Interview with artisan blacksmith David Robertson
www.artistblacksmith.com

Shasta: Tell us a little bit about yourself i.e. how old you are? Where you grew up etc.?
David: I grew up just outside of Hamilton Ontario Canada and I turned 44 this year. Once you get into your 40′s time seems to pass pretty fast.

Shasta: How long have you been doing arts and crafts?
David: Ever since I was a kid I have worked with my hands. Most kids do crafts but mine quickly escalated into wood working with the available hand tools, electronics, and making rustic clothing. Very diversified interests.

I could often be found modifying something I had bought to make it work just the way I wanted.

I finally opened my business in 1987.

Shasta: How did you get started?
David: As you can see I have always enjoyed working with my hands. One day I was in a tourist town just being a tourist, and stopped in an artistic blacksmith’s shop. He was working on some project at the time but I was entranced with the fire and the ease of manipulating the metal when it was hot. I watched for several hours fascinated.

When it was time to leave I saw that he gave classes so I signed up for his basic course. That was followed by his intermediate course, then I ended up working for him.

At the time I was going to university to become a geological engineer, but working for the blacksmith to pay my way.

When I got my degree there were not a lot of jobs in my field where I lived but I still needed to pay my bills. The part time blacksmithing became a full time occupation. A sink or swim situation. Fortunately starting part time I had narrowed down some selling products, and some craft shows that paid well for me.

Shasta: What products do you make?
David: Artistic blacksmithing is not your average craft. It takes a number of years to acquire the skills and tools to create really interesting work. The good news was I could make simple low cost items, and these are ideal for craft fairs and markets.

When I started I made 100′s of hooks and candle holders. These were my bread and butter items. In essence these were simple rods of steel shaped and forged a bit then bent into the required shape. Very functional and more esthically pleasing than what you buy from the hardware store.

Think of one man mass production.

Over the years my skills and markets evolved. I still produce some hooks and similar items but now I do more sculptural art pieces and home furnishings, and custom window grills.

Shasta: What types of shows do you find work best for selling your product?
David: There are three types of shows that work well for me.

The first is the common “juried” art and craft show. Juried is in quotes because I have found the non-juried shows pulled in a buying crowd that really didn’t want to spend the money for hand crafted items. In a juried show I at least stood a chance of not being set up beside someone who is importing their product.

Some juried art and craft shows were better than others. A lot depended on location and the education level of the people attending the show. I also use this type of show to advertise for my custom work and the blacksmith classes I teach. Usually lots of people through, giving maximum exposure.

This type of show was for not only targeting immediate sales but future sales. A cheap form of advertising and make money at the same time.

The second type of show I use is a wholesale trade show. For me this is the most enjoyable show to do. I only take sample products and only store owners are allowed to attend. These are well educated people who know exactly what will fit in their store. They don’t waste your time.

Qualified store owners order my product months ahead of time from my samples at the show. I take my orders home make the products ship them out. 30 days later the store sends me a check (called net 30). I don’t have to deal with retail customers have a huge inventory of stock and be constantly looking for new shows to do.

There is one day to set up and a day to tear down. I don’t have to do a show every weekend.

The third type of show I do is the high end art or designer show. This is completely different than the other shows. I take only a couple of high end art pieces. This show is not about sales. It is all about handing out business cards. Or now in some cases portfolios on CD’s.

Virtually no sales are made at this type of show. It is all about the contacts. Galleries, designers, architects, and knowledgeable end use customers. Things are discussed in abstract terms, such as can you do such and such. When can you complete this project. It is a lot of fun but there is a good deal of pressure to be polished and not how I am in the workshop.

Shasta: Tell us some of the other avenues you use to market your crafts for instance internet, gift and specialty stores, catalogs etc.
David: The internet has had a huge impact on my business. For literaly pennies you can have 24/7/365 advertising. The down side is there is a steep learning curve and the computer will use up a huge amount of time at first.

I strongly recommend to every craft person that they have a webpage. One that they pay for and either set up themselves or have someone build, not a free one. The most common question I use to be asked at shows was “Do you make all this your self?” Now the most common question “Do you have a web page?”

What do we commonly do, when we want something or want to learn about something. The first thing typically is hop on the internet and go to google and type in what we are searching. I am guessing that if a person has internet access this is what they do first 99.9% of the time.

So if your craft page comes up in the search listings boom you are right in front of a potential customer. This customer could be anywhere in the world. Don’t be afraid of shipping things outside your country. It increases your market potential hugely.

Ebay is another vast source of customers. Easy to set up and sell an item in a few minutes. You can even set up an online store through ebay for your craft. No shows, storefront overhead, less staff to pay, works for you 24/7. All kinds of plusses.

Shasta: If you don’t mind sharing how your income breaks down by percentages of income sources, in an average year.
David: That is a bit tricky and it has changed over the years. When I first started 90% of my income was directly through craft show retail sales. The other 10% was custom work that was generated at the craft shows. This was my only outlet and only advertising.

