How to start, launch and scale your product business – with Nicole Higgins – The Retail Coach

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:08

Welcome to the Bring Your Product Ideas To Life Podcast, practical advice, and inspiration to help you create and sell your own physical products. Here's your host Vicki Weinberg. Hello, today I'm talking to Nicole Higgins, The Buyer and Retail Coach. Nicole has worked as a buyer and head of buying for over 18 years for retailers, such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and George at Asda gaining experience in buying product development, strategy and leadership, and global sourcing. In 2020, she established The Buyer and Retail Coach. It helps more businesses start and scale their product business, and increase their sales and profits. Um, this was a fantastic, really interesting conversation I had with Nicole. We cover a lot of topics and I genuinely think there's going to be something here for everyone. So, hi, Nicole. Thank you so much for being here.

Nicole Higgins: 00:00:56

Thank you very much for having me. I'm excited today to chat to you.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:59

Me too. So can we start by you, please giving an introduction to yourself, your business and what you do?

Nicole Higgins: 00:01:05

Yeah. So my name is Nicole Higgins and you'll find me on Instagram and my website as The Buyer and Retail Coach. So what I do is I help, um, I do a variety of things, but the main thing I would be known for and what I promote socially, um, on social media and stuff is I help entrepreneurs start and scale their product businesses. So if you have an idea and you don't know where to start and you want to get going, I help you with that. If you have a product business already and you maybe want to grow it, or you might be stuck and you need to get more clarity of how you can make more income, I can help with that as well. And I also help corporates on projects, and I also teach buying merchandising aswell.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:01:45

Amazing you do.

Nicole Higgins: 00:01:45

And my experience. So I was just saying, in terms of, from an experience, point of view, how I came to, to this is I have, um, 18 years experience working as a buyer and head of buying for companies like Primark, Marks and Spencers, Debenhams. So within that role, I would have been doing a lot of product development, sourcing from different countries, doing strategies for departments, introducing new departments, uh, across a variety of multi products from health and beauty to lingerie, to footwear and accessories and homewear

Vicki Weinberg: 00:02:17

Amazing. Thank you. So clearly you've got loads of experience working with these huge brands.

Nicole Higgins: 00:02:22

Yeah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:02:23

Um, so, and I know this is probably a big question, but let's just jump in Nicole. Um, is there anything that you learned from working with these big brands that you think small brands could also apply?

Nicole Higgins: 00:02:33

I think, you know, not everything is going to work. You're going to make mistakes, products, some products are going to fail. You're going, you know, some things aren't going turn up, a supplier's going to let you down. But generally from a product point of view, if something doesn't work, just it's that fail fast and move on, you know, because the, the sooner you can kind of get yourself out of the problem, find a solution and move on, you can start taking more cash again and get money into the business. So that's one thing I would say um, that a lot of bigger companies do is, is, and also within that they, they review why it didn't work or what happened so that they, that those mistakes aren't made again. Um, making sure that you're looking at the numbers, if you don't understand the data in your numbers, then you don't know where you can, where you're potentially losing money or where you could make more money or where you could be more effective. Um, so there, I would say in terms of, obviously there's, there's lots of, um, of areas, I think also really understanding your customer because, and I'll touch on this as well I'm sure as we go along, um, but without your customer, you don't have any business. So, you know, I've worked for, I worked for a retailer and in their head, they, they wanted to change their customer profile. They wanted to attract a younger customer, but they'd started then to ignore the existing, older customer that they had. And they weren't bringing them on the journey with them of why they were changing things or what they were doing. So they started to lose older customers and their, you know, their profit started to decline, sales started to decline. So, you know, really understanding who your customer is and taking them on that journey and making sure you are giving them products that they want and need, you know, and I know that sounds so obvious, but it's just really crucial to get that money in the, in the term.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:04:13

Yeah. Thank you. So something that just occurred to me while you were speaking, Nicole, is it often when small businesses start out, they like have sometimes they have a big brand in mind that they aspire to be like mm-hmm Um, but I'm thinking that actually there's probably some advantages to being a small business. If you see what I mean. Um, what, what do you think, do you think there are some advantages to being small?

