Sue Beach on sun 18 nov 07
Yesterday was my 4th annual studio sale. It was by far the best one ever.
For the first time, as many of the customers were strangers as were
friends. My husband was the checkout person & there were several times
that there were lines of people waiting to buy. I was busy talking to
visitors all day with hardly any slow times. It was a very new experience.
I'm getting better at the salesmanship part of this, though I have a lot to
learn. I've noticed though, that if you talk to a person about the pot they
are considering - explain the glaze or the technique for example - they are
more likely to buy.
I've been building my customer base & my mailing list slowly over the
years. Using Mel's 50 mile rule. This year, I sent one of my postcards to
a woman who does freelance articles for the local newspaper. She came out
to interview me & did an article on my work that appeared in the paper 4
days before my show. It included the show time/date & directions. The
publicity made a giant difference. I'm going to send her a 'thank you
bowl.'
As always, there were people who wanted a pot "just like this one only
bigger & glazed red." And people who want me to make this special piece or
that special piece. I was really too busy to notice any trends as to what
was selling, but I did have a lot of people looking for things in red.
It was a very good day. Now I just need to go make some more pots!
--
Sue Beach
BeachWare Pottery
Muncie, IN
David Hendley on mon 19 nov 07
Congratulations on your studio sale, Sue.
Despite all the chatter about how the economy is not good
and the burden $3 gasoline, my 16th annual open house
this weekend was my best ever, in terms of sales.
I still hate giving the bankers the significant amount they
skim off the top of credit card sales, but I think having the
account does increase one's sales. This is the second year
I've had mine. I have my long-time customers trained to
write checks, but most of the new people pulled out the
plastic. When filling out the deposit slips, I was surprised
at the large number of big checks - $100-to-over $300,
and I have (and sold) very few pieces over $100 each.
This means, people were buying sackfulls of smaller items.
After advertising in the local papers for many years, I
did not do so for the last 5 or 6 years until this year. I think
this paid off - in 5 years there will be significant numbers
of new people moving into an area, and they need to learn
what's in the area. The cost was $240 for a 4 X 4 inch ad
to run in the 2 near-by town's papers, 3 times in each.
A surprise for me was the results we got from our public
radio station. Karen sent them a hundred bucks during the
fund drive. Since we don't need any mugs, we chose to be
the "day sponsor" on Friday. This meant they read our
announcement every hour all day. Several customers
heard the announcement, and being pottery lovers, drove
significantly out of their way to come to the shop.
I cut back significantly on my mailing list this year. I have
always been reluctant to kick people off the list, even if they
have not been to the shop in many years, so the list had
grown to over 1200. So, last year I included a return card -
check if you want to continue to receive my announcements.
Of course, I got some back, most saying they wanted to remain
on the list, but most people are too lazy/disorganized to
send back a card.
So, anyone who had not been to the shop in the last 4 years
and did not return the card was bumped. At 41 cents a name,
this saved $250 in postage, coincidently the same amount as
the newspaper ads, as well as some printing costs. As a bonus,
the number of undeliverable returned announcements was
way, way down this year.
The Maydelle Winery surprised me and brought by a case
of their various wines Saturday morning. I went to the
house and brought over the wine goblets that we use, that
I made in the '70s and '80s, to serve the wine.
Everyone wanted to buy them!
I refused - It just ain't right to be selling pottery you have
been using for 25 years.
Next year, I will be ready and have several dozen new
goblets available for sale.
I have had to relinquish absolute control of my pottery
business. For years I could do everything myself at art
fairs and my wife and I could do everything at our studio
sale. We can't handle it any more. Luckily, I have several
good friends who enjoy helping out. It takes one of them
to write the sales tickets, swipe the cards, and take the
money, and one to wrap and bag the pots. Karen is busy
greeting people and offering refreshments, and helping
process sales when the crowds get too big. Meanwhile,
I am running around, demonstrating, playing a few
songs on the music stage (front porch), and answering
a hundred questions. I did not write a single ticket or
take a single dollar on Saturday.
It took all 4 of use to handle sales at the Texas Clay
Festival in October as well. I also had record sales there.
This year, I fired the kiln on Wednesday, with plans to
unload it Saturday, during the studio sale. That wasn't
such a good idea - there simply wasn't time to do all I
had to do and also unload a kiln. I finally got it unloaded
at 5:00 on Sunday, when the sale was over and
everyone was gone.
David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
david(at)farmpots(dot)com
http://www.farmpots.com
Hank Murrow on mon 19 nov 07
On Nov 18, 2007, at 10:17 PM, David Hendley wrote:
>
> Despite all the chatter about how the economy is not good
> and the burden $3 gasoline, my 16th annual open house
> this weekend was my best ever, in terms of sales.
Dear David;
Results of the Seattle Mingei show confirm your experience. One hour
after the opening bell they were ahead of last years total, with two
hours to go.
> A surprise for me was the results we got from our public
> radio station. Karen sent them a hundred bucks during the
> fund drive. Since we don't need any mugs, we chose to be
> the "day sponsor" on Friday. This meant they read our
> announcement every hour all day. Several customers
> heard the announcement, and being pottery lovers, drove
> significantly out of their way to come to the shop.
Great tip, as everyone listens to PR here in Eugene.
> I went to the
> house and brought over the wine goblets that we use, that
> I made in the '70s and '80s, to serve the wine.
> Everyone wanted to buy them!
> I refused - It just ain't right to be selling pottery you have
> been using for 25 years.
On the other hand, I have sold lots of pots from our cupboards, with
full disclosure on the many times they had been used.
> Luckily, I have several
> good friends who enjoy helping out. It takes one of them
> to write the sales tickets, swipe the cards, and take the
> money, and one to wrap and bag the pots. Karen is busy
> greeting people and offering refreshments, and helping
> process sales when the crowds get too big. Meanwhile,
> I am running around, demonstrating, playing a few
> songs on the music stage (front porch), and answering
> a hundred questions. I did not write a single ticket or
> take a single dollar on Saturday.
> It took all 4 of use to handle sales at the Texas Clay
> Festival in October as well. I also had record sales there.
I have employed two or three helpers with cheerful manners to help at
my sales to great advantage, as it gives me the time and focus to
schmooze with people about the pots and studio matters while my
helpers take care of business. Frees me up.
>
> This year, I fired the kiln on Wednesday, with plans to
> unload it Saturday, during the studio sale. That wasn't
> such a good idea - there simply wasn't time to do all I
> had to do and also unload a kiln. I finally got it unloaded
> at 5:00 on Sunday, when the sale was over and
> everyone was gone.
I tried that once, before deciding that it was too crazy........
couldn't really see the results of the fire before the pots were
taken away.
Thanks for your careful observations, David!
Cheers, Hank in Eugene
>
> David Hendley
> Maydelle, Texas
> david(at)farmpots(dot)com
> http://www.farmpots.com
>
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Hank Murrow
www.murrow.biz/hank
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