“OMG HIIIIIIII!
I HAVEN’T SEEN YOU IN SO LONG!!!!
HOW ARE YOU?!?!?
I HAVE REALLY BAD NEWWWWWWWS!”
I had stepped into the Bevvy Mart in Wrightsville Beach after a really long and awful day involving the Municipal golf course and the accountant. (Want that story? Reply. I’ll tell you Monday.)
To the Bevvy Mart people I’m known as the “Tea girl.” Because right when they opened they had this really wonderful Cherry Unsweet Tea from Michigan and I bought ALL OF IT.
REPEATEDLY.
Finally one day while I was there ransacking the cooler, the barista shouted “Michaela IT IS THE TEA GIRL!”
and that’s how I met the owner and got a personal tour of all of the cool snacks and stuffs she’s curated in the shop.
“IT’S YOU!!!”
We do discovery calls with new potential clients. You can book a call here. Disclosure: We are NOT STARTING NEW UN-CONTRACTED PROJECTS UNTIL AT LEAST NOVEMBER 1. But we can still do a call.
(A good issue to have, certainly. I am also speakething it here to hold myself accountable and prove to team GOW that I’m not actually trying to kill us all.)
Well, sometimes I recognize the name on the calendar listing and sometimes I don’t.
Last week I clearly did not.
We all blipped onto zoom.
“OMG IT IS Y’ALL! I LOVE Y’ALL!”
The people on the Zoom came to our ENTIRE DAY at Cultivate and we had the mostest fun!
I met a bajillion people that week, and so I didn’t remember their names. But as soon as I saw them I was so happy.
(Spoiler: we’re working together. They’re awesome.)
Back at the Bevvy Mart
“I have such bad news!” Michaela said.
“Oh what?”
“Our distributor doesn’t carry your tea anymore!”
Reader, if that was the bad news, I could handle it.
Reader, the fact that I hadn’t SEEN Michaela since maybe January and she even REMEMBERED made me feel all warm and fuzzy. (Not like the person in the car next to the Muni golf course earlier that day.)
“Oh, shoot!” I said. “I’m sure you have lots of cool new stuff, though! I came in today because I had a terrible day and I need happy snacks.”
Michaela was getting ready to take her kiddos home but she came out from behind the counter, grabbed my arm and said, “Yes! Let me show you!”
And that’s how I got a tour of the NEW snacks at the Bevvy Mart.
Want my faves? Write me back because literally gotta stop sometime today.
Say my name say my name
Today’s newsletter is a shortie for me because it is 9:41 pm on Thursday night and we gotta call it.
You might have figured out the point:
Learn your customers’ names.
Learn their favorite things.
Learn about their families.
Ask them how they’re doing.
Tell them about what’s new.
Do not be the super cool shop in town that doesn’t have an email newsletter so I saw the Instagram reel about the nifty upcycled clothing maker event three days after it happened.
Your fans WANT TO KNOW what you have going on.
They will ALSO feel all warm and fuzzy if they know that YOU know THEM.
That you SEE them.
They want to know that YOU know that they LOVE YOUR BUSINESS.
You can do this whether you are B2B or B2C. Whether you have a shop or run a landscaping company. Take the time to TALK TO YOUR CUSTOMERS.
MAKE THE TIME.
It’ll be worth it.
The Bevvy Mart? They have a customer for life. Whether they have my tea or not.
That’s it! That’s the newsletter!
Mostly. Keep scrolling and reading. Just a few more things. A couple.
Really cool thing M&M Wintergreens is doing
Go here and hit the red button to request to be added to their email list.
They are sending out winter container recipes to their list.
“Well Katie, lots of people do that!” you might say.
Actually, they don’t.
B2B email is some of the most boring communication I lay eyes upon, usually. Do you have an un-boring B2B email? Forward it to me! I’ll write you back on Monday.
The boring stuff is why Heather Prince and I wrote an article for GrowerTalks about spicing it up and BATCHING NEXT SPRING’S EMAILS NOW.
Back to M&M. Look what Sharon made! I love it! Way to be creative!
(This goes with our theme, too: making containers and things that GO with regional customer interests!)
Really cool thing MM is Doing
MM stands for Megan T. Morrison: business and leadership coach to the stars.
(Well to me and to people who work with the stars. Really. Her industries are horticulture and space.)
Here we are during coaching today wearing our AWESOME HATS that Joan’s friend made us:
Mine says “KELP.”
I told her she looked like a DJ with her headphones on.
ANYWAY Meg is running a supercalifragilisticexpealidocious group coaching program called “Rooted and Rising” for women in hort September – February and it is going to be BALLER.
I’ve worked with Meg for about 2.25 years total over the last 4 or so years and when I say I would not still be in business without her, I am not exaggerating. I’m OVER THE MOON that she’s doing a group, because you know what’s better than ONE person being happy to see you?
EIGHT PEOPLE BEING HAPPY TO SEE YOU.
She’s having a zoom meet & greet on Monday, September 25. If you’re interested to learn more, you can sign up to attend HERE.
I’ve done private coaching with Meg AND I’ve participated in a PHENOMENAL group program for small agency owners, so I know what it is like to do all of that. If you’d like more info about any of it, privately, please feel free to email me. I’ll write ya back Monday.
OH GOODNESS MONDAY MIGHT BE CRAZY NOW. I’VE ASKED Y’ALL TO WRITE ME BACK EIGHT TIMES.
SEND MEMES.
Eggplant Update
The eggplants have given their all and they are now in my belly.
Handy Links
Each newsletter always has a mix of fun and functional links.
Like chocolate? Like pretzels? MAKE THIS RECIPE
This book was a FUNNNNNN read!
What makes good ALT text? (Link found by Vi!)
Change your story change your life (Hidden Brain podcast episode)
What the HEX?
Upload an image, a screenshot of a part of a website, etc. and get the HEX color codes. Yes, I’ve sent you this before but it is awesome and you probably forgot about it.
Open & Awkward: Shop Talk with Katie and Amanda: Our Podcast is. . .something! And we love to hear from you, so give it a listen and tell us what you think. (MAYBE DON’T DO THAT ON MONDAY, THOUGH OK?)
Public Service Announcement
If you have a popup form with MailChimp you might be getting a bunch of spam signups. In that case, you’re gonna have to turn on two-factor authentication or google ReCaptca. And clean your email list before you send because you will get trounced with a spam complaint. Don’t know how? Write me back. . . I’ll write you back. . . let’s say by next Wednesday.
Finally:
Send Memes
For real.
Talk soon,
ART PS!
Joe and I went on an actual vacation. Here are some sketches from my vacation sketchbook. All painted on location!
1. Around Westport, Mass
2. Karen’s garden & watering cans
3. Room in NYC
4. Restaurant in NYC
5. Elizabeth Street Garden in NYC
