Successful business entrepreneur Sarah Haran talks about how she has grown her luxury accessories brand. She reveals how you can use brand advocacy for your small firms to sell more products and grow your business.
Featuring:
Sarah Haran,
Founder and CEO, Sarah Haran Accessories
Episode transcript:
Jon Watkins Welcome to this latest edition of the FSB podcast, the go-to podcast for news, tips, and important information for small businesses and self employed. In this episode, we'll be looking at how you can grow your business and sell more products. Brand advocates or brand advocacy, as it's known, in short, that means getting people to share the word about your business and products on your behalf, endorsing your brand, and encouraging others to buy from you. But how can it really help your business grow? And how do you start finding your brand advocates to get that in motion? In this episode, we'll dig deep into that - exactly how brand advocacy works. And we'll also share an example of how it's helping luxury handbag brand Sarah Haran accessories to expand that business. So to help us chat through that. Pleased to say I'm joined by the brand's founder, Sarah Haran. Sarah, hi, thanks for joining us.
Sarah Haran Hi, Jon. Thanks for having me. Delighted to be here.
Jon Watkins Good, it's really good to have you. So you've been kind of doing this for a little while. And I'm gonna dig a little bit in a little while into exactly how you're doing it and how you're using brand advocates to help grow awareness of your brand and to ultimately sell more products. But can you just start by telling us a little bit about your business? Exactly what you do, how big it is? How long you've been going, et cetera?
Sarah Haran Yeah, sure. So we design and produce and sell really luxury handbags. They are a bit different, though, as they come with a lifestyle concept. And that basically means you can change the look of the bag endlessly. So that gives us a little bit of a USP. We started in October 2017. But I had actually been selling as a hobby business for a few years prior to that. We formally launched online in 2018, and have been going for about six years now. First couple of years, like all small businesses, really tough, and trying to establish your brand Covid came along, and actually that really helped us people had more time on their hands. So whilst it was really an initial real worry for me, after all, you don't really need a handbag if you're not going out. But what you found was people had time to actually look at our brand and appreciate it. And they themselves started talking about it. Today, we've got seven people in our own offices, the business started out in my home. And we recently got our own home at the start of October last year. And we use freelancers as well, when we don't need full time equivalents.
Jon Watkins That's really good. You, you alluded to the fact that you weren't always a business owner or entrepreneur and that you used to have a job. What inspired you to start the business? What were you doing before?
Sarah Haran So yeah, I was in tech, I was a COO or chief operating officer in a business that went public in 2000. So it couldn't really get anything further from fashion than tech really. But we went public. And that meant that my travel really increased as I was going into the City, to London, the Far East to the States. And that meant that travel was a real issue. And I couldn't really find a handbag that would take me from day to night with ease, and would enable easy organisation, and a bag that I could change my look really easily. That saves me time and also carrying piles of clothing. So I could just go from day to night with a neutral palette and then jazz up my bag. So it was very much inspired by my own experience.
Jon Watkins Yeah. And you you mentioned sort of starting the business. I mean, how exactly did you get it off the ground? How did you fund it? And how's it grown since?
Sarah Haran Yes, so I started it really slowly. I was still working for at least the first couple of years. So it really was a sort of a hobby business. And one of the businesses that I was running in tech was about encouraging small to medium enterprise businesses to get onto the internet, and to have a website. So before having a website, which is now like an ordinary thing, there was a time when people didn't have websites. So we set up my little business online to show small businesses, the benefits of having a website. So that actually that little website grew and I started to get more traffic for it. So it came to sort of a tipping point when I was about 50, when I decided that actually I should exit my tech job, and try and give it a go for this hobby business and see if I could actually turn it into a into a real life business. So during that time, I was saving up as much as I could, knowing that eventually I would like to start this. So so far, we've always been self funded. Our business peaked in Covid. And that gave us a really good platform to start building our community. And that's really how we started to catch the imagination of handbag lovers. And that's really what got me thinking about developing an advocacy programme. So yeah, and to date, we've doubled sales year on year in the first three years, we had a static year really past post Covid. But now we really are seeing growth again, we've got over 8000 customers, so far have shipped over 25,000 bags globally, and have got over 5000 5 star reviews. So yeah, still lots to go for. Because at the end of the day, we are still a tiny, small business. So I find that quite exciting, though, to think on that to think that we've got the opportunity to take on the big global businesses.
