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Getting Your Work Out There
By Grace
I recently asked my readers what they would like to see addressed on this blog and the overwhelming response was "How do we get our work in shops?" One of the hardest things about getting a fledgling design business out there is trying to make your goods available to the public in some capacity. So this post will be devoted to small business owners who are trying to get their products out of their homes and onto store shelves. (My next post will be about starting your own shop along with some tips and things to avoid that I learned when I started mine).
I emailed several small business owners running online and brick and mortar shops and asked them what was the best way that people could get their goods into their (or any) shop. The responses were extremely helpful and I thought it might be nice to post the results in full. In addition there is a wonderful two part article right here and here on getting your handmade goods into small shops. (It was originally posted on Erin's Sodafine blog in October).
The overwhelming theme of the responses was: make sure your goods are targeted to the retailer you're contacting. People didn't seem to like this idea when I suggested it last week (for shame, D*S!) but shop owners overwhelmingly asked that artists please make sure their designs are a good fit for the shop they're contacting. It saves everyone time and when you're running a small business saving time and materials is a good thing.
[From Rena Tom, owner of Rare Device]:
"Number one for me: have a website with images. This is a must have. Show the product in a basic full-size shot, a closeup and maybe near or on the body, for scale, if applicable. If you have a catalog instead make sure it is a good looking and nicely packaged. It will really help. Basically these days, emailed images/websites are as good as physical kits in the mail (at least for me) I get so many of these things that I know immediately if I'm going to pursue it or not, so follow up is not as important.Number two: Timing - if something is for a holiday or season, send it as early as possible.
Number three: Prices - send prices! Indicate if you'll do wholesale or consignment.
Terms, minimums, delivery dates. The more info the better.Number four: Don't just drop by the shop! If you are scouting that is one thing but
hauling a giant suitcase of product in the store, on a weekend, unannounced, is quite another. If you are in the shop, leave a postcard and say hi but don't insist they look at any samples.Number five: Indicate any selling points succinctly when talking about your product.
Number six: Show a coherent line of only your best stuff. This one is pretty
important. Show original product and make sure it is a rock-solid product.Number seven: Do your research! Make sure your product will fit in. But, make sure it's not too similar to something already in the store.
[From Mark Eidsness, Owner of Sparkability]
"Finding Retailers: If/when you have the budget it is much easier to find retailers. Exhibiting at trade shows, advertising in trade publications and purchasing mailing lists are the obvious ways. You can accomplish all the same things on the cheap however, and the independent retailers are doing exactly the same thing to try and find new vendors.1. Google - Search for anything and everything you can think of that might pull up a retailer interested in your widget. You can also create Google Alerts http://www.google.com/alerts to do some of the heavy lifting for you.
2. Trade Show Web Sites - Some shows, not all, publish info on attendees after their show closes. This is a great way to get company names as well as the right contacts for purchasing (if you're really lucky). Almost all shows will give you list of exhibitors (your competition) however, and you can go to their web sites to find retailers (see #4)
3. BLOGs - Find the BLOGs covering your world, and read them several times a day, every day. The retailers you want are reading these BLOGs too. BLOGs disseminate information WAY more quickly than any other media (try instantly) and keeping on top of the big players in your world will really help you stay in the know.
4. Manufacturer/Distributor/Product Rep. Web Sites. Follow those links...most of these sites will list their retailers.
5. Industry Publications & Their Web Sites. Same as above; follow those links!
6. Software Web Sites - There are only so many companies out there making software for retailers/catalogers/etailers (Dydacomp, Ecometry, etc.). Find their web sites and start following links...your get to their clients.
Contacting Retailers: Make sure you are using your limited resources wisely by carefully screening potential retailers before contacting them. Poorly matched retailers aren't going to want to hear from you. Good retailer matches may not buy, but they will probably at least file your information for the future and they may also point you in the direction of other/better matches for you.
1. Targeted Contacts - Do not contact somebody unless you are sure they may want your product. I get so many unsolicited emails from people who clearly haven't bothered to look through my site as their product is totally wrong for us. So I delete their emails and they waste time trying to contact me again and again. If you are contacting people when you should know better, it is SPAM, and they will hate you.
