Tuesday
Dec082009
Part 2.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 4:05PM
I've blogged about my Home Sale HERE and HERE and HERE. This way of selling, right from the studio, has always been my preferred way of moving my pots. It was important to me from the beginning to know my customers and to have that personal relationship with the folks who were buying and using my work. It also allowed me to keep my prices low and probably sell to folks who otherwise may not have bought handmade pots (this is my perception, I could be a bit too romantic about this).
Mel Jacobson, who is the moderator of the listserv Clayart, has always said, take care of, and market to people in a 50 mile radius of your studio and that will be a great base of customers. Of course I think this greatly depends on where you live. I live 60 miles from the biggest city in NC but I sell more pots to people from my county than from the city when I have a studio sale.
I've never liked consigning pots to shops or galleries. In my opinion I am stocking their shop for free. Yes I may get 60% or 70% of the sale but I just don't feel like the owner has fully committed to me. How do I know if they are really displaying my work in a good way or promoting it, are they trying to sell it or just using it for filler and window dressing? Now there are exceptions of course. I do have good relationships with a couple galleries that I consign to. I do not just consign to anyone who asks.
Still, I'd much rather a gallery buy from me directly. This means wholesale which is 50% of my retail price. If they are spending that money then I pretty much believe that they are going to try and sell my work. I only began pursuing galleries for wholesale in the last few years. I was more confident in my work and wanted to get it out there in the world. It did mean I lost personal contact with my customer, but hopefully folks can find me on the internet if they try; some of them eventually make it out to the studio.
About a year after I switched to earthenware and started decorating more I raised my prices. Right now my prices are almost double what they were when I was making salt glaze pots. My thought process has changed, I feel better about the work and I feel like I am producing a consistent line of work within the ranges, asthetically and monetarily, that I am able.
I called Jeff Oestreich a few years into making pots. I asked him how he marketed his work. He told me about selling from his showroom, selling at exhibitions, and though galleries. His bottom line was, "I don't put all my eggs in one basket." I think that's good advice. I would add to that, Pick and choose carefully where you put your eggs.
One of my setbacks early on was that I set myself up with preconceived notions about many things. I could have tried a bit harder to market myself, but fear and doubt held me back. Being self taught and never having gone through an apprenticeship or art school program meant I had to learn on my own. I had some good role models and mentors that I am thankful for.
I'll leave it there for now. More in Part 3. Please leave any questions or comments in the Comments section. I'd like to hear what you have to say.
Mel Jacobson, who is the moderator of the listserv Clayart, has always said, take care of, and market to people in a 50 mile radius of your studio and that will be a great base of customers. Of course I think this greatly depends on where you live. I live 60 miles from the biggest city in NC but I sell more pots to people from my county than from the city when I have a studio sale.
I've never liked consigning pots to shops or galleries. In my opinion I am stocking their shop for free. Yes I may get 60% or 70% of the sale but I just don't feel like the owner has fully committed to me. How do I know if they are really displaying my work in a good way or promoting it, are they trying to sell it or just using it for filler and window dressing? Now there are exceptions of course. I do have good relationships with a couple galleries that I consign to. I do not just consign to anyone who asks.
Still, I'd much rather a gallery buy from me directly. This means wholesale which is 50% of my retail price. If they are spending that money then I pretty much believe that they are going to try and sell my work. I only began pursuing galleries for wholesale in the last few years. I was more confident in my work and wanted to get it out there in the world. It did mean I lost personal contact with my customer, but hopefully folks can find me on the internet if they try; some of them eventually make it out to the studio.
About a year after I switched to earthenware and started decorating more I raised my prices. Right now my prices are almost double what they were when I was making salt glaze pots. My thought process has changed, I feel better about the work and I feel like I am producing a consistent line of work within the ranges, asthetically and monetarily, that I am able.
I called Jeff Oestreich a few years into making pots. I asked him how he marketed his work. He told me about selling from his showroom, selling at exhibitions, and though galleries. His bottom line was, "I don't put all my eggs in one basket." I think that's good advice. I would add to that, Pick and choose carefully where you put your eggs.
One of my setbacks early on was that I set myself up with preconceived notions about many things. I could have tried a bit harder to market myself, but fear and doubt held me back. Being self taught and never having gone through an apprenticeship or art school program meant I had to learn on my own. I had some good role models and mentors that I am thankful for.
I'll leave it there for now. More in Part 3. Please leave any questions or comments in the Comments section. I'd like to hear what you have to say.
Reader Comments (16)
im prob jumping ahead here but i read this email from etsy this morning and i've notice that you and michael kline have done an 'etsy sale' which you promote on FB and blogger and wondering if you'd reach as many folk as per this strategy posted this morning..
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5215453&utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=1.+Newbies%2C+Here%27s+why+you%27re+not+selling+yet...&utm_content=etsy_success_120809&utm_campaign=etsy_success_120809
this all prior to trying etsy, i have considered being so far away and postage costs are going to affect sales from here...cheers ang
I think there are a number of different strategies for Etsy. I just point people to my store by listing it here and on FB. I also do some mass emails to my customers and there is always a link on there to Etsy. I'll talk about this some later on, thanks for bringing it up though and for the link.
Hi - Interesting link from Ang. Great topic Ron. Thanks. Right now, I sell from my gallery studio but am thinking about ways to expand my reach. Kind of checking out the options.
my number one beef is consignment.
I hate the whole concept for the reasons you have stated.
I am not a bank and I can not afford to "loan" you money, my work.
While I could sell it somewhere else.
