How to Increase Your Sales

By Belle on 27 March 2009 in Blog

Something I love about presenting my handmade jewelry designs at Craft Fairs, Wedding Expos, Jewelry Parties and Jewelry Shows is having all my work around me on full display. I know this sounds obvious but the key is I love what I do and playing with the beads. I find it very satiating having the beaded earrings, necklaces and bracelets all displayed around me.

I love making jewelry I find beautiful and I think this is true for all of us who create – whether that creation is jewelry, sewing, quilting, weaving, scrapbooking, whatever it is we make we do it because we love it.

Because I make my business from selling my work presentation is very important for me. If my jewelry is poorly displayed then my sales are down. If well presented then my sales are up. It is very simple.

At a charming regional art co-op I love to visit the jewelry member has her work under lock and key hidden behind a wire security screen. It looks ugly and tells you to go away and stay away. Now she is wondering why her sales are non-existent. The answer is blindingly simple – the wire is ugly and gives a really negative message to potential customers.

Her concern is about having her work stolen. By using a locked glass cabinet she could securely show off her creations and sell pieces.

For me I use jewelry display stands to show off my jewelry creations. They are carry multiple pairs of earrings, are easy for customers to pick up and look at the jewelry and are appealing in their own right.

I have a really simple system for carrying the earring stands with all their earrings on them so it is easy for me to quickly setup as well as pack-up after a jewelry showing – always important but I think having systems for your business is also vital but more on that in other articles.

I started using jewelry display stands at home years ago because I find it very satisfying to have beautiful jewelry around me. I would always find places where I could buy one – this usually involved kindly and politely pestering the jewelry shop owner until she would sell me an earring tree – so I built up my display at home. It was so much easier having my favorite earrings out on display so I could pick them out first thing before work quickly and easily.

For me using jewelry display stands for presenting my jewelry creations was just logical and luckily it also put me ahead of my show competitors because I knew where to buy beautiful display stands when they were still using flat display boards and picture frames covered with wire (seemingly practical but hard for customers to easily use).

So when you are preparing for showing off your creative designs have a good think about creative and beautiful ways to display your work – whether this be at home or at a retail location.

Look around both online and at shops and galleries at what others are doing for displaying similar goods. For fabric creations like quilts, shawls and scarves often a simple white painted bamboo ladder is really effective. It looks good, is space efficient and light to carry.

For creating different heights on tables for display you can use a plank of wood supported by two small plastic containers covered in fabric. This gives you storage space under it at a craft show while giving you spacial structures for display.

By looking around with an interested eye you will find all manner of different ideas that are easy to use. Remember, keep it simple and effective.