Wholesale Matters

Congrats to Brenda Griffith!

Congratulations to Buyers Market exhibitor Brenda Griffith of Siyeh Studio!  She just published a book entitled A Beginners Guide to Kiln Formed Glass, published by Lark Books. The book doesn't actually hit bookstores until November, but you can pre-order one now on Amazon.

If you're not familiar with Brenda's work, go check out her website.

Craftsman's Challenge Competition

From the Furniture Society and Veneer Technologies:

The Furniture Society has been exploring partnership possibilities with an organization, Veneer Technologies (http://www.veneertech.com), that sponsors an annual design competition. I wanted to make you aware of this opportunity by sending you the information below.  It is unusual for competitions to result in both cash awards and advertising possibilities, but after speaking with a couple of the past winners, who also happen to be Furniture Society members, it is well worth pursuing.

Andrew Glasgow, Executive Director
The Furniture Society

The Veneer Tech press release follows:

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Veneer Technologies of Newport, NC, is now accepting entries for the company’s cash prize competition, Veneer Tech Craftsman’s Challenge Awards™. The competition aims to recognize achievement in the use of natural veneer through cash awards and other recognition to designers, craftsmen, distributors and distributors sales representatives. Any amount of natural veneer from any source used in the end product will qualify entries. Entrants each may submit up to a total of three entries. A cash award of $5000 will be made to the creator of the grand prize-winning entry. The distributor of the veneer for the grand prize-winning entry will receive $3000, and the corresponding distributor salesman will receive $2000. The top-judged student entry will receive a $1000 scholarship check. These cash prizes as well as other awards will be made at AWFS® Vegas, July 18-21, 2007, in Las Vegas, NV. Entries will be accepted through June 8, 2007.  Judges will be well-recognized third party professionals in woodworking media, education and design. Competition categories include: Furniture, Store Fixtures, Cabinetry, Architectural Woodworking, Specialty Products and Student Design. Entry materials are available from Veneer Technology sales representatives, distributors, and through http://www.veneertech.com. Online entry is encouraged for submissions of digital photography and forms at http://www.veneertech.com.

Reader's Choice Awards

Colored Stone magazine is holding its Reader's Choice Awards.  There are a few Buyers Market exhibitors on the list, so click here to vote for them!

Artist Showcase: Fashion Jewelry

The jewelry section of our show is divided by price point, from fashion jewelry to fine. A selection of the fashion jewelry in this year's Buyers Market:

 

 

A study in inefficiency

In the show operations department, we've been obsessing about exhibitor kits, the assembly of which will consume much of our time over the next two weeks.

The kits, which are full of vital information and necessary forms for ordering electricity, cases, carpet, childcare, guest badges, and booth assistants, require more than 28,000 pieces of paper, 4,200 labels and nearly $6,000 in postage. At least 15 people will be involved in their assembly, and very little other work will get done in our office for the next 14 days.

In hopes of saving a few dozen trees, I hearby declare, in this public forum, that this will be the LAST show for which we automatically mail kits to each of our exhibitors. For the past few years, each item in the kit has been available for download online. Beginning with this summer's show, we will mail a password to each exhibitor to access the online version of the kit (in the spirit of inefficiency, we currently include this code in the actual exhibitor kit). Anyone unable to retrieve the online kit can simply give us a call and we will promptly mail out a physical version of the kit.

The trees and the operations staff will be so grateful.

Buyers Market Opportunity

I just wanted to congratulate each of our brand new exhibitors on being accepted into the February Buyers Market of American Craft.  It’s a competitive marketplace and they should be very proud of their hard work.

As new exhibitors, the Buyers Market offers a cooperative mailing program opportunity to new exhibitors to help kick-start a wholesale career.  It is a convenient, targeted, inexpensive way to market their work before buyers even set foot on the show floor.

New exhibitors design and print their own postcard, and we tailor a mailing list from our database of craft retailers across the country.  The cooperative mailing program provides choices regarding how many and what type of retail locations to contact.  The Buyers Market processes the mailing for the artists, slipping postcards into the hands of retailers right before the show. This envelope, containing the innovative work of our new exhibitors, is often the first thing they open on the plane to Philly or in their hotel room to plan their buying trip.

