Simple how to “Win a sale!” (Part One: A little observation can help.)

Let the games begin….

“It’s your turn, Alice,” prompted Giselle impatiently.

Dice seemed to tumble with invisible force across the game board.

“Snake-eyes!  UGH!  You move two-spaces, go up the ladder, and win, again, ” conceded Giselle, while rolling her big brown eyes with disgruntlement.      

A child-like giggle ensued as the blue pawn moved, seemingly by itself, across the game board.

“Huzzah, mon petite fantome!” cried Madame Le Tron, as she entered the dining room.

“Well, I ‘ve had enough fun for one day,” said Giselle between her gritted teeth, as she wrestled with the game board and the invisible force that held on to the same.

“Alice, let go of the board now!”

Giselle tumbled backward, game board in- hand.

“Very funny, you little ‘impish wonder’,” grunted Giselle.

“Alice, that wasn’t very nice.  Remember, you are a guest here at Le Tron and can be sent back to the other realm at any time,” warned Madame.

Mischievous laughter could be heard fading down the hallway.

“Ghosts!” harrumphed Giselle, getting up off of the floor. “What is she doing here anyway?”

“Helping the re-cycletrons to put shrouds on our new line of ghosts going up on Etsy next week.  And, beating you at Snakes and Ladders,” said Madame teasingly.

“Ha, ha, very funny,” said Giselle sarcastically. “I’d wish she’d act her age instead of acting three.”

“Oh, you mean one hundred and three!  Well, it is true, Giselle. Alice wasn’t born yesterday, nor did she die yesterday, to be perfectly frank,” Madame winked.

“Don’t get me wrong, Madame. I love Alice, but once, just once, I’d like to beat her at something,” offered-up Giselle, a hint of vengeance in her voice.

“Well, you might, if you do your … ‘Research’.”

“Research?”

“Exactly. I’ll wager that every time you play a game with Alice, you lose, qui?”

Giselle nodded her pretty blonde head.

“When Alice and I play Scrabble,” Madame continued,  “I win, upon occasion. ”

“Surprisingly so,” giggled Giselle, “ considering what a great speller you are.” There was that tone of sarcasm of again.

“Very funny, Mademoiselle,” Madame went on, adding a bit of sarcasm of her own. “When Ghoulish Gordon plays a game with our petite fantome, what game do they play?”  

“Slap Jack,” laughed Giselle.

“ I know. Don’t even go there,” quipped Madame Le Tron.

“Slap jack with a ghost, right?”

“Anyway, who wins?”  asked Madame.

“ I have seen both of them win.”

“D’accord,” nodded Madame Le Tron.  “What other games have you seen Alice play?”

“Dominoes with the re-cyletron, Ralph, and Chess with Managing Mike.”

“And, does Alice always win against them?”

“No, not always,” admitted Giselle.

“So, if I we dig a bit deeper, what games other than Snakes and Ladders do you play with Alice?” probed Madame.

“Backgammon,” replied Giselle.

“And who wins?”

“Alice does.”

“And there you have it!”  affirmed Madame Le Tron

“You lost me,” uttered a bewildered Giselle. 

“Well, what does our research tell you?”

“ That I’m lousy at games?” answered Giselle.

“Well, we know that’s not true.  You usually beat me at Scrabble,” replied Madame.

“Spelling….”

“Ha, ha, ha,” Madame admitted, laughing. “So, based on your observations, what do the two games that you play with Alice have in common? Something that the games she plays with others don’t?”

Giselle thought for a moment. “Well, they are played on boards.”

“Scrabble is played on a board,” pointed out Madame.

“With dice.…”

Madame gestured for more with her black-gloved hand. “What else?”

“And, all the games we play were suggested by Alice….”

“Precisely, because Alice is a ghost, and a mischievous one at that! Those of us who have had age-old encounters with Alice have observed her ways and have learned from our observations, as any good researchers would. Alice is good with the die!’’

“Alice cheats!” exclaimed Giselle.

“Let just say, that after one hundred and three years of research and observation, Alice has learned to “play” some games,” restated Madame Le Tron.

“Why, that little ‘impish wonder,’” reiterated Giselle, laughing.

Ah, once again, all is well in the World of Le Tron!

Au Revoir, regardez vous, next Friday at 3pm!

Madame Le Tron

Note:  In a continuing effort to find our “Niche Market”, we are excited to announce that we will be appearing in our first Mystic Arts Fair this May.  To prepare for this event we went “back to the basics” and created an old fashioned to do list to begin our research.

Our product is a line of Dark Fairies a la Le Tron.  This line includes Wall Art and our very popular dolls on a stick, big here in Minnesota.

