selling

How to Stop Being Twitter-Blind and Grow Your Woodworking Business.

by Adam

Twitter for woodworking business.Last time we looked at why Twitter wasn’t working for you in growing your woodworking business (it had something to do with fear), and why your current use of it won’t get you and your customers together in a blissful union.

This time, we’ll examine how using Twitter can actually get you in direct contact with the people who will either a.) buy your work, or b.) connect you to the people who will.

First a Little Good News/Bad News.

The bad news: If you’ve just joined Twitter in the last year, you are no longer at the forefront of the new media revolution.

Things change extremely fast in these parts, and since 2010 Twitter is considered mainstream social media. This means the incredible rags to riches stories you were reading a while back are becoming closer to impossible to achieve.

The early adopters a few years back had a great time watching things unfold in a big way for them because there was less people, less competition for attention, and less noise.

Now, it’s a crowded marketplace with unfathomable amounts of communication going on at once, so getting the kind of attention possible in the early days takes some real forethought. Julien puts it better than I can.

The good news: Twitter is still a place that makes it infinitely simple to connect to your ideal client, but these days, you need to have careful strategy, and a message that resonates with them so you stand out from the crowd. In other words, you’re gonna have to work at it. (I hear the groaning now)

**Disclaimer: I am not a social media expert. Those don’t exist. I’m an active participant who’s been learning through doing since I joined Twitter back in 2008. Everything you’re going to read are simply lesson learned from trial and error. Also, no matter what you do you’re going to screw it up at some point. Suck it up, learn a lesson, and change your approach. The more you allow that to happen the better off you’ll be.**

Go Find Them

Twitter makes it pretty easy for your customers to find you, but the best solution is to be proactive and go out and find them instead.

Twitter has search functions built right in that allow you to search for certain terms and even search by people’s descriptions of themselves. But that can be a little overwhelming when you see a bazillion people Tweeting the phrase “custom furniture” and realize that one in fifty thousand might qualify as a potential lead.

A better way, in my experience, has been to search for the things your ideal customer is into or would be involved in.

In order to do that, you need to have a very specific profile of who your ideal client is. Anyone in the Woodworking Can Pay Your Bills E-course can tell you how to do this.

Twitter chats are also a fantastic place to meet and greet about particular topics that your people are into. There’s a seemingly infinite number of chats going on all the time. To help you find the right ones your customers might be involved in, try searching Whatthehashtag.com.

Be Relevant

All that above, about going to them and finding where they are online? Yeah, none of that will matter one bit unless you’re showing up as a person that can be of great value to the ideal client and the people in their gang. What do I mean?

Let’s say your ideal client is into flower arranging. The last thing you want to do is waltz into a flower arranging Twitter chat and start trying to pick up clients. You’ll be booted, blocked, and reported as spam faster than your can say “daisy.”

Being relevant to your potential client isn’t about forcing yourself into the same hobbies or pretending to like the same cooking blogs. It’s about taking the time to find where your interests and values intersect.

Are you into green living? I bet your client is to. Do you enjoy sailing? Maybe they do as well. The key here is, again, taking the time to know your ideal client inside and out so you can “predict” where you two will naturally meet and exchange value in that area.

This means taking time to actually engage them too. You can’t just follow someone on Twitter and expect to have a conversation or that they will be so impressed they’ll make the first move in getting to know you.

If you’re not interacting with potential clients on Twitter regularly, then you are simply wasting your time and should consider abandoning social media altogether.

Beacuse if you’re not confident enough to approach a potential client, then chances are you aren’t ready to begin making a living for yourself through your passion for woodworking. Plain and simple.

Ask For the Sale

I would hope this one goes without saying. If you want to sell high end furniture then you have to make people aware that it’s available.

What this doesn’t mean: Spamming your followers by repeating the same message over and over again desperately trying to make a sale. People smell fear and desperation. That makes them run away. Don’t do it (P.S. I smelled of this too. It’s ok).

Chances are, your people won’t want to make a transaction with you from a random Tweet with a link in it.

In fact, all of the online furniture sales I made were from people having some form of conversation (either face to face or online), going to the site, taking time to get to know more about me, and then deciding that we were a good fit. And I’m gonna venture a guess and say that’s probably how it’s going to go for you.

It’s ok to Tweet links to your work and make people aware, but you need to be open to getting to know them and build a level of trust. Without that you’re just more noise trying to get their money.

Give them a chance to get to know you and to see if you are a good fit for them. Then, asking for the sale goes from being a gut wrenching thought to a natural flow in the process. Yes, it really can be that simple.

Especially when you consider that your high end transactions are going to happen off of Twitter. Email, phone, and face to face are where the magic happens. Twitter and other forms of social media are the lead-ins for you.

Like I said at the beginning, if you’re new to Twitter or you’ve been reluctantly dragging your feet out of uncertainty, then you’ve cost yourself some amazing opportunities to build your business rapidly.

