The BEST SL business advice ever...

[Pamela Galli]

http://bit.ly/gkgnMe

Not what you usually hear. (And I did not write it.)

[Irene Muni]

Usually all this guides forgive something as simple as: "Translate into another languages your notecards and description in Marketoplace".

[KeeperS Karu]

After reading it through, I think I have to agree. It's all very simple advice, but nicely sound.

[WeeWillian Wylie]

A lot of it is good sound advice...the only areas I disagree with is freebies and Grid Wide Hunts... On freebies : it's absolutely the best way to promote the quality of your work...especially at fashion events and fairs. Those are an absolute mess to navigate around. At best folks are going to get in grab a few freebies or immediate to landing items and leave. The thing they got is your freebie...is it a good representation of your work? Does it include an LM to your store where I can browse similar products and an lm to your location at the event so I can use my beacon to find your shop there(if there are special only event items you sell..). Is it easy to wear without a lot of editing? My regular stores I shop at I found through their freebies (or hunts) and I'm still loyal to them.

As to grid wide hunts...yes we come in find the object and get out. We are on a hunt after all...but it doesn't end there. I go through every single folder after the hunt and try on everything. From here on out it is the same as a freebie-quality...lm...ease of use. I and many of the people I know do go back after the hunt and shop.

I know this isn't the accepted view of hunts and freebies...but trust me..I have spent $1,000's USD on clothes hairs and skins and accessories. You want me to find you...

 

                                     

 

 

[Luna Bliss]

Suella...Pamela..that website link you posted (with the pie showing the reason most businesses fail is because their stuff is cr*p) is mean and untrue.
I know lots of creators who make fantastic stuff but have no marketing skills and their stuff doesn't sell very well...their stuff IS NOT cr*p.
I'm not sure how big that category should be (let's call in content that is not so high in quality rather than fellow merchangs who make stuff that is cr*p)...but I would venture it should be 1/3, and that marketing should be another 1/3, and that the final third should be a stagnate SL that doesn't bring in enough customers and causes excessive competition.

[Alaska Metropolitan]

Ooh! One of my (ancient) blog posts was linked from that article

Note the date on this, though. It's pre-recession, so I think the economy is a much greator factor than when the post was written.

WeeWillie is the type of shopper that creators would like to attract by participating in hunts or offering a gift. Unfortunately, 99.9% of the freebie hunters out there are really just going to grab your item, dash, and never return. It's a culture centered around not paying for things, after all.

A better idea might be to use free incentives to reward loyal customers or followers... e.g. send a free gift out via subscribe-o-matic, or a points system to put towards a free purchase, or discount sale shopping events (this is a common First Life incentive: the "launch" of a line, they'll invite customers for a special preview event with XX% off.) These also have the advantage of making the customer feel special or rewarded! (Only 30 people in world have the beige "January" version of my Persephone shoe, because that's the number of names on my mailing list. That's a pretty exclusive freebie!)

[Pamela Galli]

@ Luna -- did you read the article Luna?   Right under the graph it says:

"The graph may have been intended as a parody, but it’s still not that far off from the truth. You can hype the hell out of your product, get people through the doors in droves, but if your product isn’t good it won’t stay."

 

It is making a point by being funny. No one has taken an actual survey of ppl's failing businesses to see if their stuff is crap or not.

[Pamela Galli]

@ Alaska -- 100% of my discounts and freebies are for my group (but they do have to come to the store to pick them up).  Here is a secret you probably already know very well (but don't tell anyone else): if you take really good care of your customers, they tell and bring others! Word of mouth is still king, rl or sl.

[Xzarina Demina]

hmmm...what do people consider as crap?
I do actually think that is very different from who you are.

As a newbie you would never know what is crap and what isnt.
As new you think everything is cool.
When you grow older in sl you start to be able to see the difference of the merchandise around.
And when you start to be able to make your own stuff you most certainly see the difference around.
But it takes time to grow in experience.
Thats why i think that even the merchants that makes "crap" can sell today. Maybe only to new people, but no matter what they wouldnt pay rent for a shop if they didnt sell.
 
