I haven’t blogged in a while so I needed to get in to the right mindset and prepare myself. To stay with me you may want to listen to this little diddy, and grab a pen and paper. (Just kidding, there won’t be anything you need to remember.)
Every day we get at least one person who wants 1 or 2 shirts just to see if they can get enough interest to encourage them to buy more. Even a 12 shirt order is very tempting to try to place if you aren’t sure how popular the shirts are going to be. Invariably, this ends up with the customer getting turned off when they see the price tag of a super small quantity and either don’t place the order, or order it from a direct to garment printer and get a shirt that isn’t the same quality of screen printing. Given the nature of our business, I don’t get a chance to follow up with every customer who originally wanted under 36 shirts, but I would guess that if their goal was to sell these shirts, that most of them didn’t make enough money to continue this particular dream. But hey, don’t take my word for it, let’s do the math.
Let’s take a basic white print on a Black Next Level Tee.
Example 1 – 10 Shirts:
So for ten shirts, you’re paying $4.84 for the blank shirt + $4.33 a piece if you want a white print and a white base coat, plus $20 for each screen since you are doing under 24 pieces. That comes out to $111.70 for 10 pieces
Example 2 – 36 pieces:
But for 36 shirts, you’re paying $4.84 for the blank shirt + $2.20 a piece because you hit a lower price bracket, plus no pesky set up fees! And while the cost is higher at $253.44, you get almost 4 times the amount of product to sell!
In example one, If you sell the shirts for $20, you need to sell 6 shirts in order to make your money back, and in example two you would need to sell 13 shirts to make your money back. At first glance, example one seems to make more sense, but think about the pieces you have left after you’ve made your money back. In example one, you will have 4 shirts left over. That will make you $80 which won’t even cover another design.
In example 2, you will have 23 extra shirts which will make you $460 to play with. So, if you sell 36 shirts, you will have enough to buy 36 more in a second design, and STILL pay yourself $206.56!
Ok cool, I get it – so how do I know which design to order?
Ask yourself these questions:
- Is your design awesome?
- Is your design an inside joke only you and a few friends understand or is it something that appeals to people who have never met you?
- Is it in reference to something that is going to fade out in popularity super quickly?*
- Will people spend their money on it?**
If your design is awesome, current, and you think people will spend their money on it, next up is execution.
I have these shirts, now what?
Social media! Get the shirts out there in front of as many people as possible. Facebook ads, Google ads, buy one for your friend who has a billion friends – but only give them away if it really makes sense. You remember how many you need to sell to make your money back, right?
Boutiques! Walk in to a bunch of shops that sell shirts that look like yours. If you have your shirts on you, tell them who you are and what your shirts are about and ask them if they have time to talk to you. If they do, awesome! If they don’t, ask them for a better time and then come back. If they don’t want to talk to you, don’t worry about it. A lot of people won’t want to talk to you, and when you are super successful, you are going to be the same way, just remember your roots.
Online Shops! Feel free to email shops or shoot them a message on Facebook. Just make sure you sound professional and that you are double checking everything you write.
Starting your own online store! Check out Squarespace. They make starting a website super easy. They will host your domain and you can easily build a site through them. Though I always highly recommend researching a ton of options before you go forward with any one option.
Remember, there are no miracle cures or instant success guarantees, but if you go about it the right way, you can maximize your potential.
Suggested Reading: https://www.amazon.com/High-Probability-Selling-ebook/dp/B0052MMX1A
*This isn’t a problem once you have reach and you can sell a lot at one time, but if you are going to hold inventory this might cause you to have some dead stock.
**Don’t ask your mom, sister, friend, aunt, or someone who likes you. Ask a stranger. See if you can sell one to someone who shits on all of your ideas. If you can, you have a keeper.