I'm not sure what my next steps are... I've been in business for 3 months in this small town, there is only the grocery store and 1 local bakery that does cakes other than me.
I thought more people would show interest in my products, but i'm not finding that at all. I'm not sure if everyone is getting boring "everyday type birthday cakes" from the bakery or from the grocery store, but they sure aren't ordering from me.
I did an advertise ment in the paper before christmas, got 1 order. I tell everyone I meet what I do, I've been in the local paper for a huge cake I donated. People know I exsist.... I have artifical cakes displayed in one of the down town busniesses. I've given away numerous samples you well known people around here. What else can I do???!!!??? I offer regular flavors as well as "not so common flavors".
I get no feed back on the few cakes I have done. I don't get it!!!!! what is wrong with these people??? please offer me some advice. I understand that its january, and it can some times be slow, but!! i'm not getting any bites.
Also understand I am a home based business....
thanks for listening
I think it sounds like you're really trying to get your name out there, and it sounds like you're doing all the right things... I have no other suggestions on what you could do.
In terms of getting feedback from your orders, when people come to pick up their cakes, make sure that you say to them "I'd love to get your thoughts on the cake, so please drop me a line (email, phone, whatever) and let me know how you liked everything". You could also include a little comment card with each cake so that they could email or call you to let you know what they thought.
Unfortunately, I think a lot of people subscribe to the Doctors office motto: No news is good news. So if they have negative feedback, you'll hear about it, but if everything is fine, you won't. It sucks, but just make sure your customers know how much you value their input!
Hello! Have you tried putting some cakes on ebay, I dont know what country your from but cakes do really well on ebay in the uk. Have you looked in to getting a web site. Maybe you should look beyond your town for the custom. Good luck and I hope things pick up, Lexy
You are doing everything right! It seems to me you probably answered your own question in your opening sentence.
I'm not sure what my next steps are... I've been in business for 3 months in this small town,
You may have not given it enough time i.e. 3 months or your town is too small for the three of you..........
Try not to get disheartened, if I were you, I would keep plugging away because business always seems to pick-up around March and winter is always a hard time to start a business.
i dont have a business, so i dont have advice on busy times etc...but at least the encouraging part is that you are not paying the overhead expenses (rent, utilities etc) of a store front.
dont beat yourself up over it, starting a successful business takes time i am sure.
I am a member of a local "mommie" board. It's similar to CC, but all about kids, moms, life, etc. I get nearly all of my business from that board whether it be actual members or referrals from members. If you would like me to I can see if your area has a local "mommie" group. They have a lot of chapters. Let me know if you want me to look into it for you. Every mom has a kid with a birthday!
Do you do wedding cakes? Try to get in at a bridal fair. It seems to be getting to that time of year. : )
Good luck to you,
You know, I posted a reply to this once, but can't find it. I will post it again.
Maybe your not doing anything wrong. Small town business is usually based on trust, and that must be earned. Sometimes that takes longer than 3 months to attain. Patience may be your best bet. Just keep getting yourself out there, making sure it is all positive. That is all you can do until you build that trust small town people demand. City slickers don"t have the problem of trust, they just look at prices vs what they are getting for the price!!
Word of mouth is your best bet but this takes time and lots of effort!
Assuming you are licensed or "legal":
-Join the Chamber of commerce. Mine sends out email ads/coupons bi-monthly to every member (free listings). They give flyers to new residents. They hold fund raisers and banquets which I always donate a door prize for. They have me listed on their website and recommend me to people who ask.
-Offer a discount this month or something special for valentines day delivered.
-Participate in or organize a Bridal Fair
-Donate cakes to all fundraisers (Not too elaborate)
-Make a website with LOTS OF PHOTOS
-Make flyers or samples and distribute to large businesses for retirements and birthdays
-Always have business cards and a small photo album in your purse. Leave cards everywhere and on all bulletin boards.
