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Beading Tips Newsletter : Tips & Tricks
I want to sell my jewelry, but I am not a sales person...
Question:
I really need help. I am a stay at home mom and also I make jewelry as a hobby. I wanted to know how you got your start and how can I sell some of my jewelry if I'm not a salesperson. I also wanted to know if you can tell me of any programs that would help me start a business. Any information would be great.
Answer:
Neither Kay nor I feel that we are sales people. In general, I do not see many artistic people that see themselves as sales people. I have seen a few but the two do not necessarily go hand-in-hand. Even if you do not see yourself as a salesperson, you will have to do some sales if you expect to sell your product. The way that you do your sales may vary depending upon the place that you choose to sell your goods.
One of the first things that Kay did to sell her items was to take them to local stores and ask them if they wanted to buy them. Many of them offered to take them on consignment but she only sold them to stores that would buy them outright from her. It takes some determination to go into a store and sell your products to them. If you want to try something like this, I would suggest that you go in the store and ask if the buyer would be interested in looking at items from a local artist. If you get a positive response, then make an appointment to show your items to the buyer. In our experience, you can get a very warm response or a very cold response. We have sold to a number of different stores this way. It is always good to let the buyer know that you would be willing to exchange stock that did not move for them. This makes them much less reluctant to make the purchase.
If you can not muster the courage to walk into a store and ask them to buy your goods, you can pay for a booth at a craft show. When you set up a booth at a craft show, you will have people coming to you to look at your wares. You really do not have to be as much of a sales person in this situation. You do not have to "cold call" your clients to sell them something. It will cost you something to sell this way. You will need to rent the booth and set up a display. Costs of booths vary greatly depending upon the quality of the show that you are doing. Shows can be very profitable or a waste of time and money. You will learn to choose the right ones with some experience.
I have known some people that have been very successful at private home shows. If you have a friend that would like to put on a home party where you can show your products, this is an inexpensive and usually profitable way to sell your products. You can provide the refreshments and can give the hostess a gift of your jewelry. The best thing about the home parties is that you have a captive audience with no competition.
Another option is to rent a spot in a crafters mall. They usually rent space by the month and sometimes require that you donate some time to work in the store as part of the deal. I do not personally know anyone that has done a lot of business this way, but if it is not too expensive to rent the spot, it might be worth a try.
You can sell your products on the internet. There are a number of places that you can look at. There are numerous crafter's malls online. I have no information about how successful you can be when selling on there because we have not done so on these sites. I do know people that have had success with Yahoo stores. It is relatively easy to set one of these stores up even with minimal computer knowledge. Of course eBay is the largest online marketplace. Some people do very well on eBay and others don't.
The best thing to do is to get as much information as possible before you try to sell in any of the places that I mentioned. The more research that you do up front, the better your chances are for success.
Question:
I really need help. I am a stay at home mom and also I make jewelry as a hobby. I wanted to know how you got your start and how can I sell some of my jewelry if I'm not a salesperson. I also wanted to know if you can tell me of any programs that would help me start a business. Any information would be great.
Answer:
Neither Kay nor I feel that we are sales people. In general, I do not see many artistic people that see themselves as sales people. I have seen a few but the two do not necessarily go hand-in-hand. Even if you do not see yourself as a salesperson, you will have to do some sales if you expect to sell your product. The way that you do your sales may vary depending upon the place that you choose to sell your goods.
One of the first things that Kay did to sell her items was to take them to local stores and ask them if they wanted to buy them. Many of them offered to take them on consignment but she only sold them to stores that would buy them outright from her. It takes some determination to go into a store and sell your products to them. If you want to try something like this, I would suggest that you go in the store and ask if the buyer would be interested in looking at items from a local artist. If you get a positive response, then make an appointment to show your items to the buyer. In our experience, you can get a very warm response or a very cold response. We have sold to a number of different stores this way. It is always good to let the buyer know that you would be willing to exchange stock that did not move for them. This makes them much less reluctant to make the purchase.
If you can not muster the courage to walk into a store and ask them to buy your goods, you can pay for a booth at a craft show. When you set up a booth at a craft show, you will have people coming to you to look at your wares. You really do not have to be as much of a sales person in this situation. You do not have to "cold call" your clients to sell them something. It will cost you something to sell this way. You will need to rent the booth and set up a display. Costs of booths vary greatly depending upon the quality of the show that you are doing. Shows can be very profitable or a waste of time and money. You will learn to choose the right ones with some experience.
I have known some people that have been very successful at private home shows. If you have a friend that would like to put on a home party where you can show your products, this is an inexpensive and usually profitable way to sell your products. You can provide the refreshments and can give the hostess a gift of your jewelry. The best thing about the home parties is that you have a captive audience with no competition.
Another option is to rent a spot in a crafters mall. They usually rent space by the month and sometimes require that you donate some time to work in the store as part of the deal. I do not personally know anyone that has done a lot of business this way, but if it is not too expensive to rent the spot, it might be worth a try.
You can sell your products on the internet. There are a number of places that you can look at. There are numerous crafter's malls online. I have no information about how successful you can be when selling on there because we have not done so on these sites. I do know people that have had success with Yahoo stores. It is relatively easy to set one of these stores up even with minimal computer knowledge. Of course eBay is the largest online marketplace. Some people do very well on eBay and others don't.
The best thing to do is to get as much information as possible before you try to sell in any of the places that I mentioned. The more research that you do up front, the better your chances are for success.
Guide created: 01/02/08 (updated 01/07/08)
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