New Magazines

Les posses a good stance, and I do agree. I am as guilty as any maker, but we (makers) don't run our businesses in a manner that would be enticing to the non-knife nut. Take a look at Holland and Holland, Purdey, Fabbri, Zeiss, Schmidt and Bender, Ferrari, Rolex, or any other maker of luxury items. They all have an attitude of bending over backwards to make the customer feel special. Consequently, they can advertise a $125k guns or watches in almost any magazine and make those who can't afford one drool, and those that can afford one at least put it on their list of must haves.

The bottom line is makers in general hurt the industry as much as fuel it by the poor business practices we exhibit. As a good customer put it to me, "This has to be fun, my job and home are stressful enough. If this isn't fun, I won't do it." he was talking about knife buying in general, and attending shows.

Josh, I don't have any in depth knowledge about your business, but you seem to run a pretty tight ship and I ALWAYS see you trying to reach out to your customer base. THAT is why YOU can walk around shows on Sunday with no knives left to sell. My hat is off to you. You show a fine example. Tim Hancock is another. I sat and watched him in Reno talk with customers he has had for YEARS and knows them well. They were bringing knives back to show him from previous years and would stand there and talk about old times. That shows a long history of top notch customer relations.

Another company that is doing a heck of a lot more that expected is William Henry. I do business with a few dealers who sell tons of their stuff at shows like the Barret Jackson auto sales and the Rockey Mountain Elk Fed. They love doing business with them as the keep him well stocked with new models making it easy for him to keep his customers interested.

It's all about status. What can you as a maker do to show a prospective customer that his buying experience from you will be something to write home about?

I've got more to say, but fear I am ranting, so I will shut it and go draw a little;)
 
Hi Bailey,

The bottom line is makers in general hurt the industry as much as fuel it by the poor business practices we exhibit. As a good customer put it to me, "This has to be fun, my job and home are stressful enough. If this isn't fun, I won't do it." he was talking about knife buying in general, and attending shows.
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Excellent point of view from a person who pays for the knives!

The other point that John brings up is also insightful. Ok Maker X you have a great ad campaign, slick sales pitchman or woman. What do you think happens when Make X says to the 50th order...that will be a year...100th order...that will be 2 years, etc.

Question, what do you think it costs for a slick ad campaign and to hire the actor/salesman to "pitch" your product.

I think what most knife makers would find is that while the advertising would generate several orders. The crux of the problem would be to build enough knives in a short amount of time to make enough profit to not only pay the living expenses for the maker...but all the advertising costs. Even with the write offs, this business strategy would probably result in what the business types like to call "Negative Cash Flow."

This is exactly why 80% of all small business fail in the first 3-5 years. Their "costs" out pace their revenue.

A "Co-Op" situation could help alleviate some of the start up costs or advertising costs. The difficulty will be finding a group of makers who would actually front the cash. Many of those maker who are the same ones who "want to expand the market" are the same ones who would make the argument....Why should I spend money on advertising? Im booked for the next 3-5 years.


Les Robertson
Custom Knife Entrepreneur
www.robertsoncustomcutlery.com
 
Forged bowie knives have been on the cover of the Wall Street Journal more than once.

I will never forget the artists rendering of Jim Crowell.
 
Yes, Larry was the winner of the cutting competition the article was focused on and Crowell was runner-up. Larry's picture was equally amusing.
 
Anthony, I bet all those WSJ types are bailing out of stocks and into handforged Bowies right now too. You better love handmade knives a lot if you are "investing" in those $1000+ types. It isn't just WS that may be in for a "correction."
 
Bailey,

First of all thank you for the compliments. I probably know as much about your business as you do mine but you seem to exhibit the same qualities. You are always well dressed, standing at your table when a customer approaches instead of sitting like a bump on a log, and have the incredible work to back up your professional presence.

First I think Sidehill is a bit off base with his comments about makers complaining. He may not be referring to the makers in this thread but I certainly don't see anyone complaining. In fact the makers I associate with at shows have a get it done attitude. The makers that complain are the same ones wondering what the A.B.S or Guild has done for them lately.

The idea Les has about a CoOp for advertising is a good one. I've never once paid for an advertisement. I've always put my money back into bettering my tools, shop, or handle materials. I've always felt my return on investment has been better by investing in myself. I have nothing against advertising but I've just been fortunate enough to not HAVE to do it. However I think paying for the correct advertising would be beneficial.

I think Bladenbarrel asked about the number of orders received from the fortune article. I think its been around ten. It's hard to tell exactly because unless someone volunteers it I don't generally ask where they found me. I do know that the orders I received from the article where VERY good orders. And each order I know about from that article had never bought a custom knife. I think that is the best news of all. I feel if I can treat them right and give them a good experience they may stick around the knife world. After the article I did have a large jump in collectors sign up for my automated email contact form. I think that is a success as well. Hopefully some of those people will gain an understanding of the knife world through that and be potential customers of mine or someone else's.

The positive experience Bailey was talking about is exactly the point of my mini show here this summer. Obviously we'd like to sell some knives but the larger goal is to provide a great interaction between makers and collectors and in turn build a stronger relationship.

Bailey now I'm the one rambling. My last thought is that is can't hurt to throw article as these magazines. The guy that was here today was here for a local small publication, just like what Nick has coming. But he asked if we could toss the story at some other magazines to see what happens. Nick you should do the same with your writer. Tell them to send it to some of the magazines listed here. Maybe 5 of us will through articles at them and an editor will finally say to one of them, let's try it.

