[Jewelry making - Article 00034] - Re: [Orchid] Comments from adults at shows

[Karen Goeller]

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    I've also noticed an increase in comments about having many
    different styles within my booth at shows. My response to it has been
    to say "Thank you for noticing. I believe in exploring and continuing
    to learn and grow so that my styles remain fresh and new." If they
    engage in the conversation, I explain that I take a few master
    class/workshops each year to sow the seed of new directions and
    techniques, then show them some of my "showcase" pieces and explain
    how those classes inspired the design direction and how pieces still
    on my bench are continuing to evolve the direction. 

    To counteract the "but what does she REALLY want to do?" effect of
    different styles, I have also tried displaying items in groupings of
    similar pieces. For example, my newest line of pieces all share
    certain types of materials and techniques (river stones, sea glass,
    inset with tube-set precious stones and diamonds), so they are all
    displayed in close proximity to each other. 

    On another of the topics in this thread (pricing), I had two
    contradictory experiences with myself at this past show. One piece,
    which I really loved, I marked down on day 2 because of the reactions
    I'd had to the original price from the many people who had admired
    it. Shortly after marking it down, a woman came by, loved it and
    without even asking the price said "I'll take it." When I told her
    the price, she gently told me that I should be asking a lot more for
    it and that she would have not flinched at paying twice what I was
    charging her for it. (Expensive lesson learned, which cost me several
    hundred dollars on that sale. I should KNOW by now not to
    second-guess myself on pricing.) 

    Day 3, a different woman came in and was looking at 2 of my most
    expensive remaining pieces. Interestingly, she was the only one the
    entire weekend who asked if that was the "best price" I could give
    her on them. I curled my toes (thank you, for whoever tossed that one
    out there - perfect description) and said "Yes, my best prices are
    what is marked on the tags" and cringed, expecting her to leave.
    Instead, she bought one of them without any complaints and said she
    may be calling me for the other one as well. Without the advice of
    many of you in the earlier thread on how to handle those discount
    requests, I wouldn't have had the courage to respond that way. 

    There's an interesting psychology that occurs at shows, which I find
    brings out all my latent insecurities and need for people to accept
    my work. I have to fight against the tendency to internally apologize
    for pricing pieces as they need to be priced and also have to find
    ways to be comfortable with being "pushier" in the sales process. I
    personally HATE a "hard sell" salesperson, but I think sometimes I go
    too far in the opposite direction trying to make people feel
    comfortable with their purchase. As someone on here pointed out a bit
    ago, sometimes people are looking for permission to make the purchase
    and it's our job to give them that permission and encouragement. I
    think I'm getting better at that, but it's never a truly comfortable
    arena for me. 

    I'm curious for those of you who do wholesale shows if the sales
    dynamic is significantly different in this way because you're selling
    to businesses rather than for personal use? 

Karen Goeller
No Limitations Designs
Hand-made, one-of-a-kind jewelry
www.nolimitations.com
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