Making the Cookie Close

    Recently a fellow cookier mentioned that she's frustrated by the fact that she often invests a lot of time in providing information for a potential client, only for them to never actually book an order. Boooo! We don't have time for that! If you're spending hours on emails that don't pay for themselves by generating sales, that's killing your profitability. The time spent actually making the sell should be included in your overall time to fill an order. So if it takes fifteen plus back and forths or lengthy design prep and sketches to seal the deal, there quite possibly might not be enough juice in the squeeze to make it worth your effort! Her struggle gave me pause because it's not something that I have encountered frequently myself. Even though she's newer to the craft than I, I suspected that this wasn't a issue of skill level or experience but rather of sales technique. As much as I hate to admit it, that conversation between the potential client and yourself, which is often via email, is sales in its most raw form. How can you avoid these lengthy pre-sale, time sucking discussions? How can you CLOSE the deal without giving your day away for free?
    It's quite ironic that I left the sales world to make cookies only to find myself right back here yet again! Oh how many workshops and meetings I have endured to discuss this very topic, closing. I started comparing how my conversations typically go with potential clients with many of the conversations that I've heard about from some other cookiers. The primary difference I notice is that for me, design details (not general themes) are a POST-BOOKING conversation. I do not get into the nitty gritty until they've already asked that I put their name on my calendar and, ideally, paid their invoice. To get right to the heart of the matter, these are the clients that we want.....ones that will book with you based on these two things alone:
1. They have already seen your work or heard about you from a friend and, based on that information, they trust that you will come up with something cute AF with the design inspiration that they provide you. (If you're brand spanking new and do not have a social media portfolio or word-of-mouth working for you yet, I will address that shortly). If they require you to prove your worthiness through sketches or a detailed plan of execution, I honestly don't want those people as clients. They're likely borderline control freaks or so nit picky that you won't make them happy regardless of your efforts to meet their exact needs. Now of course, there are a couple of exceptions to this which I will get into later.
2. They accept your price. BOOM. That's it.

