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Top 10 Tips for Artists and Crafters to Increase their Sales, Profits, and Total Revenue
Site Newsletter - Release Date: 11/26 07
Top 10 Tips for Artists and Crafters to Increase their Sales, Profits, and Total Revenue:
As an Artist or Crafter, you will not get rich with a few dozen items on your single table at a show close to home. You won't either with a thousand items in 2 booths, at what you researched to be the best show in the state on that day, but you're bound to fare better.
1. Lower Your Costs
Make components you currently buy already fabricated. Sell or Re-use 'waste'. Buy More Supplies at a Time - At some purchase point they will be 20% less, at another 50%! Re-evaluate suppliers of most costly supplies, any money saved is FREE profit!
2. AVOID BAD SHOWS - Ask More Questions of Promoters whose shows you are considering. DO NOT JUST ASK TO BE MAILED AN APPLICATION, QUIZ PROMOTERS!
Make a Question Sheet and print it up to fill out while on the phone with each promoter asking for an application. You can save a whole wasted day at most bad shows by asking all promoters the critical questions.
What percent of vendors return each year and what % are first time exhibitors?
How many years has the show been running? Has attendance in recent years gone up, same, or down?
What was last years attendance, year before? Weather each?
What is your spot price & how much do average vendors make at your show in total sales?
Average product price at show. Door admission cost? Has it gone up in the last 3 years?
What % of exhibitors have more than one booth?
Do you allow non-hand made?
Do you and have you removed merchants with non-approved products?
Do you Jury? What is your process? What percent of Applicants are accepted?
Do you limit by category? How many categories do you recognize for that purpose. How many in my category? What other types of products in my category?
What is the avg vendor quality? Are you flea market, crafts, art and craft, fine art, etc.
What % of crafters are mom and pop operations and what % are full time professional crafters?
Advertising? How many newspapers? How far in advance? Street signs? $ spent on ads?
3. Make Products Faster with Less Effort
Work in Assembly Line Fashion - Produce more efficiently - Reduce the time needed to produce a unit. Your production time is your most valuable! Make it more productive. If you make 10 items at once, but finish them in later stages differently as appropriate, your time for each will be much reduced that if you had only made one. As artists we must maintain uniqueness, but to compete with bulk crap from china, we must also ourselves produce in bulk - but with quality. There will always be a market for true one-of-a-kinds, but even then, other supplies and prep steps can be production lined so you do many items at each stage on many at a time rather that each item all the way through at a time. As craftsmen we have the obligation to be resourceful and fruitful, productive manufacturers of the goods we are experts at producing! From those that much is given, much is expected in return.
Subordinate idiot prep work, clean up, shopping, ordering, etc.
Keep up with industry techniques, tools, knowledge, alternate supplies, etc.
Buy the Right Tools.
Set Production Goals, then work to meet them
Find the bottle-necks in production and concentrate improvements there
Set a Work Rhythm. Then gradually increase it.
Make multiple items at once if normally one. Make 50 if normally 10.
Make Jigs, Tools, Masks, Templates, etc. - Create your own tools, devices, jigs, clamps, patterns, templates, etc. to help you do your repetitive work faster and more accurately. Have someone help you construct it once you conceive of it, heck it might be sold online already as a tool of your trade!
Learn or Invent new Production Techniques by Experiment with new production methods and designs. Tinker, Play, and have Fun! Consider that changing an existing design in some small way may not affect sales and might half your production time for it.
4. Display and Carry More Inventory
Get better racks that show more at once. Make them if necessary.
Take 2 spots instead of one. The extra room allows you to display much more and gives a larger distance between you and the customer so you are not looming over them as often happens in a single spot booth.
If you put out one of an item it will go unnoticed. You need a whole rack or booth of an item type before it often takes off.
5. Do More, Better Shows - Show & Event Selection
Raise your show standards and drop the lowest quarter or so of your shows and try new ones. Shows that cost more, if long running, often cost more for a reason.... Try a few 'better' shows. Raise your show standards and drop the lowest quarter or so of your shows and try new ones each year.
Ask vendors where they do well and ask customers where they go that they think are great shows! Often customers will ask, 'do you do ...?' This is their telling you that '....' is possibly another great show in that area. Ask them more about it! Write the info about it down and then investigate further!
