Hello, welcome back to a slice of cake business talk.
How are you all doing?
I hope the last week has been good to you and the weather has been absolutely phenomenal for the last couple of weeks and I really, really enjoyed just taking time out and, you know, soaking up the sun and and getting the energy and back to wedding cakes this week.
It's so that's really, really nice to get back into the baking.
So I've actually got my first wedding cake of the year being delivered this morning.
So um I'm recording this before I head off and deliver the wedding cake.
So I hope you've been busy with your baking and, you know, it's it's also half term as well here. Um I don't know if it's half term.where in the UK but it is half term here so I've also had to contend with having my son at home and I've currently got my daughter visiting as well.
She doesn't live near me, so um she's visiting for a couple of days, which is just really lovely but juggling everything , juggling in the wedding cake, um the podcast, the cake Business Academy, family time, et cetera, et ccera, has been a struggle, but it's been fun.
It's been really nice to sort of get back into it.
So, you know, whatever you've been doing, I really hope that you've enjoyed it . So this week's episode is going to talk to you about getting inquiries from people who just aren't the right fit.
So maybe they want designs that don't reflect your style or their , you know, expecting everything for half the price.
And it just feels you leaving drained and stuck creatively and you just don't quite know how to attract the people that you want to attract and make the kind of cakes that you want to make . You know, constantly being asked for like cartoon character cakes when you really just want to specialize in modern elegance, simple designs, something like that, or, you know, people who are coming for um birthday cakes and celebration cakes, but you really want to start making more wedding cakes and things like that.
So it's difficult and it can get you down, especially when people are coming to you and saying, you know, you're too expensive, I can't afford that.
You shouldn't you should lower your prices, etetera, et cetera. Or your feeling like you are saying yes to every cake that comes along, just to get the booking, even though it's not lighting you up because you you want to do this business for so many different reasons.
Everybody's got different reasons for wanting to run a cake business, but you've got to enjoy it.
And if you're making cakes that you're not enjoying or if you're constantly being told you're too expensive, then it can really get you down and the thoughts of why am I doing this?
I shouldn't continue.
I'm not good enough, etc., etc.
They all come along, but you're not doing anything wrong.
Something in the way you are showing up might not be aligned with the customers that you actually want and I just want to, you know, reiterate you're not doing anything wrong.
There's nothing wrong with your cakes.
There's nothing wrong with anything like that.
But there is something that you are doing that isn't speaking to your ideal customers . I talk about idol customers a lot.
And that's for a reason because you have to target them specifically.
You know, so many cake makers think that they need to make what everybody wants, just to get the booking because if they don't do that, they're not going to get the bookings, they're not going to make a business except a business out of it.
But you don't need to change your style of cakes.
You just need to make it clearer who your cakes are for your ideal client clients are out there.
You just have to signal to them that you are the right baker for them.
You know, these people that you're attracting who are wanting the novelty cakes instead of the pretty cakes or the ones that are coming and saying, I've only got a budget for half of that.
They are customers for other cake makers and that's absolutely fine.
You want your customers so you need to speak to them.
You need to tell them, I'm here, come to me.
So these are five things that you can do to start attracting customers who fit you better.
So number one, show only the work that you want more of.
Now, we make a cake and we have to instantly show that cake on social media to say hey look what I made.
But when you do that and it's a cake that you don't enjoy and then you don't really want to do again.
You're just telling people this is what I make so yeah come and order from me.
You're not telling them that I don't want to make this cake because you are showing off that cake.
You need to stop posting work that doesn't match the kind of cake that you want. Then you might say well, I'll have nothing to post.
Doesn't matter.
You can you can repost old cakes, go back and find cakes that you've made in the style that you want to continue making and repost them.
It doesn't hurt to repost.
If you keep sharing that cake that you don't want to make, people are going to keep asking for more of the same.
Okay, number two, use language that speaks to your dream client.
Instead of like, you know, I make custom cakes for any occasion.
That is saying I make everything.
You want to be more specific.
