Here's how it went!

Who are the newest memebers of the Robert's Advisory Board? You're lookin' at 'em, baby!

So, my friend Robyn and I met with the President, CFO, Director of Marketing, Director of Merchandise and the American Fork store manager yesterday! I was extremely nervous and was so glad Robyn was by my side. We sat down will all of them and the President basically explained to us a little bit about Robert's past and where they are headed. They are in the process of making some huge and exciting changes! They are switching over to several new systems (one of which features an auto-replenishing system...I clapped when he said this! That basically means that when a certain item is down to a low number of items in stock, it will automatically re-order it for them!), but these new changes are putting a lot of things into a state of chaos until they are all up and running. They are fully aware of it and were looking to us for ideas on how to help their customers "bare with them" during this change. I told them that information is key. Had I known that they are in the process of making some awesome changes and that it has to get worse before it gets better, I would definitely have a different outlook and a lot more patience! I suggested to put up some "under construction" signs and to display a time line as to when the customers can expect certain changes.

After a lengthy conversation about their situation and getting our "valued input" on what they can do to make this easier on the customers, they asked us if we would be willing to be a part of their advisory board. That means that we would stay in contact with them with any of our concerns, we would contribute to their blog that they will be creating, they will look to us when they have new products they are considering and have us "test" them and give them our input. If we find anything out there that we would like to see them carry in their store, we will tell the director of merchandising. I now have all of their emails and phone numbers, and they have left the door of communication wide open!

After accepting the position (we're still unclear whether or not the position is compensated or not...I'd be happy with some free new products!) they then took us for a walk around the scrapbooking department and asked us to express our frustrations, concerns, advice and questions about particular area. As we did, they were jotting down notes and whispering to each other. We felt pretty dang important!:)

They did hold up their end of the bargain and gave me a $100 gift card (that I'll glady split with Robyn...couldn't have done this by myself!) and they gave us each 2 Cricut cartridges! I couldn't have been happier!

So, after walking away from this meeting, here are a few things that I learned that I didn't know before (you may already be aware of some of these things):

* Robert's honors all competitors coupons
* Robert's has a new website, www.robertscrafts.com that you can now order online from
* Robert's offers rainchecks...if they have a sale on an item and they run out of that item, you can get a raincheck to get the item at that price when it comes back in stock
* Robert's has an email mailing list that offers better coupons than you can find in the store
* Robert's should be back on their feet and running better than ever in 45 days. That's when they are hoping to have their new systems up and running and have the majority of their aisles reset with new and exciting products!
* Robert's is separating themselves from Provo Craft. It was a mutual decision and they will still work together, but because they were associated, there were a number of vendors that wouldn't sell to Robert's. Now that they are no longer the same entity, Robert's can start carrying some new vendors!

I was so excited to learn that they are working to fix and improve their store and that I wouldn't show up one day to find that they had gone out of business! I'm just giddy about this new partnership with them and am looking to you guys for any of your concerns that you'd like me to address...I'll gladly be your voice!