We’d like to share our “To Do List!” with you!

Google Search Fairies

Etsy Search Faires

Library

Barnes and Noble

Read, read, read

Render Designs

(From here we had a basic design plan, but were looking for the “Twist.”)

Back to Google – discovered a thread to elementals

And we had it!  Elemental Fairies! From here we started down the path of Mystic Arts, Meditation and Healing.

Then we were touched by fate. We were looking to register in a neighborhood art show and notice an ad for a Mystic Arts Fair. We attended that event and “lo and behold” everything fell into place. We found our audience and it felt like home!

As we refine our product line, all of these “stops along the way”, play a significant roll in product design and development, as well as audience building and marketing. We are very anxious to see the results.

We would love to understand how you have used research and observation in product design and “Niche Marketing”.  Please share with us below.

Social Media Etiquette – Know the Rules!

Don’t

Forget

To Mind

Your Manners…  

‘Crash, Bang,’ went the screen door as Giselle came bursting in.  “Madame,” she shouted.  “I have some awesome news!”

“Un moment, Giselle, I am busy with an important guest right now, and I.…”

“Pardon moi, Madame,” replied Giselle, peeking into the office and seeing that the black desk chair was indeed occupied, but from the angle at which she stood, she could not discern by whom.

“You and I will speak later. In the meantime, you might what to read up on polite manners.  We are running a business here, mademoiselle.”

“Qui, Madame,” Giselle said, as she turned on her heel to ascend the stairs.

Behind her a stifled laugh came from the occupied chair, followed by a suppressed titter from Madame Le Tron.

                                                                     

‘Well, speaking of rude,’ Giselle thought to herself. ‘Oh, never mind, nothing is going to spoil this day!’ And, she bounded up the stairs.

“Shall we continue? It appears from the look of things that our partnership has been a success,” Madame went on.

“I do not think we could have been more successful,” replied Madame’s guest delightedly.

Above stairs, Giselle turned to the old library on her left and opened the door. Cobwebs hung on just about everything.  She made her way over to the larger bookcase on her right. It had been ever so long since she had been in this dusty old room.

“I think we put my books over here somewhere,” she whispered aloud. “Yes, there they are. Manners, I know she gave me a book on manners before she…”

Giselle had not thought about her parents in a very long time.  Not that she didn’t think of them often, it was just that she didn’t come here to think about them anymore.

As she paused to gaze about the room, her eyes began to fog a bit. All of their things were now her things. Madame had placed them for her in this room after the crash.  It was such a kind and loving gesture. Giselle brushed a tear from her eye.

This old library had been her sanctuary.  She came here to be close to them.  Giselle removed a dust cover from her mother’s red velvet settee and sat down.  Before she knew it, she fell fast asleep.

Below stairs, Madame Le Tron slowly strolled with her guest through the screen door and onto the porch.

“I leave the rest to you! I did tell you that her dress color is coral, qui?”

“Yes, Madame,” said the guest.

“Very well. Just let me know if there is anything else I can do.”

“I will. Thank you very much for all of your help, Madame Le Tron.” And with a nod of his head, Madame’s guest extended his right hand to her. Madame extended hers as well, and they shook hands ‘good-bye.’

‘What a nice young man,’ she thought, ‘and what nice manners. Oh, Mon Dieu! Manners – Giselle! I am sure she thought me rude.’ And with that, Madame hurried back inside to find her young charge.

All was quiet as she climbed the stairs. To her left, the old library’s door stood ajar. ‘Odd,’ she thought. ‘No one has used this room in years.  I suppose we would rather just station ourselves in front of our computer screens. Guilty as charged!’ She smiled to herself.

The old floorboards creaked as she stepped inside the familiar space. Suddenly it all came rushing back. The car accident in France….  It was a wonder that Giselle had survived.  What a nightmare for a four-year-old child. The loss of Pierre and Simone….

A ‘sigh” came from the direction of the settee in the corner of the room, and Madame could just make out Giselle’ s ever-present beret atop her golden hair.  Would she ever take that hat off?  So much like her father; so much like Pierre. Madame could not remember him without that hat. ‘I wonder if she will wear it to the prom?’

‘The prom…manners -- of course,’ thought Madame. She made her way over to the large bookcase to the left of the great bay window, knocking down cobwebs as she went.

“Ah, here it is -- Etiquette Pour Une Petite Fille, by Simone Montiner,” said Madame aloud.

“My ma’ mere wrote that book?” asked Giselle sleepily.

“Qui, Mon Cherie, for you, just after you were born,” answered Madame crossing the  room to sit down beside her on the red velvet settee.

