The #1 mistake small business owners make on Faire

If you aren't seeing the results you want on Faire just yet, THIS might be the exact reason why.

Faire is an amazing place to sell your products to other store owners, boutiques and retailers... but there's one common mistake SO many small business owners make that prevents their success on Faire.

Tune in to today's episode of Quick Tip Wednesday (an actionable episode that's 15 minutes or less) to learn what this top mistake is and how you can reframe your mindset and reframe your business strategy to avoid getting caught in this mistake.

LEARN MORE FROM MONICA LITTLE

[00:00:00] Monica Little: Hello and welcome to episode 38 of the Product Biz Podcast. My name is Monica Little and I'm your host. And today we have another episode of Quick Tip Wednesday, which is a short, less than 15 minutes episode with actionable insights that you can take away, apply to your business, and make some concrete progress.

[00:00:18] Today we are talking about the number one mistake that most small business owners make unfair.

[00:00:28] So if you're not familiar with Fair, fair is a wholesale e-commerce marketplace where basically you put your products up on their platform and they connect you to hundreds of thousands of retailers and boutiques. And instead of reaching out to stores on your own, instead of finding stores, sending them an email, going to stores, in person, pitching your products, all you have to do is put your products up on fair and they bring the retailers to you.

[00:00:53] Absolutely amazing. One of the main reasons why I was able to grow plant-based beauty and get into [00:01:00] over, I don't even know how many I need to do, account a hundred, maybe 200 stores across the US and multiple stores overseas is because of fair. And they are such an amazing tool and such an amazing way to get in front of more store, store owners who stock your products, who then get you in front of more customers and it's.

[00:01:21] A great place to continue to grow your business if you didn't listen to the last quick tip Wednesday. I talked all about the number one place to be focusing your time in January, and I talked all about Fair. So I dive into the benefits a little bit more in that episode, and we're gonna get right to the chase here of what is the number one mistake the small business owners make when they sell their products on.

[00:01:43] So with fair, we are selling our products at 50% off. That is the normal thing when you are selling to retailers. So for example, if I have an avocado algae face mask that is $22, it's very normal to sell it at wholesale. For $11 and [00:02:00] then when a retailer or a boutique or a store owner buys my avocado algae face mask for $11, then they can sell it at the normal retail value of $22.

[00:02:10] That is just the name of the game, how it works. And the biggest mistake that I see is because of the economics of fair, because of offering our products 50% off because of this, so many people view the relationship with the retailer in terms of wanting to kind of punish them and have extremely high minimum order quantities because of this discount that they offer.

[00:02:36] So what people think, and this is the frame of mind that I had when I first started selling unfair, is this somewhat negative view of, okay, I'm offering my products 50% off. You have to buy at least 300 or $400 worth in order for me to give you this discount and for it to be worth it for. , and what I want to remind you is the [00:03:00] energy that you show up, the energy that you give on these platforms, your frame of mind, your perspective, your mindset.

[00:03:05] I talk a lot about mindset, but when you have that mindset, when you go to sell on a platform like Fair, what type of energy do you think you're putting out there and what type of energy do you think you're going to get back where literally, You may want to punish the retailer because of the normal standard economics of wholesale by requiring them to buy a insanely high amount of products to make it worthwhile for you.

[00:03:32] and the perspective that I like to view it from is, it is worthwhile for me if my product gets into another store and a customer comes across it and buys it, and then they follow me on social media because my Instagram handle is on my product. And then they come to my website directly and they buy for me again, and then for the holiday season, they come back and buy for their friends and their family.

[00:03:55] So from my perspective, It is a [00:04:00] hundred thousand percent worthwhile to be in a store, to be able to partner with other store owners and boutiques and have my products in their stores, even if I am giving them 50% off. And the biggest mistake that I see is that small business owners have a ridiculously high minimum order quantity on fair.

[00:04:22] And if you're not sure what a minimum order quantity is, that basically means that unless the retailer. Spends that amount, they won't be able to purchase from you. So if your minimum order quantity is $300, they have to spend at least $300 in order to buy your products. And what I found over time is that repels so many retailers and boutiques and store owners because that's a huge investment for them.

[00:04:45] I know a lot of small business owners struggle with buying $300 worth of inventory because they're scared about if their product is gonna sell. But then we turn around and require store owners to buy $300 of our products because we're giving 'em that big of a [00:05:00] discount. So can you see how the energy around this, the frame of mind, we're starting to treat people a specific way where we even struggle to invest that way in our own?

[00:05:09] How that's not conducive to a good relationship with anyone that comes in contact with your products. When I look at Fair, when I look at Etsy, when I look at selling on these other platforms, I truly look at it as a partnership If my products are going to be in a store, I am so grateful for them for taking a chance on me.

[00:05:28] I make sure that I'm packaging my products in a nice box, giving them marketing material so they can sell my products so they come back for more. So they buy for me over and over and over again. And this is me talking about the retailer relationship, being in a store with the boutique, the store owner, and treating them like a customer.

