Years ago, I heard this gem of a phrase regarding money and business, “You don’t get paid what you are worth; you get paid what you negotiate.”
The agreeable value of what you sell is always in the other person’s eyes. It doesn’t matter what it is. It could be your time, as with a job. Maybe it is with a product, such as a decorated t-shirt. It might be with software, a subscription service, or an hour with a coach to learn a new skill.
When people agree to purchase something, it often is less about the list of benefits and more about the emotional connection to something. So the difference between buying and not buying may come from a feeling about something.
Why do you own your particular car or blue jeans or like your favorite restaurant? I’ll bet there is an emotional connection locked into place that far outweighs the money being spent. It is a fact that people will pay more for an emotional connection because of its perceived value.
Sure, there is a baseline that has to be delivered. The thing has to work or provide the primary function of what is being purchased. However, people will line up around the corner for things that trigger an emotional response.
Low price is the safety net for people who don’t know what they are doing.
Newer people or shops in the industry seem to always begin their journey by low-balling the market on price. When you don’t have confidence in what you do or the value you bring to the sale, it seems logical.
The problem is that it usually spells disaster for the new business, as there isn’t enough money available to scale. This is a no-win strategy for growth and profitability as it only attracts customers whose sole focus is cheap prices and not much else.
If you are stuck on the pricing question, try organizing your business based on selling what your customers VALUE instead.
Trust me. Anyone can decorate a t-shirt or slap a logo on a polo. It’s not that difficult. But why be a commodity? Instead, ask better questions to your customers to uncover their problems and the emotions tied to those problems. That’s a gold mine.
Hank is the head football coach for one of the local high schools. He has been on the job for two years now and is entering his third year coaching the Lions. Hank was an assistant and took over after the legendary football coach retired. They are prepping for a tough year as the cross-town rival is already ranked in the top ten in the state, and he mostly has a team full of younger players.
Challenge question: What is Coach Hank’s problem?
Of course, you would ask him many questions to uncover this, but for the sake of argument, let’s say we have the answers already.
Coach Hank wants to make his mark. He knows what it is like to have many years’ worth of successful teams, as he has been part of that with the former coach. Now it is his turn, and he has a lot of pressure to deliver. His legacy is starting now.
There is a challenging year ahead, and he is coaching a group of underclassmen. He knows he can coach but needs some tools to motivate the players.
What he doesn’t have is time. He needs to be studying game film and working with his team, not worrying about t-shirt orders and designing. This is where you come in.
The first step is to update the classic school Lions logo with a more modern, aggressive look. Coach Hank’s new motivational motto this year is “Lion Pride,” so a bold graphic is created. This not only becomes a helmet sticker and jersey patch but is worked in as a neck label for all of the apparel for the team and fans.
The team colors are Red and White, but unique Black versions of the apparel are made for special “big-game” usage. New versions of the logo are on everything, as well as the bold Lion Pride graphic. In addition, a unique “Hall of Fame” line of apparel is designed for former players and coaches, creating social media buzz.
An online store is created both for the team and for the fans. This helps get the sizing right for the team and is a fundraiser for the school’s boosters. In addition, the new logo and colors increase sales because students and fans suddenly look out of fashion with the old version.
Look at the list of the ten emotions above.
How many emotions play a part in the value-based decision-making for Coach Hank? When you present your ideas, this is what you talk about. Price matters, but not as much as saving the coach time or motivating his team and fanbase. Those are the selling points that get the coach excited and moving forward.
Solving these emotional challenges is what builds a strong relationship that can’t be beaten. When you deliver for a customer and start hitting these emotional traits, that’s when customers sing your praises.
Don’t forget to get Coach Hank’s testimonial video for your marketing reel later!
Maria is the HR manager for a large building contractor, employing over 1,200 people in four states. Her time is spent on safety, new hires, payroll, and employee legal problems. The marketing department has recently rebranded the firm, and now Maria needs to overhaul the business uniforming from scratch. Unfortunately, she has a large budget, a deadline, and not much else.