Nicole Higgins: 00:04:39

I think as a small business, you can really get to know your customer and they really want to engage with you because especially if you are the face of your brand or you're, you're very kind of visible on socials, they get to know you and they want to get to know what's going on behind the scenes. So I think that engagement piece with a customer is, um, obviously really important and, and key if you're a small business and when you're a small business in terms of advantages as well, you can start, you know, you can start lean, you don't have to have bricks and mortar. You don't have to have a full team of people. There's a lot of things that you can do yourself or outsource to, um, to start your business. You know, you've got people that like Adam, uh, Frisby from In The Style, he started his business with a thousand pounds, you know, and they're now on the, you know, on they've now floated, I think they're worth about a £104 million or that's what they floated for. I think when they that's what they were valued at when they first floated. So you don't have to have a, a huge budget and you can test, I mean, big businesses also do this as well, but you know, you can test learn, and then. So from a product point of view, you can test what works, get back into it. Um, and that's also what bigger businesses do as well. But I think really being close to your customer, um, you can be leaner. You can outsource, um, things as and when you need to and be a bit more ad hoc with that, especially if you're starting on, if you're starting out yourself, you know. A lot of people try and do everything themselves because they're very conscious of budget, but then you get to a point of where is your time best spent and can someone do this quicker and possibly better that I can pay, which then frees up my time to focus on, you know, strategy, product, meeting new brands, sourcing new brands, dealing with that supplier issue might that you might be the only person that can deal with it.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:06:29

That makes sense. Thank you. I know that wasn't the question we prepared, but when we were talking about big brands and what, you know, we, as small businesses can learn from them, I thought actually we should actually highlight the fact that sometimes being a small brand does have its advantages. And when you were talking, I was thinking that I could think of so many examples of brands where the founders have done such a good job of being the face of the brand on their, on social media. And as you say, you actually sort of invest in them because you genuinely are interested in that person. Um, so let's start. Because I, you know, I've only got you for limited amount of time. I'd love to get as much advice as possible.

Nicole Higgins: 00:07:02

Please. So if I start talking too quickly. You'll have to give me time, like slow down.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:07:09

So I would love to have your advice on, I'm going to start right from the beginning here. So I'd really love to have some advice from you on, so if you're a new brand and just looking to get started maybe around developing. You know, developing and sourcing a product. Let's talk about that first.

Nicole Higgins: 00:07:26

So first of all, before you start developing your product and sourcing it, you need to understand it's like getting, taking it back to that customer and who your customer is, uh, why you're doing it. Why is your product different to what else is out there on the market? So really understanding your customer. So I'd recommend that you do, um, customer research and someone to follow for this and who gives great tips on this, is a lady called Katie Tucker, who is on Instagram. You can find her at Product Jungle. And, um, but you know, definitely reaching out to your audience and if you're starting out, you're like, 'well, hang on a second. I don't have an audience', but you, you know who your customer is, you know, you know, where they would hang out, what their behaviors are. So you can find groups that they might be in. You can look at places like, um. You can also look on forums and see the kind of conversations that are going on. So you get a bit of an insight into what their main points are, what they're looking at. Also a good tip that someone gave me once is go. So if you're developing a product, say, say it's a self-tanning product and you, you can go on Amazon and have a look at the bad reviews for that product category. And it might be, oh, it, you know, it streaks, it didn't dry, it was tacky, it was, it had a bit of a funny smell. So you know, all these things that you don't want your product to have, and you want to be able to shout about the positives of it rather than those kind of things. So, um, creating a customer questionnaire, doing your market research on that side of things, making sure that you are in a category that is growing then. Potential, um, or that you are offering something that's different to, from either a price or a product or a service or a quality to what's already out there. So I'd really look at the competition and benchmark yourself in terms of where do you fit from a, a brand positioning, you know, what's your pricing going to be? What type of product range do you want to have? So really getting that before you start getting into the nitty gritty of it, having that bird's eye view of your, your product, your business, your customer. Um, so understanding who your target market is, like I said, doing your research on that, knowing where you're positioned in the market from a brand point of view and understanding your, your looking at your branding, your values, your missions, knowing your why. And so there's so much work to do before you start going. Right. Let's find that supplier, you know, there's so much pre-work for you to look at before you dive in and start spending a whole lot of money on samples and time finding supplier, finding the right supplier for you. So once you understand all of that and you know, you've got a minimum viable product, then from a sourcing point of view, it's knowing also what you need, like, what are your non, what won't you compromise on? Is it, does it have to be a certain price? Does it have to be a certain quality? Does it have to be sustainable? You know, kind of understanding those type of things. Um, and then from, do you, do you want to make it in the UK? Do you want to make it in Europe? Are you not really bothered where you make it as long as you get it for the right price to margin and maybe it's sustainable fabrics, but you're open to have it made in any country. Thinking about those kind of things. Obviously when you're starting out, you wanna start small. So from a supply based point of view, you're looking for a supplier that can make smaller quantities, um, and finding your suppliers. There are a couple of places you can find suppliers are LinkedIn, Common Objective is a good one for sustainable suppliers. So LinkedIn, Common Objective, um, even Instagram. Now, if you put in, um, you know, you can put in supply Bulgaria or a swimwear supplier, hashtag swimwear suppliers, a lot more people are using Instagram, and TikTok, actually, as well as search engines. You know.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:11:07

