pondering next year's shows---are they worth it?

updated thu 19 oct 00

Carolyn Nygren Curran on sun 15 oct 00

Didn't do too well at this year's shows.....WHY is the big question. Yes,
I had mostly bottle forms and non functional items, but I thought I'd
chosen the venues well. I am beginning to wonder if the internet is the
big competitor---or rip off cheap goods---or what. I know there are
more shows around than there used to be, and I know that the old mystique
about handcrafted items seems to have disappeared. A lot of people at
shows appear to walk around carrying few packages with the exception of
wrought iron shepherds' crooks for their garden, and they go to shows to be
entertained, not to collect objets d'art. Someone in the booth next to me
at the last show said that she thought that people who pay $5 or more to
get into a show feel that the entrance fee is all they want to spend on
the "entertainment" provided by the show. On the other hand, the shows
without admission are also considered as free family entertainment. Of
course, there's never any obligation to buy, but where are the buyers of
yesteryear? Are they on the internet, are they tired of the shows, do
they go to galleries or what? I'd be interested in hearing comments from
other potters.....TIA. cnc, wondering how many shows to gamble on next
year...

Carolyn Nygren Curran on mon 16 oct 00

Thanks, John, for taking the time for that reply to my query. While I
don't do many shows each year, it is good to get out of the studio and
see the public, and I don't want to give them up entirely. I guess I'll
stick to doing shows in a new area we want to visit or else choose a show
close enough to home that the expenses aren't too high. Or maybe buy a
crystal ball... Thanks again for the input...food for thought for all
clayarters in the same boat. cnc

John Baymore on mon 16 oct 00

Didn't do too well at this year's shows.....WHY is the big question. Ye=
s,
I had mostly bottle forms and non functional items, but I thought I'd
chosen the venues well. I am beginning to wonder if the internet is the
big competitor---or rip off cheap goods---or what. I know there are
more shows around than there used to be, and I know that the old mystiqu=
e
about handcrafted items seems to have disappeared. =




Carolyn,


Maybe life is trying to tell you something . Branch out. Take mel's
"50 mile circle" recommendation to heart. Extend your creativity into
marketing ideas. Look at the outside of the box. Never put all your
options in one place. =



In my opinion, the retail craft fair as a really viable marketing tool is=
a
really great idea whose time came.......arrived.......... and went. In
fact .... "went" quite a few years ago. Like a decade or more. What is
left is a mere shadow of what it once was.

There are still some craft fairs that are lucrative enough to make the
investment of your time worth it.....but they are few and far between. F=
or
testing the public reaction to your work, or for doing some local "PR" th=
ey
certainly can have some value. But as a major way to make a good portion=

of your income............. wow....... tough row to hoe.

TIME is the issue. Your time. How is it best spent? Making stuff....
wholesaling....... or retailing? Retailing where? Wholesaling where? =

That is not to mention little "incidentials" like ......time with your
family and friends .

The craft fair originated at a time when handcrafts were typically
unavailable in most places. Now most any town has at least one handcraft=

shop or gallery. Usually multiple ones. The basic NEED that craft fair=
s
once fulfilled is no longer there in most locations. Like any good idea=

for making a buck ........... it proliferated. Became commonplace instea=
d
of special. (BTW...... I think this is happening to "Empty Bowls" as a
fundraising event.) So you are "dead on" correct...... they have become
much more "entertainment" venues rather than buying venues. Look at the
wording that many promoters use in their public marketing....... it
certainly isn't telling the public that there is a good opportunity to BU=
Y
good crafts.... (and often be CHARGED for the privledge ).

The reason the few "biggies" in the craft fair circuit are still quite
viable is that they bring in craft work to a town that is usually well
above the quality or "vision" routinely available from the local resource=
s.
So the people who are looking for that type of work come out of the
woodwork and do buy....because they still can't easily get that type of
stuff locally. As the local craft retailers get more and more involved i=
n
national purchasing and international purchasing....the need for even the=
se
craft fairs will diminish.....and for a while they will still survive on
the "tradition" factor. Lots of effort is put into he really good
shows....... and they are worth the jury fees and the booth fees. The
people who run these fairs know the remaining buying market and what it
takes to sustain a reasonable craft fair in the 2000's. Yes..... they ar=
e
very competitive..... money talks. These few fairs still have the ROI (s=
ee
below). =


When the public themselves looked at craft fairs as traveling stores and =
a
great opportunity to get something they couldn't get locally...... a
promoter simply needed to set up a bunch of tents and charge admission an=
d
the craftspeople were happy...... because people tended to buy stuff. No=
w,
the promoter needs to get the right TYPE of people in the door (potential=

craft buyers) to keep the craftspeople selling. This market identificati=
on
and segmentation is much, much harder. Many promoters are not as good at=

this approach as they need to be...... so the attendance number might sti=
ll
be there.... but the real potential craft buyers are not as high a
percentage of the total. The casual craft buyer can get his/her "fix" ma=
ny
places. These promoters haven't changed with the changing
times......business as usual. So the craftspeople have to put more effor=
t
into "making" a sale happen than they used to.

