Sell at Summer Events and Holiday Markets

Hey Designers and Artists, are you looking for events in your area to sell at or are you willing to travel to do shows?

www.eventlister.com is a wonderful resource. You can register as a free member to get access to finding shows such as festivals, fine arts and craft shows up to one month in advance for a free membership. It's a large community that features a forum where people give tons of valuable information on topics ranging from how to find quality shows, booth displaying tips, tips on how to make a reasonable profit goal and much more. Their newsletters are great also. I'm a member of this site and highly recommend it as a great tool for designer's and artist entreprenuers who are looking to find new selling venues.

As a member, you can have your own personal page where you can post pictures of your product and a link to your store. You can also manage your event applications. It's a great source for finding summer fairs, festivals and holiday markets!

Check it out and let me know what you think!
www.eventlister.com

Designers, Are You Up on ETSY?

etsy.com is a cool shopping portal which mainly focuses on all things handmade. They have other categories such as vintage and commercial supplies. It's great for designers of all categories, whether you specialize in apparel, accessories, photography, ceramics or any other category. I've even seen graphic designers with an etsy shop selling their design services.

Tons of visitors go there because, etsy is known for really cool and unique handmade items which is perfect for gift giving. Even though I have my own ecommerce site, www.newyorkaccents.com, I joined etsy about a month ago to test it out. So far no sales yet for me but, I have received tons of interest. I think it's a great way for us designers to expand our prospect base.

Etsy wants you to succeed as well. Their site has a ton of self help materials in an easy to read and fun format. They have forums, online classes, and news flashes of tips from successful etsy sellers. The vibe at etsy is very positive. They do an excellent job at promoting sharing success tips. Best of all their fees are very reasonable.

Check it out for yourself at www.etsy.com. Let me know what you think!

Customer Service Is Always Key

A friend of mine who works at Macy's as a sales representatives informed me that they now have to reach out to their customers by calling them, like a personal shopper. This type of service is normally known to happen in fine boutiques and high end department stores. I also found out the JC Penny's is doing the same as well.

Do you think that this is a good idea? Do you really want these department stores to call you every time that they have a sell which in my opinion seems to be every weekend. Macy's already sends out circulars every week so, the public knows when they are having a sale. I wonder how this new service is working out for these department stores.

As designers and entrepreneurs, this is something that we must and should be doing on a regular basis. Whether it's communicating with our clients through emailed newsletters, snail mail or a phone call once in a while to those clients who allow you to call them. If these department stores feel the need to be on a more personal level with their shoppers then, this is telling us something. They are trying more ways to bring in more sales.

So, lets not forget about providing superior customer service but, not too much frequent contact that it annoys your clients.

Tell me what you think. Do you really want these major department stores calling you?

Enjoy!

Kali