You have an idea for a custom scarf, received some concepts from graphic design, received all the approvals and authorizations needed and ordered and received a beautiful scarf that can only be purchased from your Institution. Now that you have gone through this process of creating a custom scarf, what’s next? In order to help you receive maximum sales, we at Scarves for the Arts have some merchandising suggestions to help drive sales.
We have found that all custom scarves have a back story: how the design was created and the history behind the design. If you don’t have one, displaying your scarf on a 12″ Black or White Velvet 3D Necklace Stand (available at Michael’s, Amazon and other craft stores) is a perfect way to display your custom scarf. The story behind the scarf design should also be displayed beside the scarf. Add a tent card with the story of how your scarf came to be and the price or display the card on a small easel.
Here is an example of the backstory of a scarf created for the Parthenon Museum in Nashville
and the Parthenon scarf:
If you have other ideas, please feel free to share these ideas. We welcome pictures also. If you give us permission, we will add them to this post to share with other MSA members.
A couple of years ago, our MSA President, Susan Tudor asked for suggestions from other members on Shop Talk for ideas that would help motivate employees to convert visitors to members. I replied to Susan in a private message and she appreciated the suggestions so much, she encouraged me to share the info in a blog post.
In a past life, I designed incentive programs for the corporate world. One of the main “rewards’ I provided were week-end family getaways (NO time shares involved). I worked with businesses to move big ticket items like opening a $25,000 home equity line of credit for banks and credit unions, construction related wholesalers like electrical, plumbing or HVAC wholesalers to incentivize customers (i.e. contractors) to spend a certain amount during a specific period of time (usually 90 days). These are just 2 examples of the types of businesses I worked with. Note: I always suggested including employees in the program and gave suggestions as to how to incorporate incentives for them.
Businesses traditionally give cash incentives, especially in the sales world. However, what happens is the cash gets used to pay for everyday expenses like groceries or a dentist bill. Therefore, it just goes away with no memories attached to the reward. Whereas, a week-end getaway produces memories of a happy time together usually with pictures and/or souvenirs from the destination, not to mention Facebook and Instagram posts. They also remember how they earned the reward!
With so much to see and do in your area, you could use things like dinner for 2 at a fine restaurant like Restaurant Orsay or Taverna, tickets of their choice to a concert at the Florida Theater, tickets to a local sporting event at your beautiful stadium or any number of wonderful experiences in your area. You could award individuals or put employees together in “teams”, an effective way for the team members to motivate each other.
To help your employees recruit, give them free passes to the museum, but make it a special pass you create headed Get to Know the Cummer or some other title that sets it apart. It would give the visitor a choice of dropping in during normal hours or an option to book a special guided tour with a docent in advance so they can tour and become acquainted with other services or events at the Museum. Perhaps give those who tour a goody bag or maybe even a discount card good for purchases made on the next for Museum Store Sunday.
Tangible incentives dramatically increase work performance by an average of 22 percent.
Incentive programs aimed at individuals increased performance a substantial 27 percent.
Moreover, programs aimed at teams increase performance a stunning 45 percent.
Incentive programs have an equal, positive impact on both quality and quantity goals.
Incentive programs structured with employee input work best; however, only 23 percent of incentive systems are selected with employee input.
Long-term incentives are more powerful than short term (44 percent gain for programs beyond a year versus a 20 percent gain for programs less than one month).
So, reward them with experiences, anything but cash. The concept parallels why we have museum gift shops. As Julie Steiner so aptly put it in her blog post What Is A Museum Store? September 25, 2017 “The magic (is what) happens when a guest finds the perfect thing to carry out, just the right object for them that will connect their long-term memory back to this experience:”
Susan Saylor is CEO of Scarves for the Arts, a division of National Promotions. Her career began in advertising and marketing and evolved to executive sales and marketing. Her lifelong interest in the arts and concern for on-going funding challenges for many arts and nonprofit organizations, led her to create Scarves for the Arts in 2016 and has been an MSA vendor member since 2017.