Challenge question: What is Maria’s problem?
Maria needs dependability. Her reputation is on the line with her decisions, and she can’t afford to make mistakes. She needs assurance, safety, and proven data that indicates the decision she makes is a good one.
The value that Maria is looking for is trustworthiness. With the rebranding, so much is at stake that she can’t afford a misstep. She knows the trust she seeks may even come at a higher price for the items, which she will gladly pay.
This is where sharing stories of past successes with similar employee uniform and merch stores, customer testimonial videos, and a solid guarantee can ensure the deal goes through.
Maria’s emotional trigger is Fear. Trust is gained by being transparent and complete with how the program will work, answering all of her questions, and demonstrating professionalism. She is searching for a partner that can automagically drive the program without a lot of daily involvement by Maria.
Your expertise with garment sizing, fit and finish makes a big impression. As you know that Maria has to deliver this program, your preparation pays off as you confidently answer every question. Then, it is simply a matter of working out the details of the program and executing it as orders flow in.
Of course, we could write plenty more scenarios, but you get the idea. Both Hank and Maria are not isolated customer cases.
Your customers right now are looking for the things that they value most. How often have you asked your best customers, “Why do you do business with us?” This is critical information when thinking about selling on value.
If you asked 20 or 30 of your best customers why they do business with your company, what do you think the most popular answers might be? (Hint: This is your homework for today.)
Customers want to align themselves with companies that are like themselves or fill the need for that emotional trait.
What can make you unique in your market is to demonstrate the emotional traits that your customers value. This means that you must be situational aware to recognize what your customers value most.
The purpose of marketing is to cause change. In this industry, the best idea is to quit trying to find customers for your product or service. Instead, flip the script. Build products or services for your best customers that they value already. Word gets around. A little marketing helps too.
Clockwork Screen Print & Embroidery is a boutique, community-centric garment decorating business in El Segundo, California. Family-owned and operated by Dakota and Kimarie, they pride themselves on offering clients a customized experience that includes garment sourcing and various decorating techniques.
However, in their early days, they were turning down customers with complex jobs, including low minimums, hard-to-decorate locations, and high color counts.
Kimarie remembers one example. “A local little league needed custom jerseys for 300 players,” she said. “They wanted three designs, each in a different placement, for 15 teams – which meant only 20 impressions of each design.”
What initially sounded like a larger profitable job ended up being too complex for them to screen print. Priding themselves on serving their community, Dakota and Kimarie got to work looking for a solution for the little league. After some research, they decided heat transfers were the most viable solution because it would give them the flexibility to do the customization required at lower volumes. They explored manufacturers and eventually partnered with Supacolor.
Instead of turning the project down, they exceeded their customers’ expectations. Three years later, that little league is a seasonally returning client for Clockwork. And they’re not the only ones. That first project was the catalyst for them to grow their business using heat transfers. Today, Clockwork’s facility features a dedicated heat pressing department, which has paid dividends.
“Supacolor transfers are top-of-the-line quality, and their customer service is incredible. When they say they are here to help us grow, we really feel it. Whether it comes to providing technical resources or educational assistance, Supacolor truly functions as our business partner,” said Dakota, co-owner of Clockwork. “Our business has grown 15 - 20% annually thanks to Supacolor.”
Click HERE to learn more about Clockwork.
Keep up with Clockwork’s latest work by following them on Instagram.
Based in Atlanta, GA., Danger Press is a prominent, full-service garment decorating business with capabilities including screen printing, heat transfers, live printing events, and drop shipping. Danger Press is considered one of the leading print business in the southeast region of the Untied States.
In 2007, Ed Jewell, the owner of Danger Press, was looking for a portable way to dry screen printed ink at live printing events. He took a shot at using a heat press and found it a viable solution. To Ed’s surprise, he discovered that it provided several other unexpected benefits, such as eliminating the need to first put down a white ink base. Heat pressing was saving him time and money.
This got Ed thinking. He realized that heat pressing. and digital printing techniques were on the verge of a breakthrough, and he did not want his business left behind.
