[Lindy]

Hi again, I hope you don't mind me picking your brain here, but I'm trying to come up with a plan here.

I have the opportunity of applying to be in a show in November which is on it's 22nd year and it last 4 days - the cost is about $1500 OR I can book into one of our high end malls where I would only have to pay 12% commission on whatever I sell. It seems to be that the Mall is a safe bet. Both would be 4 days, both are in November so they would be in the Christmas buying season. Which one would you choose? My gut tells me I'll get more traffic at the mall and since the demographics for this mall sends to bring people with a little deeper pocket I might do well there, especially if the Mall promotes is and art show.

The second part of my question is this - how much inventory will I need? I agree I need everything from key fobs (probably Leather), small decorated boxes all the way up to the oh my god level (I like your idea of the vest as it could bring in some customer orders). Which would give me a price range of $35 up to $750 or so with lots in between. I would also make sure that people know I accept commissions for pet portraits and I'll a few examples of them there as well.

So let me throw this out there - how much inventory do you have on hand for a sale such as this?

I really want to do this right and I don't want to be under-stocked or over-stocked either.

Susan your input would be invaluable and so is everyone else's that would like to participate in this discussion. Please tell me what you stock for your shows so I can figure out how many pieces need to be there.

Thanks again for letting me pick your brain!

Linda

[Irish]

Lindy - first, let's ask BobD to change the title of this thread. There are many members on this message board that have excellent info on shows and galleries. So let's not limit the input that you can receive and really open this question up ...

At 12% commission (which is just above illegally dirt cheap in my opinion) would mean that for every $100 sale you are paying $12 to the mall. So $10,000 worth of sales would equal $1200 worth of commissions. At a $1500 entry fee for the other show I am calculating $12,500 worth of sales ... that's an outrageously huge amount of key fobs to cover your fee.

So you are looking at a situation of the Show costing you a defined amount of $1500 or the Mall costing you at the least $12 ....

Now, I will state that it has been nearly 15 years since my last show ... I loved them but my ankles just gave out from years of walking the tables. But 15 years ago I do believe that a $3000 to $4000 take on a large show was a good return. Now that is also when gasoline was well under a $1 a gallon and home prices for nice big tract houses topped out at $125,000. That also was a time when I was very well known in my selling area, I was not a
New Artist" just starting into the market with no name recognition.

So on this point I would go with the $12.00 Mall space and make sure that my key fobs were priced at $15 That way anything I sold at least bought Mike or I a cup of coffee and a donut.

My next thought is the fee scales, in my opinion, show the confidence of the show managers. The commission fee implies to me that the Mall has confidence that you are going to make sales ... enough to justify such a low commission. When you think it through you and I both know they need way more money from you to cover their space, electricity and advertising ... so they are fairly sure you are going into a selling market. They are very invested in your making lots and lots of sales.

Edit: A quick note here from the first thread. This investment in sales by the Mall is also a great point for going into Galleries. Galleries are totally dependent on selling your art for their income. They make no money unless you do too!)

The set fee Show, again just to me, implies that they don't care whether or not you make sales or whether they can bring you buying customers ... they got their's up front so have no investment in how well you do! If you have a bust they still got their money ....

Another plus for the Mall ...

Do your homework ... Check if either the Show or Mall are a regularly scheduled event? See if you can get a copy of the advertising fliers for the last several years for these shows. An easy way is to go to the library and riffle through the local news papers for that town or city. You are looking to see if they are advertising a little or a lot, when the advertising comes out, are the ads well enough in advance so that your customers can plan to attend or just on the day's the show is actually being held.

Also look for artist's names that you could contact for shared info.

OK ... no you don't want to call the Other Pyro artist or another carver as they will clam up because you are competition. So try a Potter or Wheel Wright/ Blacksmith or Quilter ....

Shows that are advertised in advance give customers a chance to hoard their money and plan to attend. Regularly scheduled shows mean you will be pulling against an already conditioned to buy clientèle ... repeat - return customers. Short ads (the day or weekend of the show) mean impulse buyers so your sales potential drops dramatically. If I know there's a show in two weeks I start stashing away my mad money for it. If I discover a show is being held this weekend I only have what is left in my pocket at that moment in time.

