Tips & Talk 99 – How Will It Fail? And I’m Not Talking About Your Business …

Hi there.

It's Sue and thanks for joining me for Tips and Talk

Day. These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions

and things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small

business. If you'd like to submit a topic,

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How will it fail?

I'm sure first glance,

you think I'm referring to the success of your business.

Actually, I'm not.

I'm talking about your product and now you're saying not my

product. I'm make it myself with quality materials,

not to mention my top-notch professional production skills.

Hold tight.

I know that this is true,

but your product can fail because of things that are completely

out of your control.

Your cookies taste horrible because they were eaten a month after

the expiration date.

Your knitted headbands are falling apart because the yarn wasn't meant

for machine washing.

Your jewelry is sterling silver,

and a customer doesn't understand how they need to take care

of it to keep it from tarnishing.

Your ceramic face is leaking water,

but it's meant only for dried flowers.

Your leather goods are made from real raw hide and each

one will look different with unique markings.

They aren't scratched or damaged.

Your product is meant for inside,

not outside use.

Your product requires a certain knowledge or skill level to operate

it properly.

There's a learning curve involved.

Your product is fragile and shouldn't be handled by children,

or it will break.

Your product requires two pieces and it won't work unless you

have both.

Think about what you make from a customer perspective and consider

all the off the wall,

crazy as they may seem,

ways they may be handled.

Also, think about the expectations that may exist about your product

to an unknowing mind and notice that I didn't say uneducated.

They just don't know.

These are ways your product could fail in the eyes of

your customer,

and no matter how much you explain after the fact,

some people will still blame the product or you for the

perceived failure.

It goes without saying you don't want word of mouth about

that to get around even knowing full well that it's not

true. The best approach is to prevent it from happening in

the first place.

Which brings me back to my initial question,

how will your product fail?

List all the ways that this could occur and then circumvent

it from happening.

One way to identify these is to think through past customer

complaint calls or questions that you get when making a sale.

This can actually be a fun thought exercise and lead to

some great social media content too.

You could do a spoof on how not to use your

products and for social reels or even blog articles.

Think about topics that educate and inform your current and potential

customers. Things like how to clean your handmade knitted items,

display suggestions for your hand-blown glass vases,

storage and guidelines for sterling silver.

How to make your candle retain its scent and burn longer,

or a guideline on how long different foods stay fresh.

You get the idea here.

You might even consider including warnings,

care directions,

or other guidelines along with each order.

Yes, it's true.

No matter what you do,

there will be some customers who don't pay attention.

Don't read product enclosures or flat out wanna test the system.

You can't do anything about that,

but you can do a lot,

perhaps more than you're doing already to ensure every customer has

the best experience possible,

and it all starts with asking this question,

how will your product fail?

That's a wrap.

I'm a get to the point kind of girl,

and this is what you can expect from these quick midweek

sessions. Now it's your turn.

Go out and fulfill that dream of yours.

Share your handmade products with us.

We want them and they bring us both.