“Regardez.”  Madame opened the front cover of the tiny book , Je t'aimerai toujours mon petite enfant …

“She loved you so, as did your father. It seems long ago now, Mon Cherie, but they are here with us now, as they will be with you always.”

Madame handed the small leather-bound book to Giselle. She put her arm round the young woman’s shoulder as they leaned back into the corner of the settee.

“When you were just une petite fille, you would often come into this old library at bedtime, with a favorite book, cuddle up on this settee, and fall asleep. I would then call on one of the re-cycletron’s to

fetch you and carry you back to your own room, sound asleep.”

Giselle sighed deeply.

“You are a fine young lady, Giselle. Your parents would be vey proud of you, as am I, Mon Cherie.”

Giselle held up her mother’s book and, pushing back a lock of her golden blonde hair, teasingly said, “Despite my manners?”

“It never hurts to review the rules. After all, your prom date, Nate, has exceptional manners, and when you rudely burst in on us today, I didn’t want him to change his mind about asking you,” winked Madame Le Tron.

“Wait!  That was Nate in your office this afternoon?”

“Qui, Giselle, with awesome News!  You are going to the prom!”

“But, I don’t understand. How did you know? I mean, why was he here?”

“Well, let’s just say a well-mannered gentlemen knows the rules and what color corsage might be just right.”

“Touché, Madame!” giggled Giselle, as she snuggled a bit closer.

‘Well played, Nate,’ thought Madame Le Tron.

Ah, yes, all will be well in the Wonderful World of Le Tron!

Au Revoir, See you next Friday at 3pm Central,

Madame Le Tron

Note: Etiquette, understanding the rules, and a little research go along way.  We, at Le Tron, learned this past week that each of the groups we belong to on Linked-in have a different set of rules for postings through discussions. 

We are grateful to one of our favorite role models, Sue Mongeon, for her gentle reminder –

On 04/15/13 7:10 PM, Sue Mongeon wrote:

--------------------

 For those of us in the Etsy Professional Shop Owners group, Stevie Sacks frequently (I think monthly) puts out discussion titles, things like, "Post all your Blog links here," and "Post all your Treasuries here," in order to give us a unified location for these and to keep from having a gazillion different discussions going, or even having to post your own promotions threads. Anytime you want to see what discussions are out there, or you want to find one of these threads to jump on, click the GROUPS link on the Linked In homepage or any page of LI, and select a group you belong to. When you are on their page, you will see the DISCUSSIONS link. Click on that and a list of Discussions that are active will show up.

You can find any of these posting opportunities that way.

Sorry if there has been confusion. I realize that not all groups have the same rules that this one does, so it can be confusing when one group lets you promote under DISCUSSIONS and another says it is taboo.

Sue M

As always, please share with us below discussion, etiquette and gentle reminders from which we all might benefit:

Dealing With The Social Media “Distraction” Factor – Who’s Minding the Store?

Inside Le Tron Studios...

The Ghosts MUST Go Up…

“Incroyable!” exclaimed Madame Le Tron. “Just what have I been thinking?”  She continued to review the items in her shop.

“No one, in their right mind, is going to go into a shop that has nine items for sale, with any notion of making a purchase.”

Down the long, dark hallway with the creaking, old floorboards, things seemed even more glum.

‘Beep, buzz, buzzer,’ thought the recyletron, Managing Mike ‘ C’est impossible! We have been working on the goal of increasing inventory for the past month and a half, and not one item has been added to our shop!’

‘When was it that we began in earnest to work toward our goal of 100 Items For Sale?  A month, perhaps a month and a half?’ pondered Madame Le Tron. ‘I have been spending way too much time managing social media and not enough time managing the store,’ she thought.

Back in the studio, down the hall --

“Bizz-bizz-bizz, buzz-buzz-buzz, beep! This requires some investigation,” determined Mike, wheeling round with his wrench-like arms waving in the air.

“This requires some investigation,” stated Madame rising from her computer screen, as she headed toward the office door.

Down the hall, the studio door flew open as Managing Mike trumpeted, “GISELLE….”

From the office doorway, “GISELLE…,” came loud and clear with overtones of Madame’s very French accent.

‘What now?’ thought Giselle, as she closed her biology book, a subject on which she would be tested the very next morning.

“Tout de suite,” called Madame.

“Right now,” echoed the robot.

‘”Really?” Giselle said under her breath, as she prepared to descend the stairs.

“I’m studying!” she called.

“It’s not working!” stated Madame.

“I am simply confused,” added Mike.

“What’s not working?” asked Giselle.

“What are you studying?” queried Madame.

“Confused…,” restated Mike.

“Our shop,” answered Madame.