After a couple of years things shifted a bit. I took on the wholesale trade shows and dropped a number of smaller craft shows. The wholesale shows accounted for 40%, craft shows 20%, teaching blacksmithing, 30% and custom work 10%.

Now with the internet there is a new mix. 20% from wholesale shows, 80% income from the internet. See how important a website is. Of that 80%, 40% is for custom work, and 40% is related to teaching.

I do very few retail shows now.

Shasta: What tip do you feel has improved your business the most?
David: Learn html and build your own website. If you absolutely dread learning code (html is not that hard) hire a high school student with the html ability. A web presence is so important now.

Shasta: Tell us about the book you wrote and how it can help us improve our businesses.
David: I wrote How to Be Successful in Your Craft Business to help people recognize when to get help and what they can do by themselves. It is not at all about blacksmithing.

When I was just starting out I was on a shoe string budget for everything. Remember I had just finished university with a rather large debt, and many other commitments. Anything that cost money to do I usually shied away from.

This meant that I did everything with my business. Making the product was the work that actually paid, but I did the accounting, the photography, customer calling, advertising, product development…. the list goes on and on. Later I realized I would have made far more money (had I just done what I like the most, the smithing) if I had divided up these responsibilities and yes even paid for people to do them.

Over the years many good friends have helped me with suggestions from booth design to marketing principals to product suggestions. They just wanted to help out. This book is my way of giving back to the community. I do believe that you need to balance things in your life.

The book covers many of the mistakes I made as well as areas I would still recommend people tackle themselves. I detail the different selling options I have used, areas for advertising, accounting, show planning, collecting overdue accounts, and much more. It is really the nut and bolts of everything that I didn’t get paid for. The whole running of my craft business.

How to Be Successful in Your Craft Business is equally applicable for someone doing stained glass, stuffed teddy bears, or blacksmithing.

I am hoping to help a few people save their time and headaches by giving them my insights from over 20 years in this business.

Shasta: As I said feel free to tell us anything else that you think is pertinent.
David: Any sort of craft business is not the easiest business to be in. It is directly tied to disposable income. It can be profitable but there is often more behind the scenes work, than what you do that actually pays your bills. Many of us start our craft business for a love of the work. Taking a few moments every now and then to remember what inspired us in the first place helps keep our craft fresh.

David Robertson is an Artist Blacksmith who has been working in the craft industry for over 20 years. He makes his living creating sculptural art work and teaching.

You need to be a great salesman to make money selling arts and crafts. The problem is how do I become a great salesman without becoming the pushy salesman?

I have to admit I haven’t been the best example of a good art and craft salesman. Why, because I was always afraid of being too pushy. So, when I heard the word no I took it to mean no and I didn’t push the issue any further.

A good salesman of arts and crafts will have already contemplated all of the reasons someone would buy their product as well as the reasons someone wouldn’t buy.

They will already have answers ready to overcome the objections made by people considering buying their arts and crafts. They won’t take no personally and will simply see what they can do to gently persuade the customer to make the purchase, without being pushy.

So what are the reasons people should buy your art or craft?

1. high quality
2. price-affordable vs. good value for the money
3. handcrafted
4. great customer service
5. support local economy – local artist
6. help a good cause – charity

What are the reasons someone might not buy your handcrafted merchandise?

1. poor quality
2. price – not affordable or not a good value for the price
3. poor customer service
4. not ready to buy right now
5. not what customer is looking for -salesman needed to offer something else
6. salesman didn’t ask for the sale

So now you know why someone might buy your handcrafted art and you know why they might not. You are now prepared to offer the customer the sale several times through out the sales process and work to overcome their objections.

Also read 6 Reasons Your Art Festival Customer Won't Buy

What other objections do you face? How do you overcome these and other objections? What do you say when faced with these problems?

Karen Hornsten of my LinkedIn group The Extavaganza Craft Productions shared this tip for listing customized crafts for sale in your Etsy shop.

"If you go to your Etsy shop settings you can Go to the left side and look for Options. Under the options tab be sure and check the two customize features and save these changes if it is noted to save. Then on your shop page it will list that you do customized work. Also, as Barbara stated, list an item that has been customized. Do you have a sale section on your shop main page? You could also have a customized section with a few items in it. I would try to offer a few pieces that are a little less expensive. And link your shop to your Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you haven't done so already. Good luck with your shop. It seems to be a never ending uphill ride. Success is measured in relevancy and search terms."

Please thank Karen for her tip by visiting her sites.
Facebook.com/gracelineshop
Gracelinepaperstudio.etsy.com
Twitter.com/#!/gracelinepaper

Also read Barbara's tip Selling Custom Arts and Crafts
and Holly's tip How Giveaways Sell Arts and Crafts or Veronica's tip How to Do Live Demonstrations at Art Festivals

While attending an art fair in my area a few years ago I visited with artists and crafters. We discussed my newsletter, The Extravaganza Craft News, and if I should include artist and crafter reviews of shows. I found this an interesting topic as I had never really considered all the pros and cons of show reviews before.

