Smart Sales & Incentives

I'm going to preface this with a warning from the very beginning. Not everyone is going to agree with me, AND THAT'S OK. You are allowed to have your own thoughts, your own feelings, and your own advice. YOU ARE STILL WELCOME HERE. You do not have to agree with everything that I say.... & I will probably not agree with everything that you say. But I will ALWAYS be respectful of you and your thoughts & I expect the same of you.

So without further ado.....

It isn't any of my business (or yours) what others are selling their tees for, ****however** **if I see you selling all of your tees for less than EIGHTEEN $s then I will feel bad for you.... because you are way undervaluing yourself and the sacrifices you are making to run your business.

Let's break down the cost of a 20 shirt order....

If you are purchasing Bella 3001 through Jiffy (S-XL) which are currently FOUR $s each, your total is going to be 80 $s. This is assuming all of your shirts are coming from one warehouse and they have everything you need in stock.

If you purchase 20 single color screens (I'm going to use our pricing as an example) would be 50 $s (normally 60 $s, but with the bulk discount you get TEN off a 50 $ order), plus shipping.

If I sell 20 shirts at TWELVE $s each (or offer an incentive that brings the price of each shirt down to TWELVE $s), then that is only EIGHTY $s profit... but then don't forget if you have any shipping overages, the cost of your equipment (you should always have a cushion to replace equipment immediately), cost of utilities, payment processing fees, etc.

That is crazy to me... but then let's add all of the other fees you pay throughout the month.... website fees, marketing fees, designs you purchase, mock-ups you purchase, etc. AND DON'T FORGET TO PUT BACK MONEY FOR TAXES!

After you are done nickel & dime-ing the FOUR $ profit you originally thought you had, you are literally down to about TWO $s profit per shirt.

Honey, YOU & YOUR TIME ARE WORTH MORE THAN TWO DOLLARS PER SHIRT!

Incentives are great marketing tactics... it gives people an opportunity who may not have ordered from you before the chance to purchase at a cheaper price and fall in love with your brand. It gives them the chance to see the value of your brand.

And the argument "people in my town will only pay xyz" for a shirt is null & void with me. You are on the internet right now. If you are limiting your customer base to only local people, then you are REALLY cutting yourself short. And just because you THINK someone won't pay the price you set doesn't mean they won't. THEY WILL IF THEY SEE THE VALUE IN IT! Have you seen what some of these Starbucks cups are going for? People will purchase what they see value in.

People can justify the cost of a more expensive item if they know the value they are receiving.

Here are some incentives & sales that I recommend:

$12 Tee of the Week: offer 1 or 2 designs on specific color shirts. I typically offer two designs on a color of my choice. And my group LOVES them. This allows me to use screens that I purchase when on sale (like during our $0.50 Wednesday screens sale) and to make sure all of my tees are coming from one warehouse (I always order from SS Activewear).

Buy 5 tees at regular price ($22) and get the 6th free (that brings the price of each shirt down to $18)

If I'm clearing out stock then I offer a MYSTERY TEE which is $10 and is a design of my choosing (that I have on hand and need to clear out) and a shirt of my choosing (that I have on hand and need to clear out). These are shirts that I'm not worried about making a profit on, I just don't want to take a LOSS, so I want out of them what I put into them.