From William T Lasley,
Your Guide to Arts / Crafts Business.
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Return to: Craft Business 101

Hiring a sales representative can help to increase your profits, but be careful! There are a few things you should know to make sure you find the right person to sell your crafts.

References -

Know your rep! Get and check references of anyone you consider hiring to be a representative. Find out if the rep has experience in selling handmade products. Ask how often your line will be presented to buyers. These and other questions pertaining to your clientele are very important to ask.

Percentage -

Percentages can vary greatly depending on who you hire. Usually 5 - 15% of wholesale price is the standard range, but it's not unheard of to offer a higher percentage to better sellers. Remember to check your pricing after this percentage is added to make sure you will still be making money on sales! Pricing adjustments may be necessary, but be sure you do not overcharge for your products or sales may decline.

Exclusives -

Some representatives, particularly larger agencies, will require you to sign an "exclusive" agreement with them. This means that you will not allow another rep or agency to sell your products in a particular region. This can be by city, state or, in some cases, countries. This can mean that when you hire the representative, the agency will "service" (contact for reorders) your existing customers in their region. This can be good and bad. It can be good if the representative works hard to get new business for you. It can be bad if a representative does nothing but contact your existing clients for reorders. You are then paying your representative a percentage of sales that very likely would have come in anyway.

Samples -

Be careful when giving out samples to anyone. My family's business has literally given away thousands of dollars in samples to people who claimed they could sell our products. While some actually became great representatives, most were never heard from again. To protect yourself, make a simple one-page contract that states at the very least:

• What samples are being given.
• Who the samples are being given to.
• What the rep will be charged if samples are not returned.
• When the samples are to be returned if no sales are made.

Of course if a representative proves valuable to your company, you may need to furnish additional samples. However, due to the high percentage of samples that are lost, always keep track of what sample go out, at least initially.

Advertise for a representative -

Looking for a sales representative? Try our forum first to let others know what you are looking for in a rep.

What do you think? Do sales representatives work well for marketing crafts? If you would like to voice your opinion on this subject, just leave a comment to let the world know what you think!