So interesting. I had no idea.

Nicole Higgins: 00:11:09

Yeah. And, um, so people are using that. Because if you think you might have a supplier that's, that's, you know, showing a video of how something's being made or whatever, and then, and tags, you know, footwear manufacturer or whatever it might be in Portugal. Um, so using Instagram and, and TikTok search engines, obviously Google, you can find suppliers on Google, Alibaba, you know, there's quite a few places to find, um, your suppliers. Then you, this is, this might, well, this might be going on and going on here because there is a lot to, to cover, I suppose, from the sourcing point of view, the, the main questions to start that you would want to ask them is what their minimum order quantity is. Um, what their lead time is. So that's the, the lead time of how long it takes them to make the product and what their payment terms are. And they would be the three first questions I would ask. There's there's more to come, but it helps you understand, you know, you know, straight away, if you only want to make 200 units of something. If a supplier's minimum order, quantity is a thousand per colour or per style, then they're not the right supplier for you. So you just, you know, you straight away, you can shut that conversation down. Payment terms should usually be like between 30 and 50% upfront. That's usually what it is. And then you pay the rest when the products are finished and then lead time can vary. Hugely from what the product is, where it's made and, um, you know, how you're, you're bringing it into the country as well. So there are some of, some of the things to think about. And from a sourcing point of view, you know, I would get things cross costed from a couple of different suppliers. Then when you've narrowed it down, have zoom meetings with them because it's about the relationships as well. And, and choosing that, that supplier, you know, if you can go see them, if you're in the same country, I would go and see them. Um, but building those relationships is really key as well.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:01

Thank you so much for all of that. And I, I really liked hearing you talking about the research needed at the outset, because that's something I also talk about a lot that you shouldn't just be going and spending time and money on developing a product before, you know, whether anyone's actually going, whether anyone wants it.

Nicole Higgins: 00:13:18

Yeah. And what's already out there and yeah. How you can be different, you know, is it a need? Is it want, you know, What way you can speak to your customers as well. There's so much to do so much groundwork, but if you do that groundwork at the beginning, it saves you time and money throughout the process then.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:33

Absolutely. Totally agree. I'm also really interested speaking about all the groundwork on your thoughts on pricing. Um, because I've always. My opinion is that, you know, you need to think about the price and where you think about in the market upfront before you start your sourcing. Um, but then you do see a lot of people talking about, and I'm talking about, you know, go and get prices and then work out what you're gonna sell it for based on what you can source it for. Personally I don't think that's the right way about it. I'd love to know your take on that.

Nicole Higgins: 00:14:02

No, no. I agree with you. You should have an idea in mind of where you want your prices, where you want your prices to retail at, regardless of what you've had back from suppliers yet, you should understand, right, for this product, for this quality I want it to be, um, a hundred pounds, you know, and you get, you might get your price back and you might make 80% margin, a hundred pounds, but it's still worth a hundred pounds based on your brand positioning where the gap in the market is and whatever it might be. Don't, you wouldn't bring it down just to say, oh, I make, I'll make a lower margin at 70 because, oh, is that too much? Or, you know, and I remember a client I had. She did change it after our conversation, but you know, she, she was doing some candles and she's like, okay, I've, you know, it's, it's at 12, let's say it was at 12 pounds. And I said, right, well, look at the rest of the market. You're underselling yourself by about a fiver. You want to be in these type of retailers, that product at that price is too cheap for those type of retailers. They'll think you're not on their level where, but she was like, oh, I just, I was making healthy margin at this price. And I was like, yeah, but it's not, it's not always about that. You know, you can make more if you want, you know, you can make more from a proper point of view, but yes, I would always agree, look at where you should be positioned first and then work it back to, you know. Sorry, look at where, look at where you need to be from a price point of view, rather than getting your cost prices. And then just multiplying it out to where, because, you know, generally you might, you might make mistakes there.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:30

