048 – Brick & Mortar Retail Success Secrets with Vicki Adrian

Vicki Adrian

Vicki is the owner of Adrian’s boutique, a retail store in Buhler, Kansas that has been in business for 33 years.

Their current product mix is 50% fashion, 25% gift and 25% kitchen and gourmet. But Vicki will tell you they are really in the People Business. Their number one priority is to earn customers’ business through exceptional customer service, a well chosen product mix, and a team that is committed to excellence.

Additionally, Vicki is passionate about helping other entrepreneurs reach the next level in creating a successful business using relationship marketing, email marketing and social media marketing. This is all bundled under a business called Remarkable Retailer which focuses on B2B relationships through a podcast, weekday Periscopes and individual coaching.

Motivational Quote

GBU-Candle-048VA

Business Inspiration

Identifying the love of retail life [5:08]

The opening of Adrian’s Boutique [5:59]

Business Building Insights

Advice when opening a brick and mortar shop [7:01]

Store setup [9:22]

Move It Monday – Displays and more [11:59]

Most valuable retail asset [14:14]

Current advertising plan [14:40]

Promo Idea #1 [18:03]

Promo Idea #2 [18:46]

In Store video creates sales [23:15]

The Remarkable Retailer

Industry specific Mastermind described in detail [27:22]

Remarkable Retailer [33:20]

Success Trait

Vicki is a life-long learner and loves to talk with people. As she says, getting in her 20,000 words a day!

Productivity/Lifestyle Tool

Flipagram -Create, share and discover fun photo-video stories set to music you love!

Wunderlist -The easiest way to get stuff done. Whether you’re planning a holiday, sharing a shopping list with a partner or managing multiple work projects, Wunderlist is here to help you tick off all your personal and professional to-dos.

Valuable Book

Free Audio Book

The E-Myth by Michael Gerber

The Customer Rules by Lee Cockerell

Contact Links

Adrians Boutique Website

Remarkable Retailer Website

B2B Video Training for Entrepreneurs

Facebook

Twitter

Email – vicki@remarkableretailer.com

Phone – 620-543-6488

If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcript
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Gift biz unwrapped episode 48.

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This is the single best thing I have done in the

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last eight or 10 years.

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Hi, this is John Lee Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,

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and you're listening to give to biz unwrapped,

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and now it's time to light it up.

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Welcome to gift biz,

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unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop

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and grow your business.

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And now here's your host,

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Sue Monheit.

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Hi there.

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I'm Sue and welcome to the gift of biz unwrapped podcast.

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Whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online or

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are just getting started,

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you'll discover new insights to gain traction and to grow your

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business. And today our guest is Vicki Meyer.

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Adrian McGee is the owner of Adrian's boutique,

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a retail store in Bueller,

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Kansas that has been in business for,

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are you ready?

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You guys,

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33 years,

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that is a huge accomplishment.

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Their current product mix is 50% fashion twenty-five percent gift and

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25% kitchen and gourmet products.

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But Vicki will tell you that they are really in the

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people business.

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Their number one priority is to earn customers' business through exceptional

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customer service,

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a well-chosen product and a team that is committed to excellence.

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Additionally, Vicki is passionate about helping other entrepreneurs reach their next

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level in creating a successful business,

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using relationship marketing,

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email marketing,

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and social media marketing.

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This is all bundled under a business called remarkable retailer,

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which focuses on B2B relationships through a podcast,

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weekly Periscopes and individual coaching.

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Wow, Vicky,

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welcome to the show.

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Thank you so much,

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Sue. I am a huge fan of yours and we're so

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glad to find you now a couple of months ago,

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actually, because I just didn't find very many people in the

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gift industry using Periscope.

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And that's how I originally found you.

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And then I became a podcast listener.

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I believe I've listened to almost every single one.

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And so I've been so impressed with you and I just

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feel like we have a lot in common actually.

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Well, Thank you.

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First of all,

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for those wonderful comments and you're right.

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I think we do have a lot in common and we

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certainly share the same space in terms of our customers and

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those that we're working with.

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Absolutely. So I'm just going to dive right in.

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Cause we have just so,

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so much to talk about as our listeners know the way

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I like to start each conversation is aligning it around the

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life of a motivational candle.

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So the light shines on you,

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Vicky, while you open up and talk to us and share

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with us all of your experience and expertise,

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are you ready to light it up?

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Absolutely. I was born ready.

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You were born ready,

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right? Let's talk about your motivational candle.

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If you were to pick one and just create your very

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own, what color would It be and what quote would be

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on that camera?

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Well, you know,

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I don't have to go very far from my office here

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to find a candle because I have a gift store.

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And so the color of my inspirational candle would,

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there would be no question.

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It would be in the coastal or beach tones of Aqua

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blue because like the ocean being in business can be calming

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or refreshing.

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And at times it can be very challenging and invigorating.

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And so that would be the color of my inspirational candle.

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Probably be fragranced with the ocean theme too.

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There you go.

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So, and then as for a quote,

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I have a quote that I absolutely love and it is

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called luck is when preparation meets opportunity,

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this quote is attributed to a Roman philosopher Seneca,

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and it reminds us that we make our own luck,

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that the difference between lucky and unlucky people is all in

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our perspective.

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And so I feel like you just have to prepare to

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be lucky.

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And that's what I try to spend my business week doing.