I think serious galleries have an obligation to buy your work because one they like it and two they want to sell and promote you.
If you are willing- then yes it is worth selling wholesale.
Consignment is like a no commitment relationship.
I have a just say no policy.
don't like splitting 50/50 with a gallery and would love to know where to find the 70/30 split you mentioned as i haven't come across one like that yet. my exception might be with a gallery whose reach is to a large number of specifically clay collectors (people that actually buy ceramics) since i'm relatively new to the game and have to get as many people as i can to see it.
I agree with the 50 mile radius idea in principal, but the market needs to be developed before it's of any use to the artist. It looks like you've put in a lot of serious work to develop your home sale and now you are building the same following on a wider scale with your social media. While the galleries and exhibitions are traditionally used to justify and build name recognition in the larger market place, it seems to be your blog that is really reaching out to an amazingly wide audience for you. You've built-up a pile of name recognition with it!
Probably having a high traffic store front is expensive for the utilities, wages, and rent and wonder if the galleries have to make that much just to make a profit, but it's true they get to furnish their store with free art till they sell it. A hardware store or grocery store probably has a line of credit and if they don't pay at the end of the month, then they probably have to pay interest or something, probably artists should get paid something each month too if their work is on consignment.
When I think of consignment, I always wonder why there aren't more artist's cooperatives. The club I belong to here recently was offered a storefront for gallery space in Ventura and I was offered to put my work there in exchange for working but I lived too far away and was moving, otherwise I would have taken advantage of the offer. Apparently the business owner wanted to keep his store active and didn't have anyone to rent the building. Several other cities here with empty buildings are doing the same thing for artists and art clubs.
For my landscaping business years ago a consultant told me repeat customers would keep a business afloat through tough times, adding one time buyers would enhance that. This seemed sound advice and it sounds like Mel was saying the same thing. My landscaping textbook had the phrase "repetition builds reputation" - explained as the more people see your name the greater your business reputation will grow - getting your business name out there in as many places as you could was deemed very important.
I think Jeff's advice is sound, the more baskets your work is available the more potential customers work is exposed to.
Living more than 60 miles from a city of size has been a drawback for me. California is so spread out geographically driving a long distance with lots of traffic was prohibitive with my previous farm commitments and for many other reasons.
Not having a consistent product has held me back. Thanks for bringing this timely topic up, it's all food for my memory banks and the future.
In the book "Marketing Your Art - Making a Living Doing What You Love" the author discusses having multiple streams of income so the idea of being in galleries and shops, doing shows and studio sales, etc. is right in line with those thoughts.
One of the problems I've seen with co-ops is that it's hard to get the artists to work together and get all of the needed jobs done. Most people don't want to sit in a gallery hoping someone will come in and buy someone's work when they could be making work in the studio. It takes a close knit group to make it a success.
Has anyone had great success with local farmer's markets? We have a great one near my home and it's tempting.
Well I typed up a comment an hour ago and thought I posted it but I guess not.
So. Jim, I don't think I have a 70/30 gallery right now. I think I did at one time. I'm pretty sure most are 60/40. Still I'd rather them buy outright. Of course if it's an exhibition then I think most places do the 60/40 and I don't expect them to buy. Just to get my pots back to me in a timely manner. (Should they pay return shipping?? I don't know that. Anyone?)
The co-op in Shelby, which I am not currently a member of, will let you just consign or if you join as a member, you have to work in the shop, but they take a lower percentage of your sales. I agree w. Lori that it would take the right group to make it work. I guess people get weeded out as it goes.
Zygote is right. It took me several years to build my home sales up. Any marketing takes time, esp. if you are on a budget.
Linda, my regulars have certainly kept me going, and have helped spread the word about me.
I don't know about Farmer's Markets. I would imagine it could be a good place for some and not for others. Are there other artist's selling there? It would be worth trying for a season. If nothing else it would give you some local exposure to folks who probably have the potential of becoming customers.
I do want to talk about alternative selling venues. Maybe in the next post.
Hi Ron - DON'T GET ME STARTED!
Well OK but I'll be brief. Sale or return I do a lot of but amd gradually reducing the numbersof places that I do this with, actually not gradually at all, last year I just chopped most of them. Mainly it's a 50:50 cut but some 60:40, the smaller commission tends to be with the smaller less busy galleries though so you pays your money you takes your choice so to speak.
I will now do SOR for exhibitions only with the exception of 2 galleries I know and trust. If it's an exhibition it has a start and finish date and I would hope that if I cover the carriage one way then the gallery should -note i say 'should' pay the return cost which should be an encouragement for them to try harder to sell it then they don't have to spend money on carriage.
I over pack my pots, just to be certain, with that amount of hard work and decoration I don't want to take any chances. I always put a note on the top of the box asking for them to take note of the way in which it is packaged and make sure that if it is returned that it is packed in a similar fashion. Politely of course.
However sometimes they don't listen. Then what do you do? Well apart from scream and shout and swear?
Oh there are so many things aren't there. I keep meaning to try the etsy thing, maybe in the new year. This is a great topic Ron, keep it up.
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Thanks Hannah. So, just to be clear, SOR or Sale or Return is the same as consignment here in the U.S. Good point about the packing, I think the note is a good idea.
I really want to learn about Book Marketing but i have no talent for writing.-.`
book marketing offline is quite time consuming but if we talk about online book marketing, it is a different story"`,
i am quite new to book marketing and i have to master that stuff too:;-
i'm quite new to book marketing and i don't have any experience about it.`*
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