Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Big Help from Small Tips

By Ian Kleine

I've gathered a few small tips during a lot of my frequent art travels cross country. Some of them, I found to be quite effective and would shift a lot of attention to you, while others would hardly do a single thing at all. These tips concern a big chunk on keeping your customers, reinforcing your relationship with them, and strengthening your own market base as well. In this harsh world of business, you'll need all the help you can get. So try these tips out and see for yourself.

First thing to do is after finishing a deal. Keep your customer's contact details and few days after, send a personal, hand-written note thanking them for their business and hoping to do more in the future. A thank you note makes the whole thing personal, making it appealing and at the same time, reminding the customer that you actually care. Just make sure to write your note as short as possible, no flattery, and unscripted. Let the customer feel. Bee as genuine about your happiness for doing business with the person.

Another great tip while inside the art fair: make sure to never leave your post unsupervised. That means to not ever, leave your post. You. Not some other person. It should be you. You can let other persons man your table, but only for security or other reasons. If anything else, you have to be there when meeting the customers. If a prospective client sees your table and asks around, he would be wanting to talk with the proprietor and not just some guard. So make sure to only leave your post when it is absolutely necessary, if it is lunch time, or if you have to do something important

Be a friend, be an agent, be a customer; but don't look like a proprietor in front of the client. Everyone has a pretty bad impression regarding salespersons (you could see the image of a widely-grinning, hat-wearing salesman with an evil glint in the eye, and an avid stare at your wallet). Try removing that I will sell you type of aura, most people have in them during craft fairs. Treat customers like a friend willing to buy some of your things. You will reach more common ground if you do it that way.

The over all idea is: bring your business to a personal level with your clients. Craft business isn't about just making money with your personal handiwork, but it also means meeting the people who are buying your products. Creating an interpersonal relationship with your clients is one way to reinforce your market base, and to also create a network of your own which could benefit you in the future.

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