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I prepared to be lucky week by week in our local

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business. I love that because a lot of people will see

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someone who's successful and say,

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Oh, well,

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they just were lucky luck just happened to fall upon them,

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but we have to put ourselves in Luxe path to,

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you know,

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you can't sit behind a door and say,

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okay, look,

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come to me.

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You have to be out there.

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So you're crossing that path when the opportunities come about.

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Absolutely. I totally agree.

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Okay. So in our pre-conversation Vicki,

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we talked about how we're going to handle this and there

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is a lot to what you were doing.

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So I thought what we'd first do is talk about Adrian's

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boutique and the evolution of that business.

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And then later I want to jump over to the remarkable

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retailer. So we're kind of going to cut it into two

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places so we can get all of your information available for

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our listeners.

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Okay. So let's start back in the whole world of retail.

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And I know your story begins before Adrian's boutique.

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So I'm going to let you take it away in terms

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of how you got into and were exposed to the whole

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business environment.

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Well, I would say like so many of your listeners that

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I'm an accidental entrepreneur.

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I never set out to run a business in a very

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small town.

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And to do that for over 33 years,

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this would never have worked.

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Had we done our research and written the business plan ever.

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I started out way back in the early eighties when the

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country blue and peach,

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it was the little wooden country duck era.

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If you remember that my mother-in-law had a small card and

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antique shop where I was able to sell my creations.

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And at that time I was cross-stitching and I was doing

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tole painting and making t-shirt,

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embellish t-shirts and all of that kind of thing.

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I loved helping her and being in the store.

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And after just a couple of months,

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I made my first trip to market and I started bringing

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in products to supplement what could make and just to make

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a long story short.

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My husband and I purchased a building across the street from

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our original location in about 1985.

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We completely gutted it.

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And I mean down to only the brick on the front

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and the sides of the building and we added onto it.

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So now we are a half a block deep.

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We wondered how we would ever fill this store.

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And if you see pictures of our store on our Facebook

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page, you'll notice that we were able to do that.

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And we started filling it with beautiful products that people liked

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all along that way,

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we were creating relationships with our customers and building a client

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base, just one by one by one.

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So the rest is history.

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We're an overnight success,

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only 33 years in the making.

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So If you had any advice for somebody now,

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I know.

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So it's been a long,

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long time since you started this store and clearly there's evolution

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of the business.

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Like you're saying,

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but if anyone's listening now,

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who's looking at starting in a retail space.

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Are there any words of wisdom that you would give them?

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Absolutely. I would say from the moment your front door opens,

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and in fact,

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before your front door opens,

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you need to be building a client base.

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And with today's social media,

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six months before you open four months before you open,

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you should have a Facebook page out there that you are

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teasing your customers with your future customers with.

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I will tell you that back in the day,

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we started collecting names and addresses on a legal pad,

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typing it in on our trusty Selectric,

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IBM Selectric,

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typewriter, and printing off labels.

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And we started mailing our clients.

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Thank you.

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Cards, postcards,

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invitations to events from the very,

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very beginning.

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And so today's entrepreneur has so many more tools available to

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them than we did in the beginning.

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And I think it's a great time if you're willing to

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do the work a great time to start a business.

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That's a great idea because you could also,

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especially with social media right now,

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have them participate in the startup of the business.

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Even if you're building out the store,

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like let's say you have your space and you've still got

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to get product.

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Maybe you have to remodel the whole inside.

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You could do behind the scene photos of how the store

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is coming together and be sending that off to people who

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have opted into the list.

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You know,

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should we paint this cabinet white or cream or black or,

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you know,

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whatever, and have them really become part of the shop before

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it even opens?

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Absolutely. We actually worked with a couple of retailers are for

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future retailers from Colorado that drove out here to observe our

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store and how it ran for a day.

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And we sent them back with some really good ideas of

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things they could implement immediately.

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Like the day that their store opened,

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they already had a client base to help support Really valuable

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information. Because when you start up a new business,

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particularly retail,

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because you have that extra cost of the rent,

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you need to be making money right away.

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I mean,

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it just eases the path as you continue on adding more

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inventory and getting the name out.

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So getting that jumpstart I could see could be so valuable.

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That's great information,

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Becky. Thank you.

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Is there anything else you would talk about in terms of

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new startup,

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maybe something that you've learned in terms of setup inside the

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store or processes,

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anything else along those lines?

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Well, I would say that as you're setting up your store,

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one of the mistakes we made in the very beginning was

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we put our cash wrap on the wrong side of the

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store. And when you walk into stores,

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you are going to notice as you walk in the front

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door, your cash wrap should be probably on the left,

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unless your building is just an,

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a unique shape.

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Sometimes it's in the center.

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One thing that we really did wrong at the beginning is

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we tried to put our cash wrap on the right people,

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walk in the door,

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they moved to the right.

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So if that's where your checkout area is,

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they're not shopping there.

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And it kind of stops them from shopping.

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And someone gave us a great piece of advice.

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They walked in another store and they walked into our store

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and said,

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get that cash wrap moved.

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We did that.

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And it's been on the left side ever since.

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And it definitely works that way.

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It's on the left side and in the front still.

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Yes. Yeah.

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I've heard even when you go to conferences,

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natural human flow,

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when you walk into the door is to proceed to the

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right. So that just falls in line with exactly what you're

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saying. Yes.

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And of course,

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this is not true for every single business out there,

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but it is true for a lot of businesses.

