And, yes, we can clap for marketing.
Before I do, can we do 20 secondintroductions of everyone?
Who you are, what you do.
I am Cindy, from Cindyology,.
I'm originally from Panama.
(05:25):
But I've been in the United States,Miami, Florida, for about 27 years.
It's nice meeting you all,and like, nice to see you.
My name is Liz, and I am fromOrange County, California.
I run Coastal Organizing Company,and I'm so excited to be here again.
I've only missed one Home+Sortconference, and It's because I had a
(05:47):
baby two days before the conference.
I literally was planning on going andgetting it, because I would have a baby at
the conference.
Hi, I'm Blair I am the headof marketing for Erin Condren.
I live here in Austin, Texas, butI'm originally from Los Angeles.
Born and raised in LA.
Woo!
Yeah, just got here two years ago.
(06:09):
I am super excited to behere to talk about marketing.
I've been with ErinCondren for over ten years.
Started as a consumer andthen joined the brand side.
Super excited to be here to talkabout all those kind of things.
Fantastic.
Okay, what I want to start with is Blair,we're going to get a How to Summit MBA.
Can you give us, this may sound likewe're starting simply, but a definition
of what marketing is, and what'sthe difference between marketing
(06:31):
and sales for small business owners?
Marketing would be how you can describethe result and the value that you create.
I would say The most important thing aboutmarketing would be what is, knowing how
to clearly identify your brand, and whatdifferentiates you from other brands.
What is your competitiveadvantage, if you will.
If you can't tell me in one sentencewhat you do, and why you do it
(06:54):
well, and why you do it differentlythan other people, That's going
to be really hard to make a sale.
You need to, in marketing, youneed to market yourself efficiently
in order to get the sale.
The sale can't come unlessyou can efficiently market.
That's kind of the biggest difference.
In marketing, in marketing you mightkind of get the bad rap sometimes.
It's like a soft skill.
When I was getting my MBA, a lot ofpeople were not good at marketing.
And I If people don't know, it'sthat it's the print that's gonna
(07:17):
be a lot of the other stuff.
It's extremely important for you to closesales, see results, and really be able
to differentiate yourself on the market.
When I was in business school therewas a guy who was like a heavy
manufacturing guy, and he legit saidlike, we don't need people like you.
I make the things, I actually dosomething, and I'm like, no one's gonna
(07:39):
buy your things if you don't have me.
And he was a jerk, but anyway.
Yeah, no, that's pretty good.
And I also like what you saidabout, if you can't explain
what you do in one sentence.
A lot of people call thatan elevator pitch, but you
have to say it really simply,
Liz and Cindy, can you tell us, whatdoes marketing mean in your business?
Marketing for me, it mayfeel a little different.
(08:01):
I use social media as my main marketing.
85 percent of my businesscomes from social media.
Sorry.
It's okay, we can stillbe friends., it's alright.
But, marketing, you know, has to go on.
We have to put 100 percent of ourselves,not only face it on social media,
because it doesn't work for all.
It's, I agree 100 percent withwhat you said yesterday, what
(08:23):
works for me may not work for you.
We're in different times, it'san ever changing platform.
Use as much as you can.
I didn't use social media when I started.
I went door to door, literally knocking.
I went on kitchen companies,I went on closet companies.
I said use me, let me try.
I'll work for free in your company.
I'll do your styling on your business.
(08:45):
You can, you know, you cansell me to new customers.
I went on a container store.
I started 13 years ago and wedidn't have a container store in
Miami until like, 8 years ago.
When I finally got mine, I knocked onthat door and I said, Please, hire me.
Tell all your clients.
I would walk around The ContainerStore asking people, Do you,
do you need an organizer??
(09:06):
And, and I did.
And one of the things thatactually worked for me was in
one of those kitchen companies.
I said, I have an idea for you.
You know, try me.
And when you sell these 150, 000, 200,000, these very expensive kitchens,
rather than just giving them a bottleof champagne, give me a cigarette.