Because the public can get handcrafts locally ........... simply "being
there" at a fair is no longer enough (if it ever really WAS). You have t=
o
make an active sales effort today, you can't just plop down your wares an=
d
wait for the handcraft starved buyers to just wander in. They've been
inundated with handmade pots in their lives. This is why Bruce Baker's
approach to the selling process and psychology for craftspeople is so
important nowadays. If you don't sell "the story" (also called "the
sizzle") at a craft fair...... you're work is just another commodity item=

that is readily available in the local town craft shop. Sales technique=
s
are now more critical to craft fair success than they ever were. If you
aren't well polished in this area...... or are terribly uncomfortable doi=
ng
it...... you are at a disadvantage in the current reality of the
marketplace. ("Sell on quality....not on price." Tom Peters)

(BTW..... my apprentice could sell ice to an eskimo. I'd die for that
skill ).

The big issue for me in doing craft fairs is the ROI (return on
investment). This is a basic business strategy question. If I have a
certain amount of resources and money to invest...... where will I get th=
e
biggest return at this point in time for that level of investment? =

(Resources in this context is mainly time for most craftspeople.) Is it a=

craft fair....or something else?

I, like mel-san, have decided that the best answer for me is "something
else". In 32 years.....did many fairs......watched trends come and
go....... come and go again........ watched the fair circuit dynamics
changing..... and decided to get out before it collapsed completely. =

Started diversifying. Simple economics clearly pointed that way.

When you do a retail craft fair, you are a retailer, not a potter. A
traveling salesperson hawking your wares. So you need to look at ALL the=

costs to do this retail event as a retailer would. Divorce the retailer
self from your potter self. Look at it as if you were selling "widgets".=
=

To a degree you can say that if it is a bad deal for selling widgets....i=
t
is a bad deal for selling pots.

(Aside...... You DO have the advantage over the retailer simply selling
widgets........ you ARE the sizzle....... and you are selling
yourself...... and who knows you better than you?)

The first cost you have as a retailer is the expense to purchase the ware=
s
you will sell at the fair. You, the retailer, have to buy the pots from
you, the potter. This sounds absurd....but it is simply good business
practice to look at it this way. These ARE two different activities. So=

you buy enough stock to do the fair. You now have this amount invested i=
n
the fair as part of the cost of doing the fair.

You, the POTTER, are already content with this situation, because you jus=
t
sold a good sized wholesale order ....and you have already calculated all=

of your labor, materials, overhead, and PROFIT MARGIN into the wholesale
prices you just got. (Don't forget the profit margin!!!!)

Then you have to figure your time. Not your time for making the pots....=
...
that was figured into calculating your wholesale prices (whole 'nother ca=
n
of worms ). Track your time for EVERY aspect of doing a particular
fair. Shooting slides if you do that yourself. Filling out application=
s.
Packing the pots before the show and loading the truck. Setup time. =

Driving time. Being there selling. Breakdown and pack up. Driving home=
.. =

Unpacking. Ending paperwork. All of it, as best you can track. =

Remember...... six ten minute little jobs is an hour of labor!

Now multiply the time you just calculated by a reasonable hourly wage. =

Keep in mind what people like burger flippers typically make in your area=
! =

And carpenters, and plumbers, and electricians, and so on. Around here i=
n
New England, if you are charging much less than a MINIMUM of $20.00 an ho=
ur
for your time....you are WAY undercharging. You may be a fair to middlin=
'
"reatiler" at the craft fair.....but you COULD have been back in the stud=
io
working as a highly skilled craftsperson for the same time period. So yo=
u
have to use THAT figure as the VALUE of your time, even if retail seller'=
s
wages are typically lower in your localle.

(This simple analysis alone quickly says that you should hire a lower pai=
d
person to sell your stuff....... except that most fairs require the
craftsperson to be there . Some lie about this...... which is a whole=

different issue .)