Fast forward a few years, and Ed fully incorporated heat pressing into his printing arsenal.
“I use heat transfers as another tool in my tool belt. Without them, I’m not doing my best for my clients”, said Ed. “It’s nice to have mixed media options available for certain jobs. With heat presses, I have a lower investment in equipment and staff while
creating additional bandwidth for more jobs. Using a small 4'x4' area in my shop, I can now take on more business.
Small investment, significant return. “Bottom line, heat transfers let me serve my customers better.” Check out Danger Press and learn more about what Ed and his team do: https://www.dangerpress.com/
We're thrilled that you've joined the Supafam and we look forward to helping you make it in business and in life!
Helping people grow is an attitude that runs deep through our culture. We’re not just a heat transfer company, we're a partner that lets you focus on what you do best: creating, producing, designing, building, selling and succeeding.
Read on for Supatools to help you along your journey!
Supacolour comes in several different transfer types, each one uniquely designed for specific fabrics and garments.
Click the button below to learn more about The World's Best Heat Transfer.
With Supacolour, anyone with a heat press can print garments like a pro.
Check out these pressing instructions to help you out along your way!
From tutorials on how to use our ordering software, to tips on growing your business and testimonials from our Supafam, we've got videos that will inform and inspire you.
Supacolour renders incredible detail with crisp, clean edges in over a million vivid colors and gradients. Here’s how to optimize your files for perfect reproduction.
Our sizing templates make it Supaeasy to resize and save your art for us. We have included downloadable templates for Photoshop, Illustrator, and a PDF.
Supacolour has made it Supaeasy to print this year's Leavers apparel with our new Leavers 22 template.
Use Supacolour to go beyond a one colour print, eliminate the need for weeding, and get unlimited colours, gradients and assurance your print will last 70+ washes. Your Leaver's garment should be something to be proud of, looks cool, feels soft, and will LAST!
Download the Supacolour Leaver's 22 template HERE and feel free to contact us hello@supacolour.co.uk with help placing you order.
Congrats Leavers!
Born in Spain and having lived in Mexico for years, Natalia Trevino is a US based fashion designer and the host of the ‘Unfiltered Fashion Talks‘ podcast. Her brand, Natalia Trevino Amaro, creates timeless, classic pieces designed for anyone and everyone to feel beautiful and confident in their own skin. With ethical production being a priority, Natalia makes every item in her shop alongside freelance seamstresses in her own home studio.
And be sure to check out Natalia’s TikTok!
@nataliatrevinoamaro coming to the shop soon! 🤩 @Supacolor #slowfashion #y2kaesthetic #heatpress #sustainablefashion #sewingtiktok
♬ Fly As Me - Bruno Mars & Anderson .Paak & Silk Sonic
Video Transcribed Below:
Hey guys Kev from Veteran Screen Printing, today we're going to go over no other than Supacolor transfers are they or should they be in a screen-printing shop well we're going to dive into it go over the numbers go over the cost. All right so we've been getting asked a lot about Supacolor transfers so we've ordered some now they do have a minimum of 20. We ordered 50 to get a better price point see exactly how you know it will turn out they came out pretty good looking and we're going to show you how easy it is to actually heat press them on and give you our thoughts on how they feel; we've already pressed them up we've already washed them to give the durability test and we'll let you know exactly how that is. Today we're going to be using a next level 100 ring spun cotton which is the 3600 model which is again one of our premier shirts that we love to print on for screen printing.
Let's go over I got the heat press the heat press is already up and going that 325 degrees is set for 15 seconds now I don't have a drawer to pull out or anything this is just from amazon for $200 so very cheap but it gets the job done and we only really bought it for to do this video. As I do these shirts so I’m going to load it how I would normally load it on a screen press just because I'm so used to that. Now it's 100 cotton so we're going to take our parchment paper we're going to press it down for about five seconds six seconds and the reason why is these are 100% cotton so you want to get all the moisture out of the garment before you do any type of heat transfers. Now that it's already done, we're going to grab our transfer this is a back design put it in the middle four inches down from the collar parchment paper put it back down for 15 seconds so we're running the cost on this and Supacolor actually came out less expensive as what we would actually charge to screen print. It came out just a little bit cheaper but not by much.
