Good Morning, Gents!

I have a little story for you. Last summer, I got into an art store. Actually, a friend of mine came out of a shoe repair store (didn't know they still did that), walked across the street into this store & asked the owners if they carried local artwork, & showed them some of my work. They said absolutely, have him come in. So, she texted me their business card. I would pay for more friends like this!

They told me they didn't have a lot of foot traffic (art store & all; kinda limited clientele), but they wanted more products than anyone else (they were #5 or 6 at that time), which was kind of a red flag. But they asked if they could sell my products online & at farmer's markets. And they were in a great location (this neighborhood is a seller's dream). They wanted to give me a rather large end cap right at the front of the store, which you could see from the street as you drove by, let alone the sidewalk. And I began to perceive what their plan was -- to use my products to increase their foot traffic & sales. This was huge, as no one had ever done that before. In every other store, my products were always accessories. In coffee shops, you're coming for coffee; flower shops, flowers; book stores, books; so on. This was a great location & a great opportunity to test the value of my work, so I took the opportunity.

For 6 months, there were ZERO sales. Nothing online. No one was coming in. Nothing at farmer's markets, & I felt bad, because they seemed to have put so much faith in my products, & their faith & my work seemed to have failed. And we disagree about why this was happening. They believe it's because they need to move things around in the store & things on their end. And maybe there's some truth to that, but I think it's because people weren't responding to the designs I had put in there. I needed to swap designs out, but I couldn't.

I let it drag on for so long for a couple of reasons. First was because they had a very unique inventory system. It was an app that texted me every time I made a sale. But it required very specific description of each item. And they also wanted the same design for all products (i.e. same design on greeting cards as coffee mugs, etc) so it was easier for them.

Some places are very generic about their inventory. Let's use "coffee mugs" as an example. Generic. They only need a quantity & a price. That allows me great freedom in the designs I put in there. In winter, I can put winter-esque designs, then swap them out when spring comes. Or if a design has been in a place for 2 months, I can swap it out for a different design & see if it sells better. I can field test new designs. All I really need to do is maintain the quantity & price. This is my preferred method. But some places are very strict with their inventory. 3 Cardinal coffee mugs. Specific number. Specific design. I'm kinda stuck with what I put in there, because I can only swap things out at great effort on their part. Theirs was unbelievably strict, because it was computerized too. It's one thing to have to write down every time you swap a design out. It's another to have it computerized & it requires them to go in & manually change things. And it's difficult when you have one design for 3 or 4 products. Some designs on coffee mugs sell better than greeing cards. I don't know why, but the fact remains.

That brings me to my second reason, which was I had not cultivated a good rapport with them yet. Good enough to be able to guide them to where I needed them to go. These things take time. This entire adventure has taught me patience (among other things). And in this case, with no sales, there was no reason to go in every week. Going in every week with no sales & no rapport creates tension, as the owners tend to get defensive & frustrated, & other emotions tend to manifest themselves.

That changed in October. I went in & asked how things were going, then what was going on outside of the store. Just the husband was there at the time & he was not super talkative. I figured I'd be out in about 5 minutes. But something happened. He told me he was making his kids costumes for Halloween & showed me pictures. I told him that another pair of owners had taken their kids to a trunk or treat the first weekend in October. Pace yourselves, they got all month before Halloween. And then I complained about only getting 2-4 hours the night of for trick or treating when I was a kid (in the snow........uphill both ways.........). Anyway, we ended up talking for an hour & a half about all kinds of stuff. He started asking me about my business & experience, which was very limited. But he said that artists don't do what I'm doing, which was approaching various stores, both in number & in genre (for lack of a better word). They don't experiment with different products. They tend to be rigid, pushy, entitled, etc. He mentioned for the first time about perhaps getting rid of the artists' market in his store. And about how complicated the inventory system was. He doesn't know a Junco from a Chickadee, so it would be easier if it was generically coded. I said do whatever is easiest for you. It's not your job to keep my inventory. (Not something a "normal" artist would say.)

In December, we were able to convince the wife to do this. I would still get notifications of sales I had made, but I wouldn't know exactly what sold. I said that's fine. I'll just have to come down here, find out, & restock you. That's not a problem, although seeing me more often might be a problem for you (haha). So, we did that & I swapped out nearly everything just before the end of the holidays. Since then, I have made all kinds of sales there. In fact, I've been so conditioned that whenever I hear my phone ping, I expect it to be a sale from that store. And it's interesting the similarities & differences between locations & clienteles. For example, certain designs sell well everywhere. And almost everyone loves cardinals. But this store has sold as many Barn Owl designs as all my other locations combined, which is interesting. I have a Robin design that's one of my most popular designs, but the stores in a neighborhood similar to this one on the other side of town have never sold any.

Last weekend, we were talking & he said that I was in the top 3 sellers. That's a hell of a change in just a few months. I asked him who was buying? He said they had very little foot traffic, so was it his patrons suddenly buying my products? He said no, they're just random people. They walk by, see the birds in the window, come in, & buy something. HUGE! This is exactly what I think they were wanting & exactly what I wanted for them. He said that he still thought about getting rid of the artists' market, because it doesn't generate a lot of money, but it was enough that he had no way of making up for its loss. This is a chip I can use in the future if I have to.

We also have a good rapport. I went in yesterday & wanted to try a new design. They were wrapping & boxing up some of the merchandise of other artists', because they want to redesign their store & restructure their artists' market. He said they'd have mine boxed up in about 2 weeks. I told him to just email me & I'll come down & get them. Don't waste time & resources. I was also able to negotiate this for after Mother's Day (which is in 2 weeks, by the way, for those of you who may still need to get Mom a card & a gift, wink, wink).

He asked my advice on whether online selling would compete with my business. He wants to start an ad campaign & really promote online selling, but didn't want to take sales away from me. I told him that some of the followers I have come from friends or friends of friends or people I interact with, but a growing number come from exposure to my products in stores, so I wouldn't see it as competition. It's good to know he trusts me enough to bounce ideas off of me. That kind of trust & rapport is what I strive for everywhere. However, I don't know how much my advice is worth, since he's said before that I'm kind of an outlier among artists. Even though I see it as an advantage & any competition that may occur won't offend me (a sale is a sale), but since I'm an outlier, artists in general may not see it that way. I also undercut the prices of the stores that I'm in, so people will buy from me directly. Other artists may not do that.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!