I make elegant wedding cakes for couples who love detail and flavor.
You know I'm obviously I'm talking about wedding cakes here, but I am telling them what I make.
I I don't make any kind of wedding cake.
I made I make a specific one and I need to make sure you you've got to talk about your style, your values, what it is that you love to create in your captions and in your bio, you have to be very, very clear because if you are talking about making any kind of cake, custom cake at any occasion, you're going to get every type of cake order that comes along. Three, you got to set boundaries.
So if you on a website or an inquiry form , then you can help filter out mismatched clients.
You know, you can you can ask for that budget up front.
Personally, I don't ask for their budget, but I give them my budget.
So on my website, it's very, very clear that I have a base price and nothing is below that price.
So they go to my website and they say, they're going through all the pages and they have a look and they say, well, oh, where's her pricing?
Let's go and have a look.
So they've gone to the pricing page.
My hakes start from and they see that number and they go, either it's oh, I'm not going to be able to afford that and oh brilliant, that's right in my budget.
But instantly I've cut them out if they can't afford it.
I don't get those inquiries because they've seen it . You have to make sure your prices are clear.
If you have inquire for a price, then you're going to get the people that think that they can afford you even if they've got a really, really low budget.
If you have a form that they fill out, ask what their design preferences are, not just, you know, give us your name and your email address and I'll get back to you. Ask them to write on that form what they're looking for.
Then you can be very, very clear when you come back and say that design is this price.
But be clear that you will not work for any less than like a minimum value.
Have a minimum order value.
You might think oh no, that's scary.
I can't do that because then I'm not going to get any customers.
But actually you will you'll be attracting the ones with that budget.
You won't be working for free.
You won't be losing money.
You won't be making a minimum sort of amount.
You will say my cakes starts from this and I don't take anything else.
I have a minimum order value. Set boundaries in your business.
This is your business.
You can choose how to run it. Four, share your process and your pricing clearly, so have just touched on this, but the more transparent you are, the more confident your ideal customer will feel.
You know, the the ones, the customers that are more of a better fit are usually more happy to follow clear professional process.
It's it's as simple as that.
The ones that see that you have a very clear process, you have a very clear pricing straight away are the ones who are going to follow through and book with you.
The ones who, if you don't have clear process or clear pricing, then everybody is going to come along, even likely the ones that you don't want because they'll just be thinking, oh, go and have a look. And you're going to get those those comments about your too expensive, or you're going to get the cup you're going to get the um the orders for the cakes that you're not going to want to make.
You have to make it clear.
You have to be really transparent about who you are, what you do, how much you charge, all of that.
Okay, and number five it's a big one.
Say no.
You can say no to any cake.
And yet you can say yes to the right people say no to one cake, frees up space for the one that feels good.
If you say no to a cake, it doesn't mean you are not going to get any more income.
It doesn't mean that you have stopped any other orders coming in.
It just means you've made space for the right one . You know, you I always say it's it's this or something better.
I really truly believe that you know what I say is the universe is is there to help us and it's this or something better.
So if you say no to a design that does not like you up, it just frees up the space for something that does and you can get your message out there to the people who you want to talk to and they can book.
What if that one person comes along who says, I want this cake and it lights you up everything you they send you a message and they're like I want this cake.
I've got this budget.
And it is your absolute dream cake, dream budget.
And then you look at your diary and you go, oh, I'm already booked.
I'm booked for the cake that I really don't want to make.
That's because you didn't say no.
It's okay to say no, and I know how hard that is.
I really really do.
I know how hard it is to say no and and to think that if you say no, you're not going to get any more orders.
You're not going to make any more money.
It's going to be really, really difficult.
But it's not true.
It's absolutely not true.
So you need to have the confidence.
Okay, so that is the five things that you can do.
So let me run through those very very quickly.
Number one, show only the work that you want more of.
Number two, use language that speaks to your dream client . Tell them exactly what you do.
Be very clear.
Set boundaries, you know, tell them that you have a minimum order value.
