I attend business workshops and seminars every month in an
effort to learn more about running a business. The one common
question that I hear the most is how can I market my service or
product. We often have students who catch the glimpse of how
great it is to do glass and they start to imagine themselves
doing glass work for a living. Some have been brave enough to
ask us how they might be able to make money doing stained glass.
We have many times replied that we don’t know, if they find out,
will they please let us know how? But here are some of the
basics of promoting and marketing stained glass. If you want to
view the photos that we took for the article, you can see them
at
http://www.betterstainedglass.com/Newsletter/Archives/2005Dec-mar
keting/marketing.htm
Going To The Fair
1. We heard from several people that attending craft fairs would
be the best way that we could market our glass. We were told
stories about the success of glass artists who sell $30,000
worth of glass every year in just two days! With success like
that, we figured we better go to a fair.
2. In Sept 2005 we went to Swiss Days in Midway, Utah with high
hopes, but things didn’t go as planned. We didn’t quite make
back the booth fees we’d paid. What went wrong?
3. To answer that, we need to examine several factors. A. As
gift glass sellers, we failed because we didn’t sell enough
product. Why? Because we didn’t have enough small gift items to
sell. You can’t sell what you don’t have. B. We were focused as
custom glass artists. We passed out cards and made contacts at
the fair. We showed a lot of art glass at the fair and actually
succeeded in making a lot of contacts. Over the next few months
we picked up several new customers and got to build a lot of
custom work as a direct result of the fair. Conclusion: It felt
like a failure because we made so little during the fair, but we
had a great time and met many people who wanted stained glass,
which lead to some custom work. In the future we plan to take
more gift items to satisfy our immediate cash flow needs and we
plan to have response cards in an attempt to get those who are
interested in stained glass to give us some contact information.
We may offer a free video on cd/dvd as a way to get folks to
give us their information. We’ve also determined to attend
smaller boutiques throughout the year in an effort to refine
what sells and better learn what the gift market will consist of.
Getting Custom Work
4. When Tom Holdman (a local stained glass artist) decided to
become a stained glass artist, a neighbor recommended that he go
to a wealthy neighborhood and go door to door asking if they
need stained glass in their home. He did just that and made a
contact with a family who wanted glass and had some influence
with the library board. This lead to a commercial job which lead
to a great deal of publicity.
5. What can we learn from this story? That any friendship or
relationship can lead to glass work. What we must do is ask
anyone and everyone if they want or need stained glass work.
Then, we must doggedly follow-up when someone expresses an
interest. It is often amazing how a simple monthly phone call
will eventually pay off. There have been many clients in our
past who put off their project for a year or more. What you want
to remember is that they wanted the window enough to have you
design it, so keep in touch. Then they’ll think of you when the
finances ease up. Wouldn’t it be sad to have another artist get
to build your creation, just because you didn’t phone them every
month?
Selling Cabinet Door Inserts
6. When a customer asks for cabinet door inserts, it will help
the process along if you are ready to ask them the questions
which will narrow down their choices and help to determine what
you’ll need to do with the doors. Ask if the doors are new or
refurbished. If you can, learn the brand and manufacturer and
most importantly, are they routed out for inserts, this will let
you know if they can come straight to you for glass or if they
need to go to your wood worker to have them modified.
7. Helping the customer arrive at what they want will save you
and them a lot of time. So ask if they want to use transparent
or opaque glass. What colors do they want to introduce and what
bevels if any should go into the design. Do they want to add
lighting to their cabinets and how much do they plan to spend.
Do they want truly leaded panels or will single side leading be
adequate. Last, what finish do they want, black, silver, pewter,
bright copper or antique copper.
8. But how do we find these clients? We advertise in the yellow
pages under cabinet makers equipment and supplies and we go to
cabinet shops and put samples into their hands. The best thing
to do is furnish glass samples of those which we carry and
sample glass designs that they can show their customers. I like
to furnish 8″ wide by 10″ tall samples because they fit
comfortably in a box and are easy for the cabinet sales people
to haul around. This is an investment of time, effort and money
which is necessary because the salesman won’t sell for me if
they don’t think about stained glass when they meet with clients.
Educate Folks About Stained Glass
9. Occasionally, in the past, we would moan and complain about
the lack of understanding that the public had of what good
stained glass was and how it enhances ones environment. Then one
day, the light came on and we realized that it was our job to
educate the public. We knew that the best clients for custom
glass were the ones who had tried it and discovered that it
wasn’t all that easy to build glass. They had a higher
appreciation for the value of the work. As artists, we not only
have to raise the awareness of our art, we have to teach about
the complexities and subtleties of our art. If you don’t point
out it’s strengths, who will?
10. We discovered that one way to educate the community was to
hold free or low cost seminars and workshops. This leads to many
opportunities to share your knowledge of the stained glass
industry and techniques. It also serves to raise the
consciousness level of the community of stained glass around
them.
11. You know how it is, you start looking for a leather sofa, or
buy one and everywhere you look, you find leather sofas. Then
you find a brand of running shoes that are particularly
comfortable and you suddenly notice that “everyone” is wearing
that brand of shoes. Your consciousness level has been raised
and once it’s been raised, it will never be the same again.
That’s what you want to have happen with the community as far as
stained glass is concerned.
12. We also found that the decorators and designers that often
recommend us to their clients needed to be educated in the
subtitles of stained glass art. They often didn’t know the
finishes available or what the difference between the leaded
method and copper foil were.
13. So we prepared presentations and educational materials for
them, so they could have them for their clients. But we made
sure that they were exposed to all the materials so that they
would be knowledgeable when they presented them to their clients.
14. In conclusion, promoting your stained glass art is all about
movement. You’ve got to prove you’re not dead. And you do
that by attending fairs and boutiques so you can read the pulse
of your market. And you stay in touch with those you meet. You
groom relationships. You spend time talking with friends and
former clients, not just to ask them for leads but also to get
their feelings about glass. And you promote specific products
which you specialize in, like cabinet doors.
And finally, you remember that you are a cheerleader for
your industry and it doesn’t matter if you provide a free
seminar which results in someone getting excited about glass and
going to your competition. What goes around, comes around.
If you are out there promoting stained glass, so will your
competition and you’ll find that there really isn’t any
competition in this field. That there is plenty of work to go
around. Many people want and need stained glass in their lives,
they just don’t know it yet. So go out there and find them!