Information about this program is included in the New Exhibitor Packet, but I wanted to make sure no one missed out on a great opportunity.  If you have any questions at all about this, please shoot me an email at kristenk@rosengrp.com or give me a call at 410.889.2933 ext.264.  I’d be happy to discuss it further with anyone. 

Top 10 Tips to Improve Sales at a Wholesale Show

Selling fine craft at a wholesale show is very different from other types of sales channels (consignment, retail fairs, etc.).  There's a number of things an artist can do in order to improve sales at a wholesale show. 

In case you missed the October issue of Market Insider, here are 10 tips to improve your sales at a wholesale show:

1) Display All Prices and Sales Terms Clearly— Buyers at a wholesale show don’t have time to search your booth for prices. Make it easy for your buyers to know what to expect when buying from you—label your prices clearly!. Some artists think that not displaying prices encourages buyers to speak to them, but most buyers will simply continue walking if they don’t see your price points right away.

2) Spruce Up Your Display—Create an engaging booth that will attract buyers’ attention. Use color to pull all of the visual components (your work, your signage, your flooring) of your booth together. Your booth is not a work of art–what you are selling in your booth is–so choose color(s) that look great and reinforce your brand, but do not overpower.

3) Light It Up—Buyers want to get to know your products before buying them. Good lighting is lighting that is almost unnoticed and illuminates your work beautifully. Your lighting should strike a perfect balance–not too bright and not too dim.

4) Listen to Your Buyers—Listen to what buyers are telling you. Try to find a way to match your products to their needs.

5) Stand Up and Close Sales—Standing up and making eye contact will put visitors to your booth at ease, making a sale easier to close. Hiding behind your display or sitting down can intimidate a buyer or make them uncomfortable.  Be your greatest asset and embody elements of superb salesmanship.

6) Look Busy—Motion attracts attention. Dust off your booth or make minor adjustments to your display. Buyers will be interested in your products when they see you showing an interest in your display.

7) Believe in Your Work—Your enthusiasm for your work will help buyers visualize how they will sell it to their customers. Enthusiasm is contagious and buyers will leave feeling good about your products, whether they make a purchase or not.

8) Promote Your Work Before the Show—Prior to the show, send e-mail and postcard reminders to your best buyers with your booth number on them. Consider offering a special discount to anyone who brings the email or postcard to your booth. Tell them how and where to find you.

9) Ask about Promotional Opportunities—Ask the show promoter if you can participate in any promotional opportunities. Many shows offer co-operative mailing programs and special advertising opportunities in the show’s buyers guide. Get your name and your work in front thousands of buyers before they even set foot on the show floor.

10) Follow up on Leads—Collect information from everyone who enters your booth. Even if a buyer doesn’t make a purchase at the show, follow-up with them after the show. Remember, cultivation is an essential sales tool! You may just be creating a lifelong customer!

Data mining

I discovered a little treasure trove of information yesterday -- booth numbers dating back to 1986.

Over here on the show side (affectionately known as the sideshow), we're trying to compile some data for NICHE magazine's article on the 25th anniversary of the Buyers Market. I knew we had show data from 1995 to the present (which, in fact, is the only show data we imported into our new database this summer), but couldn't really find anything earlier than that.

After a little nosing around in our old database, I tracked down just a couple of tiny nuggets of data from those early shows -- booth numbers and tenure points. So, if you want to know what booth you had at the Anaheim show in 1989, just ask.

More importantly, locating this data allows us to have a somewhat reliable history of exhibitor participation since the show started in 1982, as booth numbers are how we track the number of artists in each show.

Fun fact #1: the 1990 show in Atlantic City was the first time the show surpassed 1,000 exhibitors (1172).

Fun fact #2: Prior to making Philadelphia the show's permanent, and only, home in 1995, Buyers Markets were held in Boston, San Francisco, Anaheim, Springfield, Mass., Valley Forge, Pa., Atlantic City, Miami and Baltimore.