Question for Collectors

tntbegg said:
Truth be told.... I was against displaying the prices because guess who's job it will be to make those nifty little display cards with knife info and price????
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Doesn't your CNC have an ink pen or marker attachment so you could lay it off on Todd? ;)
 
Gollnick said:
Again going back to the almost-universal practice of jewelers, the price is displayed discreetly so as not to immediately put off a potential buyer.
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What does "displayed discreetly" mean, exactly? You can either see it when you're standing at the table, or you can't. If you can't, it's not displayed. If you have to ask, it's not displayed. I have no experience (well, no significant experience) in the jewelry business, but at a knife show I want to see the price and can't imagine how I could be put off by that information - together with the specs on the knife - being clearly displayed.


Roger
 
Actually a lot of top class jewelers do not display the prices. Go to a Cartier store to see what I mean. If there's a tag, it's often hidden, and you need to ask to know. Personally, I think it's a stupid approach for knives, unless you are Loveless / Walker / Applegate.
 
Take a field trip. Collect some intelligence. As I said, there are some analogs between jewelry and high-end knives and so a savvy knife maker can take learn some some good lessons from a trip to a jewelery store.

Each item typically has a small tag attached to it with a little string. One side of the tag typically has information such as the metal content (Is it 14K or 18K gold; this can be very difficult to tell by appearance? Is it Platinum or silver; this can also be difficult to tell just from appearance?) the weight and grade of stones, etc. On the other side of that tag is the price. When items are displayed, the tag is ALWAYS carefully placed with the price side down. This is one way in which price can be displayed descretely.
 
Gollnick said:
Each item typically has a small tag attached to it with a little string. ... When items are displayed, the tag is ALWAYS carefully placed with the price side down. This is one way in which price can be displayed descretely.
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Gollnick - this is a weird definition of displayed. The price is not visible, cannot be read by anyone, cannot be known in fact without asking - it's not displayed at all, period.
 
Joss said:
Gollnick - this is a weird definition of displayed. The price is not visible, cannot be read by anyone, cannot be known in fact without asking - it's not displayed at all, period.
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Exactly.

Roger
 
Displayed for sure - love Burt's cards in Roger's first post...
 
Joss said:
Gollnick - this is a weird definition of displayed. The price is not visible, cannot be read by anyone, cannot be known in fact without asking - it's not displayed at all, period.
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When knife makers use a variant of such a practice, the point is that you DO have to pick the knife up and look at it to see the price. Very often, the price is printed on a small label applied to the side of the knife which will be down toward the table when the knife is displayed.

The price is displayed in that the would-be customer doesn't have to ask, but he does have to make some effort, to pick the knife up and look at it a bit.
 
Chuck, I think I understand your point.......what I am really interested in, is Mr. Moneybags!! Does he collect knives, and can you direct him to Begg Knives, please????!!!!;)

Mr. White, interesting that you mention the credit card point. I just got a credit card machine, and by some weird divine coincidence accepted payment on two knives by phone via CC the very day the appliance arrived. Both sales were to people who did not use paypal, and since they were new customers, I wouldn't accept checks. I will be interested to track how much having this new ability to accept CC will effect our sales. I need to update our website along the points you made as well!!!!

I learned some valuable things from this thread....so thank you all for the information and input! If there are more pearls of wisdom, please share! I hope other makers read this thread and gain similar insights to improving their business, as I have.

Tanya Begg
 
I'm glad to hear you've decided to put price tags on Todd's knives. IMHO, it's the smart thing to do.

At this year's Blade Show, I spent some time admiring an interframe slipjoint knife by a well known maker; spent a bit of time talking with the maker, too. Even brought my wife over to look at the knife. Never did ask him the price though, figuring it was out of my price range. However, I could've been wrong about that, in which case this knifemaker missed a sale by not marking the price.
 
I used to do trade shows, and not displaying prices does lead to a lot of people asking questions, but a very large percentage of those people were only asking because the price wasn't displayed. They weren't really interested in puchasing anything, they just wanted to know the price. This took time away from being able to talk to those that were looking to purchase. We noticed that after we started displaying the prices that didn't happen any more.

A card with some information (you don't want to provide all the info on the card), laid flat beside the knife is a little harder to see from a distance and can bring the potential customer into closer proximity so that you can engage them in a conversation.

Besides Tanya, even when you start having more knives on your table, they are going to sell without the need to try to attract more people. If he isn't there yet, it won't be long before Todd is one of those makers that has people draw for his knives. The most important thing is to pick the right shows to attend.
 
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Keith, I like the idea of laying the info card flat to draw the customer in for that close up look!

We did in fact hold our first lottery drawing at Blade this year, and we were nervous as heck about it too!

Picking which shows to attend.........NOW THERES
 
We did in fact hold our first lottery at Blade this year. we were quite nervous about it, and perhaps the question should be asked....how to conduct a great lottery???

Picking the right shows to attend......excellent! What should a maker look at in choosing to display at a show?
 
