What sells and why

[Mark C.]

Sales talk spin off-Some of these points came up on another thread

 

Beginners work selling cheap or not good enough or whatever.What sells and what does not.

 

I have learned a few things selling pottery since 1973 in terms of sales.

 

So let me pass on these things. You will not have to do this 40 years to learn it.

 

My mentor back in the 70s taught me a lesson on sales-say you have your best 6 pieces of work out for sale on a table and nobody is buying –add some more work not your best maybe your worst and all of a sudden it all starts to sell-you will find this to ring true.

 

The key element is there IS NO ACOUNTING FOR TASTE-yours mine or whomever. The good the bad and the truly ugly all sell-accept this now as its true. They do sell at different rates.

 

This is a good thing to know-What you like not everyone likes –Learning this the easy way or struggle thru it for many years ether way it’s still true.

 

So when it comes to your best work great but your not so great work is someone’s treasure just as well as the best work. This is the way it is-I know this to ring true in sales

 

-I have decided long ago to make a good living at functional pottery and making what I like did not work best-I make what I know others like-maybe its not my favorite but at the end of the year I have sold it and the money is in the bank.

 

As to beginner pots selling at low price points that’s because they will only sell at low price points-We all start out making beginners stuff. The public mostly does know the difference. Our local Fire Arts center has a boat load of it for sale cheap-and the public buys some of it but not all of it as there is a limited market for low end just as there is for high end.

 

The beginner work piles up on the 2$ shelve and is always there-so price alone will not make it go away.

 

Hope some take this to heart. After about 5-10 years (that’s what I feel it took me including college time) one can make some really nice pottery.

Now as far at what sells the best always its small stuff

This is all about functional pottery as thats what I know best.

 

Mark