Sales Strategy
One Great Thing I Did Last Year (That You Can Do This Year): Hand Write Invitations | March 18, 2015 (1 comment)
Merrick, NY—In our ongoing series titled "One Great Thing I Did Last Year (That You Can Do This Year)," The Centurion asks retailers to tell us about one outstanding thing they did in 2014 that turned out really well. This week, Cindi Earl (left) of Cindi Earl Fine Jewelry in Nashville, TN, shares her thoughts about getting better response to invitations for trunk shows.
"The one thing I did last year that worked very well for trunk shows was a little old-school and not very fancy," says Earl. "For one of our trunk shows, I printed the trunk show ad on a plain piece of paper, and wrote on the bottom of the ad. I kept it simple: 'I know you love this, hope you can come,' and signed my name. I sent it only to the people who had bought something from that specific designer."
Earl says that while the invitation didn't look "professional" she got a great response. "Five years ago I would never have done that. I would not have thought it looked good enough. But this year, even those who didn't come to the show remembered it because a hand-addressed envelope has to be opened. You don't toss it like a post card, deleted like an email, miss it like a Facebook post, or ignore it like an Instagram."
Earl says we all still react to the personal touch and this invitation had it. For her next trunk show, she sent a regular invitation where everything else was equal and the turnout was not as good.
The end result? "That's one thing I tried and tested last year and one thing I will repeat this spring!"
Cindi Earl's store in Nashville, TN