JANUARY 2012

 

 

In this issue

• What's NEW at E.T.C.
  
  
• E.T.C. Calendar at a Glance

  
  
• Feature Article: "What questions should you ask yourself before the New Year starts?" by Brenda Kinsel, AICI CIP

  
  
• Marketing Sense with Brenda

 

 

The whole Bella gang meets in December – from left, Lynn, Marjory,
Brenda and Bella (the cat named after the Bellas); next month it's review time!  

 

What’s NEW at E.T.C.

It’s getting down to the last few days of 2011. I can’t let another day go by without wishing you all a Happy New Year. I look forward to a terrific 2012 creating more beauty and harmony in the world. I look forward to making a special announcement next month about a personal appearance in one of my favorite spots in the U.S. where I hope to meet new people and reconnect with old friends. More plans are brewing but before they come to fruition, I’m going to take my own advice and do some end-of-the-year journaling about what I loved about 2011 which naturally leads me to what I want to do more of in 2012. I encourage you to do the same. Carve out a little time for yourself to daydream, make notes, and start charting your course.

This is a great profession to be in. Do you know how many people envy the work we do? I think you'd be surprised! I hope you're feeling great about your place in this industry. There’s always room to grow and maybe next year will be your biggest year yet. Take special care! Pop in on E.T.C.’s Facebook page and let me know how you’re doing. Would love to stay in touch!

 

 

Feature article: “What questions should you ask yourself before the New Year starts?” by Brenda Kinsel, AICI CIP

This last week of December is a great time for special projects – like vacationing, reading a good book, eating leftovers – and oh yeah, thinking about what’s coming up for you and your image business in 2012. A whole new year is just a few days away!

Can I make this super easy for you? I’ve got some questions that help me evaluate what worked about the year and what I’d like to see more of in the coming year and I'd love to share them with you.

If you have a journal, think about curling up in front of the fire with your favorite slippers, sipping tea, thinking, and writing out answers. If you’re in Australia or New Zealand, you could do this in your bathing suit! Sometimes the only way to plan for the future is to assess where you’ve been first and let ah-has or clues lead you toward what you want to have more of. Let’s start!

Questions to ask yourself

1. Did you do something new this year that was so much fun you absolutely want to do more of it? Did you provide a new type of service? Did you connect with a different type of person or profession? Write down those activities or people you want to spend more time with next year.

2. Where did your new clients come from this year? Were they in an audience when you were speaking? Were they referred by other satisfied clients? Did they come from any of your direct mailing? Did a sales associate of a store send new clients your way? Write down the sources.

3. Were you as busy as you wanted to be? Did you have super busy months and months that were not so busy? Do you want to even that out and have business 12 months a year? Are there times of the year where you want to be committed to family or other projects instead of your business? Are you managing the flow of work just fine?

4. Are you happy with your numbers this year? Have you looked to see much money came in? Are you interested in growing those numbers? By how much? What actions do you think it would take to reach that goal?

I suggest you do this review privately, make notes and then share it with a colleague or friend. The Bellas, two image consultants and myself who have been meeting monthly for years now, have a plan to discuss our New Year goals next month. For sure I’ll be sharing my review with them so they can help me make 2012 even better. Do you have someone who can help you with your review? Give them the same questions to answer, even if they are not in our industry, and they’ll love getting feedback from you too.

Some things I've noticed from this year

In the Monthly Marketing Bundle program, we meet once a month for a strategy call and we also have a private Facebook group page that’s very active. I can report that some things that were really successful for members this year were in-home workshops with small groups. It sounded so successful that I might want to think about doing that next year myself. Another duo found great success in having guest speakers at their studio including an eyeglass expert and a bra expert. It was a win/win for all.

High points from E.T.C. trainings in 2011

This year I did something I’d never done before. It was sort of an experiment that I might not have tried had the opportunity not presented itself. As part of my visit to Sydney, I decided to create a unique experience for a live event: I’d combine the content of two teleseminar courses I teach into a 3-day in-person intensive for a small group of 12 people.

Twelve students in Sydney work together for 3-days learning the Client for Life technique

The planners of the Sydney AICI conference really made my dream turn into a reality when they encouraged me to just go for it and they’d help with all the details. I wanted a real home to teach in so we had access to someone’s “real” closet. I was able to demonstrate how I meet a client for the first time, do a style interview for her and then proceed to the closet to put her look together – all the while demonstrating my “client for life” communication skills. We also created marketing solutions to implement their new process with their old clients. The class members couldn’t have been more perfect for this first ever program.

Dee and Sara take turns being clients and consultants at the 3-day intensive Client for Life training in Sydney

It's been a couple of months now and t hey are thrilled with their “clients for life” and their new approach. We are meeting by teleclass this year as follow-up to the 7 Simple Steps to Gain a Client for Life. That was their idea to continue and I love it! So I’m learning a whole new way to teach and can’t wait to create an opportunity to do more of that next year.

Jane and Jeanette do excellent work interviewing “the client” with well-thought out questions

Bronwyn and Robin doing the style interview together

Observations with my personal clients

In terms of my personal clients, I’ve had a lot of fun working with more clients in their 30s. It makes me wonder if I should start marketing with that age group in mind—a good question for the Bellas in January. I’ve also been bringing an assistant with me to client appointments and wow, what a difference that’s making! It’s my daughter Erin. One of my colleagues has suggested a new tweak to my business name: Kinsel & Kompany! Pretty cute idea.

So that’s an example of how I plan to use my review process. In the simplest format, it’s pretty basic – what worked and how can you do more of what worked.

I’d love to hear some of your review ah-has. Feel free to share more on the ETC Facebook page.

 

Marketing Sense with Brenda

Keeping connections warm with the clients we already have is the best way to encourage future business. When I was teaching in Hamilton, New Zealand at the end of October, we spent some time sharing ideas about how to keep those connections alive. This idea was so simple and perfect! Buy a fashion magazine you know your client will like, attach your business card to it and drop it off to them. Additionally, you could tease your client with the idea of what’s coming up next in your work together. You might add something like, “I thought you’d love the article on dresses since our next project is to stock your closet with a few great dresses.”

Stapling a business card to a fashion magazine and sharing it with your client

I was enticed to buy this special edition of Vogue magazine when I saw it on the shelves. It’s getting the New Zealand treatment: attached business card and a little something extra for my great clients. 

Have a great month!

Remember, together we can help each other. Together we can make the world a better place, one happy client at a time.

Until next time,

Image Matters is a Brenda Kinsel ETC produced newsletter for image professionals and anyone exploring this field as a second or dream career. We may have met at an AICI conference or you might have been a student in one of my classes. Maybe you’re a fan of the Brenda Books. However we know each other, I hope that Image Matters and Brenda Kinsel ETC will be a resource for you, providing you with inspiration, new ideas for ways to meet your client’s needs, and strategies to keep your business fresh, alive and vibrant.

About Brenda Brenda Kinsel, AICI CIP is an IMMIE award winning image consultant and author of 5 books on fashion and style. She’s appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show as well as numerous radio, TV and newspaper sources globally. She shares her passion and talent for satisfying clients with certified training programs and marketing support for image professionals so they too can enjoy wonderful careers in the image business. Check out her teaching schedule and her Monthly Marketing Bundle program, and sign up for her FREE Image Matters eZine at www.brendakinseletc.com.