Add to the above labor cost ALL the expenses of doing the show. =

Application/jury fees, the inventory purchased from yourself, cost of
slides, booth fee, gas/oil/depreciation or rental on vehicle, on-the-road=

food and lodging, cost of any promotional materials used, mailings, packi=
ng
materials, an amortized cost factor for your booth display, and so on.

NOW...... add all that stuff together. That is your investment in dong
this fair. That is what it really costs you.

Now look at your gross receipts. Subtract all your costs and your labor
you came up with above from these receipts. That is your profit for doin=
g
the fair. Look closely.......... is it a reasonable return for the
investment of time and money you have made? =


Let's look at a hypothetical craft fair as an example. I'll try to stay
with what is pretty typical by way of examples. I would say that it is
reasonable to assume that a two day craft fair, three hours drive away fr=
om
your home, easily takes 40 hours of your time, all told. So at a low
$20.00 per hour, that comes to $800.00 in labor alone. Application fee i=
s
$20.00 and booth fee is $300.00. Gas for the loaded van was $30.00. Two=

nights lodging in the cheapie motel was $90.00. Food cost another $70.00=
.. =

Your printed bags and the packing materials you used cost $30.00. Lets
lump all other possible costs (booth depreciation, and so on) to total on=
ly
$100.00. So the cost for your show expenses is $1440.00.

So we see a post here on CLAYART......." Wow ......great show....I made
$3000.00 this weekend". Or we find an ad from a promoter saying that
average sales per booth for this show is $3000.00. Ah..... sounds pretty=

good put that way doesn't it? But what is the reality? =


Potters often confuse cashflow with what they "made". What they generat=
ed
is $3000.00 of cashflow in a weekend. Potters also often confuse the
cashflow at a fair with what they are paid to make the pots. In the case=

above, the potter probably made about $1500.00 to make the pots. =


If we use simple keystoning (100% markup) to calculate the cost of the
goods to you, the pottery retailer, you had $1500.00 invested in the
inventory you sold (bought from, you, the potter). So as the retailer,
that $3000.00 is really $1500.00 before all the other show expenses are
deducted. Take away the other $1440.00 in labor and expenses from the
$1500.00, and your pre-tax net was actually only $60.00. This was your
profit. =


Don't confuse your wages with profit. Also don't confuse $20.00 per hour=

as a self employed person with $20.00 an hour as an employee. By the tim=
e
you get done with SE tax issues...... that $20.00 per hour gross wage
figure shrinks a lot .

So your profit was $60.00 on an investment of 40 hours of your valuable
time and $2140.00 of your money (show expenses plus cost of goods purchas=
ed
for resale). This comes out to a 2.8% return on your investment, (and a
week of your life gone forever ).

Is there another possible way for you to invest a weeks work and two gran=
d
that would garner a better return? I think the answer to this is
............ most likely.

Two grand would buy a pretty nice little run of photos, or printed matter=
,
pay for a good deal of postage, and or pay a nice phone bill. Forty hour=
s
of labor would allow you to do a lot of research, letter writing, and pho=
ne
calls. Maybe if you got one SINGLE good gallery with the same time effor=
t
and resources as the hypothetical craft fair above, it would have a large=
r
impact on the bottom line? From that effort, if you got a total of
$3000.00 in wholesale orders from that single gallery in a whole year....=
...
you'd still be at about the same point. (You probably wouldn't be as tir=
ed
.) Two galleries at $1500.00? Four at $750.00? Yes...a little too
simplistic because the cost of goods for the wholesale order would be a
little factor....but close enough for the general idea.

There ARE other ways. Don't get trapped on the "craft fair" one way
expressway. The exits aren't well marked .


There is a little saying that crops up in business management seminars in=

most any industry.......... it goes ....... "What are the 9 words that do=
om
a XXXXXXXXX business?" (Insert any type of business for the X's.) =


The answer to this question is .............."But that's not the way we'v=
e
always done it."


The internet MAY be the next "craft fair" idea. Maybe not. Too soon to
tell. The Craft Report magazine is trying to gain a handle on the impact=

of this right now with aggressive surveys.


Hope all this verbage has at least started you thinking . Bet others
will have lots of feedback also.


Best,

....................john


PS: Check the archives..... this has gone around before.



"Who now does only one major craft fair per year and demos at the hometow=
n
art and film festival. That's it for fairs."


John Baymore
River Bend Pottery
22 Riverbend Way
Wilton, NH 03086 USA

603-654-2752 (s)
800-900-1110 (s)

JBaymore@compuserve.com
John.Baymore@GSD-CO.com

"Earth, Water, and Fire Noborigama Woodfiring Workshop August 18-27,
2000"