Thread: Royal Melbourne Show report

great looking display cases, you must be stuffed after being there for 10 days stright

Well done Amos. Thats a display to be proud of for sure.

If you didnt make a profit, hopefully its set some groundwork for some future sales.

Your display certainly looked the business. A pity it wasn't financially rewarding, it deserved to be.

that grand display looks like it would have taken two of the ten days to set up!
good onya amos, gotta be in it to win it.

wow what a display hope you get plenty of follow up sales from it

Well done Amos. Should be follow up orders coming thru.

Well done Amos that is a great display hopefully you will get more positive feedback with sales in the months to come.

Ten days is a long time we find the 3 days of the wood shows long enough.

Congrats Amos on your wonderful stand and display at the show. I had every intention of traveling down there to cheer you on, but SWMBO had the final say. Hope you handed out loads of cards etc as you will find that customers will track you down for orders over the next 12 months. (Hopefully). Anyway, it would, as you say, have been an experience to remember.

Amos ! that dedication to your work and display deserves better than being a costly excercise, the applause needs to be backed up with hard cash I find 3 days a month at local markets is enough for me to deal with ,and whilst the admiration is nice ,the cash is better hehe. Sometimes having the best product around is just not enough , I try and match my market with prices and a quality to suit ,with a range from about 25 up to 80-90 dollars most sell at 35 -50 , I sometimes think my pens are priced a little cheap, but like henry ford volume is the key for instance in the last 2 sunday markets I have sold around 60 pens ,not trying to show off or anything ,but that sort of doubles my normal income so is worthwhile ,and the addiction continues hehe,don't be discouraged but you need to have a regular showing to gain credability and reputation ,see if you can find a local craft market and offer some lower priced pens that most can afford ,I rarely sell a slimline as they look past and for a little more can have something that makes a statement ,we all have our ideas and ways that work for us ,just like CA lol, Cheers ~ John , job well done

Thanks for the encouragement everyone, I had something for everyone when it came to price; did give out many cards and spoke to lots of people, I made pens at the display area and that got many looking that otherwise would walk past.
But, I could not afford to do it again, you are looking at over $440 per day plus insurances and accomodation, wages petrol and set up incidentals etc etc. in round figures easily $8000, would be close to 1500 earned, so you figure the sums. But as I said, it was a valuable life experience, I learned much from it.
As a Pen Turner, I love many varied blanks, one that are costly, some that are highly figured, some laminated, some home cast, just love them, so what do the majority of customers ask for-----RED GUM ---!!!! plain old red gum, have you got Red Gum??---- forget the rest, where's the red gum!!??, I am going to pull up some railway sleepers!!!!, Good night, Amos

Wow! Great looking booth.. I'd be browsing forever!

I know what you mean about the shows and learning.. One thing I learned..
you'll never be prepared for what the customers want. If you HAD brought all
red gum pens, they'd want tasmanian fiddleback blackwood or something.
Did two shows in the last two weeks.. one two day and one single day.
Everyone loved what they saw .. even bringing other people over to look.
But not at pens. I had some other items.. inexpensive (ornaments, candle
boxes, clocks etc.) and engraved a few cutting boards. (sushi board with
"Daddy, have you seen my goldfish?" written on it. Everyone loved them,
but few opened their wallets. What sold? $5 ornaments. $5 refrigerator
magnets shaped like a mouse. 3 days, 4 pens. And one of the pens
was a jungle cock Majestic Squire that she didn't even look at, she tested
it because i had the Private Reserve refill in it. She sqiggled on the paper
and said "Ok, I'll take it." Didn't ask price, didn't even look at the feathers.
(excellent looking blank, too!)
Go figure..

Well you do put on a good display. Bummer about the hip pocket so here is hopping you have some good follow up for Xmas but in this market anything is possible.

Thanks again for the encouragement, as I said it was a great experience, cold, wet weather on 4 days made it a bit harder, but overall it was a special time, one thing, I gave it my all and am satisfied within myself. Now, we will see if there are any follow up sales, Amos