2. Targeted Contacts. Really.
3. Targeted Contacts. Really-really.
4. Email, don't call.
6. Keep a contact database. Who you contacted, when you contacted them, what happened, etc.
7. Drop-Shipping. Many manufacturers do a huge portion of their business through drop-shipping. The internet is really responsible for this, but what products make sense for drop-shipping? Some smaller retailers will want you to drop-ship everything, but most will only want you drop-ship heavy/bulky items that are expensive to ship. If shipping your product twice (from you to the retailer and then from the retailer to the customer) is expensive enough to impact pricing then you know you should be offering drop-shipping. If you offer customization of any kind you should also drop-ship. If your products are really expensive and/or have lots of color/style choices you may also want to offer drop-shipping as retailers may not be able to afford to bring your entire line in. If you are going to drop-ship, find a good fulfillment company to handle your warehousing and shipping. Most of the costs are transactional (per-order), and you will be able to focus on doing what you started your business to do. Multichannel Merchant ( http://multichannelmerchant.com/) is one good resource for finding a fulfillment company. Asking your shipping reps. (USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc.) is another; they'll know of any good operations in your area.
[From Susan Schwake-Larochelle, Owner of Artstream Studios]
"How to get your work into our (or any) gallery? First take a look at what we have in our gallery either in person or online. We have a shop and archives of our past exhibitions at our web site. Take some time looking through to get a sense of our themes of exhibition. Is your work a good fit with other work we have shown? Quality images are key, organized presentation is important, showing us current available work is a must. High resolutions via email bog everyone down, so snail mail us a CD if you have huge images. We work hard for the artists we represent, so we expect fairness in return. Keep your pricing the same everywhere and don't work against yourself."
[From Ryan Deussing, owner of Elsewares.com]
"In the early days, I found designers by asking girls on the train who made their necklace, by scouring the internet for all things weird and affordable, and even by paying attention to the (usually hokey) newspaper clippings my parents send me from South Carolina. All of this remains true today. A big difference between then and now, though, is designer submissions. We get contacted by a lot of designers these days, and a lot of good ones. But just like answering the phone and running a business are not the same thing, watching the inbox fill up with submissions doesn't keep elsewares.com stocked with fresh design-y goodness. Things just don't work that way. We love it when designers contact us and we encourage it. But, surprisingly, most new designers and products still find their way into our collection only after they somehow cross our radar and we track them down. How does something get on our radar? Sometimes it's a trade show, sometimes it's dinner party conversation, sometimes it's someone my mom meets at a farmers market (true story), and sometimes it's a friend-of-a-friend-who-makes-t-shirts-and-has-a-blog. Really, it comes down to people doing what comes naturally: talking to each other about what they like. And the best advice I can give any designer trying to build a business is to make sure your work is seen by as many people as possible. Interesting people with interesting friends are going to talk to each other - it's your job to make sure you and your work makes it into the conversation. So don't be reticent, don't play it cool, don't fear someone stealing your idea, and don't wait until everything you're currently working on is complete. Have a web site, even if it's just a few photos, and keep it up to date. Blog and/or be on myspace, flickr, and de.licio.us. Leave comments on the blogs you read, and link to yourself. Go out and meet a lot of people, and make sure everyone you meet knows something about what you do. Have a business card with your url on it and make a habit of giving it to people you come into contact with (and not just the people you think you want to hear from). If you live in an apartment building, tape it to your mailbox. Really. And use an email signature that links to your site, so every person you email has a tiny chance to check out your kick-ass design work - including the people you talk to on craigslist about furniture, tickets, apartments or whatever. Of course all this comes after following your passion and designing things you feel good about. But if a designer follows some of this advice, their chances of crossing our radar - and by extension that of Design*Sponge, Daily Candy, TIME magazine, and Oprah - go way, way up"
Comments (34)November 28, 2006 12:36 PM
Comments (34)
Thank you Grace, this info is beyond valuable to me right now!
Posted by Joey Roth | November 28, 2006 3:18 PM
Posted on November 28, 2006 15:18
This is nice but it seems geared towards people who want to keep the business small or a hobby.
Where can we find more sophisticated advice?
Posted by Washington Gniemes | November 28, 2006 3:27 PM
Posted on November 28, 2006 15:27
I think this advice is wonderful. I appreciate that Grace is keeping things small. She's not a big business owner so I wouldn't want her advice for big businesses. Keeping things small is the way we like it.
Karen :)
Posted by Karen C. | November 28, 2006 4:02 PM
Posted on November 28, 2006 16:02
Thanks for this- the drop shipping tips were helpful. I run a small business and resent the people who think that because we run small businesses that we're not sophisticated. Or that advice about running a small business isn't sophisticated.
People on this site seem out of touch with the wave of small businesses that are out there today. I think sites like Etsy.com are proof that small business owners need advice like this. If this isn't "sophisticated" enough for you go somewhere else.
Keep it small and local, I dig it.
Grant in Philly
Posted by Grant P. Smith | November 28, 2006 4:06 PM
Posted on November 28, 2006 16:06
I do think that success for a large or small company comes using similar methods.
The writer of this column is unsophisticated not small business. Read Andrew Kuse's column... it's much, much better than this naive drivel.
Posted by Heather Dupre | November 28, 2006 4:20 PM
Posted on November 28, 2006 16:20
thanks to the shop owners who were interviewed for their upfront and candid responses to Grace's questions... As someone who sells wholesale product to store owners, their opinions and 'unsophisticated' advice is actually extremely valid and helpful. Call it drivel, call it naive - regardless, these people are store owners who are buying the product of many of the people reading these posts. Whether you like what they're saying or not is pretty irrelevant.
Oh, and Mr. Gniemes, read the header on this site: "Blogs and Buzz for Small Biz". I think that should answer your question.
Posted by emily | November 28, 2006 4:34 PM
Posted on November 28, 2006 16:34
Thank you so so much Grace! This advice couldn't have come at a more perfect time. =)
Posted by Christine Martinez | November 28, 2006 4:36 PM
Posted on November 28, 2006 16:36
It looked to me like the design*sponge readers were asking how to get their work into shops - and it also looked like they got some good advice on that subject. Also, I'm pretty sure this section was about small business. Don't know what "more sophisticated" advice Washington was looking for (probably because he was too sophisticated to be clear), Grace, but the rest of us appreciate what you're doing. Keep up the good work.
Posted by anon | November 28, 2006 4:57 PM
Posted on November 28, 2006 16:57
Heather, since when is interviewing store owners about how to successfully convince them to stock your products naive?
Posted by Christopher Wilshire | November 28, 2006 5:06 PM
Posted on November 28, 2006 17:06
i think 'sophisticated' might better be termed 'complex' for this discussion. grace is a 25 year old running a blog, posting things she likes. she clearly has personality and charm (both as crucial in the art/design world as calculator brain in mathematics) and lots of friends.
grace is not developing software or peddling nanotechnology. her endeavor is akin to a first time novelist whose first book is a best seller simply because it is topical or suggestive, but nonetheless well written. complex it is not.
check back with grace in 10 years. i would wager she will have a story by then.
Posted by karen dash | November 28, 2006 6:09 PM
Posted on November 28, 2006 18:09
great post and advice, thanks!
Posted by jan | November 28, 2006 7:56 PM
Posted on November 28, 2006 19:56
thanks for the great post, grace! i love the range of advice from both online and storefront shop owners. small businesses are the best, and your posts here have been really helpful! -joy
Posted by joy | November 28, 2006 8:54 PM
Posted on November 28, 2006 20:54
These things are so helpful to hear! Particularly Elsewares and recently I have been noteing the effect of networking on businesses. It seems like everyone knows someone who makes something!
Posted by Carrie | November 28, 2006 10:37 PM
Posted on November 28, 2006 22:37
Wonderful tips! Thank you to all the shop owners and Grace for keeping the hunt for good design going!
Posted by Erika | November 28, 2006 10:52 PM
Posted on November 28, 2006 22:52
Now that's what I'm talking about. Solid post, lots to think about!
Posted by Jw | November 28, 2006 11:28 PM
Posted on November 28, 2006 23:28
rena never looks at anything
Posted by whatever | November 28, 2006 11:33 PM
Posted on November 28, 2006 23:33
inspiring information!
Posted by mod*mom | November 29, 2006 1:55 AM
Posted on November 29, 2006 01:55
Refreshing and encouraging! Thanks for being open to share what I imagine took much trial and error to learn. I will start putting some of your advice to practice asap.
Posted by Danielle | November 29, 2006 11:12 AM
Posted on November 29, 2006 11:12
wow, actually i look at everything! i just can't, don't or won't have all of it in my shop. i think that is true for any shopkeeper.
Posted by rena | November 29, 2006 3:57 PM
Posted on November 29, 2006 15:57
Just for the record - my response is missing the paragraph breaks. Apologies, and congratulations if you read it without them ;)
Posted by Ryan | November 29, 2006 6:46 PM
Posted on November 29, 2006 18:46
perhaps the people who don't want to read small business marketing tips should go read BusinessWeek or Fortune instead. loads of info there on some of the more wonky aspects of starting and growing a business.
for twentysomethings looking to turn their hobby/craft/creative pursuit into a full-time gig, i think grace is offering sound advice... and definitely a healthy dose of DIY inspiration. i, for one, sorely wish my blog were as gorgeous as grace's and that i could make a full-time living from it. (!)
should you need more convincing that small business is HUGELY important in this economy, check out these stats from the SBA (http://www.sba.gov/advo/stats/sbfaq.pdf):
Small firms:
• Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms.