I am worth more, but you don't haveto pay that much, at least try me,
(09:27):
and, you know, to say thank you toyour client, give me, and try me.
And that worked amazing, becauseI not only got clients, but I also
got designers, architects, andall of them getting to know me
I just want to say, I feel likeyou should be really careful
when you say give me as a gift.
Oh, well, I meant it.
Everyone else was thinkingit, I just said it.
(09:48):
I
speak Spanish, that's my first language.
Take it as it comes.
Okay, so when it comes to marketing, Iknow a lot of people get overwhelmed.
I want to let you know,it really is simple.
It really is.
You just have to do something.
So I think a lot of times it's easy to belike, Oh, I'm trying to do that because
(10:10):
it makes me feel uncomfortable or itjust feels like it's so overwhelming.
So when I market mybusiness, I do it simply.
I create a flyer, and thenyou can create the same flyer,
you just change the wording.
And then I do something with that flyer.
I do direct mail marketing.
So I write letters to people andknow that they're gonna get with it.
I connect with other businessowners in my area, so your
(10:33):
community is really important.
So I connect with business owners inthe community to let them know about
our services and how we can help them.
You kind of have to do a lot of things.
I am on social media, butthat is not an end all be all.
You can get business without that.
But you have to kindof do a lot of things.
But it really isn't that complicated.
You just have to do itand stay consistent.
(10:55):
That's my biggest thing when it comes tosuccess, is just have to be consistent.
And if someone's not returning youremails, or your texts, or whatever, Or
whatever you're doing, just keep trying.
It's not a no, until they say no.
I'm like, one of those people whereI'm like, Okay, I know it's going
to be like, rejection hurts, right?
When someone's notreturning your phone calls.
(11:16):
I always say, Oh my gosh,they must have died!
Because they haven't returned a singleemail, phone call, or text message.
That's the only explanation.
That's the key context.
And then, it all responds.
You
just have to keep going.
Blair, obviously, you work with, I assume,a lovely budget at Erin Condren, which
means maybe a little bit more than someof the budgets that we are working with.
(11:37):
Can you give us some options, ormaybe some of the things that you
do at Erin Condren, but how can weuse those things to our advantage
as professional organizers.
Yeah and, so I started 11 plus years ago.
And when I started in theLA office, it was very small.
The brand was very small.
The team was very small.
20 of us.
We didn't start paidadvertising until the 2017 era.
(12:00):
And this was, you know, 2013.
All of our marketing efforts weremuch different than they are now.
So I've been able to seeus kind of scale them.
But at the start of it, what we would dowith things like stationery, for example.
If you have anything that you're gettingout, and you don't have, you know, a
significant margin on that product.
If we were printing stationary notecardsand we were selling them in a set of
(12:23):
20, let's say, or 24, we would throwin 5 extra because the cost of that
paper was not substantial enough thatsurprise and delight outweigh the cost.
So if you can give extra, if you cando something to surprise and delight
them that's not gonna really affectyour bottom line, absolutely do it.
We would write handwritten lettersand customer orders for their orders.
(12:46):
If you can reward loyalty and makethem feel special and seen and
appreciated, that goes a long way.
And when you build a customer's loyaltyfrom the start, that is invaluable.
If you can keep them loyal toyou and keep them coming back.
I would say things like that.
If you can really go aboveand beyond and have that.
we have a really good incrediblecustomer experience from the start.
(13:08):
That's going to serve you well for yearsdown the line because people like to
talk about, you know, they love to feelspecial and they like to tell other
people about that happening to themand so that would be important now.
That really worked well for us.
We also give like, refer a a friendto pay it forward cards in order to try
to encourage them to tell other people.
Obviously, we're a stationerycompany, so everything that we
(13:30):
had was branded with our name onit, so that was another reason.
It was like, give them more.
They send a letter to their friendand their friend likes the stationery.
It has our logo on it.
