After 10 years in the personal styling industry, I still meet people who have no idea I exist. Not me personally, but the service I offer.
I met a new client last week who prompted me to write this post. I always ask new clients, ‘how did you find out about us?’ and I get all types of answers from, ‘oh a friend from work told me about you’ to ‘I follow you on Instagram’ or ‘I’ve had your business card sitting on my desk for years!’
But last week a woman told me this. She told me that she was sick of feeling lost with her personal style. Sick of being critiqued by her family who supposedly thought they knew better. Tired of looking at herself in the mirror every day and thinking, ‘I have no idea how I look’.
She went on to tell me that she figured there must be someone out there who could help her with all of this. Surely, someone who helps with wardrobes? But she had no idea the service actually existed.
So she went to Google and typed, ‘help with wardrobes, Melbourne.’
And she found Styled by Sally.
If you’re reading this and you’re an existing client, then you get it. You get that enlisting the expertise of a personal stylist is just like enlisting any expert – an accountant to do your tax, a mortgage broker to manage your finances, a physiotherapist to help treat your bad back, a personal trainer to help you lose weight or keep fit.
Employing the services of a personal stylist is no different. We can’t all be experts at everything in life, and sometimes we need to contract things out because it makes sense.
Case in point. I don’t like cooking, but I love eating healthy food. So 5 years ago, my husband and I enlisted the services of a home cook. This might sound extravagant, but let me assure you it’s the best use of our time and money. We not only eat healthy meals every night, we have zero food wastage.
I cannot explain to you enough the difference this makes to our day to lives. We contract out our food preparation and we gain valuable time not having to think/stress/choose, ‘what am I going to eat tonight?’
*DISCLAIMER: I do not drink while my home chef is cooking and she doesn’t wear a chef’s hat 🙂
Enlisting the services of a personal stylist to help you buy clothes is no different. Here’s what a personal shopping session will do for you.
1. Save you time
Our clients say all the time, ‘It would’ve take me weeks to buy all of this!’ Imagine buying your entire new wardrobe in as little as 2 hours, have everything fit, mix and match, on budget and most importantly, look great on you!
A personal shopping session is a great use of your valuable time.
2. Save you money
Many of our clients are still (pleasantly) surprised to receive our very generous discounts. I’ve been in the industry of over 10 years and in that time I’ve developed very strong relationships with our retailers. And with those relationships comes rewards ~ exclusive discounts.
We save our clients a substantial amount of money, often our entire service fee (if not more!) And who doesn’t love to save money?
Note: we do not receive commissions from retailers. We have always preferred to pass on a store discount directly to the customer.
3. Superior Customer Service
For the same reasons as above, our familiarity with store staff and managers means they’ll bend over backwards to help you. Staff will run from one store to another to bring over an item in your size, they’ll organize to have something delivered to your home, put something on extended hold so you can pick it up closer to home or later in the week.
They do this because it’s in their best interest. We bring a lot of business to stores (and we all know how tough retail is right now) and so good customer service becomes an extension of our service.
4. Complete Objectivity
How many times have you been shopping on your own and been told by a sales assistant that something looks amazing on you when you know that it doesn’t? Our job is not to sell you clothes. Our job is to find you clothes that suit your shape, that reflect your personal style and that you feel great wearing.
Of course our mission is always to find you things you’ll want to buy, but our advice is purely objective. We’ll tell you something looks fabulous on you because it does. We’ll encourage you to buy something because we know it will be a functional piece in your wardrobe. We’ll suggest something to you because it will be appropriate for that job interview/work function/first date.
We won’t force you to buy anything. We’ve heard stories of other stylists who do. Who don’t listen to the needs of their clients. We listen. We know that you’re instilling your trust in us to help you make the right decisions. Why would we want you to buy something that sits in your wardrobe because you never really liked it in the first place?
5. Give you back your confidence
Most of our clients either HATE shopping or find it one of life’s tedious and unfulfilling necessities. Our job is to put the fun and fulfilment back in to shopping for you. Our job is to find you clothing that you feel amazing, comfortable, and confident in. Clothing that brings out the best version of YOU.
If we can minimize your time, spend and stress and maximize your enjoyment, confidence and wardrobe, our job is done.
If you’re thinking about taking the plunge and enlisting our services but still have a few questions, we’re here to help. Just ask.
Category: Personal Shopper, Shopping, Style Advice