The quality of your own making is also getting better and better the more you practise.
That is ofcourse a very importent factor, but would you try to get to be better if your "crap" stuff hasnt sold?
I dont think so. That is what motivates us.
Remember how happy you were when you sold your first thing. That might have been awful to look at today, but then it had a wow-factor that made someone buy it. And you got motivated to make more stuff and even tried to make it better along the road of your experience.

What you learn during time is that nothing is certain. YOu can not expect to sell for the same amount every day, but when you are in the fase where everything just go up and up its like the greatest boostfactor you can get.

Today i find it hard to go shopping. I do it only when i am too lazy to make anything myself, or if it is dresses. (I have too little patience to make cloth.)
I know how to script, to sculpt to make textures, so its getting harder and harder to find something where i can say "wow thats cool", because i will always think of that i could make it myself better (even if i couldnt...lol)
BUT...i would never call anyone elses products for crap just because of that.

If we should look for a more suitable word for "crab" i would suggest that using "Primitive" would be much better.
That is harder to bash people by saying they make primitive stuff because they would probably just take it as a indication of that they needed to practise some more, which is a far more gently way to put it.
And hey...some people like primitive stuff.

And that concludes my thought of this issue :smileyhappy:

[Pamela Galli]

As stated, it was supposed to be a funny way to make this point: If your stuff is not selling, the first thing to consider is the quality of the merchandise, because all the other stuff is fluff.

And no one is calling "other peoples" stuff crap. I have been creating things for over three years. If I do not look at my things critically and notice that they have indeed become dated (ie crap) over time, then I will not update them, and then my store will be full of crap. MY stuff. I am not concerned with other ppl's stuff or why other ppl are not selling, and I doubt anyone else is either. 

The advice is the best I have seen. Take it or leave it.

 

 

[Anna1 String]

errrgh yes i have...

crap lol

sorry pamela

and thank you darrius, can you delte your response to mine, so i can delete mine please?

[Darrius Gothly]

Done .. and thank you. *hugz*

[Anna1 String]

thankin you too

[Darrius Gothly]

/me passes around a full bag of Hershey's Kisses .. 

Huh? What? I didn't see a thing. *wink*

[Anna1 String]

lol .. and me neither, what are you talking about anyway!!

;p

oh and i'll put my hershy under my pillow (well, it's really bad chocolate lol), maybe it turns into a good review by tomorrow morning

good night

[Darrius Gothly]

/me sneaks into the bedroom in the middle of the night .. fishes out the slightly melted Hershey's Kiss .. and replaces it with a large-sized Cadbury's Truffle ... 

[Rya Nitely]

In the days when I was a more active customer than merchant I never looked at advertising. I found high quality things through word of mouth. I asked my friends and they passed me LMs. It was a regular part of discussions with friends to ask 'Where did you buy that...?' or 'Where can I find good...?'. Or otherwise I saw something I liked and clicked on it to find the creator. 

So my view is and always has been that high quality stuff will sell with or without advertising. And how does it get a kick start? It just does, because customers have a way of sniffing out good stuff. And when enough of the item has sold then the self advertising and word of mouth takes off.

Oh, and yes I agree with the article.

Note to self: Must reluctantly reconsider that group thingy (still don't have one).

[Luna Bliss]

Pamela wrote:

"@ Luna -- did you read the article Luna?   Right under the graph it says:

"The graph may have been intended as a parody, but it’s still not that far off from the truth. You can hype the hell out of your product, get people through the doors in droves, but if your product isn’t good it won’t stay."
 
It is making a point by being funny. No one has taken an actual survey of ppl's failing businesses to see if their stuff is crap or not.
______________________________________

@Pamela
Yes I did read the article, and yes I understand parody, and yes the author of this article has many points I agree with, but I'm afraid I'm having trouble with the huge pie statistic that says if a business is not succeeding then it's most likely because their stuff is cr*p - somehow that makes me not want to hear what else she has to say..

Please take into account that although she explains this graph portraying how content creators creations are cr*p is a parody, she also states 'but it's still not that far off from the truth".  In other words, she believes it's true - that creators businesses are failing primarily because their stuff is cr*p.

