Knife shows for newbies

Chiro75

Chiro75

Joined
Feb 4, 1999
Messages
5,786
I have a pretty good idea of how to sell/represent myself if I were to display at a knife show, but I'm curious from seasoned vets if there is a "magic" pricepoint for newbies like me at knife shows and some other considerations:

1) Is there a good price to aim for at knife shows? Typically most of what I make is $135-$200, anyway, so I guess that would cover the lower end of things.

2) Does it pay to do a "show special" or something like that?

3) Does a busier table (more knives) translate to more sales, in general? Obviously you can't sell what you don't have, but just in general, is a table full of knives more appealing to people than a handful of nice pieces, or can it be overwhelming?

I'm putting the cart WAY ahead of the horse, here, but I like to have my ducks in a row and plan. I'm considering maybe exhibiting at a table next Spring for the Badger Knife Show in Novi, although it's just a very tentative plan.
 
The Badger Knife show is in Wisconsin and there is a very long waiting list so you might want to get on it now. Thats probably true for any of the major shows out there. Get on the list a year or 2 before your ready to go.


Did you mean a different show than the Badger?

There is a show in Edgerton Wi in october and there is always tables available for that, plus its only $40 so you cant beat the price. It is around Madison Wisconsin.
 
Oops. I get Badgers and Wolverines mixed up. :rolleyes: Wolverine Knife Collectors Club show, in Novi, MI. Duh.
 
Yeah, the Badger show is booked up with about 90 people waiting for tables.
 
We have tables at about 6-8 shows a year. A supplier is different than a knifemaker but I think some of the ideas crossover. The following are some of the guideline we try to follow:
  • Arrive early
  • Don't be cheap
  • Stand up as much as possible
  • If possible stand in front of the table
  • Memorize customers names
  • Choose to have a good attitude
  • Look professional
  • Have a genuine smile
  • Enjoy the show
  • Get to know your customers personally
  • Have the prices clearly marked
  • Try to get people in front of your table, a group of people attracts more people
  • Don't eat behind the table
  • Stay late
  • Go to dinner with knifemakers and collectors. Pay for a customers dinner
  • Try to find a place to stay up and talk knives all night. The less sleep you get, the better the show ;)
  • Have fun

Attitude is everything. You have to be genuine. If you are phony, cheap, condescending, surly or pissed off, the customers pick up your attitude and stay away in droves.

Very few knifemakers are an immediate success. Almost everyone must go to multiple shows to get their knives in front of the public. Success grows incrementally over time. At every show you will learn something. Write down the lessons you learned and read the lessons before you go to the next show.

Pricing is an interesting question. I see some new knifemakers who overcharge and have the same knives at every show. Price your knives to sell. You probably be making less than minimum wage with your first knives. As demand builds, raise your prices. If demand drops off lower your prices. There are a few makers whose knife sell for more on the secondary market. Learn from what they have done. They sell a knife for a reasonable price which builds demand. The demand outstrips the supply so the secondary market price goes up. As the secondary market price goes up the demand on the knifemaker increases. Lots of collectors can afford the knife from the knifemaker but not at the secondary market price so the demand increases. As long as the knifemaker doesn't flood the market with knives, the demand will continue.

If you feel your prices are fair and someone tries to chisel down the price, don't give in. Rob Simonich was next to us at the Oregon show for several years. I remember a chiseler asking if he would take $100 for a knife that was marked $125. Rob responded with his big smile and laugh, "No. But I will take $150!" Everyone including the chiseler laughed.
 
I think I met you at the Badger Show back in '99, Danbo. Did you meet up with a group of BFC members at Damon's afterward? That was the year Dale Reif won Best in Show for a folder (or maybe just Best Folder). Anyway, I meant the Wolverine show, which is much smaller.
 
This is something that live by. I do not bargain on price. If I price a knife the price remains the same throughout the show. Many makers will drop their prices late Sunday if they haven't made sales on friday and saturday. In my opinion this is a disservice to their work and to the customer. If the knife was worth $400 on friday but worth $325 on sunday, what was the knife really worth? I have made more than a few sales to people wanting to bargain down the price by explaining the above philosophy.
 
I had a somewhat different approach to shows when I did them. It was somewhat common to expect a prospective customer would want to dicker. I, too, had a definite price I would not take less than.

Thus, I would always price my hunters and fighters $50 higher than I would take. If a person picked the knife up for the third time, I'd tell them, "Well, I see you like that. Tell you what, if you decide to buy it I'll knock $50 off." That sold a lot of knives. When a person was willing to pay my label price, I'd shake and then give them $50 off unasked for. Got repeat sales with that approach.

Make the customer feel like you are not a hardass and they'll like you more, like Chuck said. That's a heckuva piece of business acumen, Chuck, and I hope all take it to heart.
 
I had/have a table at the OKCA for the last 10 years as a purveyor. Maybe I have some observations worth sharing:
  • Have a variety of prices, within a range, predetermined by you, say $75.00-$400.00, something for everyone
  • Price up for the show before it starts, everyone likes a deal
  • There is nothing wrong with being nice, but it is better for everyone to be fair
  • I am a firm believer that you should have no more than 20 knives on the table at any one time, no less than 5, if at all possible.
  • Fixed blades out of the sheaths, with the sheaths handy, folders in the locked and ready position
As Chuck said, stand as much as possible. Be clean and presentable, that does not mean you need to wear a suit. A positive and sunny disposition is nice, but not required. Somehow, Murray Carter has excellent shows, but he can be a total Richard. I think that it is a combination of all the things that I mentioned above.

