We were lucky to catch up with Nickie Crow recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Nickie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a customer that you appreciate them?
Well, the best story I’ve ever heard is from a close friend who found themselves needing to turn a bad customer experience into a great customer experience and it is how I approach my business with my clients.
There was a seminar with 250 attendees and the speaker was talking about grass roots marketing. He used a very well known restaurant chain as a great example on this subject. Praising the company all around he encouraged them to go eat dinner there that night.
They took his advice for dinner but it wasn’t a great experience. So the next day they told the speaker about it. The speaker knew the founder of the company and called him telling him about the experience.
The next day my friend, the General Manager was informed of the situation and took their “very famous dessert” to the seminar for all the attendees to enjoy. He set up a table, displayed the dessert and was about to leave when they asked him to speak to the attendees because they were so impressed that he showed up with desserts.
He walked into the room of 250 people and was handed a microphone. He proceeded to apologized for their bad experience and tell them how the company values every guest and build their business one meal at a time and one guest at a time. By the end of his speech he received applause and a standing ovation!
He made 250 guests feel very appreciated!
That happened many years ago but I will always remember how I felt just hearing the story let alone how they must have felt. I’m sure they will always remember that experience!
We all want to feel appreciated and I try to convey that feeling in my business from the moment they receive their package and open the box. Enclosed is a handwritten note, a personal candle care card and packed well for safe transit.
Candles are an experience and that experience starts even before you light it!
Nickie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Well, I am a wife, mother, coffee lover and cancer survivor. I love to cook, decorate and I’m a bit of a fashionista.
How did I get into the candle business? I would have to say it all started with my love of candles and how they made me feel. I use to purchase candles from this very small hand made candle business and just loved those candles. So much, that in 2010 when they were closing my first thought was what will I do without these candles because they were definitely my guilty pleasure. After a bit of panic I decided I would set out to make candles and that is when my candle making journey began!
Fast forward 13 years to today… It is still today and will always be about, how a candle made me feel! That is my inspiration when making candles for you. Choosing scents that inspire others in their own space and for my candles to give them the same experience and feeling that started this journey!
One thing I love is bringing joy to others and when I hear from customers how much they love their candles it is so personal to me and truly touches my heart. Another critical aspect for me is my fragrances must fill your space and flow into other rooms and areas while you are burning them. I always encourage safe candle care and not burning a candle in a room you won’t be in and so it is quite nice to walk from one room to another and be able smell the fragrance.
At The French Market Candle Company our candles are centered on home, family, creating memories and beautiful quality candles that smell amazing!
They are the perfect harmony of incredible fragrances and home décor.
Sleek and elegant, our candles come beautifully packaged for gift giving or keeping for yourself!
Each candle is poured by hand in small batches locally in Cypress, Texas. Made with Phthalate free fragrance oils that are Clean Scents™ which means no headaches, a premium soy blend wax & 100% cotton wicks ensuring a long-lasting even burn. Each candle cures with a beautiful creamy off-white color, however, with some fragrance oil it can vary slightly in color.
I could talk about candles all day. The fragrance load, wax characteristics, myths in the industry and all the elements that go into a quality candle.
Maybe one day I will get to do a Ted Talk. *fingers crossed*
Candle making can be tedious as there are so many aspects and details to the process. Researching and testing fragrances, containers and wicks. Right now I am working on about four new containers and it is a lengthy process. So when you are ready to pour it starts with cleaning the containers, mixing batches, pouring, then curing, trimming wicks, cleaning glass again, labeling, boxing, tying bows and packaging for shipping.
So when you receive your candle you know it has been meticulously made by hand with love!
My candles are in several really great local boutiques and I do a few markets a year where I get the pleasure of meeting you in person, which I love!
You can also visit my website to purchase and choose from a large variety of fragrances. Fall & Christmas is around the corner and Fall candles are now available with our customer favorites and some new soon to be favorite fragrances as well.
Another area I just launched out into is very large orders such as I just filled a 1200 custom candle order for a women’s conference. That is so exciting to have my candles in 1200 ladies hands at one time!!!
I also just did a big order for wedding candles. If you have any special occasion I would love to help you.
My philosophy is live your best life and create the space that makes you happy! Scents are mood enhancing, welcoming and evoke feelings that give you a sense of calm or bring back special memories. They make your home feel like home!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Resilience: The ability to recover quickly from illness, change, or misfortune; buoyancy.
You find out what you’re made of when you go through a hard battle. Cancer was that hard battle for me. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2019 just on the cusp of the 2020 pandemic starting.
I had to have two surgeries one month apart and the difference in protocol from February surgery to March surgery was very different. By March no one was allowed to come in pre op with me.
Two weeks later I started chemo during the pandemic. My doctor said no one knew what to expect having chemo treatments during a pandemic as it’s never been done before! You take major precautions and I didn’t go anywhere except to treatments for six months.
Well, now it’s been done and I know what it’s like to navigate through one of the hardest things you may possibly go through during a pandemic all while running a business.
Chemo is brutal just like you’ve heard. It usually keeps you down for a week so I worked and made candles during the two weeks I felt good!
Business was actually great because people did a lot of online shopping!
I would never have been able to continue with business as “usual” if not for my husband and son who did everything making sure I was protected including all the heavy lifting. Literally heavy lifting…cases of wax and glassware are very heavy!
Faith, love and support from family keeps you strong and so grateful!
Have you ever had to pivot?
This is really tied in with the pandemic and chemo during the pandemic. There were so many supply chain issues that supplies took so much longer to be fulfilled and ship. Some items were just on perpetual backorder and even today there are some items that are hard to get.
I had to be more on diligent on ordering to account for delays. Gone were the days of ordering supplies and receiving them quickly. But you make adjustments on how and when you order supplies.
The other aspect that the pandemic had on all businesses is cost. Cost went up on everything! You adjust and I am so fortunate to have such loyal customers and I’m forever grateful their continued business!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://frenchmarketcandleco.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frenchmarketcandleco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frenchmarketcandleco
Image Credits
Nickie Crow