Small Shop: Using your reps and encouraging them to help grow your business

As a small shop owner, you are starting an unnerving business. There is so much money and time that goes into starting a business as a small shop owner! Put your best foot forward with these ideas of how to use small shop reps to your shop’s advantage!

1. Have your PLAN ready

As an owner, you should have a plan ready for your releases and what products you’re wanting to release. If you don’t have a plan, you’re going by the seat of your pants which in a business aspect is not a great start. Here is a sample of Totes Adorable’s calendar. She posts it so customers can save the date! If you don’t want to post a calendar, at least share your release dates with your reps. Your calendar doesn’t need to be as cute as this one, BUT if you’re sharing with customers you’ll get more excitement with a fun calendar!

How will customers buy from you? Will you have your own website, sell via Etsy/Big Cartel/other or just plan to sell in your group via comments and claiming? Will you have a consistent date every week or month for releases? Do you have your products picked for release dates? Are you doing holiday themes? How early do you want to release holidays? If you’re not doing holiday themes, when do you plan to release other items? Do you plan to make a calendar of releases to be seen by group members or just your reps? How do you plan to get business? Are you using FB or Instagram or both? Do you plan to build a group in Facebook or just use a page? How will you get joins and likes for your pages and groups? How do you plan to maintain active viewing in your group if you do a group? Are you planning to do a giveaway to get your business out there for starters? Are you going to do reps to grow your business? If so, there is a lot that goes into that!

Most of this blog post is to help you use your reps, not to start a business. Having a plan is vital to the success of your business and believe it or not, does affect your reps.

2. Pick reps

When picking reps as a brand new business owner, you are blind picking. You don’t know people yet and people don’t know you. Some reps will be great and some won’t do much. You really won’t know yet. That is why most rep terms are just a couple of months. When first starting out, choose which rep ages/genders you want. As your business is growing, your group has interaction and you have gained some customers, you will want to consider your reps a bit more than just a picture. What I mean is, you want reps that generally LOVE your product. If they love your product than they will share more! There will be some people that aren’t your reps and are still purchasing and sharing the pictures. These are the people you want to rep for you. The ones that are supporting you not because they are your rep but because they love your items. 😍

It is up to you on your many reps you will have for your business. Reps are used to advertise and share about your group/business. They help take pictures and keep activity going in your Facebook groups. Having reps will help you work less on advertising, so you can focus more on your products and business. 🙌🏻

The more reps you have, the more activity and involvement your group will have (which helps entice more viewers) and the more publicity your group/business will get. By only having 1-3 reps, consider the amount of work they will be doing since there is only 3. If you’re thinking those 3 are going to advertise and grow your business substantially, they should be getting a very good incentive. Something to think about! 🤔

As a business is starting up, you can’t imagine having tons of reps, but the only way to build your business is to HAVE the help! A good starting point is between 5-10 reps. I like to think of 1 rep per day you want activity on your page/group. (Granted, hopefully, your reps do more than just interaction one day, one time.) Just a way to think about deciding a starting number.

As your business grows, you may want more reps. A rep shares about your business, posts pictures, interacts on your products and shares on social media. One person can get a lot of eyes, so times that by 10-15! And more!

When adding or changing reps: Usually you have a rep season and then you change it up. By changing up your reps, you are getting new social medias and interactions. So there is good to this, BUT also keep in mind a few things. If you have a rep/s that are amazing at advertising your shop and product, why would you say goodbye to them? Think about how that rep feels knowing they worked super hard on your page and for you and then you just cut the ties because you’re wanting to branch out. Keep your best reps and then change up for new reps for the spots of those that did mediocre. If a rep loves your product and business, why would you push them away? If you are changing constantly, you have a lot of “re-teaching” your expectation, answer questions and hoping for the best with newbies. Those long time reps are the ones that are going to stick by you when your business is struggling or the ecomony/season is lower in sales. Desirae’s Closet called her reps that continued with her, Legendary Reps which really made those reps feel appreciated for what they have done.

By doing rep searches, you are opening your business to more people that want to enter the small shop world. One thing to keep in mind: You will want a variety of races, colors and ages and other factors to represent your business. This helps your business not be exclusive which could turn off buyers. Love everyone. Do not discriminate in your rep search. Do not state: Only looking for girls with disabilities or no white girls. It is great to have diversity on your team, but don’t state that is the only type you want to see. Keep it open to everyone and then choose what you want. If you need to add variety to your rep search, then just choose the reps that fit the need. Love everyone is the idea I am getting at.

3. Have a REP plan

Yes, you need a plan for using your reps as well as your business plan. If you want your reps to be successful at helping your business, then you need a plan- a plan they know about. Help them help you! 😀

Yes, reps need to know your expectations when they apply, but once accepted, there should be a plan they know about. If they don’t know what is fully expected or what is happening in your business, how will they be able to really help you? Here are some things to think about:

Share your release calendar – if the rep knows what will be releasing soon, then they can help prep customers. If there will be a mermaid release, reps can start buying mermaid accessories/clothing/toys to use in pictures. They could make posts about mermaid movies or questions such as “What would be the best part of being a mermaid?” By knowing what is coming up, the reps can help get the excitement in your groups!

