Creative Ideas???

[jttheclockman]

I thought I would throw this question out there which has not been asked in awhile and get some responses to maybe help some newbies out there who may want to try selling their pens but want a more creative way of doing it.

I have not done this as of yet but the first time I read this I thought it was a great idea and I am still considering it because there is a highend cabinet maker in my town. What the person did was approached a cabinet maker and brought some wood pens to show them. He suggested that he could make a pen or many pens from the same woods that the cabinet makers makes his cabinets from and stain or finish them to match. Then the cabinet maker could give as parting gift after the job was done to the customer. Someone else chimed in and mentioned they do that with countertop people and corion in particular.

So my question is have you done anything like I mentioned or even better in being creative in selling your pens. I do not mean putting on ebay or web site unless there is something special about them. Lets see some good responses and maybe some of us can give one or two a shot.

Thanks for replying.

 

[plantman]

That's a great idea John. I think I may have been the one that had made the pens to match the counter tops. Its a good way to get the cutoffs in both wood and corion from the people that make them, and some free advertizing. Jim S

 

[ashaw]

John

I know this may not be creative but I used the old fashion way by selling my brand to retailers.

Pen shows are a great place to start but you really have to invest a lot of time and money when doing these. It takes about three years of doing the same shows for serious buyers to look at you work.
I have found through trial and error to build a collection. Not a hundred differnet pens but one or two new pens a year. I start working on a theme pen for the following year around around april or may. After the DC pen show I will finialize that theme and begin working on it in September.

You have to have correct pricing. You need to know what your wholesale and retail prices are. You need to have correct packaging. And most important stay with it. I can not tell you how many times I wanted to through in the towel.

But you have to stay with it. A brand takes about 5 - 7 years to be accepted. But when it does all of the pain and suffering in building a business is well worth it.

You need to find your owe nitche and stay true to it. And you need to be flexible to change.

 

[MesquiteMan]

I used to do exactly this but with the houses I built! When I would go to the site for an evaluation, I would always pick up some wood from the property. I would then make a couple of pens from that wood and give them to the customer when they signed the contract with me to build their new home! I would always get more order from them after that for gifts, etc and it made a great start to a new job.