Tick, Tock... Go!
Setting up a timeline that works for you.
Timing is the universal glue . Ask any comedian, musician, baseball slugger, singer, race car driver, actor, etc. They will confirm that you can have the best intentions, best voice, best equipment, best materials, best training or best scripts, but you will fail if you do not have the correct timing to execute them.
As a home based business, setting up a routine schedule for your production is crucial to your success as an online seller.
Today’s online customers want fast service. Although we cannot compete with Amazon’s almost immediate service, we can take steps to ensure that our products are sold, produced and shipped in the most efficient way.
Way-Back Machine
When we traveled and did mall shows in the 80s, I had over 1200 different names displayed on my racks, carved and ready to go, yet 70% of my sales were still for custom names. We always set up our kiosks with the equipment we would need to make our product while the customer waited for 10- 15 minutes.
When people walked up to our booth and recognized what we were up to, the most common phrase I heard was “I bet they don’t have MY name.” Being the smartass I was, I would hold up a keychain carved with the words MY NAME and tell them “You lose.” Half the time they would end up ordering and waiting for the finished product. The more common names on display usually ended up being add-on purchases that customers saw while they were waiting for their custom job.
People love to watch. Demonstrating artists almost always outperformed their peers who didn’t. The noise of my machinery and activity were a phenomenal draw. The gathering of a crowd watching an artisan performing at Christmas time was traditional in malls across America.
Online selling is quite different. Now, I carve chopsticks and keychains in the order in which they are received. 95% of these purchases are for custom made, personalized items. I do not have to have display racks and stocks of samples on hand.
I do have a Ready-Made section in my Etsy shop for the rare orders that get misspelled or are otherwise wrong. Sometimes, a chunk of wood will just say “I want to be ELLIOT.” So, it goes in my Ready-Made section at a discounted price.
Ready-Mades
It is most fortunate if your items can be made ahead of time and listed just as they are, with a “Quantity” set to limit the sales. If you can create a popular item that is repeatable for semi-mass production, you can build stock based on how many you think will sell. For pre-made, non-personalized items, all you have to do to complete the sale is record the sale, give it a final polish and package it so that it will safely arrive at its destination. I use the Etsy shipping platform for discounted shipping labels with USPS, but others are equal depending on what platform you get used to.
This is the simplest method of sales. You just have to keep track of inventories and ship them right away. You can have the packaging ready to go and just slap a purchased label on it and send it the next available shipping day, but I set a 2 to 3 day production time on the listing to give me some scheduling leeway, in case they additionally order a custom job. This allows for the Etsy bots (that keep track of this sort of thing) to credit my timeliness.
Custom Orders
Personalized products can create a timing dilemma. If your products are primarily made-to-order custom items (as mine are), you can quickly get buried in orders. You have to take into account how long it takes you to produce each item and determine the time you have available. If a set of chopsticks takes me an hour, I will need to schedule that into my workday. If I take orders for 10 similar pairs, that is a 10 hour workday. You must pay attention to your promised shipping/production so that you will not tick off the time lords.
Depending on the quantity of each one, I can physically complete 7 to 10 custom orders per day. During normal, non-holiday times I set my custom production time to “2 to 3” business days. But I have to keep a conscious eye on accumulating orders and adjust my production times accordingly. If I am in the workshop with 3 orders and suddenly receive 10 more (viral run) while working, I will immediately go to my shop settings and extend the production time to 3 to 5 days (or longer) on any orders going forward. This allows me to reign in the workflow in order to ship all by their promised date.
During peak holiday periods I have to extend this time estimate to as much as 2 weeks, cutting it off altogether (by using Etsy’s “Vacation Mode”) around the first of December, in order to complete and ship everything in time for Santa and the USPS to deliver. These busy days have started earlier and earlier every year as my work gains popularity. I have to encourage potential buyers to get their orders in early if they want to ensure delivery by Christmas.
USPS naturally has extended delivery times during the Christmas rush. Lately, there has been a tracking issue, during the non-peak season, that has had my clients fretting. I am currently pulling hair trying to deal with the non-communicative entity that USPS has become under the “streamlining” attempts of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. My carrier will pick up and scan a package, but tracking will not update until it is delivered (8 to 12 days later), with a few becoming lost altogether. It is worrisome and I hope is remedied by the future holiday season.
USPS pickup usually runs between 1:00 and 4:00 pm in our neighborhood. Our carrier is hard working and has to deal with weather, construction zones and crazy Florida drivers on a daily basis. She is a hero and deserves a raise! I have had excellent service from the USPS and until lately have only had three packages come up missing, out of over 11,000.
All Orders
In keeping with my quality guidelines (outlined in a previous post), once I receive an order the time clock starts. My Etsy buyer is automatically sent a message along with their purchase confirmation and when to expect its arrival. This message is pre-formatted by me on the Etsy platform, thanking them for their purchase and informing them that if I have any questions about their personalization or mailing address I will contact them within a few hours. It gives a production time estimate and lets them know to expect a “Sneak Peek” when it is ready. I also give them an hour to cancel, in case they change their mind.
I regularly check my emails for sale notifications. Many often come in while I'm in my workshop. If it is a quick order and I am caught up with others, I may do it right away to ship the next day. Hence the short cancellation policy.
Once the day's custom orders are completed in my workshop, they are transported to my office via my “briefcase” [see photo below]. There, they get photographed and uploaded to my computer. I rename the photo according to the name on the piece(s) and store them on my desktop computer, organized in albums by woods with subsets of different products in that wood. I send “Sneak Peeks” out via Etsy messages and also post them on every Friday’s Newsletter blog. My Facebook page for my friends and followers also to see what I’ve been up to.
Packing and shipping are done the following morning, usually started as the coffee takes effect and my brain realizes what is expected of it. Don’t forget the Ready-Mades. Since they are not at the forefront of your focus, they can easily be misremembered. I am usually done and on my 17 Step Commute to the workshop by 8:00 or 9:00 am.
I archive Etsy sales email notifications to backup Etsy’s reliable records. Message email notifications are deleted once answered, to avoid any file clutter.
I do not hound buyers for reviews after they receive their order. I think it is annoying and spammy. Venues like Etsy, Amazon, and eBay will send reminders for reviews. Usually 1 in 5 customers will leave a review. If you are running a website that you have built, set your automatic mailing platform to gently remind them once after a reasonable period of time.
Overall, working for yourself, time continues ticking along but changes. You want more of it, as opposed to working for someone else, where you just want it to be over with.
If you are enjoying what you see… I like it hot and black. 😉
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Just love reading your blog. I don’t have a business but I always get a good idea by reading it. Love ya, Mom😍