Ok, that seem so simplistic but HOW do you actually make that happen? How can you make the cookie close? Let's discuss THREE PITFALLS to closing the cookie sale.
Pitfall No. 1: Complicated pricing. Simplifying your pricing will instantly save you time on quoting orders. If you have to know the exact design that a client desires in order to quote them a price, you are creating more work for yourself, and delaying the cookie close that could have potentially happened immediately. The longer the conversation is continued, the more opportunity the client has to shop around or change their mind altogether. Now, some may argue that you risk having to fulfill a design that's more complicated than you originally expected and therefore underpriced if you don't confirm all the details up front. I have had this happen on very rare occasion. But I would argue that the hassle saved on hundreds of other orders more than covers the lost pay on undercharging for those few orders that don't go as expected. Of course, you could include a disclaimer in your quote that says something to the effect of "If a design is changed after your order is booked, additional charges may be applied." But I don't typically even say that myself because it could just open a door for more questions or delays! Many of us book months out and clients may not know their party theme yet.....Additionally, if you are giving the customer all the details on what you plan to do with their cookies before you close their sale, you could possibly be selling yourself OUT of a sale! We can all agree that cookies are way cuter on ACTUAL COOKIES than they are sketched out on paper or described in paragraph form. If you are voluntarily doing sketches or asking for details before the sale, it's possible that the client was planning to book right away but, the time to plan a design, or the sketch itself changed their mind. A big key to sales and making the close is knowing when to stop talking. You likely may have already given the client all the information they need to make a decision.
    How do you simplify pricing? I know this one is highly debatable but this is my pricing: "Most custom orders are $40 per dozen with a two dozen minimum. Logos or specific, highly detailed designs may have an upcharge." That is all the information that 97% of people that contact me need in order to determine if they are comfortable with my pricing. Occasionally someone will reply with a photo attached asking "would this logo be $40?" But most say something like "I need two dozen for a pink and gray baby shower and the baby's name is Avery." And I reply with "Sounds adorable! Those will be $80. If you happen to have an invitation that I could use for inspiration, please send it my way. I'll go on and send you an invoice to hold your spot on my calendar. Pick up will be....." Done. Consumers typically like simple!  A key to closing a sale is your customer having a clear understanding of your solution. If you complicate the order with lots of additional questions about what size cookies and what designs, you delay the close and possibly risk appearing that you aren't confident yourself in executing their order. I, as a consumer myself, can get overwhelmed when there are too many options and decisions to make. Often if I'm in that scenario, I end up making NO decision and just walk away buying nothing.
    But what about the fact that cookies are all different sizes? Shouldn't you price based on the size of the cookie? For me, yes and no. Obviously minis are much smaller than standard and would be priced differently. But the client would disclose that up front if they were wanting really small cookies. The expense for decorated cookies is roughly 95% labor and 5% ingredients. For me, I don't see a big difference in labor in a 3 inch or 4 inch cookie so I price them the same. (Disclaimer: I know lots of cookiers use a size chart to price their cookies. If that's working for you, great! Keep doing your thing! I'm simply sharing what has worked for me so far.)
    Well what if you discover that a cutter that you should include in their set is on the small side? I just make a few extra of that design. So if someone orders two dozen but one of the designs in the set is small, they might end up with 28 cookies instead of 24. No one has ever complained about that! The way I word this style of pricing, if the client asks, is "They are $40 a dozen or equivalent meaning that, regardless of the size of the cookie cutters used, I will make enough cookies equal to a dozen standard size 3-4 inch cookies."
    When I first began taking orders for clients, I would ask tons of questions and present tons of options. I learned that that was just more work for me and, clients actually liked not having to make all of those choices. I began to realize that my best sets were the ones that I fully designed based on what I know would look best- not the orders where the client specified abundant detail. So I now lead those conversations with customers in a direction of "You'll love it.... I got you..... I'll come up with something super cute...." Instead of encouraging the client to take the lead in telling me exactly what to do. Does that make sense? The client knows a theme and colors they desire but WE know how to best decorate cookies! If you open that door for them to tell you how to do your art, they will assume that's your process and likely will give you super detailed instructions when you could've kept that ball in your court.
Pitfall Number 2: Not displaying confidence or showing a lack of enthusiasm to the potential client. So just think about this one from the perspective of a consumer yourself. Let's say you're interviewing two builders and selecting one to build your new home. You ask the same questions to both builders. They answer all the questions similarly and are about the same price. One of them is pretty cut and dry in his responses but the other one says things like "Oh wow, I love that idea!.....Your home will be beautiful!.....I'm excited about possibly building your dream home for you!......Yall will be fun clients to work with!" Communicating to a potential client that you WANT their business, that you're GRATEFUL for their inquiry, and that you're CONFIDENT that you can give them what they want can be huge ways to seal the deal or possibly set you apart from the other quote. Additionally, showing some vulnerability in that way shows that you're a real person and it humanizes your business.
    When you get dozens of emails about orders it can be tempting to respond with a terse, one sentence reply to answer their question. I try to, but not always, humanize my replies and show gratitude for their inquiry, even when I'm booked up and know that I can't help them this time. My most common question is probably, "How much are your cookies?" Instead of just saying "Most are $40 per dozen with a two dozen minimum." I'll say, "Hi ! Thank you for your inquiry. Most custom designs are $40 per dozen with a two dozen minimum. I'd love to create something super special for whatever event you've got brewing! Please let me know what other questions I can answer for you." Nice never hurts! It also indicates that you will be pleasant to work with.
Pitfall Number 3: Not asking to close the deal. Once you know that the potential client has all the information they need from you to make a decision (They've seen your work, they know your pricing, you've established that you are available for their date) don't leave it at just that! ASK "May I go on and send you an invoice to hold your order on my calendar?" Sometimes if the wording of the client's email leads me to assume they definitely plan to order I'll go on and say "I'm sending you an invoice to get that order booked." If by chance they haven't paid in a day or two I will reach out again. Typically they say "Sounds good!" If you're not comfortable taking that leap, you could even offer a trial or assumptive closing like "Will you need to pick that order up in the morning or afternoon?" If you leave things open-ended it's giving them permission to never get back with you. If you ask a direct question, most people are going to answer you rather than ignore you. You will have those people who just won't respond. But hopefully you won't have wasted an eternity planning out their order, but just five minutes or less lost replying to their email. Also, don't delete those emails! If they are interested in ordering from you once, they likely may be interested at a later time. Until they have said "No" it's fair game! Shoot them an email in the future about classes you're offering or holiday sets.
    So I said that there are some exceptions to the not-designing-cookies-before-the-close standard for me. The few occasions that I have put time into pre-close design was when it was a large order and I felt that there was enough juice in the squeeze to put in that effort. The last time I did this was for an order for 300, every cookie identical, and a corporate marketing dept. out of state was cutting the check. The rep had to have some photos to provide to corporate to get the expense approved. She wasn't sure how she wanted them packaged so I made 3 cookies and gave her 3 different price point packaging options. For that chunk of change, it was totally worth it. But for most of our day to day custom orders of likely four dozen or less and under $200 in revenue, I don't find that upfront effort to be worth the risk of not getting the sale.
    Also, a lot of cookiers offer cakes as well or maybe you made cakes before finding your love of cookies! If you are accustomed to doing sketches and planning designs before the sale for wedding cakes or high dollar events, that is totally understandable. Again, a lot of juice in the wedding cakes! But you shouldn't have to put that effort into the standard cookie order to book a sale.
    But I am just getting started and people don't know if they can trust my work yet? That's ok! We all did things differently starting out to build clientele that we no longer do. I would decide what you're comfortable providing up front and clearly communicate that to the customer, but only if they ask! Don't assume that you have to prove yourself to them since you're a newbie! If possible, do things just as discussed above and keep that design ball in your court. But if they want to see specifics, provide those within your boundaries and state up front what you are willing to do. Do not fall in to the trap of being at the customer's total mercy in order to gain clients. You get what you allow.   Disclaimer: I have never drawn a sketch of a design for a client OR for myself in order to create a set. I pull cutters from the closet and just let the spirit move me! So if I'm missing something to this sketching please let me know. 
   I hope this helps some of you that are struggling to book orders and that you can implement some of what has worked for me. And if you are already having success doing things completely differently than I do, awesome! I'd love to hear your tricks too! Now go make that cookie close! 
   