The only positive point I see to show reviews are that artists and crafts people hopefully don’t get suckered into doing bad shows where the promoter is not truly doing their best to advertise the show.

There are many factors involved in if a vendor has a good show. Factors ranging from their financial and emotional investment, what is happening in their lives-before, on the way to, during, and after the show, what they are selling, how they are displaying their items, their own marketing skills, their own attitudes and actions in their booth, to the purchasing habits of the customers at the show. Even the placement of your booth and the weather (too good or bad) could affect sales at a show.

As the artist who prompted the conversation pointed out some crafters who know of really good shows wait years to get juried in. They might not want extra competition either getting in or competing for sales so they might hesitate to tell you everything they know about the show. On the other hand everyone who has ever experienced a bad show is pretty quick to tell you about it.

So how do you know if you can trust a show review? I suggest using your best judgement. Reviews by someone selling merchandise similar to yours should be more valuable to you than those by someone whose product sells in a whole different category, but then again they are your competitor.

Compare the number of bad reviews to good, remembering it’s nearly impossible to please everyone all the time. Ask lots of questions about why people felt that way about the show and which factors might have played a part, while talking to crafters personally about shows. When possible consider the values and motives of sources.

Better yet, attend shows as a customer if possible before entering as a vendor. Look closely at the number of people attending, look at what booths are busy, what is selling, how much money is being spent. If booths in one area of the show are making lots of sales while others aren’t see if the set-up allows for proper flow of traffic to all the booths. Is your most likely customer in attendance, are people buying products that are the same style as yours and that sell in your price range? How many competitors will there be in your category?

Remember while it is the promoters job to advertise the show, it is your job to advertise your product.  How much better would every show be if, every vendor told 100 other people about the show?

What do you think are art and craft show reviews worth their weight in gold?

One day I was riding in my sisters car. The roads were slick and the car slid off the road into a deep snowbank. The car was very stuck and trying to drive it out did no good. Along came a car with 5 guys in it. They couldn’t pull the car out using their car. They all got out and stood at different points around my sisters car then lifted up her car and put it back on the road.

One guy couldn’t have lifted the car alone, but together the 5 of them easily moved it.

Business is like lifting heavy objects. Doing it alone it’s too heavy but with many people working toward the same goal it becomes light.

Craft businesses often go out of business before they even get a good start when business owners try to do it all alone. There is just too much work to do and too many things to learn for one person.

Have you noticed that KFC and A&W teamed up? Have you thought about why they would do that? I have.

KFC and A&W are in direct competition with each other.

They chose to work together because they share costs and reach a wider customer base.

• They rent/own one building instead of two as well as sharing equipment.
• KFC and A&W share advertising costs. They put out one ad with both chains specials mentioned.
• They both use one set of employees rather than each company having to hire their own.
• KFC and A&W foods compliment each other. You might want rootbeer and ice cream with your fried chicken and mashed potatoes. You might want fried chicken and mashed potatoes while your friend wants a coney dog and tator tots, and everyone wants a rootbeer float. Both companies get more sales by working together.

In the business world working together is called a Joint Venture (JV for short). Jeff Dedrick says doing a joint venture isn’t like if I would make $1000 selling jewelry and my friend would make $1000 selling hair bows that we would make $2000 together. He says that if I would make a $1000 working alone and she would make $1000 working alone it’s possible that we would make $5000 working together.

So how do you make joint ventures work for your art or craft show business?

1. Choose someone with similar products but not exactly the same.

• Jewelry-Handbags-Accessories-Clothes-Other Types or styles of Jewelry-Makeup
• Woodworking-Furniture-Home Decor-Pillows-Curtains-Florals-Pictures-Light Plate Covers-Wood Carvings
• Pottery-Table cloths and place mats-Furniture-Florals
• Body Care-Embroidered Towels-Bath Fixtures
• Rugs-Furniture-Lamps-Curtains

2. Choose someone with a different style than yours if you choose a product that is very similar to yours. For instance two Asian jewelry artists can work together if one does very elaborate work and the other does only very fancy work. They would be able to offer products that closely match their target audience but would be able to offer a wider variety of price ranges, making more sales. Both jewelry artists would be experts in the same field and able to share information on the use and care of Asian jewelry.
3. Ask show promoters if it’s okay to share a booth or rent two booths next to each other and mix products.
4. Make an agreement to know each others products and to offer them equally if someone is looking for that item. Offer each others product as an upsell or downsell.
5. No one likes to work for nothing. Be honest with your partner and keep good records making sure they get paid for their items that sold.
6. Evaluate partnerships and adjust or discontinue as necessary

Leslie shared this tip on LinkedIn for "Facebook Like Exchanges" that are very common in the Art and Craft Groups. It's funny I've been doing this all over the internet and hadn't thought to put it to use on Facebook yet.