Tell them that you only make this style of cake set boundaries.
Share your process and your pricing clearly be transparent and finally, say no.
It's okay to say no.
I'm giving you permission to say no.
It's okay.
You don't have to take every single order.
You are building a brand and that takes intentional choices.
You know, if if you think about where you want your key business to be and the things you're doing right now, the things that you're doing right now are they taking you closer to that place you want to be in a year or two years or five years or are they taking you further away?
Have a think about that because every step you make now is taking you somewhere and the steps you take now need to be the ones that take you towards your goal.
Saying no doesn't mean that you are ungrateful or you're difficult or anything else like that it's not going to have any bearing on you as a business . It's absolutely fine to say I'm really sorry but that's not actually the style of cakess that I make.
I'm happy to make you something in my style or I can suggest a cake maker who is a better fit.
I always say we are not in competition with each other so recommend another cake maker if they are a better fit because you will find that if you do that , they will recommend you back.
You know it's it's not a competition.
There is enough people in the world to want cakes that every single cake maker can thrive.
You desire the customers who respect your process, who trust your style, who values your time you deserve all of this, so you really really need to start attracting those people okay, so I hope that you've taken a little bit from this because I know it's really, really difficult to think that you're not going anywhere to think that you don't know what you're doing.
But actually, the steps are so simple to make that very small change to get the people that you want . It looks like everyone else is doing what you want to be doing, but you're not, but it's intentional that you, you need to make a sorry, you need to make intentional choices when it comes to your business.
If you are not making intentional choices, you are not going to be where you want to be . You need to go right, take a go and have a look at your social media feed, your Instagram, your website, Facebook, whatever it is that you have, go and have a look at it, your own one and look at it and say, am I showing the kind of work that I actually want to be doing?
If you go through your social media or your website and you look at them and you think, oh, I don't like any of these cakes , then you need to stop posting them and you need to stop saying stop saying yes to that kind of order.
Yeah, it it's it's difficult , but these difficult choices will take you so much further.
You don't have to change your cake style to attract better customers . You need to make sure the right people know that you exist.
Okay.
That's how I'm going to wrap it up today.
A nice short actionable episode, which I really really hope you are going to take note of. Um I have a free uh three four day mini like workshop coming up.
It's called the confident cake business and over the four days we're going to learn something new each day and I would absolutely love for you to come and learn with me. Um you can find the link in the show notes, but it's the confident cake business workshop.
You can find the link on my social media, but also in the show notes of this episode.
It's completely free four days and it is starting on the 27th of april , so 27th 28th, 29th and 30th.
So on the four days so on day one we are going to be aligning your business with your vision on day two we're going to be identifying and attracting your ideal customers . Day three, we're going to be creating content that connects and converts and then day four, we're going to be streamlining your processes to work smarter, not harder.
This is for every type of cake business.
This is not for just wedding cakes.
It's not just for celebration. Every type of cake business . I have had other businesses come in the ones that don't make cakes, ones that makeriot pastries and things like that because, you know, this this works for everybody and the stuff that I teach here is going to help everybody whether you are brand new to cake making or whether you've been doing it for 10 years and you're still not quite where you want to be.
This is for all of you.
I want you to come along um, you know, as I said, it's completely free and you will learn a lot.
So pop two um either the link in my bio on my Instagram of the cake business Academy or pop to the link in the show notes below and sign up, come and join us.
It'll be held inside a Facebook group, private Facebook group and it's going to be amazing and I can't wait to see everybody there.
Okay, so if you have enjoyed this episode, please, please subscribe or leave me a rating and review on whichever platform you listen to me on.
I would absolutely love it.
And as always, you know, come and send me a message.
I always get messages from these episodes and it lights up my day.
It really does.
I love hearing your thoughts, your opinions, um Tell me if this is resonated with you, whether you found it helpful.
I would love to hear from you.
Okay, so on that note, I'm going to leave you.
Have a wonderful week and I will speak to you soon . Oops.
