I've been rethinking the way I interact with potential customers through convos and I just thought I'd share in case its helpful to anyone else. I've always answered questions about my shop and products quickly, politely and accurately. But I found that these conversations didn't usually lead to sales and I couldn't figure out why.
More recently I've tried to truly think of each potential customer interaction as a possible sale and done what I can to make that happen. If I can't accomodate their initial request for any reason (which happens to me a fair bit due to fabric availability) I try to suggest other alternatives that might work. And while this still doesn't always lead to a sale it keeps them in my shop longer and may have the future bonus of having them remember me and my shop. I've had some very thankful people who didn't make a purchase, but maybe they'll be back!
As an example yesterday a customer sent me a convo to ask if I could provide a fabric swatch. I don't keep extra fabric on hand for all of my pillow covers and in the past I simply would have told her that I couldn't offer her a swatch. However, this time I explained that I didn't have swatches available, but would do my best to describe and fabric she had questions about in detail and that I had a fair return policy should she decided to purchase and not be happy with the fabric for any reason. She never responded to my convo, but this morning she purchased a pillow cover!
My new philosophy has made each interaction a fun challenge and I'm starting to see positive results so I thought I'd share : )