Leslie said, "Tip: When you LIKE a page, be sure to leave a comment and include your page link. It will bring in more return LIKES. Moreover, it activates the "talking about this" algorithm and increases your chances of receiving more internal Facebook LIKES!

For those new to Facebook, you can leave a link to your page by typing @yourpagename. You'll notice as you begin typing this a drop down menu will appear and you can select your page."

Leslie is so right this is a strategy for link building which helps your sites to be ranked higher by the search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Tell Leslie thanks for the tip by visiting and following her pages at:

www.facebook.com/BlythHouseCreations
www.BlythHouseCreations.etsy.com
www.BlythHouseVintage.etsy.com

Also read How to Setup Your Art or Craft Show Booth Facebook Business Page and How Your Facebook Page Helps Your Art or Craft Business Know Who Your Customers Are. 5 Ways to Use Facebook to Sell More Arts and Crafts and Use LinkedIn to Build Your Art or Craft Show Business are also interesting.

Parts of this 7 part series have been reprinted with permission from the article “7 Common Disconnects In Retail Business” by Pam Grimm of Ideaco.

7 Common Disconnects In Retail Business

7.  No asking for the business: Not once did anyone say… “We want to be the store you come to for your crafting needs….we want your business!” There was no attitude of we want to impress you and guarantee your return to keep you as a customer. No one asked “Have we met your needs today?” They would say… “Did you get everything you needed?” instead of asking if there was more that they could do to meet my needs today! I was surprised at just how little interest there was in gaining my business.

How to Ask for Business

Remember that the value of every customer is equal to the total of their purchases over the length of time they will be your customer. When you remember the potential value of every customer over a life time of purchases it’s easier to offer exceptional customer service. Customers are looking for exceptional customer service something that sets your business apart from everyone else.

Remember make a positive impression, show your interest in your customers, share your product knowledge, and find the customers needs. Present the customer with the benefits of the product as they apply to them, offer the options they need like customization, ability to pay by check, money order or credit card, free gift wrapping and shipping to any address.

Ask the customer if you have met their needs and listen quietly to what they say. Take notes if necessary and carefully consider if you can provide their needs. Is the value of that customer worth the time and money that you will spend to meet their needs?

Meet the needs of your customers with a wow and they will keep coming back for more!

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Entry 7 of 7 in the series 7 Ways for Your Art or Craft Business to Outsell the Retailers. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Parts of this 7 part series have been reprinted with permission from the article “7 Common Disconnects In Retail Business” by Pam Grimm of Ideaco.

7 Common Disconnects In Retail Business

6.  Lack of service options: In many stores, customer service failed miserably. Most think that service equals sales explanation, however it doesn’t; it equals a sales pitch. When we did gather and pile up products that we might want to purchase no one offered to take our pile up to the counter, or get us a basket or cart. We were not offered to have a product explained to us to ensure that we knew how to work the new “gadget” we had just bought. When a product was out of stock, rarely was there an option to have it ordered in and we would be called when it arrived. Overall, there were no WOW factors being provided in the customer service end of retail.

Improve Customer Service

As mentioned earlier in the series customers want to know how a product or service improves their lives. Explain to the customer how the product or service will benefit them. When the customer has narrowed down their choices, offer to carry their purchases to the counter.

If your craft needs explaning take the time to show the customer how to install and use it.

Offer to create a customized product for your customers if you don’t have the perfect one for them. Offer to ship it to them.

The more ways that your service stands out from the competition the more likely that customers will purchase from you instead of them. Think what service options you would like if you were a customer and provide as many as you can. Every time you offer a new option-whether it’s another way to make payments, gift wrapping, customization, or shipping to the customer-you set yourself apart from the competition.

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Entry 6 of 7 in the series 7 Ways for Your Art or Craft Business to Outsell the Retailers. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 7

Parts of this 7 part series have been reprinted with permission from the article “7 Common Disconnects In Retail Business” by Pam Grimm of Ideaco.

7 Common Disconnects In Retail Business

4.  Assuming not Assessing: When a staff person could speak about products, she often told everything she knew about it before asking any questions. Most of the time the information was not even relevant to the question or need. We found most staff members don’t bother to probe for information to meet a customer’s need; they download all they know in hopes they have covered it.

How to Assess A Customers Needs

They say to assume makes an @$$ out of you and me. To assess what a customer needs you need to ask questions and hear the answers. Don’t get ahead of yourself and spill everything that you know about the product instead simply answer the question. When you’ve answered the question if they don’t say anything wait a few seconds and ask another question, it could be that they are considering one product over another or how much money they have to spend or it could be that they are waiting for you to ask for the sale.

Questions that might help you know what they would like are:

1. Are you buying for someone special today? This tells you if they are looking for childrens items, items for teens, adult items or items for the elderly.
2. Are you buying for a special occasion? People need different kinds of things for birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and everyday.
3. Are you looking for a particular style? Depending on your craft your merchandise will have some varying styles some things might be more modern or contemporary, others might be more country, some things will be Victorian or classic. Things like jewelry will vary from an abstract random pattern to a symmetrical pattern that repeats itself. Some of your items may have an Americana flair while others might have an ethnic flair from other regions. Some items will be more natural while others may be more synthetic, some may be recycled.
4. If they are buying for themselves you can ask if they are buying to match a particular outfit? What color is it?
5. What are their favorite colors?
6. When the choices have been narrowed you might ask if you have answered all their questions.