Absolutely. Because I've also seen it in a few instances happen the other way, where somebody has got the price and they've gone 'okay, so what basic, what I'm trying to say is they've overpriced their product based on the production price, because they've gone 'oh, the only way I can make a profit is if I price this at 25 pounds', but everyone else is pricing theirs at 16. Yeah. Um, and then they wonder why then maybe not, they're not, they're not selling, getting any sales, um, so yeah, I mean, so. So there will be, if that's the case, then possibly you need to look at changing something, at your product, looking at different countries for suppliers or changing something, or maybe going actually, this just isn't what I want actually isn't profitable, but I certainly wouldn't advise, setting a higher price than the market, you know, the suitable in the market, just because that's the price it's gonna cost you to make it.

Nicole Higgins: 00:16:18

Absolutely. And I think that's why, when you're looking for your supply base at the beginning, understanding, and you don't need to share it with your supplier. If you don't wanna to share what kind of, um, cost price you need at the beginning, because you wanna wait and see what they come back with. But, um, you know, understanding then, right well, if they give me a price of this, this means that it would have to be that co that retail that's too much, or yes, I can work with it. It's very much once, you know, kind of where you want to position your products from a price point of view. It also helps with that when you're sourcing with the suppliers, because you know, you know who you can, who you can work with and who you can't. You know, there's no point if you want a product based for, you know, those kind of retails at Zara's prices. You're not going to be the same, going to the same suppliers that use Gucci that you know, that Gucci uses, you know. It's just. It makes it just makes sense.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:09

Thank you. So let's move on a bit and talk about actually launching a product. Um, what's your best advice for how to have a successful product launch?

Nicole Higgins: 00:17:18

Start engaging with your customers as soon as you can. So once you've got your brand and you feel comfortable with your tone of voice and, and what that might be, bring them on the journey. So you may, and you don't need, I'm not talking about talk posting every day, but bring them on the journey with you in terms of what you're doing. So you might be thinking, well, I haven't even got any product to show them, what am I, you know, what am I gonna be talking about? But you can bring them on the journey. You can bring them in the decisions. And when you think, when you do that initial customer research, you'll know what they're also interested in. So you, you might not, you know, you don't have to always just talk about your product. It's other things that they might be interested in. I once. I interviewed for, uh, my own podcast Start Scale Succeed. Um, the two founders of an under a sustainable underwear brand called Pantee. And they were communicating with their, with their customers and set up their socials about a year before they launched. They didn't intend it to be a year, but with supply issues and whatever it might be to be a year, but they then did the kickstart to campaign and those customers that they had engaged with those people and so, and followers and social media, they'd engaged with they, they funded their Kickstarter campaign. So without doing that engagement piece and starting their social media accounts, um, you know, they wouldn't have had that funding. So what I would definitely say is don't turn up and go, yeah, I'm here. You have to put groundwork in and don't expect people to be flooding to your website. You have to put the groundwork in at, you know, I would say minimum three months, really, if you can, but, but further ahead, if you, if you can to try and build that audience, I'd also, um, you know, so you're engaging with them. You're looking at other. You don't have to do you, you can be commenting on other accounts that you know, that there have an interest in that. So if you're a fitness brand, you might be following a nutritionist you're commenting on their, on the nutritionist posts. People are then seeing what you're saying that's relative to what they're talking about. They go check you out. So it's doing that engagement piece as well. Um, I would also say start growing an email list if you can. So in that way, if you have a landing page done, so you, you don't need a whole website just to have a landing page, I think MailChimp do it. I'm not sure about Klaviyo there's um, there's a, um, a company called Launch Rock that you can literally just set up a page and start collecting email addresses. So you might say, you know, sign up to hear about our launch, get 10% off. Um, you might create a. So again, if, if we go back to the activewear brand, you might create some kind of PDF lead magnet that people can download and then you have the email addresses. Um, so it starts see if you can start building your list, building your engagement, definitely go from a social's point of view. I'd also go on TikTok and you're like, you know, you might be thinking, 'oh God, I'm not gonna have time to do all this', but just do what you can. But the, the more you can do, then the better you will be for launch. Definitely use, um, influencer marketing to help you. Um, I read to start with I think for every dollar invested in influencer marketing, you get $5 back from a return on investment. So, and that doesn't have to be big influencers, you know, it can be, it's often the smaller ones that have an engaged audience, um, have a countdown, but not too far, like you wouldn't be counting down from a year out. You might be counting down from like two weeks out and, um, competitions are also good and, you know, leverage off other audiences. And so. If again, if we take, for example, an activewear brand, you could do a competition with a, uh, fitness supplement,brand, a nutri, you know, nutritionist that might give a, a session and, you know, someone that's offering a retreat, you know, and you might do this kind of competition together. So there are a couple of things I would suggest to help you with launching.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:58