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And as you go looking around and shopping and retail stores,

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you're going to find people that are doing it really well.

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Definitely follow this rule.

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So gift biz listeners,

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if you are starting and you have a physical presence,

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either have someone walk the shop kind of like how Vicki

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talked about someone came in and mentioned it from their perspective,

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but walk the shop even as a customer would do so

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you can experience in the mindset of your customer.

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Is it comfortable?

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Is there good visibility of your different products is the way

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you place your product within the shop confusing?

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Or is it broken out into different categories?

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So people who are coming in for something specific know exactly

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where to go,

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all those types of things in terms of a customer experience

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in a shop,

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we'll bring people back.

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If people walk in and it's confusing to them,

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or it's hard to understand,

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they can't find the product or they don't know where to

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check out.

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That could be a reason why people don't come back.

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So you want to look at that beforehand,

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and obviously you can always adjust on the fly.

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So something definitely to consider.

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Yes, you definitely can.

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And we change our setup all the time.

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I mean,

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we're always moving things around and giving things a fresh look,

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of course,

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Because you want people to come in and possibly see something

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that might've been on the floor the last time they were

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there, they just didn't see it.

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Cause they didn't walk into that section or they weren't in

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need of it.

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Whatever. Absolutely.

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How often do you Change up the floor?

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It's really in constant flux.

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So w just seasonally,

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of course,

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but just throughout the year,

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we're changing displays all the time.

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I mean,

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it's something,

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we have a girl that really specializes in doing our displays

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and decorating and she works three days a week.

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So every week she is here doing something fresh,

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some of our friends up in Michigan have a great plan

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that we've used called move it Monday.

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And on Mondays,

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every mannequin in their store gets changed with a new outfit.

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New jewelry rest of the store also gets changed.

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And so it's a way to just freshen things up,

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wake things up and redo things after the weekend.

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But I love that he called it move at Mondays because

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it's easy to remember and we think,

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Oh, it's Monday it's movement Monday.

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We need to do,

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we need to do some things.

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And traffic is normally lighter on Mondays anyway.

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Exactly. And the weekends were crazy.

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So just like you said,

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clean it all up.

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Yes, absolutely.

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After the rush and hopefully a good sales weekend,

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That's what we love.

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Absolutely. All right.

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So let's talk a little bit about something that maybe didn't

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go as well for you.

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It's so easy when you're a successful business owner,

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just to talk about all those great things that have happened,

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all the successes,

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but we learn best when there's something that was challenging.

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It didn't work well.

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So if you could tell us a story about something like

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that, and then what you were able to do to overcome

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the situation.

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One of our biggest challenges has always been a geographical when

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I actually grew up in Los Angeles,

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which has quite a bit of population in case you hadn't

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noticed. And I married a young man and moved to Kansas.

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And the population of our entire County is only 64,000

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people. Our closest big city is Wichita,

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which is about 50 miles away.

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So we have to be just laser focused on our marketing

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to get people in.

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So they plan an afternoon,

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they get in their car and they have to drive here.

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So our challenge is just ongoing.

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Our number one goal here is to create long-term relationships with

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our clients.

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For us,

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it's a non-negotiable standard for our staff members to ask every

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single client for their contact information,

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including their name,

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their physical address,

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their email address,

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and all of that,

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which we keep updated in our client base.

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I feel like my most valuable asset in my store is

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not the building and not the product.

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It is our client list.

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So we simply cannot have a long-term relationship with our clients

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unless we're staying in touch with them.

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So if you compare that to dating you couldn't date someone

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more than one time without getting their phone number.

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And so the same holds true for small businesses.

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What most businesses would spend in higher dollar rent,

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we pay an advertising.

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So we use traditional forms of media,

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such as television.

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We do a seven minute radio show.

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Every week we do newspaper ads.

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We do several catalogs every year we do postcards.

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And of course we have all sorts of digital media marketing

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as well.

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And so what we believe in is just that consistency of

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weekly emails,

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multiple daily Facebook posts.

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And we also use things like Instagram and Pinterest.

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What portion of your overall sales are call-in or online sales

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versus walk-in?

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Most of our sales are walk in,

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although we are working on building a more interactive internet site,

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so people can shop online.

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We have a small presence online,

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but that is a place that we are working on to

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build our business.

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But right now it is still walk in.

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It's just that they have to make a plan.

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They have to drive here and plan to come to the

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store. They don't just drive by right out on a highway

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or anything.

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So You're more remote.

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I mean,

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you're definitely a destination location.

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So you're using the social media just to keep yourself top

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of mind,

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to show people what new products you're getting in,

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or to remind them of the reason they need to come

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and shop.

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And it sounds like just by the way,

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you're describing the area,

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people are used to getting in the car and driving quite

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a few miles to get different places.

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Yes, they definitely are.

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That's just part of living in rural America.

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Right. But it is a challenge.

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I would say that is our biggest challenge on a daily,

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weekly basis.

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It is getting people to make that choice to come here.

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I can tell you that online purchasing is huge in the

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rural areas because you might have to drive 30 miles to

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go get something.

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And so it's much easier for them to just do it

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online. Right?

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And so what we have to offer is a wonderful shopping

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experience. It has to be over the top,

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every single visit,

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every time that door opens To make it worth their while

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to come in.

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Yes. And it sounds like that online you've already identified as

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an area of opportunity for you guys.