It's a hot peel type of application so take it peel back and if you have issues like how it is right now, it's okay because guess what you didn't ruin it! You take this down press it again. Now what I would do is I would just press this again for the whole 15 seconds and you do get this from time to time. I've only had about two out of 50; well I've only printed about maybe 30 of them and I've only had two happen like this and it could be because I was talking and I didn't do a hot peel right away because again it does need a hot peel right away. All right now that it's on there, I'm going to do one more press and this is a pre-press afterwards and this is going to go for about 10 seconds and this is going to make sure that the image is actually embedded into the garment; make parchment paper go back so there's the shirt this is third battalion fifth marines now let's go over this a little bit in detail.
It's has a real soft to the touch feel. Now I had another marine in here earlier picking up some shirts and I had him fill one of these and he actually said that he would actually love wearing this. Probably instead of a big patch of spring printed it's pretty soft to the touch it doesn't feel heavy at all it feels like if I was to screen print and then after screen printing and curing process coming over to the heat press and matte in my ink all the way in that's kind of what it would feel like a little bit of the stretch test. Nothing cracking nothing peeling; again, I have already pressed a whole bunch of these and I took some back to the house and washed them about three four times it stayed intact no peeling no cracking still vibrant colors
So, should Supacolor ultimately be in a screen print shop? Well this depends if you have a design say like this that multi-colors you know you'd have your red your yellow your green your white under base and then if you want to do black overlay instead of the black shirt you know you're looking at minimum four colors, five colors depending on if you want the black. Now say you only have a one station four color press could you get away doing this probably not, you would need a bigger press but could you get away with it if you did Supacolor yes you could. Is there room for you to make a little bit of money still as a screen printer if you did Supacolor? Yes, you could. I'm in San Diego so I still have to compete somewhat with the LA garment district which has the stupidest cheapest prices around. So being in San Diego we still kind of have to compete with that because somebody will drive for an hour and a half just to go there to get garments but like I said I ran the numbers and Supacolor actually came out a little bit cheaper than what I would be charging to screen print this same exact design.
So as a screen printer you could still use this and get done with the job because this many colors means you got to do at least five screens then you got to set up five screens and then you got to print them and throw them through the dryer so if it's only you I guarantee, I promise you if it's only you in your screen printing it on a 6x4 with a conveyor dryer flash dryer the whole nine yards I guarantee you just the back design is probably going to take you at least two minutes maybe about a minute and a half per shirt and then as well as the front is going to be at least a minute and a half to two minutes as well so you know it's going to take you a couple of minutes to spring print this up your margin is going to be more but your time is going to be longer in the screen printing versus heat transferring this over with Supacolor.
Again, this depends on how you guys want to go about this in a screen-printing shop. You got some customers that actually would love this over screen printing. I found that out today and this was a one of the marines I was picking up unit t-shirts that I printed for their unit so that just opened my mind up a little bit more what else could you really offer as a screen printer that is actually a little maybe a little bit faster unless you had an automatic than screen printing you know this would take me about maybe a minute for a front and back fully done margin's not going to be as much as screen printing but my time is a little bit more worth you know times money right everybody says that so I probably get done with an order faster than I would on a screen printing press a manual screen-printing quest. Now what if I had two of these and they're a little bit better quality
than just amazon you know I bought this just to do this video and print out a couple and see how they actually come out but you know what if i went and got a one with a drawer that opens up and automatic open and I got two of them I could be doing two shirts at once and it's going to definitely save on time. So, again in my opinion could Supacolor be used in a serene pruning shop? Definitely. I would recommend using them
They have a wash test at least of a 50 minimum before it does anything and you know that could be you wearing a shirt once a week for a whole year straight and washing it once a week so that's actually pretty good.
