In today’s retail landscape, consumers are spending more money online than ever before.

As an independently owned brick and mortar store, how can you compete?

The good news is that you have something to offer your customers that online retailers do not…

          An In-Store Experience with Workshops!

Your customers are looking to you to provide personalized service, local expertise, and create in-store experiences for them to be a part of.

So what’s the most popular trend?  WORKSHOPS!

Workshops bring in a new and younger demographic to your store and help you to strengthen customer relationships and brand loyalty.  They set you apart from the big box retailers, fill your store with paying customers and give you something exciting to promote on social media!

Today, you’re going to learn how to create an exciting in-store experience for your customers. You’re also going to learn why now is the time to capitalize on the experience economy.

Part 1: In-Store Experiences in the Experience Economy

Right now is a very, very exciting time in the retail space. Everybody knows that the retail industry, when it comes to brick-and-mortar stores, is changing.

There are massive stores like Toys ‘R’ Us and Sears that have been around for decades, that are going out of business. Consumers are finding cheaper prices and more convienance shopping with online retailers like Amazon. And this is happening at a massive scale, with companies that sold billions of dollars worth of products.

You probably already know how the story ends for the small, independently owned retail stores. But what if there was a way to find a unique advantage through all of this? What if there was something you could offer to your customers, something that they’re really looking for…that online retailers can’t?

Welcome to the Experience Economy!

We really believe that smaller, independently-owned stores have a huge advantage, and that is the experience economy. It’s creating in-store events and workshops and, in our case, a Paint Therapy workshop. If your customers are looking for cheap products, you just can’t compete on prices. They’re going to buy online.

But if your customers are looking for an experience, they’re looking for the one-on-one interaction, then guess what? You have the advantage. So your customers are looking for you to provide this local expertise and provide a personalized experience and service and something they can be a part of locally.

Retailers that have transformed their business model and marketing strategy to focus on workshops, events and ladies nights have been enjoying these benefits:

• • Setting themselves apart from the big-box stores.

• Filling their store with paying customers (most customers will pre-pay for a workshop days in advance)
• Attract women shoppers and a younger, new demographic into their store
• Create a bond and a trust with their customers while spending 2-3 hours in a workshop setting
• Strengthen the loyalty and repeat business with workshop attendees
• Create a buzz on social media and position themselves as a ‘fun’ and ‘exciting’ store

Are you convinced yet? Excited to launch workshops and events at your retail store? Great! Let’s get started…

Part 2: Getting Started With Workshops

We kind of stumbled on workshops back in 2012.

One of our friends asked if we would put together a workshop for some of her friends, and then it kind of went from there. There was about six ladies the first night.  Everybody got together and we had snacks, there was music playing, and these women just loved to hang out and create. When they left, the word traveled through the town and on social media, and more people had contacted me to do more workshops.

That’s how it all started.The whole idea of women wanting to get together and creating and having an experience together isn’t slowing down!

The other important part to this is that while they were at the workshop, we were inspiring them with so many different things that you can use the products for. At the end of the class, they wanted to purchase the product and they ended up getting hooked! They kept coming back to buy the paint, try new colors, pick out a new brush, and top up on sealers.  All the while, they were getting exposure to other products and increasing foot traffic at our store.

Then the word kind of got out with different retailers in different towns, and they started contacting us and asking how they could sell this product and teach workshops.

Over the next year and a half we travelled to 75 different stores, helping them teach their first workshop with the owner and their attendees.

Through that process, we started learning what works best, and we kind of bundled it all down to a system and figured out what is the purpose of workshops and why do they work so well. That’s how the whole Paint Therapy Workshop system came about.

Part 3: Success with Workshops

Over the years, dozens of our retailers have made workshops their primary marketing strategy.

50 to 100 New Customers per Month

One of our retailers uses workshops to bring in 50 – 100 new customers per month. You can only imagine the repeat business from this. Not only do the events get shared on social media, but the attendees pre-pay, and then spend 2-3 hours in the store. They get comfortable in the environment which is a big reason why so many of them come back to shop later.

Exposure for Other Product Categories

Another retail store owner has his staff teach the workshops in the Home Decor area of his Home Improvement store. This raises awareness of the products and sets up success for the seasonal sales. He focuses on doing a lot of Winter workshops in order to build a customer base for his spring season, plants and gardening.  And he does a lot of fall workshops to set up his customer base for Christmas shopping. Getting in new customers for workshops keeps his store top of mind for the upcoming busy shopping season. It also helps keep his staff busy and foot traffic up during slower times.