6. Evaluate and Refine your Business
Determine Profitability of each Product: Profit = Number Sold x ( Price Per Unit - Supplies Cost & Time Cost Per Unit ) - Incidental Business Expenses
4 methods exist to maximize profit:
Sell More Units, Sell Same Units for a Higher Price, Produce Units at a Lower Cost, Reduce incidental business costs and Sell more Units without increasing them
Determine How much Profit you make on each Item Type per year
Adjust your product line and prices. Drop your least profitable items after calculating profit on each multiplied by the number sold per year, then diversify and improve upon the types of items you made the most on. Any items that sold faster than you could stock a few, should be raised in price!
Duplicate and develop your most profitable products into More lines and types.
A product for every price should be your goal. If you don't have an expensive item, you can't sell an expensive item. Make a High-end line of your most profitable products!!!
7. Increase Sales
BE NECESSARY! - do you have 'functional', necessary items, that folks buy anyway? Repeatedly or even regularly?? Do you offer easy reorder, contact, and 'find us again at shows' methods?
Clearly post Prices with signs, item tags, and even a large sandwhich board style sigh.
Accept Credit Cards - many artists say that this has significantly increased their sales since many people do not cary cash or even checks anymore, even while shopping.
Charge tax as added, not included. Add tax onto even dollar priced items. $5 sells as well as $4.95. Since you must pay the sales tax anyway, you might as well not have it come out of your product price and your profit.
Offer multiple item discount specials like 3 for ...
Add Loss Leaders, the cheap ones in main walkways that get you into the isle of higher cost ones.
A Sandwich Board style price board has been said to improve sales.
A Workshop Photo Album and posted Sign stating you make everything improves sales.
Quickly get rid of lookers that want your attention but not your items. Spend time on others!
Improve your appearance and that of your booth and product packaging.
Accept Credit Cards and have a sign stating an at least $25 minimum charge.
Encourage and direct their envisioning the use of your product. Ask them where they would wear it, where they would place it, etc.
Get an item into their hand!
Ask for the sale �€“ Ask 'Would you like this in a box?'
Encourage touch and try on with SEVERAL prominent mirrors. Don't have items behind glass!
Make Clear that your Items are Hand-Made by YOU ( IF they Are...) This MUST include a SIGN, a PHOTO ALBUM of your shop, and your VERBALLY STATING it to customers you do talk to as in 'we do make everything ourselves, so I can answer anything' . Everyone with such a sign and album has told me it DOES INCREASE SALES.
8. Improve your Product Line
LISTEN to your customer. What they say they would like, what they ask if you have, can do.... Even ask for more Ideas if they start by offering one and they seem knowledgeable and grounded. Diversify and carry more of your top sellers in more styles, seasonal varieties, etc. Make some practical items that customers need and buy anyway. Design Products TO sell - Increase their Perceived Value; Market their benefits, not features. Add Value everywhere you can; improve upon the industry and your 'standard'. Watch and record color selections, styles, etc. Then, make more variations on and give more display space to those that SELL. Keep consistent in style and colors so customers can collect and match, but always offer FRESH designs within your style! Learn from others; talk more to other vendors at shows. Adjust your product line and prices. Drop your least profitable items after calculating profit on each multiplied by the number sold per year, then diversify and improve upon the types of items you made the most on. Any items that sold faster than you could stock a few, should be raised in price! A product for every price should be your goal. If you don't have an expensive item, you can't sell an expensive item.
9. Create a Distribution Chain! - Home Gift Parties, Get a Crafter / Artist Representative, Approach Craft malls, crafter collectives, galleries, stores, gift shops, etc. and ask them to carry your local, hand-made product. Trade table space with other Artists. Get helpers so you can do more shows or target more stores, your time is best spent creating, hire experts in sales. Seek out wholesale opportunities. Place flyers about such in every sale bag. Do Wholesale Shows, Crafter Clearance and Cash & Carry Markets. MAILING LIST!
10. Seek Out Unique Selling Opportunities that Others are Passing Up! - Offer your goods for use by local Fund Raisers. Market to Local Business Professionals as local made crafts for clients / accounts. Seek out Corporate Vendor Shows. Offer to take special orders. Contact local interior designers as a possible supplier of even custom pieces. Most Colleges / Universities let vendors setup near the cafeteria, bookstore, or common area. Offer wholesale hand-made components to other artists and crafters, parts that most buy...
Think BIG! - You will unlikely see much more, let alone many times, your current yearly profit unless you do more, better shows AND sell more at each AND make more profit on each item AND sell more items per sale.
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