So, this is Supacolor guys I'll leave a link below where you can go check them out this is not sponsored by them they don't even know I'm doing it um and I just want to give you my opinion because there's been a lot of people asking about Supacolor it's been a hot shred lately about Supacolor and what does everybody think of them; especially in a screen printing shop. So, for maybe you know a premium type shirt it came out pretty well but if a premium type brand wanted these it just depends. But you know this is probably a new feature that you can offer them so I would definitely check it out if you're a small-time screen printer and you only have a four-color press this is something that could help you build up a little bit more money faster so you can get a bigger and better press,
Money B's career includes work with 2Pac and Shock G aka Humpty Hump, with the selling of merchandise playing a important role in his business endeavors.
Forbes Magazine on musician's merch:
"A lot of time, thought, effort, energy and money now go into creating an artist’s range of merchandise, and it typically changes with every new era of their career. For some acts, that could mean new products roll out every few months or once a year. Those new products certainly do help pad paychecks, but now musicians and their teams are being forced to think more about what they want to sell, because merchandise has gone from a small revenue stream to one of the most important ways a superstar or even the upstart band around the corner interacts with their fans..."
Knowing just how important selling merchandise is to an artist's career, Supacolor prides itself on providing them with the tools they need to increase profits.
Check out Money B's shop at http://www.dumerch.com/.
Click below to watch a video featuring Stan Banks of Tshirt Side Hustle and Money B of Digital Underground printing shirts with Supacolor!
In this video, Money B works with Stan Banks from Tshirt Side Hustle to print his own merchandise with Supacolor
Meeting the printing demands of your clients can be stressful, we get it! We know your business. After all, we share the same heritage; rooted in screen printing and garment decorating.
We want you relaxed and stress free, so we collaborated with Youtube ASMR sensation WhispersRed to create a heat press printing video like you've never seen before!
Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a tingling sensation that typically begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine.
ASMR signifies the experience of low-grade euphoria characterized by a combination of positive feelings and a distinct static-like tingling sensation on the skin. It is most commonly triggered by specific auditory or visual stimuli.
Enjoy this Supacolor ASMR video!
Emma WhispersRed, aka Emma Smith, is an ASMR content creator and a licensed sound therapy practitioner and Reiki healer. Her innovation for new ASMR techniques have made her an expert in her field. Emma has curated live events in London, San Francisco, New York, Berlin, and Birmingham. She has introduced ASMR to thousands of people all over the world and helped them explore how the feeling and concept of ASMR can bring calm and presence into their daily lives
While the other kids are playing video games and laying around on their tablets, 10-year-old Irvington, New Jersey native Khyree Ali is in his bedroom dreaming up new designs for the latest collection from his clothing brand. “Positive Tees by Khyree” was created with the help of Khyree’s parents and powered by the easy to print Supacolor transfers. Emblazoned with upbeat and motivational quotes like “Discipline Determines Destination -> Education,” Khyree strives to spread positivity throughout the world and make cool t-shirts while he’s at it!
“We tried working with DTG and screen printing shops but they were killing us with the prices and the quality was never very vibrant,” said Khyree, “but once we discovered Supacolor, it was an investment that was well worth it!”
Thanks to Supacolor, Khyree was able to break the barriers that made it difficult to enter the clothing industry. After investing in their very first heat press and signing up with Supacolor, they were equipped to start printing their own garments! Now, they’re empowered with the tools to produce their own products on-demand as orders come through their website.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CIB-eNLngh0/
It’s been a little over a year since the inception of “Positive Tees by Khyree” and it has since grown its own community of supporters nationwide from California to New York! Khyree’s t-shirts have even found themselves being worn by renowned individuals such as @mr.holistic on Instagram and more!
Supacolor is proud to stand behind “Positive Tees by Khyree” and we welcome them to the #Supafam. We look forward to watching Khyree’s journey in becoming a powerhouse entrepreneur!
For more info on Positive Tees by Khyree, please visit:
www.instagram.com/positiveteesbykhyree
To place an order, DM their Instagram!
(website coming soon)
