Sometimes we may feel that for us to get more customers, we should cater for an event at our own cost or enter into an agreement with vendors who need our products and do it for free on the promise of future work, which may or may not happen.
You may feel that on this particular occasion you will do it for free, with the hope that that particular vendor will love your products so much and will be ordering from you for all their future occasions.
So what do you do in these types of transactions? When a company or a vendor asks you to provide your cakes for free and that they will start paying you next time.
Here are a couple of ways to handle these kinds of situations:
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Offer Them Something Of Extra Value
Instead of you using your money and doing all the cakes and they not paying anything. Why don’t you tell them that they will pay the full price for the cakes but you will add something extra like maybe free delivery or an extra batch of cupcakes.
Think of something that will be of value to them and offer it to them. So this way, if they decide not to order from you again in the future, it will not be a complete loss as they would have paid you money to cover your costs.
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Offer Them Wholesale Pricing
Create a pricing list just for them. In this sort of pricing, the price goes down as their order numbers go up. For example:
1-50 cupcakes: N700.00 each
51-100 cupcakes: N500 each
101-200 cupcakes: N400 each (and so on.)
This will encourage them to stay, but also encourage them to place the bigger orders with you.
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Be Firm
If a vendor says just do this job for free and I will promise you the next one you will get paid. If you are not happy with that arrangement, you can say ‘ I don’t work that way but I’m happy to negotiate on a deal that will be beneficial for both of us.
“How about this, I’ll do such a good job on this first one at a very good price, that you’ll come back for the second one, and we can talk discount on the next job.”
This way you are letting them know that you value repeat customers, but you’ll provide them that value when they fulfil their promise.
Too often, very well meaning potential customers offer us the sun,moon and stars– that is they’re offering us plenty work in the future. Too often, this future work never pans out.
This was for an order I had for 100 cupcakes
If working with other vendors is something you want to start venturing in, then by all means go for it. It can be a very profitable market – just remember that they are not working for free or cheap so neither should you. It should be a mutually beneficial relationship.
MOST important of all, make sure you’ve got the same target market as they do. If they do not have the same customer base as you …don’t align with them.
Align with companies and vendors that share your values, share your demographic, and share the understanding that this needs to be a win/win relationship, not an opportunity for them to exploit you. You are not the cheap cake lady.
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About Me:
Hello, my name is Rotimicakelady and I am a cake business coach that teaches cake business owners how to grow and have a profitable cake business so that they have a constant stream of customers buying their delicious treats.
I have been running my own successful home based cake business for some years now. I have also been teaching bakers through my online courses who are struggling with low sales, with strategies on how to market, and price their cakes for profit.
In addition I am also run a Facebook Group where I coach, offer support and help bakers in their businesses.
I have helped over 50 bakers through my online course ‘A comprehensive guide to starting your cake business in 30 days’ with much needed information on how to start a cake business in Nigeria. I also teach close to 4000 cake enthusiasts through my Facebook Group how to run a money making cake business.
I have been featured in ‘Naija Top Baker’ magazine, one of Nigeria’s foremost cake magaz