Well, I first must say that I haven’t been doing such a great job of hitting my goal of 1 blog post per week… I am trying but need to do better.

Anyways, as a company we have been thinking a lot about what Design Consultants mean us and the next step for our brand.  We always come to the conclusion that each Design Consultant we hire is hugely important to Emma Graham and how we grow our business.  Personally, I have given this a lot of thought over the last few days because Spring Semester has ended (no more “campus” Trunk Shows) and Summer is beginning (the opportunity for Design Consultant to sell EG in their hometowns).  Here is a very high level look at why Design Consultants are so important to Emma Graham:

•   Distribution - Design Consultants sell directly to their network of friends
•   Grassroots and social marketing = brand building
•   Empowering young women to build their own business - giving young women the opportunity that I wish I had in college

All 3 of these items make me really happy and really excited to continue to build out our direct sales channel through Design Consultants.  Here are some highlights from the last couple of months as it relates to all 3 categories and why they are so important:

• Distribution: Design Consultant sales accounted for 30% of our revenue
• Marketing: We don’t spend any money on ecommerce marketing (yet) so all ecommerce sales (45% of revenue) can be attributed to the hard work of Design Consultants (grassroots, social word of mouth marketing)
• Empowering young women:  We get notes from our Design Consultants saying things like: “This is the best job I have ever had, I can’t believe I made $1,300 in commission in April.”  “I have really enjoyed my time as a Design Consultant this semester, it has given me the confidence to do things I would have never done before.”  “I learned more as a Design Consultant this past semester then I did in all of my courses combined at R****** College”

So, in short, this is why I am passionate about continuing to focus on distribution through Design Consultants; it drives sales, it is effective marketing, and it empowers young women. 

Keep up the awesome work, Design Consultants!  If you have any questions about our Design Consultant program don’t hesitate to ask!