But, since Twitter seems to be sticking around a while, now is the time to buckle down and formulate a deliberate strategy for finding, connecting, and growing your customer base. It’s more work than you thought at first, but it’s still easier than sitting your shop wondering what to do next, right?

Over to you, now. How’s your social media working for you? What fears or uncertainties are keeping you from making it happen? Let’s talk about it.

5 Ways to Make Money Now With Your Woodworking

by Adam

When you’re just starting out in woodworking, it can be intimidating trying to figure out how you’re going to bring in steady cash.

The current economic scare these days doesn’t seem to help much. Not to mention the fact that in the beginning, most of us start quite aways off from our ideal vision of a woodworking business.

So, how can you make some quick money while building up your furniture offerings?

Here are five ways that myself and others have found to fill the money gap in between bigger furniture jobs.

Offer services

Is there a service you can add to your woodworking offerings? What can you do that’s related to the products you’re already offering people?

Often times, services can be a great way for people to being working with you. This makes it much easier to turn them into clients of your main offerings.

So, take a long look at what you do in the woodshop and see what types of services you can add on that can fill a definite need and that you can start doing ASAP.

Some common services are:

  • Refinishing furniutre
  • Furniture repair
  • Antique restoration & repair
  • Custom finishing
  • Kitchen cabinet installation
  • Custom trim and molding
  • Caning and woven seat repair
  • Upholstery service

Also, do you have an industrial tool that most area woodworkers don’t?

Let’s say you have an awesome 36″ industrial drum sander. You could offer services sanding large panels, doors, table tops, etc. Most woodworkers would gladly pay for time on a machine that will get the job done fast and efficiently.

The key to offering services is to be creative, look for immediate needs you can fill with the shop you already have, and get the word out fast. Then, you’ll have an additional income stream going in no time!

Turn your scrap into cash

Are you really going to use all of that scrap wood over there?

Yeah, I know. You have these cool ideas and someday soon…blah blah blah.

Listen. I’m a scrap hoarder too. It’s part of the qualifications of being a woodworker. But, typically, what ends up happening?

You either get taken over by scrap pieces covering every flat surface, or you end up throwing out perfectly good wood, just to get rid of the clutter. So, why not bit the bullet and turn that scrap into cash?

Ebay/Craigslist- Seriously, there’s a HUGE scrap market going on out there. Just do a quick search for scrap wood, and you’ll see what I mean. Take a look around Ebay for a bit and get a feel for the sizes and species being offered and look at what they’re going for. Then you’ll have a pretty good idea of what you can expect to get for yours.

Limited edition items - One of the best and most enjoyable ways to make some quick cash with scrap is to turn it into limited edition items.

Get the word out that you’re ready to make a new batch of these unique pieces and once they’re finished you’ll have people waiting to see what they are and how much can they buy it for.

Make your ingenuity into a product

Shop jigs – Do you have a favorite jig that you created for yourself? If so, then you have a new income stream.

Woodworkers by nature are inventive. It’s usually out of necessity, but the challenge is half the fun too. Am I right? It’s fun coming up with new jigs to fulfill a task. Chances are, if you needed that jig, someone else does too.

There’s two ways to approach this as a way to make quick cash: Take orders and make the jigs custom per order, or create digital plans in a program like sketch-up and sell them online from your website.

If you do this, make sure to include several elevations, cutlist, and detailed instructions in PDF format.

Furniture plans - Every woodworker at one time has searched for furniture plans. Why not turn some of your favorite designs into full on plans?

SketchUp is the program of choice these days for woodworkers, so create your plans like you normally would. Add all the different elevations and dimensions. Then include exploded views, joinery breakdowns, and a nice finished view. Also, add a cutlist and detailed instructions as PDF’s and viola!

You now have a product that you only make once but can sell indefinitely right from your website!

Sell smaller less expensive items

What can you do if requests for you main work are coming in a little less these days?

Go back to the drawing board and ask yourself what smaller less expensive items can you design and build. I’ve experimented with this and it can be a lot of fun coming up with ideas that are smaller and faster to make, but still reflect your unique design style.

These type of items can sell very quickly online, at art fairs, or even better, as a repeat sale to your past clients. Just notify them that you’re offering these smaller items as a new line and make it very easy for them to reserve one before you even build it.

In fact, if you make one, set it up on your site as an example and start taking pre-orders from your past clients that way. Guess what? You’re now getting paid to make them. Awesome.

Sell your tools

What?! Sell my precious tools?!!? Calm down. Let me explain.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever made a wooden handplane, spokeshave, or any tool for that matter. You really enjoyed it, right?

I do too, but not all woodworkers want to do this. They want the experience of using handmade tools, but they don’t want to take the time to build them.

So, why not sell a small line of custom hand tools that you can produce quickly and affordably. I know, you’re not James Krenov or Clark & Williams, but you don’t have to be.

Handplanes, wooden mallets, small chisels, spokeshaves, marking gauges, dovetail markers, marking knives…the list goes on and on. You could even design a getting started handtool kit with all the essential handmade hand tools included.

