TRUNK SHOW SERIES: Measuring the Success of your Trunk Show

My Trunk Show is over, now what?

We’re sending over a virtual high five! I’m sure you’ve given yourself a well deserved pat on the back, but before you finish dusting your shoulders off  remember with celebration comes the opportunity to reflect. So from the wise words of Ice Cube, “ …check yo’ self before you wreck yo’ self”. Take some time and  break down what went well, what could’ve gone better, and what changes you’d make for your next trunk show.

There’s No ‘I’ in Team

As the owner or manager of your bridal boutique, you can probably see what went well and what fell flat during your bridal show. However, hearing from your team and debriefing together can add some perspective you may not have seen on the ground floor. This is especially important because each individual staff member will have their own perspective, ideas, and encounters with customers. Just as stylists bring valuable information to the table from their one on one’s with brides, receptionists bring key insight from payment assistance and overhearing intimate conversations.

One suggestion is to hold a celebration gathering after the event. If you incentivized your team to make this show a success and they achieved yours and their goals, do something fun together. A team dinner or spa day can go a long way to keep riding the wave of success, just be sure to include everyone that worked the event.

Breaking the ice to get feedback

During your debriefing session, start by opening up your discussion on a positive note and have everyone share something they feel went well during the trunk show. This can be a verbal or written discussion, whichever works best for your team. 

After celebrating the wins together, ask everyone to share what they feel didn’t work.

Then dig a little deeper and ask them to think about what change or improvement they’d make for future trunk shows or events. 

Need a little help getting started? Start with this ‘fill in the blank’ statement to get people talking: 

“____ didn’t work because ____, but if we changed ____, I think it would’ve impacted _____.”

After breaking down some generalizations, prompt your team with some pointed questions:

• How did the collection perform?
  • Is this a collection that we should carry in store permanently?
    • Were there specific dresses from the collection that performed better than others?
      • Don’t forget to consider sizing and colors in this conversation!

• Did you feel prepared for success?
  • Is there something more the leadership team could’ve done to support you?
    • Were there any points of confusion that needed clarity?
      • Be open to constructive criticism and self reflection!

• Were individual and store goals accomplished?
  • If yes, what contributed to the success of the goal? If not, what can we do differently next time to accomplish the goal together?
    • You may choose for these to be one on one conversations with each staff member instead.

• What are some of your trunk show takeaways?
  • What learning opportunities were present? What do you plan to take with you into your next bridal appointments?
    • Encourage both personal and professional takeaways! 

Now that you’ve gathered feedback from everyone, you may want to have a few key conversations with smaller groups, such as your leadership team and your marketing team.

Let’s Talk About the Numbers

Real talk, a huge measure of success is whether or not you come out on top financially. You want to know what your sales profits are; however, don’t let this be your only measure of success. Even if your profit amount didn’t meet your expectations, did you gain valuable insight into brides’ desires, furthered a relationship with a designer, or helped brides say yes to their dream dress? It’s easy to get caught up in the numbers game, but don’t let it be the only thing to define the success for you and your store.

Not everyone wants to talk numbers with their entire team, and that’s perfectly understandable. So, grab your leadership team and debrief together.

What to talk about when it come to numbers:

• Accomplishment towards sales goals
• Coverage of all costs associated
• Profit margin
• Trunk show attendance
  • Overall appointment count, appointments per day, most requested time slot, etc.
• Staff performance
  • Closing ratio, total dollar sales, number of items per ticket, average sales per hour, commission/tips, etc.
• How will this trunk show impact this month’s overall goals? This year’s goals?

Involving your leadership team in this conversation is critical because they are the group who will aspire for future improvement both short-term and long term while leading the rest of the staff to success.

Measuring Your Marketing Efforts

Don’t forget to debrief with your marketing team or experts. We recommend having a meeting with just your marketing team to start because it can get overwhelming with too many cooks in the kitchen. Marketing is a department most staff members dip into here and there which can lead to anxiousness on the team’s behalf. Show grace to your team because they often feel responsible for the event turnout whether good or bad.

If you are a Poppy user, bring your marketing reports to go over during your debrief. These will help you see the quantitative data along side your qualitative efforts.

Helpful topics you discuss to start your debrief:

• How did the marketing strategy go overall?
  • You can use the same sandwich strategy as above: start with a positive, add an area of improvement, and finish with an idea for future change.

• What trends do we have in our data analytics?
  • Be sure to look at website visits, time/date of booking, social media engagement, promotional ads impact, and how your customers heard about the event.  
    • You can review these Marketing reports within Poppy to help with your evaluation:
      • How Heard- Evaluation
      • Zip Code – Evaluation
      • Customers who Purchased
      • Customers without Purchases
      • Event Date Trend
      • Appointment Count: Day of the Week
      • Appointment Count: By Month

• How can we begin to map out a marketing strategy for our next trunk show?
  • It’s never too early to start preparing for your next event. Create brainstorming notes while everything’s fresh in your mind!

• Do changes need to be made in our current marketing strategy?
  • If you have any interesting findings, don’t hesitate to switch things up to best serve your customers!

Circling Back With Your Designer

Chat with your event designer. It will be your last reflection conversation, for now at least! Trust us, they’ll want to know about the ins and outs of your event. Remember, this is a collaboration, and your success is their success.

Have this conversation last because you will have all of the data points and information to give your designer an honest summary of your trunk show event. Although they don’t need to know every detail, give them a well-rounded synopsis. They may even have some adjustments they want to make on their end as a result!

Now take some time to celebrate, reflect and relax before jumping into planning your next event. If you are making some changes based on this trunk show, it’s important to monitor them first to avoid getting ahead of yourself. For the futuristic planners, you may already be thinking about what your next event might be, and it may in fact be a sample sale.

As anticipated, we’re including a bonus blog in this series for you: Trunk Shows: Trunk Show vs. Sample Sale. So check back soon!