I was recently really excited about finding a new accountant that could help me with financial planning and some other business related hurdles that I wanted to tackle. His website was good. I was hooked. I scheduled a discovery call and the day came for our Zoom meeting. I logged on and we did this really awkward hello/greeting. I tried to explain what I was looking to achieve in my typical Betsy, sarcastic, rather over the top kind of way. He was an unresponsive audience (me tapping the mic -” is this thing on?”) I shut up quickly. However he seemed to understand what I needed and told me some basics before going into a spiel about his background. I felt no connection and was wondering if he was reading a script, but I didn’t think I really needed a connection to an accountant so I agreed to sign up for his services and get started.

Fast forward to a month later, services paid for, no emails from him and I have to do a follow up regarding steps, timeline and what he needs from me next. He emailed me back later that day, somewhat annoyed, with something he cut and pasted for a timeline and gave me a one liner that he was finishing up client taxes so he’ll get back to me later. As I write this, It’s currently weeks later and no word.

I’m sure you may feel the same way on your fashion production journey with people you meet and reach out to, only to be disappointed because your emails go unanswered, you wait forever to get work completed and it’s just not right. It just makes you want to do it all yourself. But we all know that’s not a sustainable growth plan.

At this point I’ve come to the realization that the problem isn’t just the people, it’s the process of selecting the people. I’ve been doing some soul searching to get to the bottom of this and this is my plan for all of us to find the right people for our projects- whether it be accounting or fashion services.

Research options

This pretty much goes without saying, but it’s good to do a deep dive on the internet to find options for whoever you are looking for. Research pays off. Keep in mind that Google prioritizes businesses who pay to have their services show up in search results. Chances are you can find some really good options below the Google recommendations and perhaps even two to three pages into the search results.

When you find service providers that sound like it could be a good fit, pop on over to their websites and let that speak for their business. Does it look like a website that was developed during the dial up age? Does the content seem really out of date? Do they make it easy to get in contact? Are there customer testimonials?

As a busy business owner, I can attest to the fact that it’s hard to keep all my website details and social media accounts going full speed at all times. It’s a lot of work so it’s understandable that someone may not update their website on the regular. But in today's quick consuming content environment and user experience focus, it’s worth choosing someone who seems on top of things because this is a reflection of their work and focus on customer service.

Don’t let excitement take the wheel

I am sooo guilty of this! You find someone who seems absolutely perfect and you are just really excited and you want to start that very day! Their website totally speaks to you and your needs. But what I’ve learned about this phase is that it’s important to take a breather. Give it a day or two and see if you still feel the same.

Yes, it’s good to be excited about working with someone. We all want engaged and excited clients. But if you found someone that’s way over your budget then it may not be the best fit. Or maybe this service provider has a two month waiting list and you wanted to get your project going yesterday.

It’s good to go back to your options and still have them at the ready to be part of your contact list. People can surprise you. Maybe someone with a website that isn’t quite as flashy as your number one pick can actually give you more of what you need at a cheaper price after talking with them.

Outline your goals

As a business that gets frequent potential customer inquiries, I can confidently say that there’s nothing worse than being three emails into a convo about getting your project made to find out that you have a hard deadline that’s not workable or need services that I don’t provide.

Make a list of your goals and what you need to accomplish. This means, what steps do you know will be needed to make your project. For instance, if you need sourcing services, or samplemaking, I don’t offer this service, so you may be better off going with someone else. It’s worth a deeper dive into a businesses website to see what they do and don’t offer.

If you are at a stage where you don’t even know what you need, it could be worth the effort to do more research about how the garment industry works and what goes into bringing a product to life. It’s not up to the people you hire to teach you how to set up your business. You are utilizing them for a specific skillset.

Plan your questions in advance

Trust me, winging it just isn’t the best practice. I’ve relied on this too often and once I’ve been given the sales spiel I’m all in. However, only later I’ve realized that there are some things that are not part of the services or the timing isn’t going to work out.

If you can put your major concerns in a question format then it should be easier to assess if someone is able to help you out or not. This is also where a cooling off period comes in. It gives you time to digest the information provided on a website and allows you the space to form the questions you need to ask.

Trust your gut on impressions

If a business has an amazing copywriter then their website sales pitch can sound absolutely fantastic and everything that you need. But this means that someone else is doing the messaging. Not the person you want to work with (for those interested- I do all the writing for Garmenta Apparel website. I hired a copywriter before but it just wasn’t my voice.)

My accountant had a fabulous message and sales pitch on his website and he sounded really passionate about the work that we were doing. But when we chatted the tone fell completely flat.

I’m big on gut feelings and getting a sense that personalities vibe well together. I think everyone wants to work with people that they like. It’s not just about the service, your interactions have meaning as well. So if someone isn’t listening to you, or they are reading a script, or you feel that they just aren’t that interested, time to move on!

Get a plan in writing

Hiring a person and just leaving the rest up to them and their schedule isn’t the best plan. If you haven’t asked the questions before, make sure to find out their turnaround time, change policies, communication policies, etc. Be very worried if they don’t give you any outline of how the process works.

For instance, you find someone with a dial up era website and you email them about your project. They email you back with a one liner with a price that works for you. You give them the ok and then you wait. And you wait. Crickets. Then you finally hear back from them and you get your project and you want to make changes and then the waiting starts again.

Find out what the process looks like, how long things take, what to expect and how you will be billed, at the bare minimum.

Sometimes it just won’t work out

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Even if everything falls together the way it should, sometimes people just aren’t a good match. You could do everything we have discussed and then some and waited for the outcomes of the people that you hire only to be completely underwhelmed or disappointed.

If you are just starting out on your fashion journey you will run into this a lot. You really need to connect well with the people that you hire. But not only that, you have to be on the same wavelength with a shared vision. Sometimes this takes kissing a few frogs before you meet your perfect match!