Thank you so much for all of those. And yeah, I know that it might sound like a lot, but I think it's fair to say, Nicole, that there is gonna be a period of time between you coming up with the initial products idea and actually having something physically available for people to buy. And obviously we can't give an exact time scale. Um, but it doesn't happen overnight. Yeah. So that I think there is the time to do all of that. Um, I also have a podcast episode, I think, which from last summer that I'll link in to the show notes, which is all about working with influencers. That we had an influencer on with her best tips on how to find great people to work with, how to approach them. Mm-hmm linked to that as well. I just wanna come back to what you said about TikTok actualy there, Nicole, because you are the first person I've spoken to, who's recommended using TikTok. Um, I'll be honest. I just think I'm too old for it, which is ridiculous. Isn't it probably shouldn't. I shouldn't put those limits on myself. Um, why, why do you think TikTok is, is so good for sharing.

Nicole Higgins: 00:21:52

In terms of how from a product business it's one of the, I do have some stats. Let me try and see if I can, if you wanna pause it a minute and I'll just, um, pull them up. So, um, while I have them here, yeah. Okay. So now TikTok is a must for product businesses because the reach is phenomenal and it's quite quick as well. You don't have, so with Instagram, it's very much about nurturing and, uh, bringing them on the journey. Whereas TikTok is a little bit, you don't have to, I don't mean that you don't have to put as much effort in, but the, you know, you only have a short amount of space for posts, you know, but it has a really high reach. So TikTok now is like, what people say Instagram was four or five years ago in terms of the ease of people, seeing your, your product, your, you know, what you're doing, but then from, and I know other people think, oh, I'm too old for it, or, but you would be surprised. So. The age group of 30 to 49 year olds are about 40% of TikTok users. So that's quite a big chunk. And then that if you are a, a lot of people use, like I said, in terms of TikTok for a search engine and Instagram for a search engine, that they are more, the TikTok is more likely to be the source of product discovery. So people go on there looking for brands. And, um, so I think it's like 30 TikTok uses 38% more likely to research brands and then 44% more likely to buy products that they find on the platform. So, and very likely to engage with the brands. So I do think, and I've had a client of mine and she did a, it was, she did a video and she had 3 million views on it. You know, so to be able to put your product in front of 3 million people, you know, uh, potential customers, not all of those gonna be customers, obviously your website would crash, but you know, it's, it's a free, it's free, it's organic, you know, all that, the how tos and the way I would, um, suggest you, you kind of start off, is look at the, look at the brands that are in your product type and what, um, type of things they're posting for you to get inspiration on, not copy, but to get inspired by, you know, see what are the kind of things that have had the high views. Um, you know, use trending audios, um. But it's definitely something a lot of behind the scenes. And I would just, even if you're not ready, and this is a, a, a tip, if you haven't got your branding done or you haven't, you know, film, film as much as you can document as much as you can, because you will, there will be a time where you're gonna be able to use it. And you'll have a nice bank of content of little video stills, you know. Ask your suppliers if they can take little videos of things being made in the factory, you know. All of those kind of things you'll be able to use at some point for contact, with content, whether it's on Instagram or whether it's on TikTok. But yeah, if you're a product business and you're listening and you're not on TikTok, then get yourself on TikTok.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:48

That is amazing. Thank you. And I really like your tip about asking your suppliers to film little videos as well. Because I'm sure for them it's no bother at all and yeah, that would be such valuable content to have along the line

Nicole Higgins: 00:25:00

No, absolutely. And like I said it's just quick. They can WhatsApp it back to you. You know, you're not because you only, probably only need like what a 10, second, 30 second little video where they could do something that's a bit longer and you can edit it and snip it. But, um, yeah, all content you go. I know it sounds stupid, but you go into the post office with loads of parcels, is content, you know.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:25:21

Yeah, that's amazing. And you know what? I'll be really honest. I've never even looked at TikTok. I've never

undefined: 00:25:25

opened it. I would say never

Vicki Weinberg: 00:25:27

downloaded it. I'm assuming you can go on websites. Doesn't that? Yeah. I, I say one thing I'm gonna do after this, Nicole, when I have my lunch is I'm gonna go on TikTok and have a look.

