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Thread: Things learnt from my event & feedback

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Default Things learnt from my event & feedback

    A little bit of feedback

    I re-priced all my jewellery beforehand to include my hourly rate. In some cases my prices doubled I agonised over that for ages, but stuck with it. I arrived early, which made a huge difference, as I was much calmer and focussed on potential customers, instead of how nervous I was. I had one particular jade piece that I'd priced up at £39 and thought, no-one will buy THAT, its too expensive. Well, a lady looked at it a few times, told me it was too expensive, then someone else came along 10 minutes later and bought it! You should have seen the first lady's face when she came back and saw it had gone! I was chuffed to bits. The other amazing thing was I'd made an egyptian style necklace with drops all the way round and threw together a bracelet in all the colours that I can make it in and sold that too. !

    What I learnt from the event:

    Pricing Re-pricing including an hourly rate didn't put people off, I made more sales. I read somewhere that people have far too many decisions to make with their busy lives and that if they look at something that is low in price, they immediately think 'cheap, mass produced'; whereas if they see something at a much higher price, they are buying an item of quality that will be treasured.

    Have some multicoloured things, people are more willing to spend their hard-earned cash on a piece of jewellery that will go with a lot of clothes, rather than something that only goes with one outfit. (Another reason to buy some of those lovely lampies that Di has shown us!). I'll also be researching info on colour coordination for gift buyers too.

    Set your stall up early – you will attract other stallholders to your stall if you are ready, whereas if you are still setting up and its already opened, you could lose valuable sales. The same applies at the end of the event - I was considering packing up about 10minutes before the end, as it had gone quiet, and in the last 15 minutes made quite a few sales.

    Make sure your labels are spelt correctly and use good grammer - I won't buy from anyone that advertises something incorrectly spelt or with bad grammer - after all if they can't be bothered to check their spelling, what does that say about their products (whatever they are)!

    You know what guys, I know I wouldn't have been as successful at this event without all your help and guidance and can't thank you guys enough. Here's a piece of virtual cheesecake for you all.

    oh dear, I have waffled, I'll get my coat

    LotsaLove
    Jules

  2. #2
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    Barnstaple, Devon, United Kingdom
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    Jules - all you needed was confidence in yourself. You can't really get that from folk who aren't in the same position. Others see your stuff and think 'wow, its good. What is she worried about.' Whereas those of us 'in the know' understand exactly what the lack of confidence is about!

    I am so pleased that things went well for you - that's another strand of confidence to your bow
    Di x

  3. #3
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    i would only dream about being as successful as you were at your event Jules, (not that i have actually done any lol) Good on you girl!
    Su' xx

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  4. #4
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    Thumbs up

    Jules,

    Thanks for the great feedback. I know I've always had a problem with whether to charge an hourly rate on the price of an item, but the one or two pieces that I have sold on this basis haven't caused too much fuss. Hoping to get my online shop up and running by the end of the month so taking your advice about the quality/workmanship versus cheap makes me feel a little better.

    Glad you did so well with your sales too.

    Fi

  5. #5
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    Brilliant feedback Jules thanks for all that!!!!

    But......

    ...'bad grammer'?...... (sorry, couldn't resist )

  6. #6
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    Thanks for really useful feedback Jules, I'm spending this Wednesday repricing all my jewellery for a fair that I am doing at the weekend, I know I have underpriced them and your post has given me a better insight into customer expectations and the confidence to go ahead and bite the bullet and do something about it. I'm still worried that people won't have enough cash with them to be able to buy as I don't have a card reader so can only take cash or cheques, but I'm hoping that people come to these type of events with cash rather than expecting to be able to use cards?

    Thanks again
    Lisa x

  7. #7
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    Thanks for the compliments guys Yes, you're right Di, its all about confidence isn't it.

    Ominicci, OMG bad grammer!!! oh dear... what can I say - I have just been slapped for that mistake!

    Lisa, I think most people go to events with cash - a lot of the people at my events are only paying by cash - I think they are thrifty with their money and only buy what they can afford. So I don't think you should worry too much. BTW, you could write their name and address & bank details on the back of the cheque. As I am still very much of a novice, I charge £8 an hr, instead of £10 which I've heard others mention.

    cheers
    Jules

  8. #8
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    I think if I paid myself £10 an hour you would need a bank loan to buy my stuff, it takes me ages and ages !!!

    xxx

  9. #9
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    Jules, I am very interested to know what kind of piece you had priced at £39, because I don't find that expensive in the least. What on earth was that woman on about? If I love a piece of handmade jewellery, I am quite willing to pay way more than £39 for it (when I am in the pink).
    Last edited by Lindyloo; 05-10-2009 at 09:06 PM. Reason: grammar!!
    Linda

  10. #10
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    Superb feedback - thank you for sharing your experiences with us
    I'm doing my first big craft fair next month so will be reading all peoples
    experiences avidly
    Nic x
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    Shop Blog: http://muranosilver.blogspot.com/
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    View images of my work on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/muranosilver

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