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What type of promotion or what type of events are you

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finding? Bring in the most people?

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Well, we do a lot of promotions.

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We do a lot of in store events and we do

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a lot of big events outside the walls of our store.

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I feel like we are in the entertainment business as retailers,

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and whether you're a salon owner or a banker or an

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insurance agent,

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you are in the entertainment business banks around here,

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take groups of people on bus tours.

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Insurance agents take people to ballgames.

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I mean,

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we are in the entertainment business.

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So we hold spring,

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fall holiday,

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open houses.

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We hosted Tahitian beach party.

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Every June,

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we have trunk shows,

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fashion shows,

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brunches lunches,

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dinners. We host groups in our store,

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such as PEO groups,

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sorority groups,

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Bible groups,

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family reunion groups.

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And we make an effort to serve very good food and

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drinks. We try to capture their email address and tell them

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we will email out all the recipes for everything was served.

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And that just gives us one more chance to give value

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to our customers that are coming in as specific promotion that

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we've done.

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That's a lot of your retailers could do is we have

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found a very reasonably priced collapsible market basket or a tote.

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And we sell them at a very low cost,

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like five 99 or six 99.

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And then let people fill them up and have 20% off

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whatever they can fit in their basket.

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And we consider this as a win-win promotion.

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We hand the baskets to the people as they walk in

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the door and we try a little card on the side,

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telling them what the promotion is,

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and they can use that basket to shop.

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And then at the end,

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they can either choose to buy it and get 20% off

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or they can choose to not buy it and not get

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the discount,

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but they still had fun shopping with it.

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Another promotion that we've done is similar in that we've had

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a custom bag printed that we call our tote bag Tuesday

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bag. And this idea came from our friend,

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Carol Caplinger up in Overland park,

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Kansas. And she's done this successfully.

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I think this is either her eighth or ninth year.

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It's a cute bag.

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And we reprinted every year.

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So it's always fresh and new.

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There's a cart,

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a bottom in it that says you get $5 off a

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purchase of 35,

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$10 off of a purchase of 60 or $20 off a

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purchase of a hundred dollars or more.

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And this Tuesdays are generally a slower day in our store.

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And this brings ladies in.

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Plus these bags are very cute.

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So when you see them at the grocery store,

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you just see them out and about in the community.

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Customers can earn a tote with a purchase of $50.

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And the other way we use that is we let them

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use these totes every time we have a fifth Saturday in

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a month.

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So those that can't necessarily come on Tuesdays,

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get a chance to come in and get that discount every

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time there's a fifth Saturday,

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which is usually about four times a year.

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So that's been a great promotion for us that I think

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some of your listeners can easily implement Both very creative too.

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I have to jump in and tell you a funny story.

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Back in my consulting days,

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I was working with a business that was more of a

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home improvement company,

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and they did something a little bit similar in terms of

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what you do with the tote,

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but they were using a Brown bag.

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And anything that you could put in the Brown bag when

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you got to the register was X percent off.

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Let's call it 20.

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Okay. There was a customer who came into this store and

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if they were bigger items,

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they had paper tags with the price on the shelf next

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to it.

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This one guy put in one of the pieces of paper

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for a whole garage door and came up to the checkout

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and expected to be able to get 20% off the garage

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door, including installation.

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So doesn't that one either.

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Oh my gosh.

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That was a little bit challenging for them to work through

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it. But it's funny story.

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So yeah,

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you just never know what comes up,

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but thank you for sharing.

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I really liked those promotions because they're very creative.

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The other thing,

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gift biz listeners,

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did you hear Vicky mentioning when she had an event and

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then she gets an email and she sends out the recipes

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that they had prepared for the event.

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That's a great way,

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cause it's connected to the event,

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but who doesn't want new recipes?

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Right? So not only are they collecting the emails because people

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are catching on that.

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You know,

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we want emails because we want to be able to communicate

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with you back and forth.

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And people are getting so many emails,

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but providing something that's really valuable,

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such as those recipes is a great way for people to

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feel really good about sharing their email with you.

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I love that you brought that up Well.

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And so I know you,

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that part of your focus is to work with bakers and

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gift businesses.

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And one thing that I just feel is so,

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so important to is to be a receiver of those recipes

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as well.

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And we constantly ask our customers to share a favorite family

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recipe. And a couple of years ago,

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we even printed a 500 page cookbook.

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And we have a library of about 700 recipes online that

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we can always link to.

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But we're constantly looking for new ones from our customers so

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that we can highlight their name in our emails each week.

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So it's not just recipes from mixes that we're selling.

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We try to get away from just promoting what we're selling

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and we try to promote our customers.

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One of the ladies in our community for instance,

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has won so many blue ribbons at the Kansas state fair.

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You could not even count them.

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She could probably wallpaper a room in her home with them.

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We have put out several of her blue ribbon,

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winning pie recipes on our emails.

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And so we're always trying to provide value for our customers

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for opening our emails.

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And you're also building a real community,

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connecting your customers with each other.

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So you're starting to build this community that was created under

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the umbrella of Adrian's boutique.

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And so we've been doing that since the beginning.

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We find that relationship marketing is the only way that we're

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able to stay in business is building these long-term non salesy

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type of relationships with our customers.

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You know,

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another thing that we do that may be some of your

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listeners don't do,

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and is one of the best things that we do is

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we play videos throughout our store to sell products.