Jon Watkins Yeah, it's a brilliant startup story, and definitely one that lots of our audience will recognise, you know, having been on similar journeys. You mentioned there brand advocacy. And that's what we really want to talk to you about. Because you've been using brand advocacy as part of your growth strategy for your business. For our listeners who don't know, what exactly is that? And how does it work?
Sarah Haran Yeah, so it's basically as you said, at the beginning of the programme, where we recruit people that love our product and want to talk about it. And then they show the concept to their networks, they might attend small shows, you know, networking events, all this sort of local stuff that we all do when we're starting our business. And the people that love these products, they've maybe not got a small business, but they maybe want to do something that gives them an outlet for maybe their creativity, they want to try out, they like going out and talking to people. And so by working with us, they'd receive commission attendance fees. And obviously, they also get complimentary bags themselves. So we kind of started it with one brand ambassador, who does this alongside other little products that she sells as well. So I think trying to find people that are aligned with your product, is a really good way of starting. You know, there's no point trying to sell, sell golf clubs, if you hate golf, for instance. So try and get people that that you feel could really love your brand, and can get passionate about it.
Jon Watkins Yeah, can you tell us a bit more about how you use the term recruiting them there? I mean, can you tell us a bit more about how you found your brand advocates? And then kind of I know you alluded a little bit there to them, attending events and things like that, but what else are they doing for you day to day?
Sarah Haran So day to day, so what we did was we got we got one or two to start with, we did the traditional brand advocacy through Instagram and Facebook. So you know, there are influencers out there that kind of do it as a living. So we approached, we have approached them and they show our product. And that was really a good testbed to see if our product could be used as a sort of a show and tell product. So we we did that for a while. And we never really paid those types of brand ambassadors because I think it's important that your brand comes across as a product that they really love. And in the early days, we did a couple where you know, they just put it on their on their Instagram account, and it just lacked any sort of authenticity, because they were clearly just putting it up once and then moving on to the next thing. So think we use that to know that we wanted to recruit. So by recruitment, we looked into our own customer base, and then we developed a programme that enabled them almost to purchase, but also gain points and commission through them telling their friends, because if they like a product, then they will know like they're more likely to tell somebody else it's a bit like the 80/20 rule. So, if you love something, you tell somebody. And so we've kind of built that ground up. And so yeah, and now, we are starting this year is the first time we're testing using these brand advocates at events. So there are hundreds of events across the UK, places where even like going to an FSB meeting meet up, you might meet other women there, and you might be showing them your handbag. So that is you really talking about our product. So it can be as small as that, or going to little events that you've heard about in your area, or attending events for us. And then going and showing the product to anybody that's interested as they come along to the show, is really a sort of a ground up finding people that will love handbags.
Jon Watkins Yeah, I like that. And I like that you said about authenticity. I think that really the audience's can see when it's not real in that sense, right? They can kind of, they won't be fooled by that. And I thought that was really interesting. A big thing for our audiences, always how much stuff costs, you know, under a lot of cost pressure all the time. You mentioned maybe like a commission structure there and a source of points, loyalty scheme, points type type process. How much does this give you give a sense of what something like this costs in your space? You know, the handbag space? Do you give a percentage discount or something like that? Do you allow people to build up points to get money off a product?
Sarah Haran Yeah, so what we do is we've got in this area, we have the brand ambassador, so they join our programme. And then we give them an immediate 40% off purchasing of any bags. And we lend them a kit to start with as well. Because one of the things I when I first started looking into all of these sorts of brand ambassador programmes was that I noticed that companies that run them, the big global companies, they tend to make as much money if not more money from their brand ambassador programme, i.e. selling product to the brand ambassadors. And I was like, that doesn't feel right to me, that your brand ambassadors, you know, become your people that are purchasing from you. So I thought no, we therefore give them a good discount to start with, and what they then get is a percentage of the sales. So 10-15% of any product that they sell, then goes back to them. And it's based on a sort of a tiered thing, so that it encourages them. So 10%, and then up to 15%. And then what we also do, one of the unique things about our handbags is the ability to change the look of it. And we do this by selling accessories that you can change the lock. So that means you can also create a recurring revenue, and also go back to your customer and sell them something new, that attaches to the bag that you've already got. So for a brand ambassador, that means that they can start to talk build their customer base, and also go go back to the same customer and show them something new. So you're not always having to start from ground zero with in any given month. Sure, I think that makes the programme a little bit more unique. And then to encourage the brand ambassadors, we also have a little side gifting programme. So if they get so many customers a month, they can build points to then go towards choosing a bag for themselves. So that then encourages them to love the bags and really get into the whole concept as well. The whole thing for me is about building this community, where everybody is talking about how they changed the look of their bag, how they've restyled it, it's hard to imagine that this is what we're in we're talking about. But it gives them a level of confidence, if they look amazing when they're going out to something. And a handbag is such a simple way of changing your look and really feeling confident. So it all sorts of sort of builds up from there.