Mall shows are indoor and in late November that is a huge plus because very cold customers keep their hands in their pockets to keep them warm. Warm comfortable sheltered customers have their hands out of their pockets and on your wares or in their wallets .... Rained on customers just go home.

Edit: I don't know about where you live but people where I live, the Baltimore-Washington corridor, go directly to 7-11 for toliet paper if there is any hint of snow in the forecast .... If we were talking about Spring scheduled show dates I might tend to the outdoor show instead because everyone is so ready to just plain get out the house and enjoy the spring air.

You do need to include the cost of your attending either show. What will it cost you to rent a room, gasoline, food, do you need to hire a pet sitter for one show but not the other. Can you camp out and mooch off of your third cousin or is it going to cost more than you can possibly see in profits to 'get a room'?

(Oh, Susan, you had that nice New Year's resolution of no more Epic-mails ... think I need to go to a new window for more ... )

Susan

[Irish]

OK ... I will try to keep this area short and concise ... Nah!

PLEASE!!!! What is below is from an economic -sales potential - business atmosphere and not meant in any way to start a political debate or debacle.

The timing of either of these shows is perfect for an artist. Our economy right now is in the dumpster and I do not believe that it will get any better until after the November elections. I do not believe that it matters one twit which party or which candidate wins. The November election is a pre-scheduled time marker that can not be changed.

Business sales are charted daily with the rise and fall of the stock market. The stock markets graphs are directly tied to the current affairs of our country which include war, recession and elections.

People do not buy when war is declared. I don't mean when Congress goes and signs the War Act bill, I mean when the news commentators first say the nasty word .... because they are scared and go instantly into the "flight or hide mode".

People do not buy when there are economic down turns. It does not matter whether their retirement fund is safe, their house is not on the market or when their job is fully secure. People go right into the "what if it were me" mode of hiding and holding onto whatever they already have.

People do not spend when the politicians are campaigning!

That one has NOTHING to do with who they want to win or who will win ... It is based on the psychological response of a Family Fight. That's what campaigning and elections are ... One huge family fight which involves the whole country and no one knows who will win and therefore 'be right' until November 4th ..... lots of shouting, lots of false promises and lots and lots of name calling all with the purpose of making the "children" chose which parent (Mom the democrat or Dad the Republican) is righter.

Now this particular USA Family Fight has come to include a whole world of close cousins since the outcome effects national policy, war policy, trade policy and economic policies.

So by November 22nd everyone will know that the Fight is over and be very very very ready to get back to the business of just plain living.

One of my lapses into distant memories ... Mike and I had been advertising my dog prints through direct mailers to the dog breeders in the very early 90's. It was going great and we even had one mailer bring a 52% response which is just outrageous. I think we had done four mailer groups by then ... dobies, shelties, Samoyed and labs .... and were making enough sales to cover the printing of new issues and even a little profit.

We had just mailed out a new group for Great Dane breeders featuring my newest print. It hit the mail box two days before the declaration of the First Gulf War. Our response ... zero - nada -zip - null -nothing ... not even a phone call of "your advertising Danes but I own a Shih Tzu ... do you have any Shih Tzu prints?"

Not one hint of a sale until .... 90 days later when Victory was declared. Suddenly everyone to whom we had sent out Dane mailers found them and started to call.

I believe that once the election is over people will return to spending. But until the fight is over no one is spending one miserly cent and instead hoarding it to cover their mortgages.

So the timing for either show is PERFECT !!!!!!

Standard Disclaimer - These are just my experiences and my opinions. Others may have totally different views and ideas. Please take what you want and throw the rest away.

Susan

[JIM QUILICI]

at $1500 out of pocket money ...you would have to sell $13,200. worth of goods (at 12%out of pocket) to break even ... you will have to sell a lot of stuff to pay for $1500.00 off the top .........lots of lookie lues at shows.
............2 cents...........
Jim

[Lindy]

Thanks everyone. I've decided to proceed with the mall show and do it in November as it will give me enough time to get the inventory I need - plus - of course you're right the commission set-up works out better as well as being close to Christmas.