Nicole Higgins: 00:25:35

No, you should. I mean, and I, and I'm guilty in terms of, I've only just started going on it as a platform myself. Um, mainly because I'm launching my own product business later on in the year, but, um, it is definitely, you know, the results I can see from, from customers and where they're getting their traffic from to their website is, is very much like TikTok and Instagram.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:25:59

Amazing. Thank you.

Nicole Higgins: 00:26:00

No problem.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:26:01

So is there anything else you wanted to talk about around launching your product before we move on?

Nicole Higgins: 00:26:06

I suppose, in terms of the PR side of things, so. You know, there's a lot of way, especially if you're on a budget, there's a lot of ways you can do your own PR and, and two people that I would recommend to, to listen to and follow are Fiona Minett and who is at Boss Your PR on Instagram and, um, Lucy Werner, who is the author of Hype Yourself. And, um, and also if you're not on it and you're a product business is the, and I hope it's alright for me sharing all these.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:26:36

Of course. No, it is really helpful. Thank you. Don't worry.

Nicole Higgins: 00:26:38

I'm like that going. Oh my God. These reams of show notes and links, um, is there's a Facebook group called Light Bulb and it's run by an ex journalist called Charlotte Crisp. And what that is. No PRs are allowed in that. It's basically the journalists and individuals. So they might be product owners. They might be coaches. They might be whatever it might be. And the way it works is you can pitch directly to a journalist. You can kind of jump on the back of, um, something that's going on. Um, so say if we're talking about we're coming up to the Jubilee, you might be making, um, a whole range Union Jack cards or teatowels or memorabilia for the, for the Jubilee, you could pitch that in the, in the group. Um, what the journalists often do is they'll, they'll say I'm looking for a, this, this age, to this age that has this type of story. And even if it's not related to your business, but you are. You can fit, you fit into what they're looking for and your business may get mentioned or could get credited and all exposure for you is good exposure. So, and that's, I think that's five pounds or £5.99 a month. So it's like two cups of tea, you know, I don't drink coffee. So it's too.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:27:49

I think that's a great recommendation. And actually that's where I found you Nicole, do you remember? You pitched in there as well? I was gonna, no, it's a worry. There's lots of, I think that it's great for all sorts of opportunities. Um, yeah. And making connections as well.

Nicole Higgins: 00:28:02

And collaborations and stuff. So there, you might be other product businesses that you wanna collaborate and do live with, or go on a podcast or, you know, because they do a podcast shout outs as well. So yeah, definitely. I would, I would, um, recommend to join that group as well.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:28:18

Thank you. Um, so let's move on if that's okay and talk about how to successfully grow and scale your product business, because I think it's one thing to have an idea, do your research, source your product, launch your product, and then hopefully you have a stage where, you know, sales are going well. Um, what sort of things would we be thinking of doing if we want to expand?