If you go this route, here’s a quick tip: Put up one or several videos on the sales page of your site showing you using the tool. You can talk if you like, explaining the process and benefits, but even just a short video showing the tool in action will help convince people to buy. Do that and watch the sales come in.

Well those are my top five tips to start bringing in money to your woodshop in a hurry. I’ve used a lot of these at various times and what’s great about them is you can start most of them with little or no investment since you’re just using the tools and materials you already have on hand.

So, what are some of the ways you’ve brought in some quick extra cash with your woodworking?

Here’s what some Twitter folk came up with.

So, now it’s back to you. What ways can you or have you been able to make quick cash in your woodshop?

Want to learn a 6th way to make money with woodworking? Grab your copy of the Woodworking CAN Pay Your Bills E-course today!

A Little Pricing Secret You Probably Overlooked

by Adam

In the first installment of the Pricing Your Work series, we looked at how adopting an hourly rate pricing structure is actually keeping you from making a better profit from your passion by becoming a slave to the clock.

In this second part, I want to reveal to you an often overlooked pricing technique that does indeed allow greater freedom in your work and keeps you from being a slave to the demands of the clock.

Oh, and it helps with the profit end of things too!

Are you charging for the process or the product?

When you use per hour pricing, you’re basically charging people for the process of making their furniture. Seems logical right?

We need to cover our costs and time. Yes, but you’re overlooking the end result.

The final product is a combination of your design expertise, artistic vision, refined skills, and the client’s desperate needs and fantasies. So, what you end up with is more than a table. It’s a collaboration of skill, desire, and need. So what you really end up with is an object that brings value to the customer.

Whether it was commissioned or a speculative piece, there is an inherent value that the final product possesses. It’s a value that occurs on several levels. So, when most woodworkers set out to price their work, they often overlook or outright ignore the end value that the furniture will have and provide.

How do you even begin to price this…value?

It’s pretty obvious this can get a bit foggy because we’re not dealing with the usual concrete steps that most woodworkers are used to.

So to begin to understand this value, you have to understand the one person who truly determines it – your customer.

You see, when people buy, especially luxury items like hand made furniture, they have price as a secondary concern. Actually most folks have it further down the list of importance.

What is at the forefront of the buying decision is what’s known as perceived value.

This is the value that the customer places on that beautiful piece of furniture. But the perceived value isn’t just about the piece itself. It comes from other factors like, the ease of transaction, overall experience with you and your work, and not to mention what your furniture can and will do for them.

So , where do these customers get the idea of perceived value? Guess what? It’s you.

It’s all in how you communicate.

Marketing is simple communication – communicating benefits and offering solutions in ways that really hit home with your ideal client.

Everything you do regarding your furniture and your business is a form of communication, so therefore it’s really a form of marketing.

Design, construction methods, wood species, finishes…these all are a part of marketing, believe it or not. And these areas that you think are just part of the process, are really areas that add benefits to your final product.

Perceived value is also based on the benefits of using and having your products. The customer has to see these clearly over and over in order for the perceived value to be obvious and worth their precious time of acquiring your pieces. That’s where you come in.

It’s up to you to communicate those benefits clearly and often so that the ideal customer sees you have them in mind. Communicating these benefits is what builds the perceived value of you and your work.

So now to the pricing. Obviously, the better you are at telling ideal customers about the benefits they receive working with you, the higher your prices can go…to a certain degree.

Just because perceived value is at the top of most customer’s lists, doesn’t mean price isn’t a factor. Your prices need to match the value people recieve and that can’t happen unless your work is up to the highest standards it could possibly be.

The worst thing that can happen is for a customer to become disenchanted with you and your work because the level of craftsmanship didn’t meet the level of price they paid. FAIL!

So when setting your prices, you have to have a clear understanding of who you serve, how you serve them, and how good your work is. It’s a gut check for most woodworkers because we’re famous for undervaluing ourselves…constantly. But, it’s worth the time to get very clear on your true value and worth as a craftsperson and stop selling yourself short.

You’re not being humble when you devalue yourself. You’re selfishly denying your customers, your business, and yourself the benefits and long term rewards that come from knowing your true worth and going out and getting it.

By taking a long look at the value and benefits your work provides, you can then begin to see where your prices need to fall.

I’m willing to bet for most of you, it’s higher than you thought (and if your first response to this is that your customers would never pay what you think you should charge, then you need to fire your existing customers and get better ones. But that’s a different topic).

As you can see, in order to understand how to price for value, you have to begin understanding yourself and your customer.

Gaining clarity on these two individuals opens up the doors for you to grow and fulfill not only the customer’s desires, but yours as well.

What overlooked value does your work bring to the customer? Have you been factoring that into your pricing?

Confused About Pricing? It’s Because You’re Buying Into a Lie

by Adam

This is the first in a series of posts covering the topics around pricing your work. What’s the most confusing and painful aspect of woodworking? Mentaly speaking, I mean. (We’ll not get into the physical pains associated with our craft.) I’m willing to bet that for most of you it’s the quest to disocver the [...]

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