“Biology,” answered Giselle

Smoke began to rise from the recyletron’s box-like frame as ‘VERY CONFUSED’ flashed across the computer screen embedded in his chest.

Giselle reached out her right hand and pushed Managing Mike’s reset button.  The robot began to shut down, as Giselle and Madame took their places in front of the computer screen.

“What’s not working, Madame?”

“Our shop, Giselle.  It is nearing the end of the first quarter, and I feel as though we are no closer to making more sales than when the year began.”

“Let’s check our road map and see where we are,” suggested Giselle. “We have our brand, Le Tron ~ “Toys With A Twist!” consistently appearing in all we do: shop, website, Facebook, Blog -- and gaining recognition, I might add.”

“Qui,” agreed Madame Le Tron.

“Speaking of our Blog, we have seen some solid movement there, with over 400 page views in a very short time. Now, we just have to figure out how to turn our page viewers into followers and investigate Google Ad Sense to see if we can generate a bit of income.”

“It’s always something,” murmured Madame Le Tron.

“Finding our ‘Niche Market’ is on-going and we are planning to explore Pinterest, as well as attend that Mystic Fair on Saturday, qui?”

 A soft ‘whirr’ could be heard as Managing Mike came back on-line.

“So that leaves inventory,” concluded Giselle.

“Which is non-existent,” added Madame.  “We have only eight items for sale in our shop, and I know I have processed orders for a line of ghosts and fairies. I don’t know, Giselle.  With only eight items in the shop, perhaps we should put the shop on ‘Vacation’ until we have more inventory.”

“Where did you get that idea, Madame?”

“It’s been a running thread on Linked-in this past week, and I thought perhaps….”

“No, Madame. I do not think that is in our best interest.  With all we have done with social media, we need to keep our shop open so that, when people search it, there is something there!  No, Madame, our problem is lack of inventory.”

“Exactly!” interjected Managing Mike amidst a flurry of buzzers, bells, and whistles, signifying that the robot was back on-line. “Thus, ladies, let me reiterate my confusion in the fact that, in the last month and a half, all of the staff has been a buzz with creation.   In fact, the reports indicate that several ghosts were completed, but not one item had been placed in the shop.”  ‘CONFUSION, WARNING, WARNING, CONFUSION!’ printed across the robot’s screen.

Madame held up her black-gloved hand. “Let us not go there again, Mike. Let us go instead to the studio and try to figure out just what is happening!”

Madame Le Tron, Giselle, and Mike proceeded down the long, dark hallway with the creaking, old floorboards and entered Le Tron Studios.

The staff of recyletrons seemed fast at work.

“Hey!” pointed out Giselle. “When it comes to problems with ghosts, Ghoulish Gordon is the man to ask!”

“You mean ‘robot’,” winked Madame Le Tron.

“Ghoulish Gordon, front and center!” commanded Managing Mike.

Gordon wheeled forward.

“Ghoulish, we are in search of the ghostly inventory that has been reported as complete, but has yet to be placed in our shop.”

Ghoulish Gordon raised a wrench-like arm in the air.

“I am afraid I do not understand your meaning.  Why are you pointing up?” asked Mike.

Gordon continued his stance.

“ I think he means ‘Up’,” offered Madame.

“Je comprend, Madame, but, ‘Up’?”  the confused robot replied.

“QUI!” shouted Giselle happily. “I get it! Look up! Ghosts go up!”

“Mais qui! Regardez!”  rejoined Madame Le Tron, pointing to the ceiling above.

Over their heads hung a series of magnificently up-cycled toys looking very much like ghostly, if not  heavenly, bodies afloat in mid-air.

“Je comprend! Tres magnifique!” Giselle whispered in amazement.  “These ghosts must go up! On-line that is!”

“Increasing what we offer for sale in our shop,” smiled Madame Le Tron. “After all, is it not a ‘BIOLOGICAL FACT’ that Ghosts go up, Giselle?”

“But of course, Madame, if you say so,” giggled Giselle. “ And I’ll let you know the minute I come across it in my studies, to which I now return!”

“Very well. Bon chance, Mon Cherie!”

“Merci, Madame!”

“Merci, Giselle!”

And, "Merci!"  to each and every one of you for your continuing support! See you next Friday at 3pm!

Au Revoir,

Madame

Note:  Many things can become a distraction, and many Blogs have been written about the same.  We at Le Tron were quite taken aback when we reviewed our shop’s listings in earnest this week, only to find we had eight items for sale. It really made our other efforts pale.

Once we talked it through, we realized that we have been doing a very good job of building our social media presence, but to what end if we really have nothing for sale?

The balancing act never ends.

How do you keep up with it all?  We’d love to add your tips to our Blog, and so please post below!