Your job at this stage is to discover their questions and answer them while narrowing the choices. It’s a fine art but you’re a creative person you can do it!

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Entry 4 of 7 in the series 7 Ways for Your Art or Craft Business to Outsell the Retailers. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

Have you ever wondered exactly who your customers are? Who you should target in your advertising? How to find out if your target market is male or female, what age they are, or where they are located? Have you ever wondered who was the most likely to walk into your craft show booth?

Your art and craft based facebook business page can help.

First of all if you don't have a facebook business page I suggest getting one. You can learn how at How to Setup Your Art or Craft Show Booth Facebook Business Page.

So you are asking how does my Facebook business page help me know who my art fair customers really are?

Your Facebook business page allows you to begin conversing with people about your business then it gives you statistics it calls insights about those conversations and others taking place about your business. When done correctly-meaning most of your conversations are with people who will benefit your business in some way prospects, current clients, partners, affiliates, etc.-you will start to see some trends in those statistics.

For instance the likes The Extravaganza receives are mostly (78%) from females ages 25 to 55+. I also receive likes from males (13%) ages 25 to 55+. The age groups are broken down further but I think you get the point.

I can look further at the break down of ages of the females who like my page that tells me that most of my customers (44%) are going to be females between the ages of 45 to 55+. I know know where the focus of my marketing efforts should be. I also know that I totally waste my time and money when doing any advertising and marketing to males or females under the age of 24 as 0% of my likes are in those categories.

Take a look it will give you a place to start examining the demographics of your buyers and it's free.

Read 5 Ways to Use Facebook to Sell More Arts and Crafts and Art and Craft Group "Facebook Like" Exchanges on LinkedIn as well as Is Facebook and Social Media Selling Art?

Do you agree?

When you are selling your art online little is more important than the quality of your pictures.

You won't get many sales if the quality of the pictures make it hard for the buyer to see the quality of your art or craft. Worse yet the quality of the pictures can make the buyer picture in their mind that your items are poor quality because you didn't seem to care if the photos were low quality.

Taking pictures of our handcrafted items is something that overwhelms and irritates many artists and crafters. It seems like it is too complicated and our photos are never good enough causing us great frustration.

I was very excited to learn of an inexpensive tool that can help us all take better quality photographs of our crafts. I would like to thank Nancy for this wonderful information please visit her sites below and say thanks.

Parts of this 7 part series have been reprinted with permission from the article “7 Common Disconnects In Retail Business” by Pam Grimm of Ideaco.

7 Common Disconnects In Retail Business

2. Lack of interest in customers:

It surprised me how often I could walk into and out of a store without having a single conversation with anyone. No one seemed interested that I was even there. When we did come in contact with staff, they really didn’t know how to conduct small talk to establish some kind of personal relationship connection. It was all business. Why is this important? Because the personal connection made with the store is the core of a positive experience…making a connection that makes you want to come back to that store, think of that store,and become an advocate for that store. Another “dropped ball” was in the lack of gathering contact information. In over 95% of the stores, we walked out with no way for the store to ever follow up, market to us, or make another connection with us.

How to Overcome a Lack of Interest in Customers

As I mentioned in part 1 everytime a retailer misses a sale they leave an opportunity for you to make the sale, if you have a product of similar quality and value. I feel like it is obvious that if a customer walks into your booth and leaves without even a greeting that you have missed an opportunity, but since it happens so often in every industry it bears repeating. If a customer walks into your booth and walks away without having a conversation with you, you have missed an opportunity for a sale.

I admit it is hard to find the motivation to happily greet every customer when a show has few customers and sales are slow. Remember it is more expensive to find new customers than it is to sell to those who have already purchased from you. It’s not the purchase one customer is making that will make your business profitable it is the many purchases they will make in the future that will. Retailers who fail to greet their customers aren’t seeing the full potential of each customer. Every customer has the possibility of one sale or one thousand sales depending on what you do to earn their business. If you follow up with correct marketing principles with the customers who have purchased from you approximately 20% of them will make 80% of the future purchases from your business. By treating each customer like your best customer you won’t miss your next golden opportunity.