 

Sugar Cookie Hand & Body Scrub

So, sometimes for nothing more than my own entertainment, I gotta change things up a bit! This week that meant making up a big batch of Sugar Cookie Hand & Body Scrub as a fun little takeaway for class attendees and to just keep on hand for little thank-you's. And I must say, this stuff is dope. Light and airy and creamy with the perfect amount of grit. And ya know how I love grit. ;) It holds it's lovely texture too and doesn't separate into a greasy mess like a lot of scrubs. The smell is heavenly. You likely have most of the ingredients on hand or could easily modify using things you already have. I'll tell you how I made this but it really is not an exact science. Experiment as you please!

 

Ingredients:

6 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups Organic coconut oil (be sure it is cool enough to be at a solid)

1/2 cup Almond oil (I used the kind specifically for skin but food grade works too)

1 Tb. pure almond extract (organic would be ideal but I used what I had)

1 Tb. real vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. Nemat Vanilla Musk fragrance, optional (I am obsessed with these natural fragrance oils at Whole Foods and other natural stores)

Yields: 18 four ounce Mason jars

I do think the key to it's light, whippy texture is whipping the oils and sugar. I added the sugar and firm coconut oil to my mixing bowl and let it go on medium for a couple of minutes. Then I streamed in the almond oil as it was mixing and finally the extracts. Easy peasy. The scent at this point is very mild. Good but mild. If you're not big on fragrance, you could leave it as is or add more extracts. I happened to have some natural vanilla oil parfum and a 1/2 tsp did the trick. This stuff is super potent so go easy. You might be ok with 1/4 tsp. If you have vanilla essential oil, that would work well too! If you are concerned about strong scents transferring to your mixing bowl, you might consider pouring your whipped ingredients into another container before adding the fragrance oil. Then just hand stir in the fragrance. I have 3 mixing bowls, using one for non-cookie recipes so I wasn't too concerned about this. And the fragrance is natural and non-toxic and I can tell you that I cannot smell it since I've washed the bowl. But it's definitely something to keep in mind!

Next, I used a cupcake scoop to easily place the scrub into 4 oz. mason jars. 1 1/2 scoops was about perfect. The recipe was enough to fill 18 mason jars. I used my 2 1/2 inch round logo sticker to top the lids and finished them off with a ribbon. This was a super easy project and I think my guests will be thrilled! If I decide to make these on a regular basis, I may print a product specific sticker disclosing that this is a body scrub and is not edible. Ya know, just to cover your hiney (I probably wouldn't put it there either).

I am super pleased with how these turned out! My costs including the jars came to about $1.50 each. Whip some up with your own flare for an easy little boost to your brand!