Because of this, I don't feel it's a good article to link off to, or at least if one does a disclaimer would be nice. It's very hard for businesses in SL right now - most are struggling and hurting bad, being hit from all sides. I'm watching talented creators drop like flies, and most days I feel I'm barely hanging on by the skin of my teeth - nobody needs to log into the forums and read such untrue and blaming "help" (even if it has some truthful and informative tips within it). 
Furthermore new creators don't need to think that their creations are bad because nobody buys them. There are so many factors stacked up against succeeding financially now, and this woman with her pie chart is .....not a good teacher.

I realize that you and Suella had good intentions though. And I really don't care about discussing anymore about whether this was or was not a good article - I just want businesses who are trying to succeed in SL these days to know that if their business is failing it is not 95 percent certain that the reason is because their work is cr*p.

[Pamela Galli]

@ Darrius -- oh I get it, she thought I wrote the article linked! Wondered which Pamela she was replying to.

 

@ Luna --   will just post Suella's reply on the other thread, she explains it so well:

 

 

"That  graph is one small part of a huge set of articles which include many excellent tips for marketing, and the author even points out that it is a paradoy, but she used it to highlight a point. An important point - always look at the quality of your items first. It's also probably true that a substantial proportion of businesses fail becuase of the quality of their prodcts (by no means all, but a good proportion). That's not meant to be mean. It's meant to make people stop and think about their products before they blindly plough all their money into marketing.

There are, of course, some great creators out there who make great products but struggle with marketing, and they would definitely benefit from reading those articles too in my opinion. I'd like to think that, because they do make great products, they'd have the good sense to recognise the point about looking at quality first and agreeing with it. They would then go on to read all the other great advise about marketing.

Of course, it's entirely up to the reader if they study and take heed of those articles or not. Some will probably disagree with some or all of it, as is their prerogative. I'm still more than happy to point people at those articles if they want marketing advice though and let them make up their own minds. **Only uploaded images may be used in postings**://secondlife.i.lithium.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif" border="0" alt=":smileyhappy:" title="Smiley Happy" />"

 

[Darrius Gothly]

One thing that bears repeating though .. is that the "stuff" that should be high quality is not just the items in the box. It also includes the way you present yourself, how you handle customer service issues, the tone and tenor of your marketing, the attitude you express in ways not directly related to your business. In short the whole of your business is the "Product". You can make the very best thing in all of SL, but if you routinely insult customers, don't answer IMs or notecards, and generally come off with an attitude that others find intolerable, the quality of your "Product" is going to suffer.

(And no, that's not aimed at anyone .. just my two cents on the issues being discussed)

[Pamela Galli]

Absolutely!  As the article says:

Customer Service

This one thing is priceless. If your customer(s) have a problem, make it right. Replace broken items, represent your product honestly, don’t gouge, make it easy for customers to contact you. It’s an old saying but it’s very true: take care of your customers, and they’ll take care of you. There really is no promotional tool quite like a solid reputation.

So if you can get people through your doors, offer a quality product that’s well presented, and keep your customers happy, you’ll be on your way to more Ls coming in for your shop.

[Luna Bliss]

It's a mystery in many cases why some businesses succeed here and others fail. There are so many actions we can do to increase our chances (be the best we can be as well as the 6 other factors described in the cr*p article). However we can't control everything, and many things remain a mystery. I have often wondered why many people so much better than me in nature design have fallen and why I keep sailing on. And I have wondered why those as good or better in structural design compared to Pamela have fallen. I can only conclude there are some unknown factors and many things we can't control.

I write this not to discourage people from trying - there's a good chance if you're failing it's because you haven't worked hard enough to make your content great, or that you haven't marketed effectively or followed other important business practices. It's just good to keep in mind there are some variables out of our control, and to keep in mind that you can be the best content creator SL has ever known and follow great business practices but still fail (and it does not mean your stuff is cr*p as the cr*p articles advocates).

