Advice on Sales!!

XStreet
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My sales on XStreet hardly exist compared to what I sell in-world. Most people first want to see an item before they buy it, but I cannot track the links followed to my in-world store. For the last week I did some homepage featured, spent a couple of thousand lindens on that. Good for exposure, but I do not have the feeling it did bring me much extra sales.
Working on a script at the moment though that might change sales on XStreet, as I do see a market for it. Will keep you posted on that one.

Marketing
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Which brings me to something different: marketing of products.
Recently I opened up a new store, Paradise Found. Quarter sim filled with one prim plants and trees. And of course since this is a new product line for me, I thought about the best way of exposure. Apart from getting a good ranking in search, I felt I needed to try something new.
What I did find out is that to get on #1 in classifieds for one of my 2 keyword combinations, it took 2001 linden. So I forked over 2001 linden, and am quite proud to see my new store listed on top of the right sidebar in Search All Time will learn if it is really worth the 2k per week, but so far it looks good, even though the number of actual teleports is pretty low. I guess people see my ad in the sidebar, but also my store listed in the top 5, and click the store listing. Sales did rise, so I guess it works. Though the plants are cheap and copyable, so I have to sell many to pay the ad and the parcels tier

For my main business, the furniture, I recently rented 2 sattelite locations.
One in a very high traffic sim. Real traffic, it is the home of the club Blackhearts. Always crowded there. My first rental that so far payed for itself.
The other one in a club that is furnished with my furniture. They actively promote my stuff, so renting there was obvious, and it does give me extra exposure.

Summary
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So what forms of marketing did and did not work for me?

- Ad boards: tried several well known ones, no notice in sales growth.
- classifieds: cheap one did not work too well, testing with a more expensive one for my new store at the moment. I would always advice a 50 linden classified to at least be present there though.
- Search All: The best way to get noticed when people search for stuff. Takes a lot of time to get things right, but it is worth it. Both my stores are in the top 5 for my chosen keywords.
- Groups: joined a few groups to announce my new releases. Always generates traffic. Of course I also have my own store group, plus a hippogroup.
- Excellent customer service: Underestimated yet invaluable. People who dealt with me when they needed service are always pleased, and that gets the word out. Mouth to mouth can be an important one!

Future marketing plans.
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- have ads and parcel pictures designed by people who are better in that then me. Might give me a better clickrate in search.
- did an interview in a SL magazine (yay!).
- going to try a fullpage ad in a magazine focussed on home decoration.

If the thread keeps running, I will keep you posted

organization:

I worked in business for many years, and so I am pretty good at maintaining a filing system. Because I work with textures and apparel, I have a pretty good filing system for both (well it works for me anyway).

Clothing:

I have a file for work in progress. Once it has been completed, it goes into a file named "RBZ". That folder contains 2 folders, "boxed" and "has been boxed". Inside the 'has been boxed' folder are subfolders (casual, intimate, biker, formal, etc.)

As soon as an outfit is complete, it goes into the RBZ folder, and is subfiled accordingly. I can always find anything very quickly.

The 'boxed' folder contains the same outfits, boxed up for sale. Once a month or so I place everything in this folder into its own prim, titled by the month/year. That prim goes into another prim which holds everything I have ever made. Every month, after that prim is updated, a copy is rezzed in my home, and a copy is sent to 2 alts.

From the 'has been boxed' folders, I routinely delete anything that I do not wear. (Remember I still have boxed copies of all).

Textures:

Everytime I complete an outfit, I place all the textures for that outfit onto a notecard, which then goes onto another notecard named for the month. At the end of the month, a copy of that notecard goes into the prim I send to my alts and rez in my home. That prim is basically a huge filing cabinet I actually keep 2 copies of it rezzed in world, on 2 different sims.

My computer:

Everytime I complete an outfit, the folder is moved into a folder named for the month. Once a month, I copy that folder of completed outfits onto 2 discs, and then delete the folder from my hard drive.

Thats it! It might sound complicated but basically I sit down on my couch once a week or so and spend an hour making sure everything is in the folder it needs to be in (usually while watching SLTV Fashionweek lol). This is why after a year of content creation I can boast an inventory of between 3 and 5K items (depending on what part of the month it is, etc).

I think I hate you

Can you do mine?

good lord, I wish I had done that when I first started LOL

mine is such a mess it would scare organized people.

I do need to do something with it though, eventually.

I did start, but got so bogged down that I stopped shortly thereafter


(I also have all my stuff I ever made unpacked and in their own folders as I do wear and use my own stuff)

I keep threatening my partner that I'm going to get on his av and straighten it...

"What do you MEAN you can't find that Edo tux I bought you???"

Because I LOVE to organize things...I'm Ralektra's sister-separated-at-birth...lol.

