I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Therese Ørtenblad on Let’s Talk Shop, her fantastic podcast for small businesses who want to grow their wholesale sales with retailers.
Having worked for giftware company NPW, Therese has extensive experience selling to retailers and has some awesome guests on her podcast which is well worth listening to. She’s also an expert that’s available for consulting and has online courses for entrepreneurs looking to grow.
The time breezed by and we had covered a lot of ground as I shared how Blue Eyed Sun got started, many of the pitfalls and failures we’ve experienced along the road to success and how retail is changing in 2020.
I’ve listed some of the highlights below, if you are short on time. Click the play button on the image below.
02:55 How Blue Eyed Sun got started
05:25 Our first ever retailer
07:20 The secret value of trade shows
09:45 What made the business really take off
13:15 Taking on our first premises
13:55 Our first big multiple and how we almost lost them
17:45 How trade shows have changed
21:10 What really drives our business success
22:35 How diversification has doubled our sales
22:40 The Ladder Club for new card publishers
24:20 What can cripple your business
25:30 What we learned from our failures
26:30 The growth in eco friendly giftware
27:30 Founding greenmagpie.net to sell B2C
29:10 How we market to retailers and B2B businesses
32:00 Our successful blog for Retailers
33:00 The power of a good email list
34:15 How retailers can sell well online
36:00 The secret to social selling
39:45 The impact of Covid-19 on our business
46:30 The pitfall of brokerage and multiples
51:00 How we grew the business on two and a half days per week
56:40 The future of retail and supply chain logistics
57:50 How retail will be in Autumn 2020
62:00 Which retailers have been most affected by Covid-19
63:25 Which retailers will do well and what they should be stocking
65:00 Fun marketing tips for businesses
67:15 Diversity in the card and gift industry
73:00 How to make real change in the workplace
83:00 How the world’s consciousness is shifting
Hope you enjoy listening and thanks to Therese for having me on her show.
Listen to Jeremy on other podcasts below:
The Marketing Disenchanted Podcast
Sage Advice Podcast talking about Business and the Environment