Like, it was kind of free marketing forus, so a lot of that sort of, that kind of
mentality really in the early days workedreally well for us and definitely helped.
And I would say in like today's climate,because things were obviously different
(13:53):
then in terms of social media andthings like that, if you can trade
services for, you know, a post, if youdon't have the money to pay someone,
I know a lot of content creatorswant and should be compensated for
their, for, you know, their content.
But if you can't do that, if you offerto organize something for them, give
them free products, let them try youout and not pay you, Authenticity is
(14:16):
so key right now in all content, soeven though somebody is gifted, if
they weren't paid for their content,I still think that authenticity
breaks through in what I'm creating.
So those are a couple differentthings I think we've done along
the way before we had a largebudget that really added impact.
Can you talk
a little bit more about authenticity?
Because that's a word that I'mkind of obsessed with these days.
(14:38):
And like, just talk about its rolein business and how personal that
you can be and how authentic youcan be and why that's important.
I
mean, I think, you know, we're, it's sucha tough line to straddle We're like, we're
trying not to be overly consumer and,but we're still trying to make sales.
So it's like, how do you push people tobuy things that are maybe discretionary?
They don't absolutely need, but it's,it's really hard to try to do that.
(15:01):
Right.
And I think we're realizing as peopleare being more aware of this culture
and trying to not just push somethingon Amazon that people should buy.
Like, how do I authenticallytell them like, no, you're
buying this one planner, right?
service, whatever, because it'sgoing to serve you every single day
to make your life easier, better,more productive, less stressful.
It's a one time investment ina year round return on your
(15:24):
own productivity and happiness.
And when we distill that message, andI talk to, like, our affiliate group,
People that are creating content,and like, I don't need you to just
be saying, Oh, they just launched newpens, they just launched new notebooks.
I don't want you to be pushingevery single thing, because it's not
authentic that someone's ready to buyevery time they drop a new product.
But if you can authentically tellthem, Hey, this is the one purchase
(15:46):
I made last year that I have zeroregrets, because I am Way less
stress, I'm on top of my schedule, I'mproductive, I'm happy, that I believe.
And so I say, be as authentic as youcan in your content, because we are
no longer believing that we need tobuy every single thing that people
are pushing with their link in bio.
Authenticity is absolutely essential, andI think That translates to just better
(16:09):
sales and a better response in general.
This is a really specificquestion, but How do you do the
balance of like the hard selling?
So like, you know, let's justsay it's a social media poster or
it's something that you're doing.
What is your line between just, we'redoing a post to do a post, or we're
doing something just to say, here'swho we are versus, I want to tell
(16:31):
you about this thing that I have
that you can buy.
I mean, it's, it's really, really hard,and for us, where we kind of draw the
lines, like, we don't do, and this is avery arbitrary line, and for us, like, we
don't do in key posts that are, like, agraphic that just is advertising a sale.
I never want you to justsee, like, 25 percent off.
When you're scrolling on our feed.
Some people on our team will argue,we don't think you should, because
(16:53):
we want them to see it, and wewant them to go to the website.
And we're like, of course.
But I also want them to begetting something valuable.
If they're on our feed, if they'rescrolling, if they're being served
in their for you page, I want them toget something educational about it.
We need to be givingthem something valuable.
That's it.
A hack, a way that they canget more out of using this
product than just a flat sell.
(17:14):
Because to me, there's so muchcontent out there, I need them
to, to see something valuableand have that grab them.
And then, bonus points if they realizethere's a sale, but social media
for us is not a huge revenue driver.
It's very different obviously fordifferent channels, but for us
specifically, it's much more of aeducation, You know, sort of bottom,
(17:35):
bottom funnel, trying to like get themto, to bring awareness, understanding.
So we approach it alittle bit differently.
I love that.
Okay, so I am also obsessed withwhat I call analog marketing.
So you have both discussed it.
Handwriting notes, things like that, someof these non digital marketing efforts.
Can you talk about this?
