Selling work wholesale

[BigTeasel]

so, for the past few years, i have been making and selling pendants and beads to local stores. i do other things as well, but for the most part, that has been my clientel. without exception, these customers were gained by my walking into the stores with my wares and working out a deal, and for that time and place in my life it was perfect. now i am at a point where i need more of a steady (haha, right?) income and i'm interested in doing some heavier prodo work. what i want to know is how to go about securing a larger wholesale account with a fairly steady workload. i know its possible as i hear of people doing it, but i'm not really sure how to go about getting there. if anyone has any thoughts on good ways to go about this or any good stories about how they got some decent accounts, please let me know.


thanks,
drew

[eternalfrost]

sorry i cant give you a link or even a name :( but my aunt also works glass, just fusing though no torching. she does it more of a hobby but with fusing you can pump out like a hundred earrings at a time or whatever. she sold her stuff to this online jewlery selling place. you need a minimum of like 200 identical pieces for each design you want to submit to them. your work was then put up for sale on thier site with credit given to you as the artist.

[lucidvisions]

You're gonna be hard pressed to get a good wholesale account by just walking into a arts and craft gallery and busting out your stuff. Get some good pictures of your consistant lines of product that you believe in. Make a good catalog with your bio and artists's statement. Make sure the pictures you choose to put in the catalog are clear, colorful and well organized. Make a price list of the wholesale and retail prices, ( retail, so when you got people off the street you have it handy). There's nothing worse than giving a catalog to someone with the wholesale prices. Your retail price in usually double youe wholesale and then add 8-10% to counter for any shipping costs. This is what any gallery you deal with will do. Make a list of galleries that make up you clients and price points. ( Your not going to do too well trying to market pendants to a high class gallery who's selling points are $100-$5000) You're gonna be looking for a arts and crafts gallery at first who's selling points are mostly $5-$100. Anyway make as big of a list that you can afford. Mail out your catalogs to these galleries. Don't expect a huge return. I am happy if 5% or more place an order from my mail outs. The best I've done is 15%. Best thing now is to KEEP those clients that place an order. You can spend quite a bit of money trying to get a client or gallery so make sure you don't lose them by sending an order late, order poorly packed, item is not consistant, ect.

I'll write more later, I gotta go golf a round with the family. ( disc golf) In the mean time Milon Townsend has a bible on this subject that you SHOULD have before proceeding forward. It was essential to us gaining over Forty galleries in a six month period. Hope this helps a bit.

Josh

[somberbear]

Making and marketing better art work.... milon townsend blue moon press around 15 bucks.

my problem is getting it back from people once they borrow it. and i accedently bought it. its a good book and definatly a good read.

its a start but not a finish of things you will need to know but the book will help in direction you wanna go.after that good accounting eatehr from books or from an accountian will help you alot more. and knowing your market.

if it was easy we would all be rich by now.

[BigTeasel]

townsends book was the first that i picked up when i started lampworking. i got twoforone and its worth its weight in gold. it only helps to a certain point tho. i've been pretty crafty with my wholesaling so far and managed to get into a fairly high-end gallery selling prodo teardrops for 20$ apiece!!! after my 50% that was a pretty decent amount. it was consignment which i normally never do, but they re-ordered every month until they closed (not for lack of business, either). anyway, this is exactly what i'm looking for for the future (tho preferrably not consignment)

i'm fairly knowledgeable of the means necessary to get a gallery interested in my work, but what i really don't know is how to find galleries to market to that are outside my geographic locale. is there a nationwide commerce list or something of the sort that i can tap into or should i just suck it up and start walking the land like david carradine? long-term i intend to get into the baltimore and boston wholesale shows which is a great way to get galleries to contact me, but that's still a few years off in work quality and personal readiness.

you're right lucid, walk-in sales are good for quick cash, but they wont pay the bills long-term.
i guess the next logical step is a catalog then....and some highschool kids who want to learn and don't know what money is yet to pull my canes and encase my crayons ! :devil1:

thanks and keep it coming!
drew

[Mr. Wonka]

Teasel- If you're looking for galleries, go to well known glass artist's web sites... you'll find all of the galleries and gift shops you need. I Hope that helps... Tom

[BigTeasel]

aha!!!! thanks mr. wonka!! that is such a simple idea i am not at all suprised i didnt think of it. wow, that's exactly what i needed to hear!!!


