Dishwasher Safe Waterproof Silkscreen Stickers

Animas Outdoors Blog — business

RSS

So Many No's 0

how many no's it takes

Contacts: 368  //  Emails:  1,840  //  Time Span: 15 months  //  No's: 266

A friend called me today for some simple business startup advice, a phase I still consider myself to be in and I got to thinking about how many emails I sent, the number of people I've talked to and just how many no's I received to reach this point. I'm no mathematician but I consider 1,840 emails and 266 no's a metric fuck.

I'm incredibly proud of the fact that Sticker Art is or has been stocked in over 100 retail locations throughout the SouthWest in under two years since the first design. I say "or has been" because some retailers don't re-buy after their first purchase and a lot of good sales people could sell a ketchup popsicle to a women in white gloves.

A home based business career isn't built from that first sale, it's the follow up orders that create passive income. However to even get a no from a buyer, much less a yes and follow up orders, I often have to send 2 - 5 emails and call a few times for them to even consider responding. Buyers are fickle beast so beware you wholesale products slingers out there, tread lightly with their time and frame each email to their desires and customer demographic. 

A golden piece of advice my father told me is "Your fortune is in the followup." He's right. Just this week Neptune Mountaineering in Boulder ordered Sticker Art!! A prestigious shop that I have been working on getting Sticker Art into since March 5, 2015 - it took 12 months, 28 emails, who knows how many phone calls and 2 no's from them to finally see the sticker light! They told me no 2 times but I knew their store well, I knew our sports oriented stickers would crush sales in there so I patiently kept them up to date on new designs and press coverage of Sticker Art even after they told me no. It eventually worked but rest assured sometimes I thought I was hitting send on emails that no-body would even see or send to the trash without opening. 

You can learn a lot from no's... like which stores actually want your product, where you fit in, how to pitch to buyers in a light easy going way. All sorts of little details you'd never know without the no's. So if you even slightly believe in your idea, go get you some no's. 

Shout out to Ben K. and Matt A. who I hope get a fuck ton of no's and just the right amount of yes's.