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And I will tell you that for 2015,

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seven out of 10 of our best selling SK use were

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supported with a video playing all day,

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every day in our store.

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And there is a reason that bass pro has a video

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on the end of almost every aisle,

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selling fishing lures.

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Many of our vendors,

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and many of your vendors will have a video or we'll

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even make Lin for you to promote their products.

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So think of how many times you've been at market walking

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down an aisle and you'll be stopped by a video playing

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in a booth.

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Those videos are usually available to retailers as well.

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If you just ask for it.

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And then something else we do is we link those videos

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to our Facebook page on a very regular basis.

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You know,

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customers love to be entertained while they're in your store.

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And the video definitely does that.

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Just to give you a little bit more,

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I love math and I've done some math on this.

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Even figuring the cost of a TV,

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it costs you about 22 cents an hour to have a

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full-time sales person on your TV,

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selling a product all day,

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every day,

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that's including the cost of the TV.

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So I would say if you're listening and you're a vendor

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or Europe product developer,

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make those videos available and make it easy for retailers to

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get those from you cash.

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That is more than just one other tip.

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Those are fabulous tips.

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I really liked them.

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And they're all in store specific,

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which is spectacular.

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And the thing about the videos too,

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is how many people are really doing that.

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So if you're a smaller shop,

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there may be another shop right in your community,

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that's doing the same thing,

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but they don't have video you.

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And then by you bringing that in,

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you're changing up the whole customer experience from someone when they're

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coming in your shop.

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Absolutely. And I'll just give you a specific example for this.

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So we have a company called Goldcrest distributing and they're from

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Mexico, Missouri.

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And I happened to be wandering the garden floor at the

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Atlanta market.

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And they were playing a funny video of a squirrel,

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bungee jumping squirrel feeder.

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I bought it.

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I bought maybe 18 or so of these little bungee jumping

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squirrel feeders.

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Now, granted you read what our story is.

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We're fashion.

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We're very Chicky.

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We're not a garden center,

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but I will tell you that they have made it very

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easy for us to sell over 2000 of these bungee jumping

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squirrel feeders in our ladies boutique,

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that is $29,000,

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more than $29,000

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at this point for a product that doesn't fit our store's

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demographic. It doesn't fit our mix,

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but yet this video plays all day,

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every day,

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it's all the way in the back of our store.

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And so that's just one example of using a DVD to

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sell product that maybe is a little out there on the

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edge for you,

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but it's certainly been profitable for us for now a couple

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of years.

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I've got to find out about that.

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That sounds very curious.

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I'm not going to take the time now,

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but I'm really interested in what that's all about.

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So we'll let everybody kind of figure that out on their

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own. But I think the other thing from your story is

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because you know,

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your, your customers so well that even though that product is

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of the range of what you normally carry,

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it is something that you already knew your customer would be

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interested in.

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Well, it entertained me at market and I thought,

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what the heck,

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I'm going to give that a try.

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And it just continues to sell and they have been great.

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I mean,

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they always make sure that I have an extra DVD just

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in case something goes wrong with the fine.

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They don't want it not playing even one day in our

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store. Very interesting.

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All right.

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So I'm going to jump back a little bit,

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because about two or three minutes ago,

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we were talking about relationship marketing and how important that is,

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and that is really the basis behind remarkable retailer.

Speaker:

So I think this could be a good place Vicki for

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you to bring that up and talk a little bit about

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what that is all about.

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Sure. I love to talk about that.

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I'm going to kind of start it off by talking about

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a mastermind group,

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which I think is kind of for both the retailer and

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what I'm doing is the remarkable retailer website.

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I believe in mastermind groups.

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And I know you had asked me the question,

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what are some of the most important things that we've done

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to be successful and to stay successful?

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And so this is my number one suggestion,

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and that is to form a mastermind group.

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And I will tell you,

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I would have been out of business years ago,

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if it would not have been that I became a part

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of several larger buying groups.

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Some have hundreds of owners in them.

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Then I helped form a smaller group of about 40 stores

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in it.

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Then we niched it down to a mastermind group of about

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17 people,

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which represent 14 stores.

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I am in constant contact with and share product ideas.

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We work through business challenges together.

Speaker:

We meet in person at markets and several times throughout the

Speaker:

year with these people in today's economy with the market that

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is just changing so fast,

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you need more eyeballs out there looking for products,

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recommending products,

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sharing, marketing ideas.

Speaker:

There's just no need to be a lone ranger in business

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anymore. Our buying groups are amazing and we get exceptional value

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from these groups.

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But our mastermind group is where the gold is.

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I formally started this group about four years ago.

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Although several of us in the group had already been working

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together on a little more informal basis.

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So each member of the group has been handpicked because of

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their different knowledge skills,

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and just all the differences that they have.

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We feel like it's the differences in us that make our

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groups so powerful.

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The age range of the store owners in our group range

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from 27 to 65 with every decade represented in between.

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And this alone helps keeps us on our toes because you

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know, 20 and 30 year olds think completely different than those

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of us who are more seasoned in retail.

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So some are single stores,

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some have locations,

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some were chosen because they're extremely knowledgeable about finance or they're

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extremely knowledgeable about marketing or they're great at displays.

Speaker:

Some are really involved in their communities and have brought great

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ideas to the group about being involved in the community.

Speaker:

We've got one that does a super job with HR.