Along with the calendar: try to get release items to your reps at least 2 weeks before releasing. A customer loves to see how AMAZING your soon to be released item is on other kids and with different outfits and uses. Just seeing the picture of you item is ok, but as a mom, I can’t help but WANT something because how cute it was on the 3 kids I saw in the Facebook group. 💁🏻

Set up a REP GROUP on Facebook (or other format). This group is where you talk to all your reps. This is where you post your calendar, new releases, gather advertising posts for incentives, and communicate everything else you need to!

Some rep groups will just have like 7, others may have lots more!

Some ideas for your REP GROUP: * Set up a Screenshot post for reps to share how they advertised. (needed for incentive) * Set up REP ALBUMS for your reps, so they can share pictures that you can use *Utilize the events tab by adding release dates, so reps can add to their own calendar and set reminders to post.

Set guidelines of expectations! Stick those guidelines in your Rep Group as an announcement so it can’t be missed or make a separate file that can easily be looked back upon. For those that rep for a couple shops with different expectations, it helps to look back and see what is asked by each shop. Ask that your reps are posting in your group and in other groups as well as on other social media. Keep in mind, if you ask them to do this, remember incentives are important! Read below about incentives. Do not over expect though unless they will be compensated. Too often, you see a business owner setting high expectations on the apply posts, but then the incentive is not worth the time the reps give. Example: “Must post every day in group or social media. You get 15% off product.” More details about expectations in the incentive part below.

If your reps are earning points or number of interactions, based on expectations, then give them a place to keep track of their screenshots. You can use this post to tally up points. Then post/share their points. Post about it in the group, so they can compare how they are doing in comparison to others. A rep may think they are doing tons, so by seeing everyone’s points earned, they can decide if they really are. If your reps don’t know how they are doing, then how do they judge if they should give more or are doing a fair amount to earn incentives. You can schedule a post in advance, so it will post it within a couple days at the end of the month. Plus it will remind you to get it done without dragging into the next month.

If your reps know your releases, how to share about your products and what is involved as incentives then you’ve done a good job setting up a REP plan which will make having reps beneficial!

4. Care about your reps

You will want to care about your reps and their families. Get to know them and let them get to know you! Your reps may become a bestie! You may never meet the reps, but that doesn’t mean you won’t develop a friendship! A person will be more invested in your products and business when they feel you care about them. Just like an employee appreciates a boss that knows them and checks in on them, you want to have this same relationship with your reps.

You can become friends on Facebook/Instragram and then comment on their personal posts not just your business posts. It shows you care about them and your reps. Another idea is doing something for your reps’ birthdays. Birthdays are special and even just a posted recognition is a nice caring touch. If you’re able to do a small gift or store credit for their birthday, then once again they will be getting items to help promote your business! Plus you will probably get a shout out as a thank you which again shines light on you and your business.

Another important thing to mention is being supportive and kind to your reps. And requiring other reps to treat each other kind as well. Do not allow rude comments, making fun of, or excluding certain reps. If you find out this is happening, stop it immediately! If you are participating in this behavior as the owner, this will reflect on your business and will push customers away. Why would someone want to support the “mean girls” group? If a rep isn’t working out the way you had hoped, then you suffer in silence and then at the end of term cut ties.

5. Earnings and Rewards

YES you will need to think about this. Offering a discount is really nice and it helps reps get products they love! However, just offering a discount isn’t as enticing as it sounds. Why? Shops will often do discounts to clean out stock or transitioning between sales. Anyone could go for a 20% discount when there is a sale. A discount is nice, but if you want your reps to really put in effort, then you will want to have an incentive and rewards set up. Here are two ideas:

FREE PRODUCTS: Depending on the type of products you have, you could do free products as an incentive. The reps can earn a certain amount of points or interactions towards free products. When they reach that monthly or at the end of the term, send out their free items. If you did at the end of the term, then make sure you notify them monthly on what they have earned so far in their term. What is nice about free products, is the owner gets to decide what she sends. Plus the rep gets a surprise which can be very fun. However, if the rep gets a product they don’t like or wouldn’t use, then it is no good for the rep. A way to combat that issue, is asking your reps what kind of products they like! Or pay attention to what they purchase and what they comment on. Getting free products that they will use is essential because that is a way they advertise for you and your business.

STORE CREDIT: Some stores cannot send free products because they are bigger or more expensive. Store credit fits all products sizes and types! The reps earn store credit depending on your expectations. They will put in as much effort as they want to get that store credit. If your reps loves your product, they will be striving for store credit! Plus with this reward, reps can choose what they want. If they are choosing their items, they could be matching it with other already purchased items. They might have a plan in place to purchase your product for a specific adventure, holiday or photo shoot!

When considering between what type of reward to offer, consider how much responsibility you want with this.

If you are in charge of free product that is more responsibility on you as the shop owner. If you do free product, then their free product needs to be just as important as customer order. It is easier to push their reward back while you work on a customers order, but what does this tell your reps about how you value their time? A customer pays you for your time/product and you pay your reps for their time/effort. Put your free product orders in que with regular orders.

