Contacting the Wholesaler

Credit: lunchshow.co.uk

Preparation

Whether preparing for a trade show or direct approach to a wholesaler, you need to get things to a good standard before making contact.

This can be a lot of work, but it will benefit your sales across all the venues you have work placed.  Wholesale gets your work out to multiple locations, develops your relations with shops and, by extension, to communities and to customers that you would not be able to reach by yourself.

Presentation materials

You need to have a clear identity to your work – something which binds the separate pieces together, making it clear that it is your sensibility that runs through the works.

You need to have a pricing strategy that runs through your range of products.  This will be connected to the target market that you have identified.  This is important to getting your work taken up by wholesalers and stores.

Excellent photographs of your work are needed in all the literature you produce for the buyers. Photography can make all the difference. Include photos that highlight your story and integrate with your products.  These should be consistent across all your materials.  They should have a unity of style whether shot on models, on background (normally plain white or black), and with props that support the story of your work.

Line sheets

credit: sewport.com

Line sheets are simple listings of each of your products with a code, title, sizes, and prices with each product line and variation on its own line on the paper. Create simple, readable line sheets with clear instructions on how to order, minimum order levels for discounts, and all your contact and banking details. If you have a required means to get in touch, make sure that is included on the line sheet.  The line sheet is essentially an order form which each of you will have a copy, and from which you will create the invoice.  The agreed payment terms, including supply dates should be written on the line sheet when agreed.

Information on product and maker

Write the material for promotion of your work and yourself clearly and concisely.  Start with the most important information about the business and products. Details and methods should come much later.

Be consistent in the way you describe your products.  Always consider the target market.  The wholesaler will be much more dispassionate about the products than the ultimate buyer will be. The descriptions show the trade what your target customer is like and so they can see what the fit between your work and the shop’s offering is.  Use the concepts and words that are familiar to the ultimate customer. 

Review your literature many times, proofread, and finally get a friend to look over the materials for style, spelling, consistency and accuracy.

Your complete contact information is required on every piece of printed material.  It also is needed on all online and email communications.

The meeting

Do the work to know who you are contacting by name and job title.  Use the person(s)’ names, refer to the business, store or shop, indicate you have followed any blog or social media postings, and if relevant, be knowledgeable about the local area.

Be selective in what of your work you present to the buyer. You don’t have to have all your lines of work in shops.  You probably could not cope if you did.  Consider what you can supply in quantity that will fit with the shop’s offering.  This will relate to the materials you can source in bulk (for discounts), and what you can produce quickly and easily.  To offer the best prices at a profit, you will need to determine processes that can be streamlined; designs that can be simplified; processes that can be done by less skilled people.

Remember the buyer’s interests during the meeting

They are looking for a range of work that has wide appeal – to both/all genders.  A price range for different works to appeal to a range of customers is needed. 

You need to demonstrate you know what is going on in the design and crafts field and can respond, keeping your offerings fresh and contemporary. Colours, themes, shapes, interests change, and you need to show you are aware of current trends.

Owners are looking for exclusivity.  Store owners want to sell items that no other venue in their area has available.  It is arguable that the more of your work a shop sells, the more exclusive the two of you should become.

Part of the appeal for the shop is signed and dated pieces.  It adds to the caché of the work.  This should be done discretely to avoid distracting from the whole of the work. 

Often owners expect not only well-made items, but displays too.  At the least, you should have presentation boxes that show off your work well.

credit: theproductmart.com

Trade Shows

The alternative to trekking around shops is to attend trade shows.

Trade shows are a place to make contacts – shop owners, fellow crafts people, and representatives.  Yes, you are there to get orders, but the people you meet may be your future customers. Your contacts might help you understand the market better, or move your work in different directions.  It is a place to gauge how your work is perceived, and what you might change or re-enforce.

Networking can help you in gaining new contacts, and even friends in the crafting community.  Visit other stands and arrange to have a coffee break during the show with those you find compatible. You can compare notes on the show or general business stories with those who are not in direct competition.

Have your product display in evidence at the show.  If that is not possible for some reason, have photographs of it in your literature that you can hand over. This enables potential buyers to see how your work might be displayed in their shop.

Take material to the show that you can hand out to prospective purchasers or representatives.  This could be inexpensive samples, the essential business cards, literature, and of course, the line sheet that you complete with the orders at the show, or be taken away if you cannot get them to commit immediately.  Be sure you get material from them too and that you record what they were interested in, so you can contact them after the show.  A contacts book for you to keep information in is essential.

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Selection of a gallery or shop in which to place your work is a complex interaction of commission levels; the value you place on your time in preparing for and attending craft fairs or putting your work online; the perceived prestige of the shop/gallery; the potential relationship between you and the outlet; and the relationship of the consignment, wholesale and retail prices.