Sell more of your craft for the holidays

With only 8 weeks until Christmas, it’s time to get serious about increasing your holiday sales. Of course, you’ll want to beef up your online presence with social media posts linking to your Handmade Artists page but this time of year, it’s important to also focus on your local community.

 

Part of the attraction for buyers of handmade is knowing the human behind the art and there are some people who will only buy if they can see and touch the piece.

 

You may, like many artists, be hesitant to exhibit at craft shows because of hefty booth fees or the concern for the quality of other exhibitors now that many organizers are allowing mass produced imports among their vendors.

 

One fun and easy way to sell more work in person is to participate in make-and-take parties. Particularly if you make beaded jewelry or wire work, marbled paper, handmade  journals, hand painted silk scarves or even fiber art, this is a great way to generate more revenue and get your work seen by more people.

 

You can have the gathering at your own home or ask a friend or coworker to host a party for their friends. You bring the supplies for a simple project and everyone gets to make their own gift and bring it home. You’ll find many attendees will want to buy more supplies to make additional pieces at home so you can also sell kits of tools and supplies. There will always be those who love your work but don’t want to make it themselves and prefer to buy the finished pieces from you so be sure to bring some of your more complicated (higher skill level or more time consuming)  pieces for sale.

 

Just as Mary Kay or Pampered Chef reps grow their business by having friends of friends host parties, you can offer incentives to the host and to the guests if they’d like to schedule their own parties. When I did this with jewelry, I gave the hostess 10% of the total sales from her party toward merchandise. There’s nothing high pressure here, just a fun night out with friends and a chance to teach your craft.

Terri from Craft Biz Blog.com

 

Click on the pictures above to learn more about these artists!

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: Handmade, Handmade Artists, sales tips, sell craft, sell handmade

Posted in Handmade