Nicole Higgins: 00:28:40

I would, yeah. Go back to your bird's eye view again, in terms of right, you're making this much money in the business, what's your, what are, what are your financial goals? What, where do you want to be? You know, have I would kind of brain dump on a piece of paper first really kind of like, right. What do you really want, is whole, is wholesale what you want? Do you want to be in more retailers? If you're currently turning over 500, do you want 500,000? You know, do you wanna get to 500, another 500,000 in the next two years or whatever it might be? So I would set your goals. Um, I would set your financial goals and, um, your kind of other activities in terms of, right, I want to, you might be, I have other goals. Like I wanna get more press. I wanna, I wanna do more influencer, um, marketing or those kind of things in terms of what do you, what do you want to, to where do you wanna get to from an income point of view? Very much so. And, um, Looking then as well, some of the things I'd be looking at is take a real review of your business. What's working. What's not what profit margin are you making? Where are you sourcing your products? Could you source them cheaper elsewhere with a, a reliable source? Because a lot of those kind of things you, you need to do slow and steady. So, because you don't want to sacrifice, or you don't want to, um, either compromise quality or, or, or anything financially by just jumping ship to a different supplier. So you have to take do those kind of things, very steadily, and you might not decide to move your whole range. It could just be parts of it. So kind of looking at, you know, you know, what's working well for you. Do more of that potentially, but also, also going back to your customers again, you know, if you, if you're already, if you're already established, you're going to have an email list, you're going to have a, an established social media channels. So I would create that kind of questionnaire and be like, right, what, what else would you like to see from us? And maybe list certain product types that you're interested in doing, or that you feel that there's a gap in the market based on research that you do again, you know, of what else could you do? What else are the other people doing that are in your competition that you think you can do better? Product price, you know, quality service, um, and get some feedback from your customers. Then I would. I definitely look at, if you're not doing wholesale and you have the profit margins to do it, then I would look at doing wholesale. If you don't have the profit margins to do it, I would find out how you can get the profit margins to do it. So where, you know, if you're currently making things and you're only making 50% margin and you need to make, be making between 70 and 80, you know, where are the other countries that you can make that product to get that margin that will allow you then to have wholesale as a business model? Um, So they are some of the things I would look at, and I think it is really kind of looking at what's working. What's not working, um, looking at, you know, if you're not looking at maybe your advertising and marketing spend and speaking to people, um, about how they can help you on that side of things and what the return could be or what the cost of investment is on that. Um, you know, you'll only know as a business, like what have you done, or how have you got to where, where you are. In terms of, if it's all happened quite organically, you've not been spending money on advertising. You know, what could, you know, could that really move the needle for you if you started to spend money on advertising? You know, so take that bird's eye view, ask your customers, review your numbers, um, look at your profit margins and set yourself goals, and then look at the steps and the things that you would need to do to, to, to get to those goals.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:32:07

Thank you. And that's a really good overview. Um, just a few final questions before we finish up. Nicole, I'd love to know. Are there things that you often see that small businesses overlook or perhaps common mistakes you see that are made that would be useful to highlight here?

Nicole Higgins: 00:32:24

Actually, can I just go back to that growing scale question?

Vicki Weinberg: 00:32:26

Yeah, of course. Sorry.

Nicole Higgins: 00:32:29

So just as well, in terms of, from a growing point of view, really look at your website and how it's functioning and if it can be better or what else you can do. So you've got people, you know, how can you increase your conversion? So you've got views coming into your website, you know, is it working the way it should be working? Can you improve the speed, the navigation, because all of those will help retain those customers on your website. And quick wins that you can have a look at, I, you know, is increasing your average order value. So you might do things if you don't have it already, you know, have those kind of, you may also like, because you want to increase the value of that order once they are on your site and that will help increase your sales as well. And also. If you, I would have a look at your pricing structure and in, in, in buying in retail, we call it a good, better, best so that you have, you know, do you have some kind of cheaper price points that are very, you know, that are quite pick up, that they don't really have to think that much to. So you can use say they're a, a 40 pound threshold and you're like, you know, spend 10 pounds more and you get free shipping. So do you have other items that are lower price points they can easily put in the basket? And then, on the other side of that, you know, do you have a best, do you have items that they can trade up to? So if they wanted to gift something, do you have something that they can have that they, they buy into your brand, but they also wanna give something to somebody else. So it might be something that's a bit more special. So I would have a look at your pricing structure as well, and make sure that you have that, um, that good, better, best there as well.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:33:56

That's brilliant advice. Thank you so much. So I just have a few more questions before we finish Nicole. So the first thing is, are there any things that you often see small businesses perhaps overlook or common mistakes perhaps you see made that, um, you could highlight now and, and save some of us from making?

Nicole Higgins: 00:34:14

Yes. So, um, some people that, and I know we talked about it earlier, earlier, but some people that really miss that research side of it. That's one, um, some that aren't, that haven't invested in branding so that they're, they might have a great product, but then their brand and their, their whole branding and feel of it doesn't maybe match the product or what they have. They've just missed the mark, you know? So. Spending that time looking at what, what you want your branding to look like. And, you know, I would, from an investment point of view, that's something that I would get someone to, to work on with you, you know? And, but I think one of the main things is. Um, people spending money in the wrong places at the beginning. Um, I've had a client who said, oh, I've, I've just spent 20,000 on, nearly on this website. And, you know, I nearly fell off my chair. Um, because that was before there was one product in the, you know, that was before, um, there was any product being sold. So when you can get a website made for like 1500 pounds, probably cheaper, I don't know, but you know. You don't need to be spending that much money on websites. I had a, another client the other day and they're, they're quoted, they were quoted a very high amount for tech packs, you know, so I would definitely shop around for services that, uh, you need in terms of help and support for your business and, um, you know, try and do it, do it lean where you can, but then invest where you need to. You know. And, and then the other side of things as well is get support there. You're not going to be able, I know I've said do it lean, but you're not gonna be able to do everything yourself. So, um, it might. You know how I I'm babbling a bit now, but I think get support where you need to, know where your strengths are. And then when you are in a position to get someone, to help you with certain things so that you can move on to things that are gonna generate you more money, that you free up your time. So you can be in your zone of genius quicker.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:36:25