A customer walked into your booth, saw something there that interested them, your job is to establish a relationship of trust with the customer. Find out what is was that brought them into your booth, and ask for the sale. How do you establish trust with someone? What makes you trust someone? Establish trust by getting to know them, find out what it is that they want and give it to them. You can’t establish trust if you haven’t spoken to them. Start off with a simple, “Hello.” Don’t ask, “How are you today?” unless you truly want to know, customers know when you care and when you’re just asking to start a conversation. If you ask, “How are you today?” you must truly care how they are today. Ask where someone is from, or what brought them to the show today, ask what they are looking for, or if you can help them find something. Ask if there is someone they are shopping for or if they are shopping for a special occasion. Ask if they are looking for a particular style or if they are looking for something in a certain price range. Listen carefully to their answers without trying to figure out what you are going to say next. When they are finished speaking then take a moment to consider what to show them. When you have narrowed the choices to a few of their favorites ask for the sale by saying, “May I wrap those up for you?” or “May I take those to the counter for you?” If they’re having a hard time deciding, offer to give a small discount (10% off) the lower priced item if they buy them both.

When ringing up the a customers purchase always offer an upsell. An upsell is an additional complimentary product for example McDonalds offers a larger fry and drink with every hamburger (or hamburger meal) purchased. Done correctly chances are some customers will make the extra purchase, but no one will if you don’t offer. Don’t forget to collect the customers contact information during this step. They have purchased from you showing a need or want for your products so you should follow up with them to find out if they have additional needs, You can’t follow up if you have no way of contacting them again. You can collect their personal information by using duplicate receipts and including their name, mailing address, phone and email on every receipt you make out. Be sure to ask if you may include them on your mailing list and mark that on the receipt. Only mail to those that gave permission to be included.

Treat every customer like a golden opportunity. Follow up with them multiple times and soon you will be able to sort out the customers who will make many multiple purchases in the future and focus the largest part of your marketing budget on them and your profits will definitely grow.

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Entry 2 of 7 in series 7 Ways for Your Art or Craft Business to Outsell the Retailers. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

Parts of this 7 part series have been reprinted with permission from the article “7 Common Disconnects In Retail Business” by Pam Grimm of Ideaco.

7 Common Disconnects In Retail Business

Many of you have contacted me wondering where I have been; as you may have noticed, I haven’t had an article in this magazine for several issues. Well, here’s your answer. For the past several months we have been working with a major financial institution analyzing why their stock value has decreased and where they are going “wrong” in their front line business. We identified some major issues that have simple solutions; these changes will ultimately have a huge impact on their business practices and their front line behavior, but will require a paradigm shift in their thinking.

Our results were not a surprise, however the reaction from the company was interesting. They basically indicated that they had moved from being unconsciously horrible at the business to being consciously horrible at the business. They couldn’t see what they were doing wrong even though it was right in front of them. Sometimes it requires an “outsider” to come in and take a good look around. Our end results brought us to 7 key disconnects in their business practices that needed to be addressed. These problems have been seen both in mainstream retail and independent stores, so we decided to do an “unofficial” business audit and note similar business practices. Here are the 7 common disconnects found on the retail level within the craft industry:

1. First Impression Failure: When a customer comes into a store, she is either there for the first time, is a repeat customer or she has come in with a problem. Regardless of the reason, every time a customer comes in, she gets a certain impression of the store. We found, in the majority of the stores, that the first impression failed miserably. Often staff members were too busy to say hello and didn’t know how to approach a customer to see if she needed assistance. Many times, the staff wouldn’t even talk to a customer and she could walk out as quietly as she came in. Sometimes the atmosphere of the store was uncomfortable, like a fight had just happened between the staff and the management, and everyone was in a terrible mood. It showed on faces and in the manner they moved products around, or just in the way they spoke to each other.

First impression from a physical standpoint failed horribly in the independent store sector as products were disorganized and crammed in anywhere…or there was a great lack of products. Samples seemed old and tired, and handmade signage promoted classes that had already been taught weeks prior. Many stores had no personality or flavor, leaving the feeling that you had walked into an overpriced dollar store.

How to Improve the Customers First Impression of Your Booth

We need to recognize that their mistake is our opportunity. When retailers fail to make the sale they leave the door open for anyone with a similar product to make the sale. What is the first impression that you are creating?

Always greet every person who is passing your booth. Your greeting may be the only reason they look your way. Ask them if you can help them find something. Point them in the direction of whatever it is they are looking for even if it’s somebody’s booth.

No matter how slow the sales are that day remain positive and don’t discuss the slow show with other vendors or customers. Remember there are opportunities everywhere so be prepared to take them with a smile and positive attitude.

Set-up your booth at home and take a good look at it? Consider the first impression that you’re creating. Is your booth professional, clean, organized, warm, inviting, interesting and attractive? Is it cluttered or empty, disorganized, confusing, and unprofessional? Ask the show promoter for an additional space (or half space) if you need more room to keep your booth looking it’s best. A larger booth makes it easier for customers to enter and leave making it feel less claustrophobic as long as there is enough product displayed to fill the space. Display more arts or see about sharing booths, if your booth looks empty. Set-up products between your knees and eye level for the best visibility. Don’t lay things flat on the table, use packing boxes under table cloths to add some height. Arrange items that have something in common together and then display attractively. For instance all the T-shirts should be together, then all the large T-shirts might be together on the rack, then medium, small, and extra small.

Are the colors of your booth showing off your crafts well or are they distracting from and competing with them? Make corrections now to improve sales.