Yeah, I, I feel likepersonalizing it is so important.
(17:58):
It's the fact that authenticity,connection, that human touch
that I miss a lot these days.
And so like, after, it's easy.
After you have a consultation withsomeone, whether it's on the phone or in
person, take five minutes and write thema handwritten note and put it in the mail.
(18:18):
And I promise you, either they maynot hire you because they can't
afford you, but they're going totell all of their friends about you.
Like, that's going to mean more to them.
than someone else, right?
It is so valuable to do somethinglike that, it is thoughtful.
Every time we go to a Project2, we leave a handwritten note,
thank you note, and a little gift.
(18:40):
But in marketing, youmake it personal, right?
Like, we used to leave branded cookies,and they would be like, oh, what a hard
day it was, and now they're drinkingtheir coffee, and they're like but
they do a special and there's a newpicture, so it's just that little
added touch that we have a connectionand have that relationship and we're
going to continue to come back becausewe're different, because we're human
(19:03):
and we're showing them that human side.
So I think it's old school,honestly it really Works..
And we even leave postersafter we finish a project.
Take ten minutes, walk the neighborhood,drop flyers, and it says, I just
organized a neighbor's home.
Because those neighborsaren't going to be talking.
Who's their home organized?
Tell me about it.
Like, you gotta be creative,and it's really that simple.
(19:25):
Get some exercise.
I don't like calling it oldfashioned, I like calling it vintage.
That makes it more special, Cindy,I know that you are marvelous.
You're an amazing,amazing online presence.
Do you have any analog things that youdo, or do you keep everything online?
Well, dinosaur, you're not a dinosaur.
(19:48):
I
write, I write these, everything.
I don't even have a digital.
I do the cookie thing.
I, I give a gift.
I give them incentivesto call me again to.
And more than that, Ibuild a relationship.
It's very important.
I know there's people that, like to walkin a house and do goals and, like, the
house is magically organized, and kindof, you know, disappear, but I, I don't.
(20:10):
I make a presence because most of theresponse from my client is, We miss you.
We miss you and your team, when yousay that the, the energy that you guys
brought to this house was incredible.
So I try to build that relationship.
I speak to them.
I, I mean, I don't become friends,or I don't have a wife, but
I could if they asked me to.
(20:30):
But it's, it's kind of like buildingthat relationship because not only will
they call you back, but they will telltheir friends, they will tell their
neighbors, they will tell everybody.
And also, like I said, we don't haveto give them a discount, but I do
tell them, you know, if you tellfive friends, I'll give you whatever,
15 percent off the next thing.
(20:52):
Kind of like that.
They, they do do it.
They actually do it.
And I've seen the difference whenwe don't, when we have to rush out
of a project, we have somethingnice, and I forget to do that.
I see, I see the difference, yeah.
So this is another How To Summitan MBA question for Blair, but
the, the difference between thecost of acquisition of a brand new
(21:14):
client versus an existing client.
I think one of the things organizers needto think about is how do you leverage
people who have already used your
services?
Can you talk a little bit about that?
Yeah, so the cost of acquiring anew customer is significantly more
expensive than a returning customer.
If you can leverage, that we areconstantly trying to leverage is
like, and also the AOV, like youraverage order value in our suite,
(21:37):
but how much they're going to spendwith you, is dramatically going to
increase if they get a second purchase.
So like, if they come back for a secondorganization project, and they come back
to you multiple times, their lifetimevalue is going to grow exponentially.
Managing that loyalty and trying to keepthem loyal to you is extremely important.
And, you know, when you have to worryabout winning them back, you know,
(22:01):
retention, last customers, winningthem back on the e commerce side,
that's an extremely expensive project.
So you want to keep them active,even if they're not currently active.
Working on a project withyou, just keeping them warm.
I don't know if you send Christmascards or how you keep them engaged or
remembering who you are, but that iscrucial that they don't forget that
you are top of mind, because it just,the longer it goes, you know, the more
(22:23):
expensive it's going to be, the harder itwill be to get them back in the funnel.
