July 2007

BUSINESS OF WEARABLES

When Selling's All Wet

Learn who’s buying swimwear, and all things beachy.

By Nowell C. Wisch, MAS

One weekend when I was “sweatin’ to the oldies” on a Pensacola, FL, beach with some of my distributor friends, Perry had an interesting idea. “I want to sell stuff that goes in and around the water,” he told me. “You simply won’t believe how many programs focus on water products. They’re everywhere!”

"I sold towels, swimwear, eyewear and headwear to a client. The program was a destination travel event for its customer service and call center managers."

Jenny, distributor

I said I believed water-related and swimwear products were popular, but didn’t understand how to sell them. Perry gave me a withering glance, the kind that said, “Oh, you poor fool.” He said, “Don’t you understand that water sports, incentive programs, invitations, meetings and conferences use dozens of different products? They use everything from sunscreen to sundresses and bathing suits to beach bags.”

He then described a corporate meeting he was working on that would include six different water items and three wearables or fabric items.

Jenny, a distributor who’d been sleeping on the chaise next to us, woke up feisty. “Nowell, there are more than 100 common items that apply to dozens of programs fitting a beach, recreational or commercial theme relating to water sports or activities,” she said. “I recently sold towels, swimwear, eyewear and headwear to a client. The program was a destination travel event for its customer service and call center managers.

“We provided beach towels that we printed in the same Hawaiian theme as the camp shirts and swim trunks,” she said. “We ordered samples of the garments, and after the client picked the style, we sent the sample to the towel maker who matched the color scheme with similar graphics.”

Perry weighed in. “Well, it must have been difficult to find the staff in their swimwear if they blended into the towel,” he said.

Jenny said she didn’t really think of it that way, but felt it added to the participants’ positive reaction to the products. “They noticed the coordinating products immediately and thought they were ‘cool’ and ‘the bomb’ – whatever that means,” she said.

Later that evening, Bob, a rep for a well-known clothing line, told me that resort wear and bright, lightweight clothing have been showing up as part of uniform programs for years. “One of my best customers recently outfitted the entire pool staff at three Las Vegas resorts,” he said. “We provided almost a dozen different pastel shirts and shorts for the pool waitstaff, towel and lounge staff, and lifeguards. With more than 200 people involved, it was a sizable order.”

When I whistled my appreciation, he said, “It wasn’t without problems, however. The distributor had to source from four product lines because of differences in the staffs’ size requirements.”

For example, one resort’s staff had a majority of ultra-thin, athletic people who were mostly short. “In a few cases, we needed more extra-small sizes than large styles, and we needed them athletically cut,” Bob says. “Performance fabrics were in high demand as well, but the client wanted to avoid too ‘golfy’ a look. It was a real challenge.”

Back to Perry: Ultimately he decided to concentrate on pitching towels for a month. He told every customer who called “how cool towels are,” regardless of whether they needed them or not. He did sell a lot of towels, but his clients were exhausted by the process.

Up for the challenge
Challenge is the operative word for many of these water- and swimwear-related programs. “The clients who typically buy these products have been doing programs for years. They’ve seen it, done it and sent the postcard,” says my distributor friend Barbara.

“We keep really accurate sales records, so we have a few years between items. We recently did our second order for visors and beach hats for a client, but almost lost it because of a memory problem,” she says.
The client didn’t want to place the order because she thought she had just placed it last year. “We reminded her that her company did its last order for those items more than five years ago,” Barbara says. “Since this client has a 40% turnover in employees every 18 months, we figured that there were only a couple of people who might remember the last time. Therefore, it was a new product once again, and we had an easy time instead of a difficult sale.”

While destination travel, incentive trips and award programs can use many different kinds of water-related products, you need to be careful. Mark’s client had a dinner meeting group to outfit with water-themed products. “They weren’t going anywhere, but wanted to use something that their association members would appreciate for summer activities,” he says.

Mark’s company provided beach bags with a number of items inside. “The only thing we won’t use again is a blow-up beach ball. Within five minutes there were dozens of the things bouncing around the tables, knocking over water glasses, table numbers and centerpieces,” he says. “Half of the people put on their sunglasses, and dozens applied the neon sunblock on their noses. The entire room was out of control, although everyone was having fun. Next time, we’ll probably suggest a beach robe or higher-end towel.”

From April through August, about half of Mark’s sales are in items related to beach and water sports. “I just ask everybody what they’re doing for the summer,” he says. “Because so many of my clients are young people with kids, the opportunities are endless. We provide things for their company time as well as leisure time.”
Mark’s clients also donate wearables and related products to summer camp programs – that includes T-shirts, towels, caps, hats, flip-flops, sandals, bags, toys and plastics. “We recently sold 500 plastic waterproof safes so the kids could keep their IDs and lunch money dry,” he says. “Earlier in the month we sold 10 dozen waterproof fabric flippy-flyers for a church’s summer program. They put them into the invitation announcement so families would have fun discussing the program at home.”

A very busy water-related product peddler, Mark also fills dozens of orders for coolers. “They’re really low-priced now, and you can pack a beach towel and sun visor in them for easy distribution,” he says.
Mark says that multiple products are the way for distributors to unlock this category. “Of course, it starts with a thorough understanding of the budget,” he says. “There are hundreds of choices to fill any budget. Give me $10, and I’ll get you a bag and several things to put in it.”

Narrow it down
The more a client spends doesn’t necessarily mean he gets more items in his order. “If you have a $6 budget and put five $1 items in a bag, you may get just as much bang for your buck as you would with a $20 budget using a $15 bag,” Barbara says. “The real key is controlling what items you show the client. If you really understand what they want to accomplish before you bring in a pile of catalogs and samples, you can avoid a lot of problems. You need to ask a lot of questions up front to avoid problems later in the sale.”

Controlling choice is always important in any sale. Clients can become confused by too much choice, so keeping it simple is never a bad idea. It can make the difference between a sale that earns solid profit with high client satisfaction and one that leaves everybody all wet. While water is good, profit is better and always leads to…

Happy Selling!