How the Cushion Collective Works

Here at the Cushion Collective, success is founded on collaborative partner opportunities, we focus on five focus areas of business…let us explain. There are five main areas when growing any business; lead generation, lead nurture, sales and conversion, delivery & experience and the final focus area – referrals, upsells and follow up. When we break the business cycle into these areas, you will see how the Cushion Collective method works.

Lead Generation

What is lead generation? Lead generation is simply the many ways in which you meet prospective customers, it could be face-2-face, it could be at the supermarket, in a Facebook group or on social media. Where do your potential customers come from? Are they referrals? Are you part of a networking organisation? They can come from anywhere. 

We look after this for you.

Lead Nurture

As someone who has been in marketing for well over 2 decades, it is something I see many business owners miss, the nurture of a potential customer before ‘and after’ they buy. How well do you assist and provide value to the people who are coming to you before they make a purchase? Now remembering it’s all about getting to know, like and trust you. That takes time. It can be done all online…it can be done in stores, and it can be done in educational content.  It’s all about the consistency of how you turn up on social media. 

Ask yourself this…

How much FREE information do you give? 

How much VALUE do you provide? 

Why should people follow you? 

Are you sending out emails to those who have come to you? 

If you’ve got Facebook ‘likes’, it’s like having your room full of potential customers just waiting to hear from you. We take care of this for you.

Sales and Conversion

Now sales are different to marketing because a lot of the time businesses are getting leads, they’re getting people into their business…but they’re not making enough sales.  The problem may not be your marketing, it might be a conversion and a sales process problem. 

We take care of this for you.

Sales and Conversion

Now the fourth area of focus is on delivery and experience. What I have found over the years in this space, is this is where a lot of people focus their energy. They’ll create products, courses, whatever it is they do, without thinking about how they are going to sell their products. The Cushion Collective has a streamlined approach to processing sales for you, our designer, to create within an agreed timeframe.

We work together on this.

Follow Up, Referrals and Upselling

This is the part where the focus is on the client relationship…after they’ve purchased. A great example of this is a Chiropractor or someone who does a ‘one-off’ sale or service with a customer. We’ll get asked the question, how do you keep in touch with this person? Even more importantly, why bother?

The thing is, imagine the Chiropractor sends out a monthly email full of healthy tips, exercises, stretches, nutrition…things to improve your body because being healthier is something of interest to you because that’s why you went to that Chiropractor in the first place. During the year someone asks that customer, oh my goodness my back’s really sore, could you recommend a Chiropractor? The very first person they’re going to think of, of course, is their Chiropractor, the one who has been sending out all of the valuable information. 

The focus is on building the relationship and continuing the relationship long after the monetary exchange has occurred. It’s what I call the ‘front of mind’ campaign, when they’re on Facebook and someone puts up a recommendation, the first person we want them to think of is us.

We do this for you.

In summary

• Upon acceptance to be a part of one of our monthly Collections, you will provide us with 4-5 cushions for your range…3-4 patterned and 2 plain, our interior designer Kathryn will work with you on this.
• We will provide all marketing, promotion and advertising of your product, clearly co-branded on our website, social media and marketing campaigns, at no additional cost.
• We will manage the styling of your products, photography and all marketing collateral promoting your range, at no additional cost.
• We will provide the online portal (shop) for purchase, at no additional cost.
• You, the creator will make the cushions and post to the customer on the Cushion Collectives behalf (co-branded).
• We will provide ongoing marketing, follow up, referrals, incentives and upselling of any future ranges we agree upon at no additional cost.
• We are your marketing, promotion and sales team.

What’s included in our services:

• Lead generation, lead nurture, sales and conversion and management of the ongoing relationship with suitable marketing with the customer to enable follow up, referrals, and upselling.
• Cross promotion, shout-outs and featured posts tagging you in on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook.
• Online sales portal for your products in our shop – similar to a ‘drop shipping’ process.
• Marketing and promotion to our community via email, website and social media at no additional cost.
• Be featured as one of our creators in our monthly publication ‘Meet the Maker’ – a 2-page article about you, your business, showcasing your range.

In exchange our collaborative partners will:

• Provide an exclusive range for The Cushion Collective – no promotion or selling of the selected range on any other site for the duration of the contract, including your own shop both on and off-line.
• Commitment to active collaboration on social media, we can assist with education on this.
• Pricing determined by the Cushion Collective – we have a give first, share always mindset which means it’s a win-win opportunity.
• Not share / repost any of our marketing collateral without prior approval, or without the Cushion Collective accounts, handles and hashtags.

Tone
Our goal here at the Cushion Collective is to educate, inspire, and inform readers through discussions of what’s happening in the world of interior design with a specific focus on cushions. This means our tone is usually more casual rather than academic, and friendly rather than didactic…our passion is to create an experience.

Prerequisites

• Have been in business for a minimum of 12 months.
• Have a number of ranges, where cushions are featured as part of the range.
• Have capacity to provide products as per the scheduled timeline.
• You will provide 4-5 cushions for your range – (3-4 pattern and 2 plain)
• We will style your product and use our own photographer for the photo shoot.
• Our interior designer Kathryn will support you with this.

To apply, have the following information ready and complete our online submission form:

Personal Details
Business details
Name
Address
ABN
Website
How long in business?
Links to business social media accounts.
Your preferred social media platform.
Imagery of proposed range including a document explaining the range.
Please answer the following questions:

What makes you unique?
What are your business values?
Your business story, how did you get started?
What do you love the most about what you do?
Product turn around…
Returns, replacement policy…
How do you handle negative feedback online?

We can’t wait to welcome you as one of our VIP Collaborative Partners