You talked a little bit aboutreferrals, do you have any sort of
like active referral program withexisting clients referring other people?
I did in the beginning, I think alot of times too, as you grow in your
business, it's okay to make changes.
It's okay to say, that worked forme then, it doesn't work for me now.
(22:45):
So in the beginning, I, my first,This client situation that I got
was because I asked my first client,I asked her to post on the mom's
Facebook group in her neighborhood.
It's like a very active page.
And I asked her, can youplease include some photos?
If you do this, I will give you $30 off.
I don't know what I was doing.
(23:05):
$30 off your bill.
She did it.
And I got 10 clients from it.
So I had ten paid clients for it.
Then again, when I got those tenclients, I said, can you guys, and
I had, I'll say, can you guys writea review and put photos on your
Facebook page and help me get $50 off?
Right?
(23:26):
They did.
That was my referral program, and I kepton doing it, and so my first six months,
I was slammed because I asked, and theydid it, and I used a referral program,
fifty dollars, not a big deal at the timefor, you know, then to be incentivized.
Now, I don't I work with otherbusinesses, you know, closet
(23:47):
companies, or garages, and we refereach other to business but I don't.
discount my services anymore.
But there's a time and aplace where you may need to do
that, and that often will in
front of us.
(24:10):
Well, I, I reach out.
I, I knock on doors.
I've, I've always done it and nomatter how many years I'm in the
business, I still do it becausethere's always room to grow.
And what I think is that we shouldnever be afraid because the worst
thing that can happen when wetalk about this is to say no.
And, and, and, and no, it's, it's awindow closed but then another door opens.
(24:32):
So I've never been afraid toreach out whether it's, you know.
On social media, or just anemail, or somebody that I saw.
Even an interview on TV, I go, you knowwhat, I'm gonna reach out to everybody.
It's easy, Google rightnow will get you anywhere.
I find an email, I find the company, Ifind whoever it is that I need to find,
and I say, hey, by the way, this is me.
(24:54):
Look at me, I have social media, Ihave a website, I have a history.
Hire me!?
I want to
share one funny storywhen you mention that.
You know, the whole thing about asking.
You just gotta ask.
You gotta go big.
I remember my first year, I was sittingand I was watching The Bachelorette.
I don't watch that showanymore, but at the time I did.
And I was watching The Bacheloretteand I told my husband, I don't
(25:17):
want to organize that girl's house.
Because I think she's awesome andI would love to be her friend.
It's And he's like, okay, soI'm like, watching the show, and
I send her a DM on Instagram.
I was year one, I had neverdone a partnership or anything,
knowing what I was doing.
I just wanted to be your friend.
DM, he makes this laugh, and he's like,yeah, right, she's not going to respond.
(25:37):
And then I like, I started looking onsocial, and you know, a couple days later,
nothing happened, like, okay, whatever.
Then I'm like, I'm justgoing to email her.
So I email, nothing.
Four months later, I got a call.
And I helped her.
I laughed at my husband, hey, you saidI couldn't do this, and look what I did.
Because I asked.
And then I did it multiple othertimes to people that I thought
(25:58):
would never respond to me.
And they responded.
Because I asked.
It's just as simple as watchinga show and typing in a message.
And I, on my phone, will keepa message that I think is very,
like, personal, and kind, and nice,and I have a draft on my phone.
It's not in line somewhere, becauseyou're always in line somewhere,
(26:18):
or waiting in a bar somewhere.
I copy and paste into Instagram.
Use Instagram as a tool for marketing.
It doesn't have to be somethingthat you're on every day.
Use it as a tool.
I will reach out to the top ofthe top builders in my area, send
them the DM, and then we willschedule a time for coffee for that.
Then I start following them,and I'll message them about
(26:39):
nothing to do with organizing.
And then we become friends on Instagram.