Jon Watkins Yeah, that's really interesting. And on talk a little bit about results. I mean, are you able to sort of measure the impact on your business, whether it be in terms of sales or profit or anything like that? What sort of results are you seeing and how many brands or advocates is that from, how many are you using?
Sarah Haran Right, so one of the things that I like and I think I'm a great believer in; lean marketing - testing small and failing fast! And really keeping an eye on results. So when we've started this, we've got a team of five. And within that we have a brand ambassador manager, that and we provide all the training and an initial set of samples. And what we're seeing is, brand awareness is certainly building. It's such an immeasurable thing, I hate brand awareness. But actually, that translates into more people going to our website, we can see an increase in our Instagram followers. And for us, it is a long journey, when you buy a handbag, people, it's an emotional purchase, they don't instantly purchase on day one that they see us. It's not like buying a car battery, you need a car battery. So you buy it, it's, it's a simple thing, you either need one or you don't. With a bag, you could argue that nobody needs another bag, or you could just get a plastic bag or a recycled bag and use that forever. But it's not about that. So it can take up to 12 times for somebody to see our brand. So the more we have these brand ambassadors talking about it, and introducing their friends and people they've networked with, the bigger our brand will become on the back of it. And of course, the sales are very measurable because all the brand ambassadors have their own code, so we can measure how many sales they've all received. And then that enables us to be able to pay out their commission, and count how many new customers they've introduced as well. So it's quite good from a KPI point of view, you know, clear key key performance indicators are very clear to say. And obviously the brand awareness is a bit wishy washy, but then attaching things like Instagram followers, and Facebook followers, and even members joining our own community on Facebook, where we talk about the bags, these are all real clear measurables.
Jon Watkins That's brilliant, really interesting. So if you had one tip for our listeners who might be thinking about going in a similar direction, you know, what would that be? How can they get going? And how can they learn if this is something that will work for their products and their business?
Sarah Haran Yes, I think the first thing they've got to make sure is they've got a product that is what I would call is a show and tell product. And it's something that literally isn't perhaps easy to explain just from looking at it. So if you looked at our bags on our website, yeah, it looks like a handbag. And the hardest thing to get over is the fact that you can change it. So you need to be able to have a product that you can show people. And I think having a product that will get a recurring revenue stream as well, because that inspires your brand ambassadors to come back. And as we all know, recruiting new customers and is the hardest thing. And if you can get a returning set of customers, then that is key. You know, it's always easier to look after your existing than to recruit new. So I think make sure you've got that type of product. And I would then start small and test everything as you go. We just started with that one ambassador. And we will definitely want to just bring more into the programme as time passes.
Jon Watkins Yeah, that's really good. That's a really good story just generally about your, your business growth as well. What's next for the business Sarah, where do you hope to be moving to from here?
Sarah Haran So our brand mission is to deliver joy to our customers. So we want to continue to do that. And that's a big focus for us. Just the whole joy of the handbags and the joy that we're bringing to our community. It sounds a bit mad. But you know, our customers themselves do find joy in our products. So we want to just keep doing that. And we want to keep continuing our brand, our brand ambassador programme. And I think the next thing we're going to want to start really slowly but is looking at the US because that would be a really good market for us. Got to take things slowly though, because it's a massive leap. But yeah, loads of exciting opportunities are out there for us. It's all really very, very exciting.
Jon Watkins That's brilliant, and we wish you lots of luck with that. Sarah, thanks so much. It's been a really interesting chat around brand advocacy first More businesses, and some top tips for how other small businesses can use it themselves to grow. So thank you so much for joining us. I'd also like to thank our audience for listening to this episode as always, and to remind you that you can subscribe to the FSB podcast to receive regular updates and guidance on the big issues affecting small businesses. And do Please also remember that you can find a whole host of additional webinars, podcasts and other content at the FSB website.
Thanks so much for listening.
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