• Employ half of all private sector employees.
• Pay more than 45 percent of total U.S. private payroll.
• Have generated 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs annually
over the last decade.
• Create more than 50 percent of nonfarm private gross
domestic product (GDP).
• Supplied more than 23 percent of the total value of federal
prime contracts in FY 2005.
• Produce 13 to 14 times more patents per employee than
large patenting firms. These patents are twice as likely as
large firm patents to be among the one percent most cited.
• Are employers of 41 percent of high tech workers (such as
scientists, engineers, and computer workers).
• Are 53 percent home-based and 3 percent franchises.
• Made up 97 percent of all identified exporters and produced
28.6 percent of the known export value in FY 2004.
Posted by michelle goodman | November 29, 2006 8:35 PM
Posted on November 29, 2006 20:35
Great advice for any business! My wife has just opened a gallery in Pasadena California and it would have taken months for her to glean this info. You're a dynamo, keep at it!!
Posted by Mark Pickett | November 29, 2006 10:45 PM
Posted on November 29, 2006 22:45
Forgot the gallery URL.
Posted by Mark Pickett | November 29, 2006 10:46 PM
Posted on November 29, 2006 22:46
Actually, no one has questioned the importance and validity of small business here.
The only question is if the "advice" doled out on this column is worthy of Slate or the time of smart people.
If a small business owner needs advice like "put your URL on your business card"... that small business owner needs a big dose of common sense.
That may be the problem - this column is entirely comprised of common sense items that really shouldn't have to be explained.
More sophisticated small business owners (or those already graced with common sense) should look elsewhere like Andrew Kruse's column.
And why do I care? I care because our media is constantly dumbing everything down and this is just another example.
Posted by Christoper Hichens | November 30, 2006 10:23 AM
Posted on November 30, 2006 10:23
I agree that Slate diminishes its credibility with this column. Many of us look(ed) to Slate as a filter of intelligent thought.
As sweet as Grace may be, her column is naive and borderline insulting to regular Slate readers. It belongs in a elementary school newspaper not Slate.
Why won't they take it down? Because people comment and people read it. American Express gets impressions for that banner up there.
It's a sad situation. Slate has sold its credibility and Grace gets an audience for 15 minutes...
Who loses? The communal intelligence of our society.
Posted by David Davis | November 30, 2006 10:32 AM
Posted on November 30, 2006 10:32
For a site full of so-called "sophisticated" readers, you certainly have thin skins and are easily insulted. A columnist spells out some common-sense, practical advice for those of us trying to come up in the Design industry and she gets welcomed with derision. Very sophisticated, guys.
I have seen nothing "naive" in Grace's columns, although people seem eager to toss that word around. Is it "naive" to earnestly offer tips or "best practices"? Perhaps it was naive to think that Slate readers were more than smart-alecky, angry contrarians. I had no idea the "communal intelligence of our society" was at risk.
Anyway, since Slate is the "filter of intelligent thought" I'll go back to reading some of their columns on why the Nintendo Wii is so much better than the XBox360. Profound stuff you've got here on this site...
Posted by Anonymous | November 30, 2006 11:25 AM
Posted on November 30, 2006 11:25
maybe this is too obvious to point out, but how is Grace supposed to give more "sophisticated" advice to those who's problems she doesn't know? the business world in general, and the design industry in particular are filled with unique challenges specific to each market segment. it looks to me like Grace is writing about what she knows (press and retail outreach, how to market your business online, etc.), which is appropriate - given what she does. would you rather she speak about how to optimize your supply chain to ensure just-in-time delivery, without maximizing your exposure to externalities? that would probably be to specific for most people.
the truth is, most business advice when delivered to a mass audience is "common-sensical" almost by necessity. What do the industry leaders like Jack Welsh say? "Be decisive. Assemble a good team. Delegate appropriately. Have a plan. etc." You get the point. while Grace isn't a CEO of a large corporation, she has obvious knowledge of where the the Design industry has been heading, both online and offline. any of her regular readers can tell you that. don't let her girlish approach fool you - Grace knows about marketing better than most of you seem to be giving her credit for. sounds like some of you could stand a little common sense.
Posted by anon | November 30, 2006 11:35 AM
Posted on November 30, 2006 11:35
I dunno, the column subhead is "Two Small Business Owners share their own personal experiences." That's what Grace is doing. Obviously a lot of people are getting something out of it. I've been working for myself for 15 years, but I'm newer to blogging and have never worked with products or retailers, so I'm getting something out of it.