If you are doing store credit reward, then your customers are responsible to make their order and use their credit. If they choose not to use their credit, that is on them not you as the store owner. By doing store credit, they are also paying for the shipping to themselves. (If your store requires shipping, then this keeps you from paying shipping.) Plus if your reps love your product, they will most likely buy more than just their store credit. Again a benefit to your business. Also consider the “down months.” Every business suffers from down months. Could be the wrong season for your product or summer months, but every business will have months that have less purchases. Your reps could be the only purchases being made those months because they are using store credit.

5. Rep Earning

Decide how you want your reps earning their incentives & rewards.

How your reps earn rewards is really up to you and your business. I have listed a couple ideas, but you have to do what is best for your business at this time. You can always change it up!

One idea is a point system. This is a great way to help build your business and get the word out about your product. This is a great idea for start up businesses! Wrenny Penny Designs Bow business does points. Every time the reps share about the group or products they earn points. They are marketing her business for her. They are finding the opportunities to share about her business and products and benefiting from it. This eases the time the shop owner is putting into advertising her own products. Plus by using points, her reps know exactly how to earn free products. The reps can put in all the effort and time they want to earn those free products. Reps who know how to earn free stuff are going to work towards it! Yet, a perfect reason to pick reps that LOVE your products! Shop owners may have to put a cap on their earnings or change up points as you go. It is a learning curve and you don’t know what your reps will give yet.

Love the point system for Wrenny Penny Designs bow group! Her reps know exactly how to earn rewards.

Another way to do rewards and incentives is how much activity and interactions they are having on your group and/or page. Totes Adorable is a well established business. Being she has a larger customer base, she promotes her items in her Facebook group. Her reps earn store credit based on their interactions in the group because it is the group that drives her sales. She posts the interactions, so the reps can see their posts and comments! Once again, the reps know how they are earning their rep discount and other incentives.

Totes Adorable interactions is extremely high. Once again their reps are focused on earning rewards and the way they do that is by keeping the group active all day every day. She has a lot of long time reps that love her products, so her group is never dull!

You as the shop owner decides what incentive and rewards system is best. If you choose not to do incentives, then there is no guarantee that your reps are going to work as hard advertising for you. They will put in the time if you give them a reason to.

When the month or term is over, be in contact with your reps. If you do monthly rewards/incentives then contact your reps at the start of the new month. If you are doing end of term incentives, then be sure to keep in touch with your reps monthly, so they know how they are doing and what reward they are getting. I encourage monthly because when things are spread apart people loose interest.

Try avoid having your reps ask you about how the month went and what rewards they earned. Have it set in your schedule to notify your reps. They don’t want to be put in that position to ask. If it helps to schedule a post to be published on the 3rd of the new month, so you are reminded! Even if the post says February rewards, but doesn’t have the details, you will be reminded to get it done and the reps know you are thinking about them.

6. Other useful ideas!

Give SHOUT OUTS to your reps throughout the month. Everyone likes recognition, so to receive praise is always good. A shout out is a simple post to your reps stating: “WOW, this week Katie shared the group 10 times!” or “THANK YOU to Sarah for keeping the group active with 15 engagements this week!” You could even do shout outs with rewards: “I am adding 15 points to your total!” or “I have set aside a thank you gift to be sent!” (Then let the rep know privately when you’ll send it and/or a picture of the said gift.) You don’t even need to promise an award with it, just to be recognized is nice.

Setting up REP albums in the rep page is very helpful for reps to share those amazing pictures they are taking and sharing in your groups. Reps can see how each other are taking pictures, how to up their picture taking and how to stage. Plus now you have a bunch of pictures you can use in your posts, new releases and website!

Have a monthly photo contest! Totes Adorable does a Covergirl Contest. (If your group has boy reps, you won’t want to call it covergirl.😉) Every month, reps post great pictures and the shop owner chooses a couple pictures to be posted on the website or on the cover pictures. Her reps are striving to have their child on the website because who doesn’t want their offspring displayed for people to oooh and awe!

Concerning pictures, think about all types of pictures. Everyone loves the staged, gorgeous photos from reps and those photos can help some customers feel they NEED that product because of how amazing it is in the pictures. However, there are some customers that aren’t thinking the product is needed because their child doesn’t just go around posing. I recommend your reps taking all types of photos. You will want those 😍 staged photos, but also some realistic photos. How is your product being used in the home and in activities you’re doing? You want your product to also work for “normal” people who aren’t just taking photo shoots. A good balance with your photos helps reach the variety of customers.

Conclusion

I hope these ideas help you as a small shop owner to use your reps. Once again, use the system that works for you and your business. And if it isn’t working, change it up so it goes better for you. If you follow some of these ideas, the goal is that you and your reps are successful!!

This post is to guide you in the use of your reps. If you have ideas to add to these “best practices” then comment below and they may get added in! If you want a post about ideas to grow your business, comment below. If you are in need of any templates to help you stay organized, comment below!