I got off-track on my post; my main objective was to figure out how to keep a financial record; like which of my products sells the best, etc. But with as few as I currently have, I can do a simple listing on Word. (I REALLY need to learn Excel )

I download the spreadsheet, you can highlight everything and then click data and sort by whichever column the items you are selling are in. Excel is easy just play with it a bit

I don't think I ever told you that when you first introduced your plants/trees I came to check it out and picked up your freebie (or dollarbie...can't recall which) with the color-changing pot. I LOVE that and your plants are very realistic looking! Great work!



Worth mentioning again and so very true! I had my first "discouraging word" from a customer this week but it basically had to do with permissions. A customer purchased one of my "Amazing Dressing Closets" and wanted one that was mod/copy instead of mod/trans that I make all my furniture. It was purchased off XStreet which lists the perms but perhaps she didn't look at that. At any rate, I responded back to her and sent her a new one with the permissions she wanted.

She said "I'm so happy you contacted me - most designers don't." Wow!

Thank you so much for all your input, Marcel...would love to know if you develop that script for XStreet!

You're a woman after my own heart!

My former RL husband used to say the words that struck fear to the bottom of his soul was when I'd say, "Ok, let's get organized!"

Thanks, Ralektra, that gives me encouragement. I guess because it deals with numbers and I was an English Lit. major I have some kind of mental block re: Excel. BUT! I'm making progress in Gimp...lol.

I was an accounting major but when I went to college, Excel did not yet exist. For that matter, PC's were still a thing of the future

The best part is, my dad was the one who showed me how to use Excel. He runs circles around me on the computer.

Thanks for the compliment!
The freebie is still out there, but in my new store I use different textures. The best I could find




Something I heard as well, and truly amazing. Designers like that really are not worth the customers they get, I always try to place myself in the shoes of the buyer. And lets face it, what are the costs of a replacement?


These days I am not much in-world as I really want to finish this script (use an offline program). After that a few days of testing, maybe a few beta testers for input back, and then I will tell you all what is is What I can tell, is that it will benefit everybody who rents in malls.

About organizing...i dont do it. LOL I make sure that all of my curtains, drapes, etc have that key word in the title and when i need to find one i just sort for that key word. This pulls up all of my items and then i have no need to move things into folders...which of course drives me insane.

As for keeping track of things sold. For awhile I would go into transactions and download the data for a month at a time and then do some data analysis in Excel. I figured out what colors sell the most and what types of items. This has not changed much in the almost two years ive had a store, so now i just eyeball the transactions several times each day to see if a new item or new fabric pattern etc is catching on. I did at one time do through and remove items based on what was not selling, but now I have enough prims that I generally leave things and just add to them.

I really try to keep it very simple...LOL

OK- this i can help with- holler if u need it- not much to learn unless u want to get fancy schmancy!

Well a quick update on the script: seems it is about done! Probably will slap into a prim in-world tomorrow and start testing.

Jojogirl said something about sales tracking. For that one I am lucky with my RL job I simply built a database with an import script for the downloaded Excel sheets. After importing I can give transactions a category, and view reports on the data virtually every way I can. Especially sales per location is very handy, as I have 2 mainstores and 2 sattelites. Furthermore a seperate costs overview, so it is clear how much I spend on textures for example. Very handy

I may take you up on that, Amar! Honestly, spreadsheets make me start hyperventilating and I know it can't be as hard as I'm making it. Would love to know some basics.

Marcel - your program sounds awesome. Please let us know if you put it up for sale. (I'll be first in line!)

When it comes to spreadsheets I am definitely lucky in my job, I'm a fully qualified accountant, so they are second nature to me, anyone needs any help just yell and I'll do my best. have to admit though even my spreadsheet for sl makes my head swim at times, trying to keep track of the sales in each of my satelite stores (currently around 70) is a nightmare at the best of times, but I need to do it so I know which ones are making profit and which I need to ditch when rent becomes due. Takes me about 30 - 60 minutes a day switching between avatars on the website to log all the sales and the residents I need to send group invites to. I also note any duplicate purchases and always contact the customer to make sure it was not a mistake or an sl glitch...it's amazing how many are pleasantly surprised when I contact them on this sort of thing. The thing that amazes me is how many do not contact me when it happens....I just don't see why customers should be the ones to pay for a mistake or sl glitch, realistically it costs me nothing to refund them, but it does gain me a very happy customer who often recommends my store and/or comes back to make more purchases.
As for inventory mine is pretty well organised into main folders and then sub folders for each kind of tattoo, same with my textures and sales signs. Takes work and discipline to keep it up to date, but leave it even a week and it takes me ages to resort it all.

Hey guys- I have been moving away from clothes and more into gardens and nick nacks and furnishings- still seeking advice on good advert groups... please, pretty please...

ok rhi i am in shock - 70 stores! WOW...I thought i had a lot back when i had 10 going. Id love to know more about how this works for you....why and how you pick the locations that you do etc. I have not had much success in satellite locations ever...but i am always interested and curious about how they work for others.

