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WHEN AN ORDER FLOPS

It happens to every business. An order flops. Preorders are painfully slow. You feel like you’ve posted a thousand times, made class announcements, and have a sign in every corner of the gym and you have 5 preorders.

How and why does this happen? 

There are many reasons for a flop order but let’s discuss some of the main reasons:

Timing- We see a lot of flop orders in December. The main reason is the holidays. People check out around the holidays. They get out of routines due to travel plans, kids being out of school, and everything that comes with the holidays. When you’re planning an order, make sure to double check the calendar to make sure there isn’t an event that is going to steal someone’s attention.

Marketing- When we work with owners who have low preorders, we ask to see the marketing and often times, we’re given instructions to “check our facebook or instagram feed”…. If you only posted once on facebook and instagram, you probably don’t have a strong preorder. I know how much it sucks to have to market something from scratch or something unfamiliar. “What can I say, it’s a tee shirt”… It’s really not about what you say, it’s about how frequently you say it. We developed marketing templates to eliminate any issues with marketing. Check out the video here: How We're Making It Easier To Sell More Apparel

Design- Maybe you thought the inside joke for the morning class would be a killer shirt idea…but it makes no sense to the other 100 members who don’t attend the morning class. Try and avoid inside joke shirts when possible. Maybe your design style and preferences are radically different than what your members wear. The affiliate space has evolved tremendously in the past 4 years. We speak with many gyms who all say the same thing “the first time folks we’re working with now are much different than who we were working with 4 years ago”. We’ve responded to this by offering design options that are a bit more general and broad. When you see our templates or new design ideas, we’re confident they are going to work for your fire breather 20 something year old who qualified for a major event and the Mom of 3 who just got out of work 20 minutes ago and the “legends” class. 

Bonus:

This is why we suggest an apparel plan. When we set up an apparel plan, we will figure out an “ideal order” goal. Basically, how can we figure out if an order is successful or a flop. What you may feel is a “flop” is actually a great order. 

Want specific advice? Need us to help troubleshoot this with you? Let’s talk! E-mail: Matt@foreverfierce.com with your issue!