Creating a Buzz on Social Media

A lot of our retailers post pictures of upcoming events, as well as groups of ladies at their previous events. Nothing gets liked, commented on and shared on social media more than parties and events. One of our retailers did a simple Facebook post with a workshop idea, and when she woke up in the morning she had over 250 comments on the post! By the way, she lived in a small town of less than 2,000 population. Posting about events is easy enough for staff to take care of, and it positions your company as a ‘fun’ and ‘exciting’ store that people want to shop at.

Part 4: The Paint Therapy Workshop System

What is the Paint Therapy Workshop system?

Retailers are busy. Very busy. They are trying to keep organized, keep inventory stocked, manage their staff, keep customers happy, and create new marketing campaigns so customers keep coming in to shop.

With Paint Therapy, not only can this system replace your advertising efforts to becoming your primary marketing strategy, but the system is designed to make it easy for you so you don’t get burned out. It allows you to set it up so it’s consistent, easy enough for your staff to implement for you, and simplifies your life so you don’t need to worry about re-creating the wheel when it comes to marketing.

When it comes to workshops and events, there are 3 things you need to do:

1. Promote – you’ll need to follow the steps to promote your workshops so your classes fill up and sell out.
2. Teach – you can follow our simple outline for teaching any workshop to make sure it’s valuable for attendees.
3. Sell – we offer proven products and profitable accessories so you can maximize your sales and get them coming back again.

Follow these 3 basic steps and you’ve got yourself a successful, repeatable marketing strategy for the year!

HOW TO PROMOTE

Promoting your workshop is key to filling up seats and selling out.  Once you sell out your workshops, it creates more demand for your future events. There’s nothing like having a waiting list of paying customers who perceive your store as the in demand ‘hot spot’.

The first steps to promoting your workshop is simple:

• Poster – create a poster that says ‘take a class’ and put it next to your register, or in your front window
• Sign Up Sheet – hands down, the EASIEST way to start building a list of attendees is by creating a simple spreadsheet that allows people who are interested in workshops to put their name, number and email address. Even if you’re not ready to host workshops yet, you’ll be able to see who’s interested, and build a follow up list for when you’re ready to go.
• Facebook Post – if you have a business Facebook page, simply post that you’re going to host workshops and events and ask those interested to leave a comment with their email address. We’ve had retailers who consistently get 20+ comments.

HOW TO TEACH

The next step is all about how to teach a workshop. Retailers can scratch their head trying to come up with what to teach, how to teach it, and even battle with the fear of speaking in front of a group.

But with a simple 3 part planning process, all of the pieces fall into place. This gives you an easy to follow plan, and something that is repeatable. You can provide this 3 part plan to your staff, and feel confident that they can take it from there.

• PART 1 – PROJECT – Choose a project that fits your criteria. Things to consider would include your budget, how long the project takes to complete, how much space the project takes up, and is the project valuable for attendees?  
• PART 2 – PRODUCT – When you teach a workshop, focus on a few key products rather than including too many options. This will help focus the educational part to specific products and give your attendees confidence in learning how to use them. This will also increase after sales of those products.
• PART 3 – PERSONALIZE – Let your attendees personalize their projects with a stencil, knobs, glaze or metallix. This helps customers create a project that is unique to them…plus, it’s super fun!

The 3 parts may sound TOO simple, but if you plan out each of the parts, you’ll be confident in teaching your first workshop.

HOW TO SELL

It’s important to use products that you sell at your store. Workshops have always been about promoting and educating people about the products you sell, in a unique and exciting experience. Keep in mind that a workshop isn’t a one time event for your customers. It’s the beginning of a long lasting customer relationship. That’s why you want to make sure to maximize your sales and efforts at a workshop. When customers make a purchase from your store, there’s a much higher chance that they’ll be back into your store for more purchases.

When it comes to paint and the accessories…these are consumable products. They use them up at home, and run out before their project is complete. This means they come back into your store again and again looking for more.

With that said, it makes a lot of sense to put more pressure on the initial sale so that you can set up the repeat business. Here’s a few tips that have worked for our retailers:

• TIP #1 – Offer a discount during the night of the event.
• TIP #2 – Plant the idea seed early in the class to get them thinking about projects at home
• TIP #3 – Pass around project ideas and pictures so they decide on a project and reason to buy
• TIP #4 – Educate them on the simple techniques so they have the confidence to do bigger projects at home

WHAT’S NEXT?

Hosting an exciting in-store experience is all about positioning yourself as unique store. It can make your customers feel like they are part of the experience, and a part of your store. That’s the kind of environment successful retailers are creating to set themselves apart from online retailers.

So if you’re ready to create an exciting in-store experience with Paint Therapy Workshops, check out our free guide. It’s our free gift to you, and whether you’re already a retailer, or maybe you haven’t done workshops before…either way, go ahead and download the guide. This is a great guide to check out all the details and go through all the steps.