If you’re like most jewelry artisans, raising prices is anxiety-provoking. Jewelry makers fear if they raise prices, people will stop buying, that they will price themselves out of reach, and other negative outcomes. On the other hand, many who raise prices find they start selling even more than before. Here are five thoughts about raising […]
Handcrafted jewelry makers are some of the most amazing, caring, creative and giving people I’ve ever met. And many of you are shy, too. That’s interesting to me as a psychologist, because the beautiful handcrafted jewelry you create is meant to be seen, but that doesn’t mean you want to be seen, too! Many jewelry […]
Fire Mountain Gems and Beads recently published Part 5 of a 5-part series I wrote for them on how to sell more handcrafted bead jewelry. I’ve had a long and very rewarding relationship with Fire Mountain Gems and Beads, and I encourage you to read the series, which is linked right here: http://bit.ly/er07c0 If you […]
I get letters from time to time from jewelry makers who are disappointed in the results they’ve gotten from selling at a “show.” I’ve learned to ask what kind of show it was, and I’m no longer surprised when they reveal that they tried selling their artisan jewelry at a flea market. If you’re serious […]
If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that I’m a hard-nosed, practical and common-sense person. I’m also superstitious. I don’t walk under ladders, open umbrellas inside or go out a different door than I came in. And I think that a lot of jewelry marketing has an element to […]
This blog is read by people all over the world, and that means that wherever you are, the economy may be doing well, fair, or not so hot. How much should that affect how you sell your handmade jewelry? Not at all. Why? Because people don’t need jewelry. They buy it because they want it. […]
A number of jewelry makers have written to me over the past few weeks asking about how much inventory they should have on hand. Great question! There’s no magic formula to that — in fact, the world’s biggest retailers invest tons of money trying to figure out the same thing, and it’s impossible to get […]
As many of you know, about a hundred years ago, I was the marketing director for all of the Wendy’s restaurants in southern New Jersey. I learned a lot about tested marketing methods. And that included “upselling.” Upselling is a technique for suggesting related items that a customer might want to order along with what […]
One of the most exciting times for me in business was the day I got my first order for a book I sold back in the mid-1980s. I was just out of college, and the check, for $14.95, was immediately copied, framed, and proudly posted on my wall. There’s something fun about the value-for-value exchange […]
In Stephen Covey’s excellent book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he discusses the concept of “Win-Win” arrangements in business. I recommend that you read the entire book, because it’s such an excellent resource for artisan jewelry makers. But here’s a little on the subject of “Win-Win” agreements. Basically, there are two “positions” or […]