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And so this in itself has been fabulous.

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We have a private face group that is for owners only,

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and it is filled with lively conversation on a daily basis.

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We insist on participation from every single member.

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And of course there's a financial and a time investment that's

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required every year.

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We hold a two day in-person summit each year where each

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person is expected to do a well-researched presentation on a specific

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topic. And we have a different theme each year.

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So some subjects that we've tackled have been finance heritage and

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passing down a family business,

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preparing for emergencies,

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using social media,

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such as Instagram and Pinterest strategies and systems that you can

Speaker:

put in place pricing for profit.

Speaker:

That was an excellent one that we had last year,

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the disc profile and hiring the right team and a great

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one too,

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was design and layout for catalogs and print media.

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So how to lay out your newspaper ads,

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how to lay out a brochure,

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how to lay out a catalog.

Speaker:

So there's just been all kinds of wealth of knowledge that

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has come out of this group.

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And you attested.

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This is the single biggest thing that you've done for your

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business, just to stay in business and to grow.

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This is the single best thing I have done in the

Speaker:

last eight or 10 years is to reach out and become

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part of these communities of retailers because let's face it,

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your family,

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unless they're involved in the business,

Speaker:

they're not speaking your language,

Speaker:

your friends that you go out to dinner with,

Speaker:

don't want to hear how many boot socks you sold.

Speaker:

They're not interested in that.

Speaker:

And so it's so refreshing to have a group of people

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that are right on your same page and that are also

Speaker:

pushing you to grow,

Speaker:

to get to the next level in business and just the

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professionalism that's provided in these groups.

Speaker:

Absolutely. And you guys,

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when you're listening,

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this does not mean that you,

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if you're not already part of a group that you can't

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create one yourself,

Speaker:

you can go right in your own community and it doesn't

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have to be how Vicky's is.

Speaker:

It sounds like Vicky's,

Speaker:

they're all retailers,

Speaker:

they're all in the same area in terms of business,

Speaker:

in the same industry,

Speaker:

but you can go right in your own community.

Speaker:

If there are people that you admire that,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

have knowledge that you don't have,

Speaker:

you can form your own groups,

Speaker:

even as small as four to six people.

Speaker:

The idea is that everyone brings in a different skill set.

Speaker:

So everyone gets value because everyone gets strengthened by the knowledge

Speaker:

that each other has.

Speaker:

And my only advice would be to really select your people

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very carefully.

Speaker:

You get to a point Where you really trust people,

Speaker:

you share numbers,

Speaker:

you share challenges,

Speaker:

all different types of things,

Speaker:

but these types of masterminds are invaluable.

Speaker:

And you can set one up for yourself to date.

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Yes, absolutely.

Speaker:

You can do this today.

Speaker:

You can start with two or three people.

Speaker:

One reason ours works so well is we're retailers from all

Speaker:

over the country.

Speaker:

None of us are competing.

Speaker:

Like you said,

Speaker:

we share our numbers.

Speaker:

We share everything in this group.

Speaker:

And it is so important that you hand choose those people.

Speaker:

And again,

Speaker:

we want to have a long-term relationship with these people as

Speaker:

well. Interestingly enough,

Speaker:

I have my mastermind group meeting tonight.

Speaker:

Awesome. All right.

Speaker:

So let's go through now and let's talk remarkable retailer.

Speaker:

Okay. Well,

Speaker:

for many years I've worked with retailers from around the country,

Speaker:

just helping them grow and expand their business.

Speaker:

Like we've talked about relationship marketing and just to help them

Speaker:

work through other challenges that they face as business owners.

Speaker:

And so about two years ago,

Speaker:

I decided to get out of my comfort zone and put

Speaker:

a name to the B2B side of me that just kept

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growing by itself.

Speaker:

I called it remarkable retailers because we're all on that quest

Speaker:

for remarkable.

Speaker:

We want to stand out from the crowd.

Speaker:

We want to be remarkable.

Speaker:

And I wanted people that were on that journey that had

Speaker:

that end goal insight to come along on the journey with

Speaker:

me, people have said that I'm naturally gifted in becoming a

Speaker:

connector of people.

Speaker:

And I think that's true.

Speaker:

I think I've been doing this since junior high.

Speaker:

So I love to introduce business owners to other people that

Speaker:

I think will be mutually beneficial.

Speaker:

You know,

Speaker:

this has been a way to form groups of like-minded entrepreneurs

Speaker:

that are willing to give and take ideas from each other.

Speaker:

And it is so awesome.

Speaker:

I just love it.

Speaker:

So I got an opportunity from TJ Reed,

Speaker:

who is the owner of the fashion advantage specialty retailer magazine.

Speaker:

She asked me to start writing articles on small business in

Speaker:

her magazine about a little over a year ago.

Speaker:

Last summer,

Speaker:

she was struggling with some health issues.

Speaker:

She called and asked me to prepare and give an hour

Speaker:

long workshop at her live event at the wind show,

Speaker:

which is a fashion market out in Las Vegas.

Speaker:

So that was the first time that I actually got up

Speaker:

and did a live presentation for a group of people that

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I did not know.

Speaker:

Now, of course,

Speaker:

I've been doing this with our mastermind group for a couple

Speaker:

of years before that,

Speaker:

but these were people I really did not know.

Speaker:

And it was a great way to connect with some other

Speaker:

retailers and I just loved it.