Never met in person, and so we scheduledout, you know, in person time to
talk, and now they refer me business.
Sometimes I don't even have a chanceto meet them, but I send them packages
and we talk a lot on Instagram.
They send me business,because I asked for it.
It's just that simple, you know?
Well, that kind of leads into something.
(27:00):
We had a very lively conversationyesterday, the three of us.
So I probably shouldhave just recorded it.
It was really good.
It was really good, you guys.
But, Blair, can you talk to us alittle bit, actually, all three
of you talk to us a little bitabout the concept of consistency.
And one of the things that I see alot, and I hear a lot, and we talked
about it was you know, you don'thave enough clients, you're not
feeling good about your business.
(27:21):
What have you done today?
What have you done in line for coffee?
Whatever.
Can
you talk about consistency?
Yeah for us it's obviously a little bitdifferent, but making sure that we Like,
when I hear consistency on the incomeside, because my job really involves
making sure that no matter what channelyou're getting an ad, you're getting
(27:41):
an email, you're getting a text, you'reon a website, no matter what channel
you're on, you are getting a consistent,sane, cohesive brand experience,
brand message, brand viewpoints.
So that's what I'm looking for, is like,I'm making sure that my team is delivering
the right message to the right audience.
that they're all being consistentwith what we want you to understand.
But from a consistency side, arewe doing all the things that we
(28:04):
should be doing to get business?
I would say, like, when we werestarting out and we were smaller,
it looked, it looked a lot like, forme at least, running our numbers,
revenue were we at at 10 a.M.
that day?
What could we do to getmore revenue that day?
So was it like, okay, we need topost something on social in order
to hit our numbers that we will notsee, that, like, we want to see?
So I'm going to talk a little bit aboutthis collection, have you sent an email,
(28:27):
should we maybe do a smaller email to ourtop customers, like our Rose Gold Loyalty
Program, and not even do a design email,but just do like a personal email that's
like, hey, what did you do here for me,we want something new, let me know, we
did a lot of like, Personal shoppingat the start when we had these big
customers and we were a smaller business.
And for many years, even when we grew,these customers still thought they
(28:48):
could just, like, email us to order.
And it's like, who's going to tell them?
But we would do that a lot.
We would, fulfill orders for people.
Like, they could justplace on the website.
You could just do it for them for years.
Just trying to make sure that you arechecking all those boxes and really,
on her side, what you said about theBachelorette story reminded me, I
tell my team, I'm like, if there's apie in the sky, influencer, someone
(29:12):
you feel like really needs to betelling, her 5 million followers
about Eric Conner and the Planners andeverything that she's using for her
kids, I'm like, We know her kids names.
Send a box to her office.
We can't get her, we can't find her homeaddress because she's not responding.
Her office is public.
We know where her office is.
Send a box of planners and kidsplanners and personalized handwriting
(29:33):
notepads for her kindergartner.
Like, make it thoughtful.
Make it very apparent that we didthe research and we customized a
beautiful personalized package.
For her family, worst case scenario,someone in her office takes it home and
uses our notebooks and I'm like, bestcase scenario, she's touched and her
kids like it and she posts about it and 5million people could potentially see it.
(29:55):
We always will try to do something,but when you We customize it when
we make it, you know, special, thepossibility of it a return is much bigger.
And I totally deviated from your question.
No, it's great.
You can take it if you want.
I don't care.
How about consistency?
What does consistency look like?
Look like in your professional organizing?
It's everything.
It really is.
(30:16):
And it's one of those concepts thatI think, again, can feel overwhelming
because it's really just that simple.
Just gotta do a little bitevery single day, right?
And maybe it's at lunchtime ifyou're on a project and you don't
have time to do it before or after.
That's what I would alwaysdo when I was in projects.
I'd be texting and calling people atlunch whatever you gotta do, you know?
(30:36):
But consistency is really important andyou just can't stop because once you take
your foot off the gas, you're going to seeand it's going to affect your business.