_________________________________________________________________

Factors enabling success or inhibiting it that are out of our control (or in some cases we have minimal control over them):

You are lucky enough to love creating and sell a type of content favored at a particular time.
You are lucky enough to meet people who mentor you and give you an advantage as you develop your skills.
People in management positions within SL give you an advantage, favor you in some way.
A stranger comes along and fancies your stuff, places a lot of it in prominant positions, thereby snowballing your career.
What you love to do is not really understood or valued by others (thinking of someone who paints plants that the masses don't appreciate enough).

You were born with a certain kind of temperament, for example sensitivity, that enables you to see what people/customers want easier than those of a less sensitive nature.
You had some sort of training or life experiences that gives you an advantage before you came to SL (training in psychology and landscaping for me, training in art for others).
The ability to be organized and work very long hours.
A strong need to succeed (for me, I better succeed cause I quit my day job and can't go back to it).

The total takeover of the freebie mentality - this could become so much the norm that people will not pay for expensive content.
Merchants imitating and undercutting the price of your content - forcing you to lower prices so much that your business fails (well unless you feel ok about making 2 cents an hour).
The eternal mystery of Search.
So much more that I haven't thought of.

[Rya Nitely]

Luna, I found myself in at least 2 or 3 of the factors you listed. I am happy with the success of my brand, and I attribute it to this -

I see things from a customer's perspective - I was a resident and customer in SL for a long time before I started creating. The money I spent in SL quickly excalated to over $US300 a month. It was when Homestead tier skyrocketed and the Australian dollar was falling rapidly that I started worrying about how I was going to survive. I remember how this felt, and so I have often put the customer before profit. Many times I've sold something to a newbie for what he could afford to spend. I have a genuine compassion for the customer, because I vividly remember being one.

My items are unique - My partner and I started out building old weathered sailable boats with peeling paint and with the most realistic look possible. This idea came because it was something I wanted and couldn't find anywhere in SL. I was fortunate to have a partner with great scripting skills and who also loved creating as much as I did. From weathered boats it led to offsims - again I recognised what people might like. My offsims took off very quickly because they were more than just the usual reefs. I recently started creating sculpted plants - here I use real life photos as a starting texture because I aim for the most realistic look possible. Before I put a plant out for sale I must like it more than the ones I've bought, because the only way to compete is if others also like it more. To attain uniqueness we make our own textures, sculpts and scripts, and for me this often means spending several days in blender or photoshop to create one sculpty or texture.

Sell low prim items by using sculpted parts - I recently went through all my items and, where possible, I replaced standard prims with sculpted parts, hence reducing prim count by more than half. This immediately gave a significant boost to sales, especially with my old rustic furniture. Every builder should have at least basic sculpting skills and work at becoming proficient.

When an opportunity to promote my brand is offered, I take it

I love creating

I have a partner whose creative skills perfectly compliment mine

Customer Service - I won't talk about customer service as this really should be obvious, and anyone who needs to be told about customer service shouldn't be trying to run a business.

[Jarnz Dench]

I'll add something about customer service, we always go to the customer after the first round of support or they ask for help setting up. The customers love it, seeing one or both of us turn up to troubleshoot the problem instead of asking for more information in IM, plus it gives me a chance to check region settings since they often cause issues with our boats.

[Relm Foxdale]

We all have varying degrees of control over what happens to our sales. We can control quality, promotions, and customer service. We have much less control over things like the SLM or whether anyone's buying anything at all (like in a recession or low concurrency).

There'salso the issue of competition. We've all heard people complain that their sales are bad, and it turns out they're selling skimpy outfits or some other thing that a million other people make, and they're all pretty similar. In a case like that, you have to try all the harder to get those sales. If you do what I do, well...you may get sales or not, but the competition issue is minimal.

IMHO, the most important thing is that you like what you do. In the end of the day, you'll always have that, whatever else happens (good or bad). And while there's an argument that you should find out what your customers want and make it, I'd also argue that it'd suck to be constantly chasing the latest fads and whims. My attitude from day one has been something like, "I'm just going to make whatever the hell I want, and I'll put it out there in case someone else wants it." I started a store for the plain and simple reason that I wanted one, nothing more profound than that. And if what I do makes someone else happy, too, bonus.