Set-up early at a show and use the extra time before the show to get the opinions of other artists and crafters. Ask them to tell you as much about their first impression of your booth as they can. Record what they say in a notebook for reference after the show. Carefully consider their opinions and you will know which ones make sense for your business. Take a good look at the booths around you and record the things they are doing right and the things they aren’t in your notes for later.

Next do an informal survey of your customers. During your conversation with them at the show tell them that you are working to improve your customer service and ask if they would be willing to spend a few minutes telling you what they thought about your booth. Always take notes.

If show promoters won’t allow surveys or drawings in your booth print some simple business cards that have a link to your online survey. As customers make a purchase include the card with their purchase. Tell them it’s there and that they will be entered to win a prize or will receive a small gift for answering the survey. Ask about things like first impressions, colors, displays, greeting they received, how prompt service was, price of product compared to value, etc. Make the survey as simple as possible while collecting the information that you need. Don’t forget that the survey will be skewed if you only ask people who purchased so ask people who check out your booth and a few passers by to take an extra look at the booth and do the survey as well.

Make signs on the computer for a more professional appearance. Check them for wear and tear. Update them occasionally be sure to make them timeless, simple and as clear as possible.

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This entry is part 1 of 7 in the series 7 Ways for Your Art or Craft Business to Outsell the Retailers. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

Recently I’ve been working to make my business more profitable each and every day. Today it occurred to me that I should share with you how I plan to do that.

• Day 1-Set a goal to do something to make my business more profitable each day for 1 month.
• Day 2-Make a plan. Get out a calendar and write down the goal for each day until calendar contains one goal for each day. Make each goal one that can be accomplished in a time frame of 1 day to 1 week.
• Day 3-Finish writing down goals on calendar. Breaking larger goals down into step by step goals if necessary.
• Day 4-Clean office so I can find everything I need to accomplish goals.
• Day 5-Do projects I’ve been putting off for the past month or so especially accounting.
• Day 6-Finish projects I’ve been putting off for last month.
• Day 7-Blog about my experiences this week.

PS. This is not my office! LOL

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Entry 1 of 6 in series My 30 Day Plan to Greater Craft Show Profitability. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

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Art and Craft Show Expert Shasta McLaughlin provides articles, hints and tips, checklists and more for artists and crafters that sell handcrafted products who want to save time looking for shows, packing for fairs, and get more sales at festivals. Now she is revealing how to collect your customers contact information, follow up with them and make more money while working less. Go to http://www.extravaganzacrafts.com to get her newsletter, The Extravaganza Craft News, that will help you avoid mistakes, save time and money when preparing your craft show booth.

Your customers won’t buy art from you if:

• They don’t know where to find you or your product.
• They aren’t prepared to buy now. For instance they weren’t expecting to see a product they wanted so they don’t have money right now.
• They don’t know what you are selling.
• You aren’t selling what they want.
• If your handcrafted product is hard to get, the wrong price or bad quality.
• You haven’t asked them if they would like to buy.

We were selling World’s Finest Chocolates as a fundraiser to earn our trip to Jamaica with ROC Wheels in March 2011.

The first day the kids sold chocolate bars, they sold very few. The next day more people knew they were selling them and several bought. The third day their sales increased again because people knew they could count on them having them and had their money together.

Problem: Not knowing it was available!

Solutions: Consistency, advertising, marketing your finished crafts to correct market, having a website or blog to show case your art work, email marketing.

One day my son took the chocolates to school. A child asked him if he had Mint Meltaways. He answered yes and was swarmed by kids who wanted the mints. They hadn’t bought before because they didn’t know he had them.

Problem: Not knowing what was available! Not offering enough variety.

Solutions: Better advertising and signage, having a website or blog, email marketing. Offering the right product to the right customer.

We arranged to sell the chocolates at a grocery store in town, set up a table and sat down to wait for our first customer. I noticed that although we were directly in front of the door many people walked right by or bought a product right next to us without even seeing we were there. When we asked if they could use chocolate for stocking stuffers many people checked out what we were selling.

Problem: Not knowing where to find you. Not knowing what you are selling.

Solutions: Consistency, better advertising and signage. Not being afraid to offer your product and ask for a purchase.

The favorite chocolate we are selling seems to be the caramel candy bar. Chocolate sales increase when we keep those in stock and decrease greatly when we run out. Some people will buy another variety, some won’t.

We noticed however that when we sold to a wider variety of people (at the store instead of the school) the different flavors all sold about the same.

Problem: Not selling what the customer wants.

Solutions: Find the right market for your product by selling to a different group of people. Change your product to meet the needs of the group you are currently selling to. Offer a wider variety of products or narrow your products to the ones your customers buy.

People at the store weren’t expecting to see us so they didn’t have a few dollars cash on hand. They usually went to buy groceries and came back with money to spend.

