mel jacobson on wed 15 mar 00
i think not much about pricing mugs.
it is an average that i seek.
i think it is true of most successful crafts people.
seek an average, then point your work
there.
for example:
i think i am a forty buck potter.
i used to be a thirty buck potter...
but, i point most of my work at forty, and
i think people will buy about two and a half pots
per visit. hundred bucks cash, plus a free mug.
let the customer feel like they got a great deal. they
smile as i load the car for them..(always walk them to
their car.)
it takes me two minutes to throw a forty buck pot.
about two minutes to glaze and decorate each one.
kurt is a two hundred dollar potter.
takes him or someone else about ten minutes to make
a pot, and kurt takes about ten hours to decorate each one.
dannon in my view is a hundred buck potter.
complex work in most cases, yet she gets after it.
dock six gals are sixty buck potters, with hundred buck
fountains.
i think you get the point.
you should not really be interested in what other people
get for their work, work toward your average, then educated
your customers over and over. get them to buy your average.
the going price of a wedding gift in america today is sixty
bucks, i like to have a nice variety of sixty buck teapots, platters
and bowls around. and i remind folks about wedding gifts. helps my average.
if you have hundreds of items for sale in your shop at ten bucks..
guess what people will buy?
over the long haul, warren mackenzie has done us all a favor...
he has educated the public to buy pots. i would not want to
be a stillwater, minnesota potter, just starting out, and trying to
maintain a hundred buck average, living in warren's fifty mile
circle....may have to adjust the average. i sure had to do that over the
years. but, i
sell a great many pots....i am in charge of that destiny, no one else.
remember, a smart business crafts person is the one that has
no pots left to sell after a sale, does not matter so much the price
of mugs. it's getting rid of them that is important, makes the bag
heavy going to the bank.
mel/mn
kurt and i are off to the farm today. get a load of wood.
inspect winter damage to kilns and equipment. kurt can
see again, so he will boss me around, make me lift all
the heavy stuff.
minnetonka, minnesota, u.s.a
http://www.pclink.com/melpots (website)
| |
|