-Take samples to your hairdresser (often)! They know what everyone is up to and can recommend your services.
-Take free goodies to parties you attend
-Send samples/flyers/cards to work with your significant other or neighbor or friend.
-Place a Yellow Pages Ad
-Add your business to all the "wedding planning" websites you can find.
-Approach businesses that give children's parties or offer party services yourself.
-Team up with a caterer who doesn't do cakes.
-Send info and samples to wedding planners & florists
-Find FREE advertising opportunities. Be creative.
-Post some pictures for us to see! Maybe we can help.
Above all----be patient. This is going to take some time!
Small towns are tough nuts to crack. Everyone knows everyone and their business. Most small towns still have what I call old money. It is almost like they deliberately snub the new guy. Its like they do not want any growth or new folks to come in and run their town. To have 3 places that do cakes is tough, but not impossible. Find you some of those old biddies around town and get in with them, maybe their groups might be The Hat and Glove Society, The Lions Club, The garden club, The senior citizen center, etc........join one of them that has the largest amount of oldies with clout. Go to the City Hall and talk to the City Secretary, they are usually the biggest nosy buddies in town, they can tell you just about anything about anybody. Most of the time, the water, fire, police and chamber are all together. Once you get in, on an occassion where everyone must make a dish, fix a dynamic cake, one of those biddies will surely ask about it, once they try it, you just might win to the other side, and that should be in your favor, then perhaps you have been accepted in the group of snubbies and gained there trust. You may just see a difference little by little.
I get feedback by taking a professional looking photo of the cake and emailing it to the slient several days after they've picked the cake up. I always say something lilke 'I know how hard it can be to get a good picture so I've attached this one that I thought you might like. I hope everyone enjoyed the cake!' So I'm not being pushy but generally they drop a quick reply saying something positive about the cake that I can add to my web-site.
Have you got a web-site? I strongly recommend getting one then people can browse your designs and prices before contacting you - it does bring in orders. In fact 80% of my orders come from people having seen my web-site.
Sounds like there might be customer loyalty issues at play here. Since you're new in town (are you new in town or just new with selling cakes?) and breaking into this market, you're basically trying to lure away customers from the only other bakery in town. I agree that you need to get involved in the local social groups so that you can be "accepted." Once you're in the "in-crowd", you'll get orders left and right.
I would say that being in business for 3 months is the issue. thats not long enough to expect huge amounts of orders yet. it takes time. also, people have always ordered cake from the grocery store, so you have to "train" them to do something different. I would do as suggested above and get "in" with the towns people.
most important, remember that it takes time to build a business.
It took me nearly 18 months to build up any kind of real business, and all it took in the end was some well placed flyers in the local expat schools. I went from maybe 1-2 orders a month maximum to 2-3 orders a week minimum virtually overnight! This weekend I have 5 orders (including a grand total of 97 cupcakes!). I will have made this month alone what I earned in 7 months last year! Think about where your target audience is and where you can put up flyers that they can see - it worked for me!
Jenn123 had some excellent ideas.
A couple more ideas:
Take sample cakes into the schools (teacher's Lounge - not classrooms)
the local car dealership - offer a discount/promotion for Valentine's day for the hubbies to take to their wives.
Donate a couple to your local church. (I've gotten several orders this way)
Girl Scouts? Offer to teach the girls some basic stuff. Send them home with flyers. I'm sure there's some badge activity that will fit that bill.
The key is to donate your stuff, get your husband to take one to his office if he has one.
Drop off at the local factories at lunch time.
How about the hospital, for the nurses?
Explain you're a new business, that you're offering samples with the hope of future orders and you hope they enoy them. THEN LEAVE. Leave a few flyers or just a few business cards. It's called planting seeds... slow going but it'll pick up.
You could also hook up with your local golf course or fishing camp (dunno where you are, trying to remember my small town roots here) and see if they have events coming up that require a cake. It's worth some digging.
Good luck!
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