So it's just slow andsteady but it's important.
I think that consistency alsoneeds to be focus of what we saw,
again, that great conversation,the shoe show, where we were first.
(30:59):
It's, it's about focus, but I, andI say from personal experience, I
focus on one million things at a time.
I said, oh, I want to be there, and Iwant to do this, and I want to grow into
this, and I want to get to do this, andI want to do everything at the same time.
And I accomplished.
Absolutely nothing.
So I think the consistencyis also focusing on that
(31:19):
one priority in doing that.
And once you get to do that,then follow for the rest.
Because otherwise, even thoughwe are super organized, I don't
think that our brain is capableof accomplishing all that.
Though we're very ambitious,I don't think we make it.
And congratulations to the onethat made it all at the same time.
Three's a lot to me, three somethings.
(31:41):
Because it's hard.
So I think that focus, be consistenton that when you accomplish
that goal, go for the next.
I
would also say
too, like, there are amillion things you could do.
And it's very easy to say, oh my gosh,I'm so overwhelmed, her favorite word.
Because there are a million things I coulddo, and so then you do none of the things.
You do zero of the things insteadof just one of the things.
(32:02):
There are so many things to pick from.
How do you decide what are thethings that you want to do?
And what are the things that aregoing to get the priority time?
On my side, it's looking at the return.
Like, what possibly, like, yes, we'veall scrambled to include a marketing
card, and we've seen that thisliterally happened a couple days ago.
I was, like, asked to, you know, fasttrack with a marketing card, that
we could include a pop up every day.
(32:23):
And I was like, okay, what is thisgonna pull, what resources do I have
to pull my team off of to make thishappen, what is the potential return of
this card, does it absolutely have tohappen for this game, this season, you
know, this started a couple weeks ago.
And so you kind of have to weigh,like, what would you be missing out
on if you took time off to do that.
And what potential returncould you see there?
But it is hard, and I would say, on theoverwhelmed side of things, this is my
(32:48):
pitch, my personal pitch for a paperplanner, if you're not using them, because
that's how I have to holistically, like,obviously I use a digital calendar, we all
do, but like, I have to physically write.
If I know I I have a ton of stuff goingon that week, I have to physically see
how I'm going to break it down intoeach day, and then how many things I
have in that day, because that is howmy brain works, and that is the only way
(33:09):
that I can see how I will possibly getthings, because otherwise we will just
absolutely spin, so that's personal pitch.
That everybody needsto use a paper planner.
Yeah.
And you, if you write everything down,you can have a breakdown more easily about
how many things you have to do and visual.
Right.
So sort of like the Oscars, we arebeing played off the stage with
(33:29):
silent music, but I just wannasay I came up with a great idea.
You guys wanna hear it?
Okay.
In the analog marketing thing,which I really do love you can buy.
from Erin Condren, a Home+Sort Planner.
Leave a lovely note for yourclients at the end of their
project, and then they have a paperplanner from our lovely hosts.
Your store is beautiful,by the way, so beautiful.
(33:50):
And then you can leave your clientsall that nice, nice stuff to keep
them organized and remind themthat you're around, all right.
Can I say, can I
say something?
Absolutely.
I don't think I've spoken enough.
Thank you so much.
Off topic, I just want tosay thank you to our hosts.
I know it's been said,but this is incredible.
(34:10):
I've been here with them.
I've been here, and I've seenthese girls grow and be the nicest,
most humblest people in the world.
They ask all of us for feedback.
They implement it the year after.
They are incredible and I am eternallythankful to them for being so special.
(34:32):
They are the loveliest human beings
Yeah, alright, well thank you.
Thank you guys so much.
I have a brand new free workshop calledhow professional organizers can get
clients without using social media.
It is available on demand24 seven at P O roadmap.
(34:54):
com.
That is a wrap on this week'spro organizer studio podcast.
I will see you next week.
Have a great day.
Organizers.
Popular Podcasts
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides. Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.