How to Make Live Commerce a Part of Your System for Success
Consumer demand for more convenience and customization is nothing new; the world had already moved online well before the pandemic. However, the past two years have seen an escalated prioritization of digital channels for almost every consumer-facing industry. Small local retailers have historically been reluctant to adopt selling tools that they feel may compete with their sales at the counter, which may explain why their failure rate has been increasing exponentially in the past decade. Now, tools that fall under the category of ‘Live Commerce’ offer a more comfortable solution since they can be used to increase revenue and market share even if the retailer doesn’t ship any goods at all.
Meet a local jeweler that beat the odds
Bill Warren is a small local retailer who has beaten the odds and found success in his North Carolina jewelry store by embracing a decidedly different approach. “I’ve never particularly enjoyed doing or offering what every other jewelry store in my area offered,” he shares. It’s that out-of-the-box thinking that has led to his success. Warren is now the founder of Diamond Bill Marketing and recently completed his second book entitled, “The Ultimate Jeweler’s Success Guide – 7 Strategies To Significantly Increase Revenue and Boost Profits.”
Diamond Bill, as he’s known in the industry, is a big proponent of what he calls ‘Direct Branding’. “It’s not just marketing,” he says, “it’s an approach that involves all of the things that encompass the success of a business.”
How Diamond Bill Uses SellByText
One of the things he’s particularly passionate about is SellByText via the TextMeChat platform. “We love text marketing and were an early adopter of Podium years ago,” he explains. He shares that he had known TextMeChat founder Anish Desai for many years and was excited when Anish explained this new platform’s idea at a jewelry show a couple of years ago. Once he compared features and costs between Desai’s product with Podium and CommentSold, he was quick to move over to the TextMeChat platform and was the first jeweler to test market its SellByText feature.
“The day following our first live selling event using TextMeChat,” he recalls, “it was such a relief to wake up knowing that the money for these purchases was already in the bank. Throughout the day, customers were able to simply pick up their merchandise and we didn’t have to inconvenience them with day-after invoicing or calls or by ringing up the sale when they came in the store. It was absolutely seamless.”
It was also a game-changer. “The first time we did a virtual event, we had $4,000 in sales,” he recalls, “which was pretty good. But then the next one was $8,000 then $15,000 and it just kept going up from there.”
His use of the TextMeChat platform doesn’t end there. “Here’s something that happens every week at my store,” he shares, “I have a customer who has an item on layaway and wants to be sure that they never miss a payment, but they travel for work or have other things that keep them busy. I can set up their profile to send them a reminder text on their due date every month and include the link for them to click to pay. It makes both of our lives easier and helps them make their purchase while breaking up those payments.”
How SellByText Compares to Podium and CommentSold
One of the things that’s central to his expert approach is the belief that marketing must be measured. When it came to measuring return on investment, Warren found the features and benefits of SellByText to be the far superior platform as compared to other leaders in the space. While he had great results from Podium, the cost comparison was a no-brainer. Even the highest level of SellByText features, most of which are not available on other platforms, costs $145 per month, which is just under the entry-level pricing of Podium.
CommentSold, while popular with some retailers, charges a monthly fee plus a percentage of sales starting at 5%. It’s not unheard of for one of Warren’s events to reach six figures in sales, making that cost model completely unrealistic. Even at that far higher price point, CommentSold doesn’t have the customization capabilities that have proven so successful for Warren and his clients.
Helping Other Retailers Grow
In addition to sharing his insights in his bestselling books, Bill facilitates a mastermind group and offers coaching for jewelers and other retailers. As such, he hears two common objections to this selling model: lack of time and aversion to video.
“I like to remind my clients that if your customers wanted to shop with polished television personalities, they’d go to QVC. Instead, they want to do business with you. They love your expertise and connecting with you specifically. So just be yourself and practice until you feel more comfortable.”
When retailers question whether or not they’ll have enough time to dedicate to utilizing the platform, he shares that, like anything new, there is a learning curve to onboarding. Admittedly, the catalog setup can be time-consuming in the beginning. Now that he and his team have got the hang of it, he can add an average of 35 products added to the platform in an hour, from initially photographing the item to sending it to the customer group. “If you build it, they will come,” he shares, adding “but of course, you have to market it correctly.” With events regularly netting tens of thousands of dollars in sales, there’s no question whether it’s a good use of time.
Marketing is the Gas Pedal for Your Business Engine
“As retailers, we have to be exactly where our customers want to shop and sell to them in the way they want to buy, or we are going to simply cease to exist,” he shares. As for him, he is committed to making sure that doesn’t happen for his business or those that he can impact as an author, coach, and influencer.
To learn more about him, call 828-729-1020 or visit diamondbillmarketing.com where you’ll find information about his two books as well as a link to his free private Facebook group.
To schedule a demo with TextMeChat, an advertising partner of The Pawnbroker Network, visit textmechat.com or call 770-394-6727.