[00:05:48] So often when we have a customer who buys $200 worth of our products, oh my gosh, we wanna give them a freebie. We wanna write a handwritten note. We wanna go in above and beyond. You should be doing that for every single customer and be [00:06:00] so grateful for every single customer, no matter if they buy $20 worth of products or $200 worth their products, or if it's a retailer getting 50% off and they're buying a hundred dollars versus $500, no matter what it.

[00:06:12] and I saw something on Instagram that basically said people who want, for example, to make a million dollars and they're making $20,000, and then they get to the $50,000 mark next year, and they're upset because they're still not making a million dollars. Well, you just were making $20,000 last year and now you're making $50,000.

[00:06:32] Like Sure you're not at a million yet. , there's some gratitude that should be there for the progress that you did make compared to where you were. And I think this is the same frame of mind, of not just being grateful for the big orders, the extremely profitable orders, the the ones that happen every so often.

[00:06:50] But how do you be grateful and show your gratitude for every single order that comes through, no matter how big or how small? And I see this in fair, too. [00:07:00] Store owners are buying at 50% off. Small business owners will pack their items in an Amazon box and ship it to them or pack it in a leftover box just because it's this frame of mind of, okay, well they're buying from me at 50% off, so I need to be cheap with my packaging.

[00:07:18] I am just gonna send them whatever I have, whatever box I have. But this is a relat. That has the potential for so much moving forward and not even that, right? We shouldn't only do good things in hopes of something in return. , we should do good things because we're just so grateful for any order, for any exposure, for any partnership, for any store, taking a chance on us.

[00:07:40] But obviously within that gratitude, we should also ensure that we're putting our best foot forward with this store owner because there could be a potential long-term relationship where they come back and buy again and buy more, and now they try another one of our products. And whenever. sell any of my products.

[00:07:56] I look at everything from that point of view of the partnership, the [00:08:00] gratitude, the future aspect of what this could turn into, even if you don't see it today, right here, right now. So how I teach fair to my members is to lower your minimum order quantity. Maybe 75 is okay, maybe a hundred is. and to fulfill that order in such a way to nourish the retailer who just bought from you.

[00:08:25] Put your products in a nice package. Add some marketing material, follow up with them, send them a nice message, check in. How are things going? Really nurture that relationship because at 75 or a hundred dollars order, Although less than $300, less than $500 is still 75 to a hundred dollars more than you had, and also has the potential of coming back for more continuously from here into the future.

[00:08:52] And I think another really interesting part to this conversation is you will stand out on fair with a lower [00:09:00] minimum order quantity. because most people have this view that they need to punish a retailer and only will accept an order if it's $300 worth of products. So when a retailer is browsing unfair and sees that, Hey, this is only a hundred dollars, this minimum order quantity, I'm gonna try it out.

[00:09:16] Let me see how it goes in my store. I'm kind of going out on a whim to see if these products will sell, but I feel good about it, so let me give it a try. They are going to be drawn to you and you're gonna stand out from all the competition because your minimum order quantity is lower. and it's a long-term relationship.

[00:09:36] Everything that I teach in Product Bus Academy is for the long-term, the long-term relationship with the customer, the long-term relationship with the retailer, the long-term foundations that you're building. Nothing that I teach is instant, and I'm gonna tell you right now, if anyone is telling you that you can build a business in six figures overnight.

[00:09:54] They, number one, are lying to you just to try to sell you something or number two, they probably haven't [00:10:00] done it themselves, so they're just trying to create some hype abo around something that they have no experience in. , there is so much value in the long-term aspect of building your business, the long-term relationships you build with others.

[00:10:12] And that is something that you just have to be in it for the long run, and you have to be okay with that, and you have to have gratitude for that. And you have to know that I'm okay with not being an overnight success. I'm okay because I love doing what I do. I love the feedback. I love getting more customers and hearing about their experience.

[00:10:28] I love making my product. I love sharing my product with others. I am here for all of. And so many people are only here for the success. So many people are only here for the instant results. So many people are only here to make an update on fair once, and they expect instant things to happen, or Etsy, or any platform for that matter.

[00:10:50] The best mantra that you can have as a small business owner is I'm here for all of it. I'm happily here for all of it. I'm here for the struggles, the challenges, the good times, the bad [00:11:00] times. I'm here for all. . And no matter what happens, I'm gonna keep building my business and selling my products because I love doing what I do.

[00:11:09] So that is a very quick tip on, fair on. How to shift the perspective of the mindset around these fair relationships with retailers and store owners and boutique owners, and how to really build your business for the long. And how to be here for all of it no matter where you are in your business. So I hope this was insightful.

[00:11:33] I would love to hear from you on Instagram. You can reach out to me at Monica Little Coaching and let me know what you thought of this episode. And if you enjoyed it, I would so appreciate that you would leave a five star review on Apple Podcast or on Spotify just to let me and others know what you learned from this episode.

[00:11:50] So thank you so much for listening, and I will see you on the next episode of the. Is podcast.

The Product Biz Podcast by Monica Little Coaching

The #1 mistake small business owners make on Faire

Listen to this podcast on