Yeah, absolutely. That does make sense. And I think, like you say, well, you want to be well, you want to be leaning and should be lean. Ultimately, if you know, you know, you're not gonna be able to use a website builder and make a website that looks professional, then perhaps that's something you can outsource. And I'd also probably say that even if you could do that yourself and you could do a good job, I guess, if you are able to outsource, so you can focus on engaging with customers, building an audience. Maybe that's also something to consider. I'd say for myself, when I started my own products business years ago, um, I did everything myself and I didn't do all of it that well. Um, and stretch myself far too thin. Whereas actually it probably would've made more sense in the long run to have invested in a few fit key things just to take the, the time element away.

Nicole Higgins: 00:37:14

Yeah. And I think, you know, we are in a place now that there's so many freelance people that can do something for you. Like when I first was doing some things. I was doing things, something on Canva. It was taking me forever. I'm I'm used to it now, but, um, so what's something was taken me a day and I, I used then a VA that I paid by the hour, but basically what it was take, what took me a day she did another version in an hour and a half. So, you know, from an economy, from a financial point of view, it made sense to use her, but there's so many people now that you can get that are freelance, um, social media managers, um, that you might need extra support with VAs that can do that can help you with things. You know, there is, there is a way, and we were just talking about it here, in terms of the way there's a way for you to free up your time in a way that suits you and your budget. You just need to look.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:38:04

Absolutely. Thank you. And I think it's also a worth saying that it can also feel, be a bit of a false economy to do something yourself. If it takes you a week to build a website, but then actually three months down the line, you have to pay someone to do it anyway, because the one you built isn't fit for purpose or something, doesn't quite yeah. Work or whatever.

Nicole Higgins: 00:38:20

And, and. And it's not just even the time. It's probably, it's probably the stress. I mean, me trying to build a website would bring me out in hives. It would never get done. I would just go procrastinate until, you know, the cows came home and it would just delay everything. So I think they they're, the kind of things is knowing what you're good at, knowing what you might need to support at. And when can you bring that support on.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:38:40

That's really good advice. Thank you. So I have one final question before we finish, and I think this might be a hard one, but what would your number one piece of advice be to, for other product creators or aspiring product creators?

Nicole Higgins: 00:38:56

I think starting the beginning that knowing, knowing your customers and why is your what's, why is your product different? That would be that's where I would start, because once you know that, then you have a real belief of about your product and you know, that it's gonna work. So you have that, it helps with that confidence side of things as well. So that would be, um, I would say with know your customers and why your product is different and what it is, what it can do.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:39:25

That's amazing. Thank you, Nicole. And thank you so much for everything you've shared. I think we've managed, I hope you agree, we've managed a cram a lot in a short amount of time, but I think, I really appreciate how actionable you've made it as well. Thank you for all the resources and suggestions you've made as well. I will endeavor to make sure they're all included in the show notes. Um, so thank you again, Nicole. And, um, very briefly. Can you just let us know where people can find you and connect with you?

Nicole Higgins: 00:39:51

Yes. Instagram is my main platform. And you can find me on Instagram at The Buyer and Retail Coach. And my website is www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com. And if you've enjoyed listening to this podcast, my podcast is Start, Scale, Succeed, where I chat with entrepreneurs and also experts that can help, um, entrepreneurs. So, Vicki is going to be one of my guests, uh, very soon, hopefully. And we talk about all about Amazon.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:40:16

Thank you so much for the invite and thank you and I will make sure all of these, including your podcast and links up in show notes as well. So people can find them really easily.

Nicole Higgins: 00:40:24

Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me love it.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:40:26

Oh, thank you. Thank you again. Thank you so much for listening right to the end of this episode, do remember that you can get the full back catalog and lots of free resources on my website,vickiweinberg.com. Please do remember to rate, and review this episode, if you've enjoyed it and also share it with a friend who you think might find you useful. Thank you again and see you next week.