Also, since you are into the whole accounting thing...do you feel your ROI is worth it for the rent costs? And when do you pull the plug if they are not.

Thanks!
jojo

Hi Jojo and all

I'll try to answer as best I can.
Pulling the plug is possibly the easiest to answer...I always rent a minimum of 4 weeks in a new location. If at the end of that time sales have not at least covered the cost of rent then I ditch the store. There is only one exception to this rule, that being my original store I rented almost 3 years ago now. Whether it makes sales or not I will never ditch that store for sentimental reasons. It is good to re-visit that tiny store which allows 30 prims and remember the time I wondered how I would ever fill it.

As for where I rent. Like many I receive several notecards on a daily basis inviting me to new malls. Some I discard immediately without ever visiting, specially the ones who send me a card on a daily basis like spam. I got the first notecard I don't need 10 copies of it. I generally look for places that offer 50 prims at least for 250L$ a week or less. In most cases I will not pay more than 5L$ a prim. I also discard notecards from people who rave about my designs, but have never purchased from me, if they liked the designs that much they would have bought something and then approached me because they thought people at their club or mall would like them too. I then go and visit the location, often several times at different times of day. I hate claustrophobic places, much prefering an open plan design, so that is another factor in deciding whether to rent or not. A lot of satelite stores came about from conversations with customers and friends and people on the forums. I also check out owners profiles to see what they are doing to promote their location. When looking at locations I hate being harassed if I have barely rezzed before being "jumped" on, then I am likely to not rent, I want to be able to look around a place and make my own choices and not be told how great a place is by one of their employees. I do keep logs of where I have rented in the past that have not worked with owners names, and if certain names show as being linked to a new location then there is no way I will touch it. I think rentals are a personal thing for me, the place has to feel right, just like when buying a new house, if it does not feel right then I know as soon as I walk through the front door. I also look at who else is already renting, typically I want to see some names I know and not just a load of business in a box places.
Many of my satelite stores I have now had for well over a year, I don't add many new ones these days unless I have lost a few due to places closing which has happened in a number of cases in lthe last few months sadly.
Satelite stores do not work for everyone and it does involve a lot of work constantly checking sales boards are still set for sale, rotating stock, doing re-designs etc I don't do much in the way of advertising having only one classified, my way of advertising is the satelite stores and sponsorship deals I have with a number of locations, but what works for me will not work for everyone.

Hope this has not become too much of a "war and peace" and it gives some a small insight into how I operate and what works for me

huggsss with love Rhia

I have actually discovered that the little stores at other places an be a godsend if done right. Like Rhia i am cautious about where I put up a store although my criteria is rather different.

I have minimal funds to spend on new satalite stores, however I have several which do not cost me any money for a number of reasons. I keep these all the time obviously, whether they make sales etc or not. Though I have one i need to update which I dont think I have ever had a sale from nor a click on my LM giver. which makes me think I should just pull it, but t the same time it IS free.

I have also started looking at commissioned based spots. Honey offered it recently and it actually sounded like a good deal and something new to try. So Iwill see how that goes.

The other thing I have been doing is a prim exchange. Basically given X number of prims at my main store t a friend who in turn gives me the same number of prims at her store. We both have similar items but would have a good cross over of traffic becuase mot of her traffic is foot traffic where as mine is advertised traffic. Anyway we are working on that, which would benefit both of us in a positive way.



Oh I also wanted to ask if anyone here has tried sculpt studio?? I have been considering buying it. It is an in world sculpt creator and well I have been buying a lot of sculpts recently so i thought about getting it. It looks very good and Ghanie Lane who i buy a lot of sculpts from uses it to make her sculpts.

My only thing is what about if it is hard to use or a suck usng it and I waste all that money

Hi Eclectic,

I don't have any experience with Sculpt Studio. I did look at it on XSL and it does look interesting. I use AC3D and have been very happy with it for sculpting.

~ Desi

When it comes to organising my inventory I'm fairly good... well as far as the important stuff goes anyway. I tend to keep my shop stuff split mainly into Furniture and Prefab folders with sub folders in there for whatever is appropriate. I also have a few "Old Version" folders hidden in there too. I'm a bit naughty when it comes to throwing stuff away that I probably really should, but who knows, I may want it someday to base a new idea on!

Having said that my Objects folder is in dire need of a clean-up, and my Builds in Progress folder could do with looking at too, but if I get too busy cleaning up I'll never get enough time to build

Marcel, I know it's only "small potatoes" at the moment but you could join in with the BO-Xchange. The more people that join in the better it'll work.

Pretty sure I'm in at least a couple of these types of groups. Think HomeStyle Consolidated is one, but I'll check when I get back in-world and let you know.