about to sell some work,
drew

[LTD]

In my personal experiance, having a cute female securing gallerys for me has been much easier than my ugly tattooed ass walkin in. on another level.... I had been trying to get this glass shop to carry my prodo for about a year. I kept getting,'we'll pick some up later","the boss will be in tomorrow", "we just got a walk in sale that beat your price".......Then I had my wife walk in with my cases, and some of her outside prodo. What do you know, they bought it all. Sent her back a few weeks later and sold out again. I am a pretty decent salesman, But the fact is people will hand a cute girl money a whole lot faster than they will a man. Oh the shop was owned and staffed by females.....HMMM? I won't say it isn't sexist, but I still send my wife on new sales and get more money.

[skip]

just have to have game....

[lucidvisions]

Wholesalecrafts.com $400.00 a year. If you have a good product line it should help your bottom line. It payed for itself for us in two months, and all the orders are cash or net 30. Just make sure if your're doing net 30 that the gallery has a good rep. the site offers a history of how the galleries reputation is also. It has a forum too but haven't used that area too much other than to snoop. I can't say we're getting rich from any of this yet and we're probably not doing good as the half of you with some good prodo accounts. Once we decided to stop the pipe prodo it is very hard, but well worth it. It's a means to an end. An end hopefully where I get to contribute at home. LOL It's gonna be a hard road but if you can try and be innovative, new and fresh it will help out considerably. We are constantly striving to get some new lines out. Most of them don't work but you'll find one that kicks you into high gear, and you just keep plugging away.

[lucidvisions]

Oh yah "The Crafts Report" is a mag that is especially for us, it has been a great resource for trends in the industry, new galleries and how to apply to them. It's got a great list in the back for entries into glass related events too. It's primary focus is on how to best run your crafts type business.

[edeezevon]

hey lucid,off topic question but how are the courses there?i"m a golf fanatic.glass n golf 2 things everybody should try before they die.that"n sky diving.c.k.

[lucidvisions]

We only got two courses but one has got 27 holes the other nine. There both a bunch better than they were a couple years ago....this is disc golf we're talk'n bout, right? Lance and I go about twice a week and do a good doubles tourny.

[BigTeasel]

hey lucid, would you mind linking me to some images of the work and maybe some corresponding prices for what you are selling through wholesale crafts? and also, do you know of anyone else here who uses it? i'd like to get a better idea of how they work. is it the kind of thing i could fit in in addition to some production account or are we talking higher volume?

sorry for all the questions, but im kind of just getting back into this and i'm really trying to make it work. i'm willing to consider just about any options at this point..if the options are worthit that is..

thanks again,
drew

[lucidvisions]

Try this first if that doesn't do anything go ahead and PM me and I'll give you our visiter password.

http://www.WholesaleCrafts.com/Visitor

Just to give you an idea My price points on the site range from $10.00-$80.00 and I get consistant orders averaging four a month. You can set your minimum order so it makes it worth your time. You decide how long the turnaround time is. ( our is two weeks) this give us the opportunity to not backstock and gives us the time to make the product when the orders come even if there is more than one at a time. We have wasted a lot of time in the past with backstocking multiple pieces. It all depends how popular your stuff is if you get high volume orders, like I said you decide your minimum orders, it could be as little as 100 bucks. I would make a catalog of the pieces you have up there so after an order is placed the gallery will have a catalog and you can start a personal relationship with the gallery rather then having them going to wholesale craffts each time. I know that through the personal touch we have sold a lot more than just having them go back to the website each time to place an order. Galleries like talking to the artist after they have made the effort to find them and their work.

What it boils down to is if you have a product line that you believe in I think it's a great resource. What's four bills anyway if you gain four accounts? I know I have spent my money on worse things that don't pay off.

Josh

[lucidvisions]

Hey drew pm me before you try the link and I'll give you the specifics on it. It won't work without some other stuff.

[N!pples]

Haha Baylie, Funny stuff! I took a cute girl with me on my sales runs last week for the first time and it was a night and day difference.. I think its cuz guys dont want to look cheap in front of a good lookin girl, but it was insane how much easier it was to sell stuff...

Get a hot chick to go sell your stuff! lol It really works!

:bangHead: