How Do You Know if Your Jewelry is Good Enough to Hire a Sales Rep?

by Lauren M., 4 Daughters Creations
(Brentwood, NY)

Midnight Sunset, Swarovski crystals

We've gotten some great feedback. Sold a good amount at the fairs and home parties we've done.

What I'd REALLY like to do is get into some boutiques. Working my day job doesn't leave a lot of time to make appointments.

Any advice would be greatly welcome.

Thanks!

Lauren M.
4 Daughters Creations

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How Do You Know if Your Jewelry is Good Enough to Hire a Sales Rep?

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Very interested in this topic
by: Cindy

I'd love to follow this topic. I already subscribe to the RSS feeds for this site but it doesn't alert me when a comment is added. Is there an easy way to follow this topic?

I'm sorry, Lauren, that I have nothing constructive to add but thank you so much for asking the question.

Hmmmmm....
by: Janine G

I am not sure if it's the question of "is your jewelry good enough" and more about what you can afford. Your jewelry is beautiful and it is selling so that is good. I wonder what kind of prices or how the sales rep gets their commission?
I have a feeling it will cost a bit. Hopefully someone will be able to answer this but in the meantime google on your lunch break questions like "Commission on jewelry sales" or "how to get a sales rep for your crafts". I found a few articles about it but I am too pooped from running around with my toddler to see straight! sorry! here's an address for one (If Rena allows it-if not just delete this part of my comment thanks!)
http://www.handmadenews.org/article/index.php?id=1962
Best of luck!

Ask
by: Rita Juhhin

You need to ask a sales rep.

I'd guess that the commission would be very close to the fee for consignment sales. You probable aren't going to pay for any expenses so you would have to make it worth their while and produce enough to keep a rep busy.

Jewelry Sales Reps
by: Rena

Hi Lauren and all,

I started out posting a comment to answer your question, but it grew so long that I turned it into a separate page instead:

Hiring a Jewelry Sales Rep.

It covers what sales reps do, their typical commission, deciding whether you need (and can afford) a sales rep, what your sales rep needs from you, where to find jewelry sales reps, and how to hire a good rep.

If you still have any questions about working with jewelry sales reps, please just let me know!

Also, you may be interested in selling your jewelry through boutiques on consignment. See my Jewelry Consignment Checklist to help you decide whether that's a good option for you.

Cindy - how to follow this discussion
by: Rena

Hi Cindy, you may have already discovered this after posting your comment here - but here's how to follow this discussion:

Post a comment on this discussion.

When you click "Submit Comment", you'll be taken to a Thank You page that says:

"Thank you for your comments. To keep in touch with other comments about this page, please check...

(there's a little check-box here) Notify me when others leave comments".

Simply check the little box there and you'll have the option to enter your email address to receive a message whenever there are updates to this discussion.

Thanks so much for your interest, and please feel free to add your questions on this topic if they haven't been answered yet!

Thanks
by: Lauren

Thank you all for the feed back, and in Rena's case more excellent reading material, lol.

Like the commercial says: The More You Know!
Of course as I type this I look to the side of the screen page and see the book Jewelry Selling Secrets. (slaps forehead) I wonder how many questions thats going to answer when I get it.

Again, Thank you all for commenting.

Selling to boutiques
by: Alane Weissman

You may want to start selling to boutiques yourself. That way you can control how much you sell and to how many boutiques. You can call during the week, I find most buyers are in on Tuesdays for some reason and let them know you work during the week but can meet on weekends. If that doesn't work for them, you can drop off samples just to give them a taste but this is not optimal because you need to educate the buyers and romance your jewelry to get them to buy. Reps can be expensive and you may or may not want to give up even 10% of profit at this point. I would steer away from consignment. I just find its better for the boutique to make an investment in your product. They will be more motivated to sell it and from a business point of view they want to sell what they have spent money on first. Good luck..
Alane
www.alaneweissmanjewelry.com

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