Well hello! Hi, how are you? Good morning!
Excuse me, it’s seriously craft show
season and I am a bit on autopilot right now. Day 2 into an 11 day show and I
did a 6 day show last week. I’ve got my smile pasted onto my face and I am in
serious sales mode. This show is the highlight of my year. After so much time
working alone in a room now I get to see real people playing with my jewelry. I
do love that. It’s also a real high seeing 800 top makers in one room, catching
up with friends from across the country, many of whom I only see at this show
and meeting new people, making new friends. This year I have 2 neighbours who
are new, nice work, nice people but oh, the lack of sales skills is truly sad. Even
at a top rated show like the One of a Kind there are people who need business
help.
I’m reposting an article I wrote over
a year ago because I think it’s one of my better posts and because I spent all
day talking to people and selling a lot of jewelry, I also spent today watching
a talented neighbour not sell much.
"How much is this
bracelet?" asks the customer.
"Well, ummm.... it's.... um.... $95?" replies the maker. Her shoulders are hunched, she's squirming and her voice lifts at the end of her reply as if she's asking a question.
At this point our eagle-eyed customer has spotted an opportunity.
"I'll give you $50".
"Um... OK."
"Well, ummm.... it's.... um.... $95?" replies the maker. Her shoulders are hunched, she's squirming and her voice lifts at the end of her reply as if she's asking a question.
At this point our eagle-eyed customer has spotted an opportunity.
"I'll give you $50".
"Um... OK."
The maker now turns to her neighbour
and bitterly complains that on one appreciates her work, it's so hard to sell
and everyone is always trying to bargain.
Sound familiar?
I see this all the time, especially among those new to selling. With an attitude like this our maker will be out of the game very quickly. The problem is that she does not value her work.
As a maker, if you don't value your work and your pricing, why would a customer?
Back to our maker. The cost of raw materials for her bracelet is $20. Using the jewelry pricing formula she learnt in her Start Your Own Jewelry Business book (reprint coming soon) her bracelet has a retail price of $95.
"But I can't charge that!" she sighs. "It only cost me $20 to make. People will know and feel ripped off."
First, people don't know what things cost. Second, a bracelet is more than the cost of the raw materials. It is time and energy. It is the sourcing of good quality wholesale materials, it is the design time and the labour to make it. Most of all it is magic. Just because you can wire-wrap and string well doesn't mean that a customer can. What seems simple to you is a complicated and foreign process to a customer. What you see is a pile of raw materials, what they see is a story, a piece of your soul, a piece of magic. Your magic is worth $95.
Pricing a piece of your work properly (and sticking to the price) guarantees that not only are you covering the cost of making a piece, you are paying the cost of labour, your overhead and making a small profit. This is called running a business. Constantly devaluing your work by thinking "I can't charge that much" is a defeatist attitude guaranteed to kill your business.
Get over it.
See the value in your work and stand tall.
When someone says "I'll give you half" try putting on your employee hat for a minute. You are standing in the booth as an employee of a company. Forget that it's your company and you are the only employee. The company policy is to remain firm on the price. Your boss would not be happy if you gave away the profits. What if it you were selling in someone else's booth? Would you drop the prices? No? Well why would you drop yours?
"I'll give you $50," says our bargain hunting customer to the maker.
She straightens her spine, squares her shoulders, looks the customer directly in the eye and with a pleasant smile states that the price is $95.
"But that's too expensive!"
This is the opportunity to explain a bit about the bracelet. What is it made of? Where did the inspiration come from? What's the story behind the piece? Show the customer the value of the work.
It is important to remember that you can't please everyone. No matter what there will always be people who think your work is too expensive. Sometimes it's tempting to snap a sarcastic remark about the location of the nearest Wal-Mart however it is best to rise above it and smile nicely. A line that's always worked nicely for me is "well, my work isn't for everyone".
Sound familiar?
I see this all the time, especially among those new to selling. With an attitude like this our maker will be out of the game very quickly. The problem is that she does not value her work.
As a maker, if you don't value your work and your pricing, why would a customer?
Back to our maker. The cost of raw materials for her bracelet is $20. Using the jewelry pricing formula she learnt in her Start Your Own Jewelry Business book (reprint coming soon) her bracelet has a retail price of $95.
"But I can't charge that!" she sighs. "It only cost me $20 to make. People will know and feel ripped off."
First, people don't know what things cost. Second, a bracelet is more than the cost of the raw materials. It is time and energy. It is the sourcing of good quality wholesale materials, it is the design time and the labour to make it. Most of all it is magic. Just because you can wire-wrap and string well doesn't mean that a customer can. What seems simple to you is a complicated and foreign process to a customer. What you see is a pile of raw materials, what they see is a story, a piece of your soul, a piece of magic. Your magic is worth $95.
Pricing a piece of your work properly (and sticking to the price) guarantees that not only are you covering the cost of making a piece, you are paying the cost of labour, your overhead and making a small profit. This is called running a business. Constantly devaluing your work by thinking "I can't charge that much" is a defeatist attitude guaranteed to kill your business.
Get over it.
See the value in your work and stand tall.
When someone says "I'll give you half" try putting on your employee hat for a minute. You are standing in the booth as an employee of a company. Forget that it's your company and you are the only employee. The company policy is to remain firm on the price. Your boss would not be happy if you gave away the profits. What if it you were selling in someone else's booth? Would you drop the prices? No? Well why would you drop yours?
"I'll give you $50," says our bargain hunting customer to the maker.
She straightens her spine, squares her shoulders, looks the customer directly in the eye and with a pleasant smile states that the price is $95.
"But that's too expensive!"
This is the opportunity to explain a bit about the bracelet. What is it made of? Where did the inspiration come from? What's the story behind the piece? Show the customer the value of the work.
It is important to remember that you can't please everyone. No matter what there will always be people who think your work is too expensive. Sometimes it's tempting to snap a sarcastic remark about the location of the nearest Wal-Mart however it is best to rise above it and smile nicely. A line that's always worked nicely for me is "well, my work isn't for everyone".
1 comment:
Oh, dear - thank you for posting this! I have seen this type of vendor at all shows and it pains me every time.
Untill one know their own value they won't be able to sell at that value... and yesterday I wrote a story about the exact same issue.
If I can make it, I'll stop by and say hello @ OOAK :)
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