Problem: Customers aren’t prepared to buy now.
Solutions: Follow up through mail, email, a website or blog or even an occasional phone call. Remember just do it respectfully always giving the customer something they want for instance information they need, a discount, or even a special just for them.

One problem we didn’t face was resistance to price or quality. The problem is that a low price can give the idea that a product isn’t high quality, but if the price is too high customers won’t buy. The solution is to do your research and carefully set your price within a range the customer will pay. Decide if you want to have the lowest price, the highest price, or some where in the middle.

Looking for art and crafts shows occupies a large amount of time for the vendor who makes a living selling at shows. One time saving hint: knowing where to look for shows is the key to saving time looking for them.

For the longest time the only place you could find good shows was to attend a show and talk to the different vendors about the shows they had attended. Unfortunately these show had often happened in the previous two weeks or were about to happen in the next two weeks.  Often there wasn’t time enough to get registered for them and the shared information was already forgotten by next year.

And now a brief message from our sponsor:

If you’re looking for shows in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota or South Dakota…The Extravaganza Craft News is a great place to look!

Okay enough of tooting my own horn, smile!

When I was looking for shows to attend the places I looked were:

The internet-using different combinations of keywords you will come up with all different kinds of results.  Search for combinations of: arts, crafts, fairs, festivals, antique shows, jewelry shows, gem and bead shows, trade shows, farmers’ markets, shows, show listings, bazaars, boutiques and other words to do with your craft to narrow down the search.  Include the name of the city and state to search the area where you would like to sell.  Include Christmas or holiday if you’re searching for seasonal shows.

Many sites will give you sample listings, some will have free listings, and others will have paid memberships, newsletters etc.  Hint:  Find a listing that covers your area and purchase it.  It will help you find the information you need before considering which shows to apply for.  Freeing up your time to do other more profitable tasks.

Chamber of Commerce, Visitors Centers, Community Centers, Fairgrounds-These are either the places local shows are held or they are often the sponsors of local shows.  They will usually know about which shows happen yearly and might have phone numbers for the contacts of many local shows.

Local Newspapers-Newspapers will often carry advertising for shows that are happening in their area of coverage.  Look for call to artists/crafters in the press releases as well as in community calendars, etc.

Grocery stores, gas stations, local restaurants, store windows-You will find bulletin boards in many businesses around town.  Many places will even hang posters in their windows so open your eyes and look.

Ask show promoters-Don’t forget to ask show promoters if they hold other shows or if they know of any other shows they recommend in the area.

Word of Mouth-Word of mouth is still a good way to go.  Ask your friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers, and church group about their favorite shows/events in your area.  Ask other artists that you meet, attend shows and ask vendors what other shows they know of.  Keep a log and you’ll be prepared to find the shows again next year.

Set a goal for your art or craft business, then set a reasonable amount of time to accomplish that goal in.  Working on it a little bit every day makes it nearly impossible not to accomplish it eventually.

Goals that you might need to work on to improve your handcrafted business:

1. Learn to know my customers and market better.
2. Improve the customer service my customer receives.
3. Sell more at shows-become a better salesman.
4. Follow up more with customers-collect contact information and follow up respectfully.
5. Improve marketing plan or pieces.
6. Build a website.
7. Promote my “handcrafted” website.
8. Automate more of the sales process.
9. Make my business paperwork including business cards, fliers, brochures, catalogs, invoices, etc. more consistent to build brand awareness.
10. Make sure all my business paperwork has correct information on it including business name, contact name, complete mailing address, phone, website, and email.
11. Improve my displays.
12. Find new places to sell my arts and crafts including gift shops, galleries, specialty shops, and handcrafters boutiques, etc.
13. Improve my online sales.
14. Improve my offline sales.
15. Improve my accounting techniques.
16. Improve profits-set correct prices or cut costs.
17. Organize my workshop, studio or store for a better customer experience and better efficiency.

Setting a goal for your art or craft business  is like climbing a pyramid you can’t do it in one giant step.  Instead break it down into smaller steps.  Promise yourself to at least try and do one  smaller step a day.  Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t, instead try to go on the next day and celebrate the days you accomplish more than one step.

Work on one of your business goals at a time until you get really good at doing it consistently.  When you are really good at reaching your current goal add another goal without dropping the first one.

I have to apologize for my recent lack of posts as I’ve been focusing on establishing an email follow up system for my artists and crafters.

One of the things successful marketers keep saying is to follow up with your craft show customers.   They say as much as 80% of sales are lost due to not following up with prospects.

In this economy it is more important than ever to follow up with your customers reminding them of their interest in your product.

This is one of the key things you will hear me harp on through out this blog-Build a List and then Follow Up With Your Customers!

I’ve finally found two programs that I felt were in my price range to provide email follow up with my customers.

Each one provides scheduled emails and/or autoresponders that can turn leads into prospects, prospects into customers, and turn current customers into repeat customers.

One is AutoWebBusiness.com and the other is Constant Contact.  I highly recommend you check out these two companies if you don’t already have some kind of automated follow up/email system in place.

Do you agree?

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