Speaker:

So I came away from that.

Speaker:

I had started the remarkable retailer podcast.

Speaker:

I love the speaking part,

Speaker:

but, but the technical part doesn't come as easy for me

Speaker:

as Sue and I have discussed earlier,

Speaker:

she's a rock star techie,

Speaker:

but I am a wannabe rockstar techie With experience.

Speaker:

You just learn it.

Speaker:

But you know,

Speaker:

a very natural fit came when Periscope arrived on the scene

Speaker:

and I started Periscoping last August and I am on,

Speaker:

I think I've done my hundred and 30th episode.

Speaker:

And so I feel like a teacher I teach on Periscope

Speaker:

live every morning,

Speaker:

about eight,

Speaker:

15 central time.

Speaker:

And the topics just generally go to whatever I am needing

Speaker:

to learn myself.

Speaker:

So I'm always preaching to myself.

Speaker:

So you can always tell what challenges I'm going through at

Speaker:

that time.

Speaker:

What was your topic this morning?

Speaker:

My topic this morning was email marketing because it's so important.

Speaker:

And I hear so many excuses as to why retailers are

Speaker:

not getting that email out the door.

Speaker:

It's so important.

Speaker:

There is no better use of your time than getting people

Speaker:

in the front door of your store.

Speaker:

What's the handle for your Periscope?

Speaker:

It's remarkable retailer.

Speaker:

So we've just got this little audience of listeners and they're

Speaker:

from all kinds of businesses.

Speaker:

So they're not all retailers,

Speaker:

but we've got salon owners and some restaurants we've been have

Speaker:

a bug exterminator guy that keeps joining us.

Speaker:

And he's awesome.

Speaker:

So back to the beginning,

Speaker:

we said,

Speaker:

we're in the people business,

Speaker:

no matter what you're selling,

Speaker:

you're in the people business.

Speaker:

It's been interesting.

Speaker:

It's been good.

Speaker:

And it's been challenging me if you don't do an episode

Speaker:

every day,

Speaker:

they, you fall off the face of the earth.

Speaker:

And so it's been very good for me to be disciplined

Speaker:

and be preparing for my Periscopes every single day.

Speaker:

It's been a good challenge and I have absolutely loved it.

Speaker:

Wonderful. All right.

Speaker:

Give biz listeners all of you,

Speaker:

if you are in the retail business or you think that

Speaker:

there's other information as Vicki has been sharing throughout this whole

Speaker:

interview, that you want to hear more of eight,

Speaker:

15 central time Periscope at remarkable retailer,

Speaker:

be there.

Speaker:

We're going to move on now into our reflection section.

Speaker:

This is a look at you and what's helped you with

Speaker:

your success along the way.

Speaker:

So what natural trait do you have Vicky that you think

Speaker:

has helped you to be successful this whole time?

Speaker:

I would say it's because my parents taught me to be

Speaker:

a lifelong learner.

Speaker:

I try to invest time into learning something new every single

Speaker:

day. The other thing is,

Speaker:

I'm a talker,

Speaker:

as you can tell,

Speaker:

and I'm naturally able to strike up a conversation with just

Speaker:

about anyone on the planet.

Speaker:

And one of my sisters says it best.

Speaker:

She says,

Speaker:

Mickey can blah,

Speaker:

blah, blah,

Speaker:

with any women.

Speaker:

So important for comradery,

Speaker:

specially in a retail shop,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

making people feel welcome and comfortable,

Speaker:

and that they're special and valued for being in your home.

Speaker:

It's like welcoming someone into your home.

Speaker:

It is.

Speaker:

And I love to find out where people are from.

Speaker:

They do what things they like to do,

Speaker:

where they've traveled,

Speaker:

you name it.

Speaker:

I can find all of that.

Speaker:

All right.

Speaker:

And what tool do you use regularly to keep productive or

Speaker:

to create some type of balance in your life?

Speaker:

Well, so I love tech and I'm a total Apple girl

Speaker:

and I love my MacBook pro.

Speaker:

I love my iPad,

Speaker:

my iPhone,

Speaker:

and some of my best productivity apps are Evernote,

Speaker:

Dropbox, Wunderlist.

Speaker:

I love audible,

Speaker:

which I know you promote.

Speaker:

And I am such a huge fan of audible and my

Speaker:

Google calendar and my task list that I use on Google.

Speaker:

But my friend,

Speaker:

Connie from Texas just introduced me to an app that I

Speaker:

think a lot of your listeners will love.

Speaker:

It's called Flipagram.

Speaker:

And it isn't super easy way to make slideshows with music

Speaker:

from your phone.

Speaker:

We've done store tours with this little app and it has

Speaker:

been awesome.

Speaker:

So I think that's something and it's flipped up gram.

Speaker:

Wonderful. We'll have to check that out for sure.

Speaker:

And what book have you read lately that you think our

Speaker:

listeners would find value in?

Speaker:

I love the E-Myth by Michael Gerber,

Speaker:

which I've read twice.

Speaker:

I've listened to it on audible several times,

Speaker:

and I feel like it is a must read for every

Speaker:

entrepreneur. And then I love the customer rules by Lee Cockerel

Speaker:

and all of his other books as well.

Speaker:

He's the former EVP of Walt Disney world.

Speaker:

And he's fabulous.

