PENN STATE HELP US BOOST OUR SALES OF YOU PEN PRODUCTS

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calabrese55

calabrese55

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Joined
Apr 12, 2023
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Location
Finger Lakes Region New York
Hello pen turners,
I have sent this request to Penn State via their email CONTACT US link
I share this detail with you all and ask and suggest , if you agree to the idea, to send your own message / copy of the request below to PENN STATE to see if we can get a GENERIC CATALOG to boost sales for us and Penn State. Please feel free to use the text below or adapt it to suit your own words. Either way there is power in numbers and this could serve to boost sales for Penn State pen kits and best of all our bottom line. Lastly I suggest you include your customer number , there is not a spot for this on the contact page. I included mine as an add on to my last name line. If you don't know your customer you can find it by signing in to Penn State web, go to your ORDER HISTORY and click on the TRACKING NO for any one of your orders, your number is there in the heading line.
Thanks for looking in lets all make some more $$
calabrese55

A Penn State customer suggestion please....
As a customer and would be pen maker I like many who buy Penn State pen products would have a greater opportunity to get our collective commercial goals realized if we had a GENERIC Penn State pen kit catalog to show our potential customers.
Ideally this would be taken directly from your web data or interactive catalog but minus all the commercial and technical information. It should be available on line for us, your customers to present to our customers.
Thank You for your time hope you can work do something along this line soon.
 
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Here is my thought on this topic. Not a fan but there are caveats to this statement and the reasons are as follows. Before I go into the my not a fan reason I will make these statements, there is already a generic catalog if you choose to do the work. Do not forget PSI IS NOT THE ONLY PEN KIT MAKER. Lets not make them the King of the Hill by any stretch here. Just like there is not a one King of Vendors. Every pen and pen kit sold by any vendor has photos of a finished pen and most have them in the various platings available. These photos are mainly customers or people who are paid to test kits for vendors. With today's technology and app programs and web designing programs, capturing all photos and you designing a layout that works for you could be your answer for a catalog.


I am a true scrollsawer for 40 years and this was my hobby of choice and what got me on the road to doing craft shows. Over the years I made over 1000 different items to sell. But the thing was not all at once. Many times it was what was popular at the time. Also I listened to what customers had to say as to when I asked them questions such as what they would like to see. At times this worked and at times I may sell item and then stuck with others. So i maintained the idea that I am going to make what I want and work off that. Different woods and things like that. This applies to my pen making too which brings me to why I am not a fan of a catalog of all pens. You can not have a sample of all pens on hand. Then offer all platings. If you tried this with customers it would drive you nuts. You are not going to order one kit and if you sart ordering many you can have a ton of kits that never get made. I say make what kits you like and sell those and offer different platings and just change blanks. To me it is the blank that is the draw to the kit. Way too many kits on the market to have an entire catalog of all. People love to be able to pick up and hold a pen when buying and looking at photos does not allow this. Just my points and good luck with your project.
 
After a lot of copy/paste action I made my own special order catalog. Included are only the pens I currently make and those that I would make on special order. There is also the blank material as a selection choice for special order. I have a catalog of the blanks that I have, ones that I can get - all of which are the blanks that I would want to turn. I would not want to show a customer a PSI catalog of all pens and then have to say that I wouldn't make the one they selected. A PSI catalog could also be overwhelming to potential customers.....too many choices!
 
I have no need for a generic catalog. I do not use the names that PSI or any vendor uses. I also limit the variety of kits I make. I also limit the woods I use.

I make pens and game calls for relaxation, I sell them to buy more supplies and toys. Having a catalog available to customers would be invite to them to stock items that I do not want to make.

If you give customers to many choices, they waste your time trying to choose what they want.
 
I, for one, like the idea. Especially if there was a way to use a "check box" to pick just the ones I would be making to include in the catalog. Make it a booklet that can be downloaded and printed by me. It wouldn't have to be all inclusive, just something for showing to customers to start the conversation.
 
MillerTurnings said:
I, for one, like the idea. Especially if there was a way to use a "check box" to pick just the ones I would be making to include in the catalog. Make it a booklet that can be downloaded and printed by me. It wouldn't have to be all inclusive, just something for showing to customers to start the conversation.
Click to expand...
This would be a good option for me as well - let me list the kinds I want to work with.
 
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