A small tag, attached to the knife if possible, with the model name on one side & the price on the other works. It's small but plain to see the price, and most folks will automatically flip the tag if they see writing on one side. With the price tag attached, there's no mistake of someone placing the knife next to the wrong price on the table after picking it up to look at it... Of course, if the table isn't crowded with knives, this may be not so important.

James Todd said:
You can display it on an neon colored dot under the knife, also security alert that knife is off table.
Just my .02
James
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I like the neon dot idea for "inventory control" too... Hard to miss those colors, and at a glance ya know how just many knives are off the table at any given moment. One sells, either put out another knife on it or pull the dot sticker off the table. This and the attached price tag would be what I'd try if I had to keep an eye on a table of valuable items at a convention for days.

JMO :)
 
I would prefer that the price is always clearly visible. However I hate when you turn a knife over and find a price sticker attached to the handle. I think for the fair amount of money you pay for a knife, it should be kept as clean as possible.
 
What I have noticed at jewelry stores where I shop is that merchandise is ALWAYS displayed in a locked showcase, and the price/information tags are ALWAYS displayed with the price down.
I have always expected the reason for not displaying the price "UP" is that first, they want for the customer to fall in love with the piece before they realize it's out of their price range and second they want their salesperson to interact with the customer in revealing the price and perhaps selling the piece to the customer even though they can't afford it.
People use credit cards everyday to buys items they can't afford.

No "stickers" on knives at shows for me please.
 
Jewlery stores use locked display cases for several reasons. One is loss control. Jewelery is easily pocketed and a store may easily have a million dollars on display. It's hard for a few sales people to keep their eyes on every item in a large store. There certainly is some theft at knife shows, but the rate has been historically very low. We have a very honest community, thankfully. Also, it is easier to keep an eye on a couple of dozen items on ten feet of table.

Another reason jewelery stores use display cases is to display the merchandise is very flattering ways. To their loss, I think, most knife makers do absolutely no "merchandising." They pay no attention to how they display their products. Something as simple as putting a knife on a little stand to get it up off of the table and make it a bit more visible can increase its interest.

Another reason jewelery stores use locked display cases is to create the image that their merchandise is valuable. If they treat it as valuable, then the would-be customer will think it's valuable. This is another lesson knife makers can learn. While display cases might not be appropriate for most knives at shows, there are other simple things you can do. How you treat your knives telegraphs to me how you think about your knives. If you just sort of casually toss them on the table, then I will think more casually about them too.

As for labels, common sense has to prevail. Obviously, the label can't damage the knife. The materials used in the knife will dictate where -- and if -- a label can be placed on any given knife. Just use good practices.
 
Kevin Jones said:
What I have noticed at jewelry stores where I shop is that merchandise is ALWAYS displayed in a locked showcase, and the price/information tags are ALWAYS displayed with the price down.

<<<Yes, that seems to be the 'traditional' way (not much experience here - my wife is not into jewelry) but two stores I have been impressed with: one large, very exclusive establishment in Bal Harbour Shops in Miami that had a tiny, 3D price 'cube' next to EVERY item in their showcases - from a $120 charm to a $156,000 ring. The price tags didn't seem to hinder interaction between the customers and the sales people; they just defined the sales target.

The other shop I will never forget. :) It was the main jewelry shop at the Ritz-Carlton in Hawaii (forgot which island). I had taken my very young daughter with me on a business trip and she wanted to buy "a dolphin pin" as a souvenir. We were the only guests in the shop. My daughter asked the very elegant, very pleasant, very friendly saleswoman if she could see a pin she spied in the back row of a showcase. "Of course!" was the immediate answer. The woman took my daughter's hand and I went off to look at wrist watches. I could see that the woman had attached the pin to my daughters sweatshirt and the two of them were admiring it and trying it on at various angles. Then I heard the woman say, "I have another pin here that you might like a little better because it really looks a lot more like a dolphin." They went over to another case and she let my daughter try on another pin. My daughter loved it! "Dad! Can have this one???" Pin was purchased. Just before we left the store, I remembered to ask the saleswoman why my daughter had finally purchased this pin and not the one she had first looked at and played with? She replied: "I knew exactly what she was looking for and explained to her why it was the correct piece of jewelry for her, at her age (she was 7 years old at the time)." Not once did the woman mention that the discrete tag on the pin she had been 'demonstrating' to my daughter (which I hadn't bothered to look at) showed a price of $85,900. :)

S-m-o-o-t-h......;) (I love this story. Sorry. :o )>>>

I have always expected the reason for not displaying the price "UP" is that first, they want for the customer to fall in love with the piece before they realize it's out of their price range and second they want their salesperson to interact with the customer in revealing the price and perhaps selling the piece to the customer even though they can't afford it.

<<<In over 30 years of doing research (focus groups, interviews, etc.) for all kinds of retail businesses, we have found that this is a fallacy. "Old school", small retailers still think this way. Go to a large metropolitan Mercedes dealership and you'll see a price on every vehicle.>>>

People use credit cards everyday to buys items they can't afford.

No "stickers" on knives at shows for me please.
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....oh, yea...gas stations seem to have no problem posting prices! ;)

My apologies for the long, mostly off-topic - post. :o It's been a long, boring day.
 
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