How-to / "how I did it" articles like this are always going to be news to one person and common sense to the next, given that we're not all in (or headed) the same place in our careers. There's the Duct Tape Marketing Q&A also on Slate biz if you want to hear from someone else who has been at it longer...
Seems obvious to me that Slate has paired Grace and Andrew so that people can get two widely different ends of the spectrum -- you know, Gen Y blogging success vs. more seasoned, VC-savvy entrepreneur. Something for everyone, I think.
But I guess what I'm saying is just common sense, eh? ;)
Posted by Michelle Goodman | November 30, 2006 11:38 AM
Posted on November 30, 2006 11:38
name calling and bemoaning is easy. if you guys want more specific advice maybe you should try asking for it in a more specific way. just my $0.02
Posted by anon | November 30, 2006 12:31 PM
Posted on November 30, 2006 12:31
I think it is very usefull. Grace can't cover it all at once and people have different needs. She just covered mine. I can't wait to read the next post about opening a store.
Ray
http://www.plcdesigns.com
Posted by Ray | November 30, 2006 1:05 PM
Posted on November 30, 2006 13:05
When I was marketing products for my designers, I did a mix of all of the suggestions made above. The only consistent thing that I found was that each shop/gallery owner and editor had a different preference. Sometimes the contact was via telephone, sometimes in person (I was out, saw a good shop, stopped in to get contact info, leave a business card), sometimes via email. Every person I spoke with was very happy to tell me which format they specifically wished to use to evaluate and what should be included in the information. Within that 30 second conversation also, I asked how they bought ("We do 90% of our purchases at fairs, mainly Cologne and Paris, and we rarely buy outside of those seasons") and their criteria. Some places are very organized in this, even the small individually owned shops, and some were much more flexible.
I'd say that one of the biggest problems I encountered was being able to fulfill the order or the requests. After you do lots of marketing and find the interested parties, make sure you can deliver. Stay on top of the correspondence, make answering a priority, meet all of your deadlines, guarantee your delivery! Some time after I left the company, I was back in a store to which I had introduced our product. It was a relationship I had worked on for months! They told me that after I left the company, they tried in every way possible to make an order. They finally gave up. This was a *huge* opportunity in Notting Hill. The shop owners explained that the behavior of the company confirmed why they don't like to deal with people they don't know, and why in their experience they've seen so many small companies fail.
It seems like common sense, and to me, it is, but I've talked to so many people who just take on too much because they can't afford to pay a dedicated resource and as a result end up offering crappy service. Make sure you've got your act together before you contact people. Don't talk yourself out of making an appropriate investment in your marketing materials and make sure the work done is flawless. It may not be the most expensive, but it should be without errors, cut evenly, etc. It shouldn't look home made, unless that's part of your product, and even still... Pay the bit extra to have something done in offset, not in digital. Pay a graphic designer to come up with a project if you're not able to do that sort of thing. It may be something simple like help you decide on colors, a font, and a simple logo, a small project that might cost around $100. But it's worth it to have a very nice presentation of your business/product. You may spend a bit extra time+money, but the final product is your bread and butter and will work for you.
Some good places to look at successful marketing approaches for three different types of companies, google for James Averdieck, MD of Gu Puds, Richard Reed of innocent drinks, and Shelley Simpson of mud australia
Posted by anonymous | December 1, 2006 4:56 AM
Posted on December 1, 2006 04:56
Thanks for covering. This has been very valuable. I am also emailing to others who I know will benefit.
Posted by Noel Tremaine | December 3, 2006 9:33 PM
Posted on December 3, 2006 21:33
What I have found most helpful for "getting out there" is the advice contained in: 1) the Jeffrey J. Fox series of marketing books; 2)the series Selling the Invisible, etc by Harry Beckwith and 3) Networking with Millionaires... and Their Advisors by Thomas Stanley. A key factor is allowing enough time for your marketing program to run its course. You really can't judge results for at least three months. If making a business/career transition it may take two to three years. A good example is the young Polstein whom started his hardware website at age 13 was 17 before becoming a millioniare. See Polsteins.com or http://www.homeandbeyond.com Good luck everyone.
Posted by John Taratuta | December 4, 2006 12:24 AM
Posted on December 4, 2006 00:24
As others have noted, I too can appreciate the info on drop-shipping. Not sure when that shift happened, but knowing it gives anyone who produces product like this an edge. It allows them to show that they "get it" when approaching retailers.
www.SimplifyThis.com
Posted by Sanjay Kumar | December 12, 2006 11:28 PM
Posted on December 12, 2006 23:28