It's been a funny old week here at the (converted) pig farm. Online sales at www.queen-cosmetics.com have been very slow but we've had all sorts of new customers popping up, including one who had received a sample of one of our products back in November 2004. Talk about a slow burn....
'Do you still sell your Massage Cream' said the email from a London-based Osteopath. Among our products for therapists (be they beauty therapists, chiropodists, osteopaths etc) is a perfume-free massage cream. It really is the business for anyone doing any sort of massage as part of their job because it is solid until it touches the skin when it melts. No more oil on your carpet or over your clients' clothes. Because it has no perfume it doesn't irritate the skin -therapist's or client's - so is ideal for those with sensitive skin and, a superficial point maybe, it doesn't clash with any other scent or perfume your client may be wearing. Furthermore, (sorry about what is turning into an advert for Massage Cream) it disappears into the skin by the time the massage treatment is finished so no greasy, oily feeling for the rest of the day.
When the email arrived, I was on the blower to another osteopath, our friends the Forest Row Osteopathic Clinic, who order 'bucketloads' (their words) of Massage Cream. 'Tell him its the best stuff ever,' they said. So I did. And he ordered!
It makes you think though. It often seems as though a lot of one's marketing effort is for nothing. Letters, emails and samples go off into the ether and you hear nothing back. Then, suddenly you get an order or some great feedback. Today, a lady who had requested and received a brochure seven months ago placed her first order. Fantastic but why has it taken so long? Another woman emailed to say she loved one of our day creams. I had given up on her because, some weeks ago, she had said she wasn't interested because the cream didn't contain a sunscreen. Never surrender is going to be the new Queen motto. That and 'we'll get you in the end!'
I only hope we can build the sort of relationships we have with our longstanding customers with our new ones. A wonderful lady called today to order some face powder. 'I need more than usual because I am using it on my sister too,' she said. She revealed that she was 82 and had started using the products when she was between 25-30. 'I was a booker for the BBC and all my colleagues used Queen,' she told me. She went on to tell me about all the exotic places she had been to, including Honolulu and Australia where she had been three times. What a life! I mentioned that perhaps she should write down all her experiences, including life during the Blitz in Portsmouth and her various travels. 'I did write something a few years ago and asked my son to type it up so I could send it to the BBC archives for posterity. He lost it all and my eyes are too bad to do it again'. I can't bear it that all her wonderful memories are not being recorded. Who knows what the internet will look like in 50 years but let's hope all our blogs may be preserved somewhere for future generations (of our own families at least!) to read.
This is completely random but did you know that sheep 'kneel' on their front legs to graze? I never knew this until I came here and was just reminded on it a moment ago when I glanced out of the window.
Er, where was I?
Our local notoriety grows. I mentioned some months ago that a local businesswoman had started using Queen make-up. She then recommended us to her daughter then to one of her friends who lives in the road where we are based. Her friend recommended us to her husband who came in yesterday to buy his second lot of Light Night Cream. The friend (are you keeping up?) came in herself today with another friend, both of who left happily clutching mascaras, Moisturiser and Enriched Moisturising Lotion. And the original customer, the local businesswoman, ordered this morning. 'That's our first order before 7am', our MD said (she had caught him as he cycled to his local village shop for much-needed coffee supplies).
This behaviour just underlines the fact that third party endorsement is the most powerful marketing tool. If WE were to invite local people to come and see us and sample our products, no-one would come (people don't tend to buy cosmetics on the basis that they are local - it doesn't have the same appeal or cachet as local lamb or local wine) but if a friend tells you something is worth looking at, you do.
Right, well, we are off on our hols for a week so our next blog will be a bit late. I thought I would finish with another lovely comment we had this week via email:
'I have been waiting to write to you until I had properly tried the QUEEN samples you so kindly gave me. I am very, very impressed and thank you for introducing me to such beautiful products. No more Crowes Cremine for me! I can see myself becoming a devotee to your brand.'
More of the same please.....
Have a good week.
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