The Grit That Got You Here

    Over the past few weeks, after announcing that I felt a calling to do cookie coaching, I have had the pleasure of spending time with women, all baking entrepreneurs, from all parts of the country. The roles and life stages of these ladies vary but there's something that I've noticed they all have in common- something that, ironically, few of them probably realize they possess. Grit. I love that word. It's raw. It's Dolly Parton and John Wayne  rolled into one. It implies an ability to roll with the punches and survive- to have the wherewithal to just make it happen. Whatever IT may be. Like the ground corn that we Southerners prefer with shrimp, its edges are rough and jagged. But place it in the right environment and partner it with the perfect accents, magic happens. Suddenly, it's soul satisfying and smooth as butter. In the same way, many of us have taken life's roughest moments and turned it into something beautiful and fulfilling.
    I've yet to come across a cookier who said to herself senior year of high school, "I'm going to go to college and get a degree so I can work from home making cookies." Pretty sure my parents, who were generous enough to cover my college tuition, would have had some doubts had THAT been my plan all along. Don't get me wrong, Steve and Kathy are as supportive as parents could possibly be. But (Imma take a leap here) NONE OF US ARE HERE BECAUSE THIS WAS THE PLAN. Life happened. And grit was born.
    Eight years ago this week my absolutely perfect life of thirty years disintegrated in a matter of days. Our marriage took a hit. I was a stay-at-home mom of a 4 and 2 year old and 17 weeks pregnant with baby number three. Forty-eight hours later, I'm shattered in pieces but sitting in an ultrasound room with two toddlers running WILD. Completely wild. I was too dazed from the aftermath to even care but I clearly remember the hum of their circus playing out all around me. Typically an appointment to find out the sex of your child would be filled with joy and anticipation. I was numb. I hadn't even told Rex I was going to the doctor, much less invited him. Nothing could've prepared me for what I was about to find out: No heartbeat. Our baby had died in utero two weeks prior, according to her measurements. And the seed of grit was planted.
   They say tragedy hits in threes and for me in the fall of 2009, that was never more true. A week later, still recovering from my procedure and mourning the loss of......well several things, it was hard to pick what to grieve first......I get an overwhelming maternal intuition that the rash on 2 year old Trip's face and the bumps on his fingers aren't "nothing." They are something. And I have to figure out what. My mission over the next 10 months was finding a diagnosis for my son's bizarre symptoms. Endless hours on the internet were spent researching. I mommed up and spoke to doctors in a way I never would have imagined. I was a full-time mom with a degree in marketing and at one point, I was educating THEM on what Trip's symptoms indicated. I was telling them what to go look up. I pressed and pleated and didn't take no for an answer. And they started to listen. I was getting grittier by the day.
    Finally, in July of 2010, a doctor confirms the diagnosis that I knew to be true six months prior, juvenile dermatomyositis. A whirlwind of trips to a specialist in Chicago commenced and countless doctor visits and treatments. His daily medicine regimen alone was exhausting. During one of our first trips to Chicago I ended up in the emergency room myself. Why? Because I couldn't breathe. Why couldn't I breathe? Because I had forgotten how. After a year of extreme levels of stress and anxiety, the brand of anxiety that only a terrified mother would know, I began to hold my breath and didn't even realize it. My body had lost it's instinctual rhythms which left me feeling breathless constantly. I began seeing a therapist that helped me learn to breathe again, literally and figuratively. I slowly began to piece myself back together again but day-yum was I gritty! I had survived the worst that life could offer and I knew it. I found a whole new level of confidence by the simple fact that I had survived! I began to envision myself doing things that I never would have considered had life not handed me lemons. I had come in touch with a strength that I never knew I had.
    I'm thrilled to say that Trip is now ten and healthy as a horse. We even got a family Make-a-Wish Disney vacation out of the ordeal. Rex and I will celebrate fourteen years of marriage next week. Marriage is a constant journey of peaks and valleys but we have a committed partnership that makes me proud. I look forward to meeting our baby in heaven one day and the two I have on this earth make my cup overflow with joy and pride everyday.
    Why am I telling you this? To remind you of the grit that brought you here. By the simple fact that you have chosen this path of working it all on your own, day after day tells me that, sister, you're tough. You're a fighter. You take risks in order to provide what's best for your family. You refuse to accept anything other than a path that brings you and those you love immense fulfillment. You took a leap of faith and made sacrifices to get to higher ground. Many of us encountered a deep loss or trauma that paved the way to the decision to put aside an education and career path to start a baking. business. out. of. our. house. Many of us realized that the path we were on simply was not ideal for our children so we got resourceful and made a new path. Some of us were simply brave enough to be true to ourselves by not continuing in a career that wasn't life giving. Yall, that is GRIT AS SH$T. (I'm tempted to start that hashtag but my mother would not appreciate it. Nor would Jesus.) But seriously, if you are here, you have IT in you. You have it in you to raise those prices to what you're worth. You have it in you to say NO and to not take more orders when you know you're booked. You have it in you to teach that class you've never taught. You have it in you to charge your sister for those cookies. You have it in you to take whatever that next step may be. So go about your days with confidence and not hesitation. You got this. Cookiers. Grit as sh$t.