Thanks.
 
What about seeing if the Double Gun Journal would pick up an article?

Take care, Craig
 
Maybe even antique magazines, or carpentry? Are the knives annuals ever in book stores? I don't ever see them.
 
Specifically regarding magazines and related media one might consider the following...

- As has been mentioned, Japan's KNIFE is tops. I can purchase it here in Denver at a specialty magazine shop but it's $16 to $18 per issue and I can't read a word of it (goes back to front, BTW). Photographer Hiro Soga works for/with KNIFE and he can often be found traveling around the US to various shows and hammer-ins in his mobile camper/studio. My impression is that he's always open to ideas for articles and invitations to events. I do not have a current e-mail address for Hiro.

- Here's a Russian magazine worth considering: http://www.knifemagazine.ru/

- This French knife magazine is excellent...
La Passion des Couteaux the editor is Francous-Xavier Salle and the address is:
Les Editions de la Nouvelle France
Boite postale 71
06342 La Trinite Cedex
France

- Men's Journal would be an excellent choice, especially for an 'edgy' bladesmith profile as well as for advertising.

- Investigate having a nice 'art knife' calendar produced. Barnes & Noble sell tons of calendars featuring every subject imaginable. They sell a goodly number of books and magazines about knives (and guns) so they shouldn't object to a calendar, especially if it was done up right with drop-dead gorgeous photographs. I believe this opportunity is 'ripe' but nobody has done it yet (to my knowlege).

Regarding non-media opportunities...

If I was a maker I'd immediately try to get some fancy hunting knives etc. into the high-end gun rooms at Bass Pro Sports, Cabelas and the likes. I was looking at guns the other day at Bass Pro here in Denver. In the high-end gun room which featured firearms ranging from about $2,000 up to $95,000, interspersed amongst them were 'custom' knives made by this one maker. I wouldn't want to offend him but his knives were way outclassed by the firearms on display.

- Here's an obscure but interesting option. At DIA (Denver International Airport), Concourse A features glass display cases all along the moving walkway. These are filled with various art objects and the exhibitons rotate. It's easy to exit the walkway and spend time looking at the displays. This kind of thing is likely done at many airports across the US. Here's a picture of my wife gazing at a beautiful Kirk Rexroat dagger that was part of one such exhibit at DIA:
orig.jpg
 
HTMD said:
Photographer Hiro Soga works for/with KNIFE and he can often be found traveling around the US to various shows and hammer-ins in his mobile camper/studio. My impression is that he's always open to ideas for articles and invitations to events. I do not have a current e-mail address for Hiro.
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Good picture of Mrs./Dr. T., Buddy!

Hiro's e-mail from his most current business card-
kumasan@earthlink.net

Kumasan means Mr. Bear.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
This might be a bit "out there" but graphic designers need all kinds of images, maybe even knife images (credit given to the maker along with contact info, of course). Often these designers obtain images (the rights to images that is) from any number of 'stock photo' companies. Investigating the right way to get your 'product' increasingly represented in stock photography libraries could lead to some interesting opportunities. Here's an advertising mock-up I did as an experiment some years back (again featuring my wife and some hungry grouper off Cozumel).
orig.jpg
 
Kohai999 said:
Hiro's e-mail from his most current business card- kumasan@earthlink.net
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Thanks a lot STeven. I need that address and had lost it. You are a pal in need, indeed. So, Josh see if you can invite Hiro Soga in addition to Coop and me. All three of us would be serving different audiences and purposes, yet grooving off each other, pushing the other's limits etc.
 
Bailey Bradshaw said:
...Take a look at Holland and Holland, Purdey, Fabbri, Zeiss, Schmidt and Bender, Ferrari, Rolex, or any other maker of luxury items. They all have an attitude of bending over backwards to make the customer feel special. Consequently, they can advertise a $125k guns or watches in almost any magazine and make those who can't afford one drool, and those that can afford one at least put it on their list of must haves.
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Magazines are run like a profitable business should be.
These truly mouth-watering ads that you mention are paid for in big $$$.
It is part of the expense budget of these makers.
Coca Cola will pay millions for a half a minute ad during the Superball...

Magazines usually accept an article only when you run at least a half
page full color ad in their pages.... This is sad but also a known fact....
So don't build high hopes regarding articles in most magazines....

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
 
Hey Coop, I can tell you that I too am incredibly honored to have my work chosen to be included in an issue of Japan's 'Knife' magazine. Thanks for all your hard work!
 
Non-knife publications have been helpful to knifemakers over the years, although many were not "luxury goods" or "high end" mags. Think about how much exposure forged blades got from Soldier of Fortune in its heyday. I remember seeing articles on the "rediscovery" of damascus in guns mags back in the 70's. The current tactical market owes a lot to non-knife magazines. I thnk the trick is getting someone at whatever magazine excited about your work and hopiong they are not too lazy to actually do their homework and present an accurate and postive picture of what we do.
 
laramieknives said:
Hey Coop, I can tell you that I too am incredibly honored to have my work chosen to be included in an issue of Japan's 'Knife' magazine. Thanks for all your hard work!
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Hi Mark. Glad to have you included. :)

I spent an hour attempting to use my scanner. Apparently the latest and greatest Mac OS can't figure out how to connect with a $75 scanner that worked perfectly with WinXP. :grumpy:

I'll post the article when I figure it out.

Coop
 
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