When you walk into the Glendale Bakery, you are overwhelmed by the scent of fresh bread and sweet pastries. Then, you see something a little different.
Nestled into a corner is a beautiful display case filled with wedding cakes. One towers high on columns, floating above and around an elaborate champagne fountain. Another three-tiered cake appears to be frosted with a fine damask pattern and is topped with fresh ivory-colored roses. Nearby sits an intimate bistro table, on top of which sits a photo album of more elaborate, one-of-a-kind wedding cakes. Brooke Hiam, owner of Glendale Bakery, specializes in special occasion cakes. Her shop is always busy. She has managed to develop her passion for creating decadent wedding cakes into a major profit center for her small business. It might surprise you to learn that an important element of her success has been outsourcing all of her telephone calls.
"When I bought this place," she recalls, "I was everywhere, doing everything. From managing my purchases, to meeting with clients, I did everything you can imagine."
"Of course, I've always loved to create special occasion pieces. That's my real passion. When we got started, I did a few wedding cakes that first summer. Word got around, and pretty soon, I was doing quite a few. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that listening to clients carefully is as important as creating the perfect cake."
Brooke sighs, "I had two part-time employees and I found out that spending an hour with the bride, her mom, or even members of the wedding party was more than I could handle. I wanted to keep doing the special occasion pieces, since that's what I love to do, but I couldn't afford to spend an afternoon on each job. There is just too much for a small-business owner to do, and pretty soon I was overwhelmed."
"In May of the second year, I outsourced all my incoming calls. That took a lot of the pressure off me, but I had no idea how much else they could do! After the first three months or so, my account rep met with me again. She helped set up a system where all special occasion callers go through a special process.
"The agent asks them a series of questions that used to take me about a half-hour to go over in person. Then, they schedule appointments for the bride to meet with me about a week in advance.
"By the time they come into the shop, I've already got some price quotes together, samples ready, and some photos in my portfolio that might interest them. The whole meeting is done in half an hour. That's when I actually started to make some money. Now, I'm doing what I love. I've got four full-time employees and I'm managing my time so much better; I couldn't be happier."
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