Have fun! BTW, if you cannot get a table by yourself, you can usually get someone to share with you. Ask, the worst that they can do is say no. If you have a good show, and they don't, pay for at least half of the table or offer to.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Good info from everyone here, but especially from Mr. Bybee.

I'm not near needing a table yet, but am looking to the future.

Thanks a lot for the shared wisdom.
 
EXCELLENT advice from Chuck and Steven.

Thanks for taking the time to write all of that out Chuck... that's a lot of hard learned notions that you didn't get for free... FAR from it.

I think as a custom maker if you're going to have high end pieces on your table, you can get away with only a few.

But if you are going to have a fairly broad range, I'd shoot for at least 6. Probably not more than 15, with 20 max.

Some guys have a seemingly bottomless supply of knives to throw on their table. To MOST show-goers, this tells them that the maker either just cranks the knives out, and/or is not in demand.

No, not EVERYONE would think that. Many will though.

The most knives I've ever had on my table at a show was 10. Typically I'm very happy if I can get 6-8 done.

-Nick-
 
Good advice, guys, thanks. The one thing that would work in my favor at a show is that I have good face-to-face rapport with people. That is, basically, the essence of my profession. I meet new people everyday and engage them in conversation, usually about things they don't want to talk about, so it shouldn't be that tough when you're trying to get someone to talk about stuff you both have in common! Chuck's list is interesting and a good resource. I have only been to two knife shows, but when I remember back the tables I never even bothered to stop at had people sitting, very little signage/anything on the table, and bored, surly kind of looks on their faces. In fact I remember at the Wolverine show a few months ago walking by this one table half a dozen time. In passing glances the knives looked nice. Young guy with a pretty girlfriend/wife with him. Looked new and sort of out of his element. She was bored to death and kept yawning and he basically sat and stared at the ground the whole time. Not very inviting, so despite the fact that the knives looked pretty decent, I didn't bother to stop and I didn't see too many other people doing the same, either.

I've been to a lot of shows for my profession and these rules more or less hold true for any type of situation where people are walking past.

One thing, from exhibiting at health care shows, that I've learned, too, is that more often than not, the people in the aisle are more shy than you are. So, if someone walks past my table and makes eye contact, lingers just a second, slows down, etc these are all nonverbal cues that the person wants to engage you in conversation, maybe ask a question, say hello, whatever, but I need to make the first move. I say "Hi!" and they stop and ask questions and blah blah blah.

I would also say that the discount thing needs to be controlled. Fitzo has a decent idea with marking things higher, then throwing discounts around, and if that's done across the board (if someone says "I want that knife. Here's $250" that you will offer your standard discount to him as well as chiselers). I don't like the idea of the Sunday afternoon blow out sale. I understand it, but it's completely unfair to people who bought their knives at full price. When it's all said and done the Golden Rule applies. How would you feel if you bought X knife for Y price and then came through the show later and saw "25% off everything right now!" on the table. That would suck.

I've tried to hint with Sean to possibly share a table at the Wolverine show next year, but he hasn't bitten. Maybe 2 days with me is too much to handle! ;) It would be nice to have someone else with you because you can watch each other's stuff while one takes a break, eats, etc, and I think people buy differently when the person who didn't make the item is trying to sell it to you. I saw this Mudbone Jones and Kim Breed. Mudbone was busier telling people how great Kim's knives were than selling his own. I hung out for about a half hour at their table and I think he ended up being such a nice guy that a faiir number of people bought both one of his knives as well as one of Kim's!
 
NickWheeler said:
EXCELLENT advice from Chuck and Steven.


Some guys have a seemingly bottomless supply of knives to throw on their table. To MOST show-goers, this tells them that the maker either just cranks the knives out, and/or is not in demand.

No, not EVERYONE would think that. Many will though.

The most knives I've ever had on my table at a show was 10. Typically I'm very happy if I can get 6-8 done.

-Nick-
Click to expand...
yes and to add
I'm lucky to have 4-5 on my table,, most of the time one or two :(
I just have no time between orders to make some for myself, so I never sell much at a show...
but in turn in this doesn't mean the show is a wash, pass out cards.
with numbers and web addy, and email ..
some times you'll never know where the orders are coming from, advertising wise or show wise..
I was told
that the big thing is, to show up to the show/s no matter if you have knives or not. your face needs to be out there..pick a show to go to and stick to it
if it's the only one you can do, do that one show all the time..
you can run out of knives but you are still there showing..
 
Dan,
I'm pretty sure we spoke.I have talked with so many guys off the forum lately.Especially since we changed ISP's,& coincidentally email address's.I was having a bugger of a time logging in.Got help from everyone!!Thats why I said I was going to bookmark this thread,there's always stuff to put in the HELP folder of my favorites. :D
 
trapperwez said:
Dan,
I'm pretty sure we spoke.I have talked with so many guys off the forum lately.Especially since we changed ISP's,& coincidentally email address's.I was having a bugger of a time logging in.Got help from everyone!!Thats why I said I was going to bookmark this thread,there's always stuff to put in the HELP folder of my favorites. :D
Click to expand...
it was buried in my phone messages, trying to contact Kit by e-mail.. because of not being able to get on BFC ? just making sure if it was you and you got it straightened out.
 
Yes,Dan that was me.Sorry for the time warp between posts,I just remembered this one and finally came back to it.BTW after much grief everything is back to normal.Thanks to everyone that helped me work out the bugs!!
 
COOL
trapperwez said:
Yes,Dan that was me.


Sorry for the time warp between posts,I just remembered this one and finally came back to it.!!
Click to expand...


did you know if you go to the user CP you can
set it so you get email notifying you of any posts made to a thread you've posted in?
 
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