Speaker:

And as you had referenced a little bit earlier,

Speaker:

Vicky, as you're listening to the podcast today,

Speaker:

you can also listen to audio books with ease,

Speaker:

just like the E-Myth and customer rules.

Speaker:

I've teamed up with audible for you to be able to

Speaker:

get an audio book for free.

Speaker:

All you have to do is go to gift biz,

Speaker:

book.com and make a selection.

Speaker:

Okay, done.

Speaker:

We are moving into my favorite part of the interview.

Speaker:

You haven't provided enough value already.

Speaker:

Vicky. We're going to go and see what you are hoping

Speaker:

for for the future.

Speaker:

This is our dare to dream question.

Speaker:

I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.

Speaker:

It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.

Speaker:

This is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights

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that you would wish to obtain.

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Please accept this gift from all of us and open it

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in our presence.

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What is inside your box?

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Well, this is such a great question,

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and I love to hear what everyone says.

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My box.

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This beautiful box would contain the keys to a small home

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in the country because I don't want it to take care

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of a big home,

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but it would have a large guest house where I could

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host gatherings of small business owners from around the country.

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And what we would do there is to have great speakers,

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offer workshops,

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and have a place to get away from the craziness of

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running a business for a few days.

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I love that.

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I also have a recording studio with super high speed internet

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as, as country girls out here,

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struggle with reliable internet.

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So I could podcast and Periscope with inspiration and encouragement to

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other business owners from around the country.

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So that would be my wish and my dream.

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All right.

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And let me guess,

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there's going to be someone managing all the tech for you

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there too.

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I love this and one.

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And once you do have that country home,

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I want to be invited.

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Absolutely. It could be a guest speaker,

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so that would,

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Let's start winding down.

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Now, how can our listeners get in touch with you if

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they want to learn more?

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Number one about Adrian's boutique,

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but also if they want to become involved with remarkable retailer?

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Well, of course they can find me through email Vicki at

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Adrian's boutique.com.

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They can go on our Facebook page.

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We all run under the same thing.

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Our website is Adrian's boutique.com.

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Our Facebook is Adrian's boutique.

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And then over on the remarkable retailer side,

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it's just Vicki,

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V I C K i@remarkableretailer.com.

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They can find us on Periscope on Facebook,

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on Twitter anyway,

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and I'll even give you my phone number here.

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So it is (620) 543-6488.

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I'm always trying to get my 20,000

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words in every day and I love to talk shop.

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And so feel free to give me a call.

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If I'm not available,

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I will call you back just as soon as I possibly

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can. It sounds like there is no excuse.

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If someone wants to get in touch with you,

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they should be able to find you somewhere with all of

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that. I think they can,

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and they can see all of our previous episodes of our

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periscopes@vimeo.com slash Vicky,

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Adrian. So we've thrown a lot of links and phone numbers

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and social media site at all of you.

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But remember,

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you can just jump over to the show notes page and

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I'll have all of that detailed for you.

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So you'll be able to get in touch with Vicky if

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you'd like to in any manner that you wish.

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Okay, Vicky,

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we just have to talk about one more thing and I

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have intentionally had the podcast go live.

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Your specific podcasts,

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go live this week because I believe you have something to

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share with us.

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Well, we were just Adrian's boutique.

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Our retail store was just honored with our county's chamber of

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Commerce's Reno County,

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small business of the year award 2016.

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And it just makes me so incredibly proud of our team

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of ladies,

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who they just bring their best skills and talents to work

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with them every single day.

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And I'm honored to work with them and just all the

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people in our community that have supported us all of these

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years. So that was actually very exciting for us to win

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the small business of the year award.

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We had to keep it secret until after the 29th of

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February. That is so exciting.

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I bet you had a huge celebration and congratulations.

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I can say that on behalf of myself,

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as I'm sure all the listeners to wish you congratulations and

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much continued success,

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and you're going to broadcast that all over now.

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I bet as well.

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You should.

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All right.

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Thank you so much,

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Vicky. Oh my gosh.

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You have provided so much good information.

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We've talked a little longer than we normally do,

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so I hope that's all right for you with your schedule

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today, but I really,

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really appreciate your sharing all of these,

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not only your expertise,

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but some really great,

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great examples that everybody could take back tweak to make it

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work for them and use right away.

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And that is really,

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really so helpful and really what we're trying to accomplish with

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this podcast.

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So thank you so much.

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Absolutely. As we close off,

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I know that I am joined by all my guests,

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wishing that your candle always burns bright.

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Thank you so much.

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Learn how to work smarter while developing and growing your business.

Speaker:

Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your business

Speaker:

and life.

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It's our gift to you and available at gift biz,

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unwrap.com/tools. Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for

Speaker:

the next episode.

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Hi, all my gift biz peeps.

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I'm always looking for new guests for the show.

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So if you know,

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somebody who has had an interesting journey in terms of how

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they've identified the business they went into,

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or has been really,

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really successful with a business that's been established for a while,

Speaker:

I would love to know about it,

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and guess what it might even be you the way to

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let me know is to jump over onto my Instagram account

Speaker:

at gift biz gal,

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pick a picture that you like,

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and then comment on that photo with the handle of the

Speaker:

person that you think I should consider.

Speaker:

Again, go over to my Instagram account at gift biz gal

Speaker:

comment on a picture with the information and we can all

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look forward to hearing about the exciting experiences,

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journeys, and expertise of our peers here on gift biz on

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