The following is an extract from Artist in business

Copyright © Artist in business 2003

When you've secured an appointment.

What you'll need:

Business Cards
Order forms
Pen
Samples

Displaying samples:

Show your samples in their natural habitat! Not in a folder behind yellowing or dirty dust collecting plastic wallets, show them as they come to the retailer, as they will display them to their customers in new shinny poly bags with your label on, looking their very best.

If you take your cards and stick them into a portfolio you are not showing the product as it really is, in fact you are changing the product completely, i.e. from a greeting card to a piece of artwork stuck on some board!

Ask yourself this question, when you go to a shop and buy something new or different, do you pick it up, examine it, turn it over, have another good look before deciding to buy? Retailers do.

This is an example of how most retailers choose cards, they'll pick up a bunch of around ten or fifeteen, and one at a time start to go though the bunch, most of the time the ones they are going to buy get laid on the right hand side of the counter, the ones they don't like will get laid to the left, this goes on (in between serving, answering the phone etc.) until all the cards have been looked at, the retailer then stops, looks at you and says 'I'll take those, I'll be back in a minute, I've just got to serve that customer' retailer goes away, you fill out your order form.

So show the product as is, take them along in a bag or box or whatever suits, and let the buyer look at each card, it'll help the retailer buy faster and make both your lives easier.

This hopefully, is how the meeting will go;

Arrive on time or a little early, don't be surprised if the retailer is already seeing a rep or agent, simply bide your time and take a look around the shop, it may give you an insight into what type of buyer you are dealing with.

When you first meet the retailer be prepared to shake hands, however don't expect to, shaking hands usually occurs at the end of the meeting and it's normally only men that will shake your hand, a handshake from a female buyer is quite rare.

If the buyer wants to talk let them, if not make some friendly conversation, he/she may not be interested, if you get that impression move on to the sales pitch, let the retailer look though your products, at this point they will either make a decision to buy or not, hopefully it will go your way and you can take the order, don't forget to have the retailer sign the order.

I never leave a copy of the order, most retailers don't seem to mind, I just send a packing form with the order listing the contents of the package, then send an invoice in a separate letter, most retailers expect this.

If you do send the invoice with the package make sure you mark it well so that the person unpacking the order knows it is an invoice, however this is unreliable as the person that gets to unpack is not always the retailer and will simply use the invoice to check off the delivery and then toss the invoice into the bin, it's also a good excuse to hold off payment 'oh I thought it was a packing slip' is not uncommon when chasing payments!

Footnote:
Make sure you change your poly bags every so often, they tend to become grubby and scratched over time, giving the card a dull look, not good for sales!

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Copyright © Artist in business 2003