Identifying customer problems and product benifits.

[Shepherdess]

Hope its of to go ahead and start a post about this.

I always wonder about the large or unwieldy peices of felt work I see sometimes. The piece may be really good felt showing great execution, imagination and talent but its just not going to fit into anyone's home or office or its completely unwearable. I don't have time in my life to make useless things. I do not consider art peices useless. They have a function, if you know what I mean. I suppose some pieces the purpose is just to be in a show or exhibition. What happens to theses peices not all of them go to museums. I imaging some peoples back sheds filled with strange headdresses, dresses with long skirts that pool in a 3 foot wave around your feet  with 10 foot tentacles hanging form the shoulders and large rolls of felt on trellises. Peices of felt no one wanted. I wonder if they where thinking about their customers problems and solutions.

ok those are my rambling thoughts.

[MTRuth]

Well I have a few of those in my house Ann. For one, my felted umbrella tree. It was made for an exhibition but I don't suppose anyone is ever going to buy it. Of course if it just stays at home, they surely won't buy it But I think some pieces are made because you want to take on the challenge.

Of course fashion/wearables is a whole different subject that I know little about. I'm not sure what happens to any of those runway dresses - I'm sure they don't get worn frequently even if someone does buy them.

And I think most artists don't really consider a "customer" at all when making large installation pieces.

[Pandagirl]

As I mentioned on the blog, I don't believe artists who create think about their customer. That said, if you are selling things it should always be in your thought process to identify your potential customers especially for wearable a and household items. I think you are absolutely right about installation pieces or unusual garments. There may be a home in an art league exhibition or museum or possibly a corporate office. But you would probably need an agent to help sell those types of work. As you pointed out Ruth, you created the umbrella tree for a specific exhibition. The goal there would likely be to get exposure as an artist.

[Pandagirl]

Also, if you are just creating and want to get exposure you have to think about what venue you want to approach -- a gallery, art league? If so, you still have to identify a like minded or open minded place to approach to take on your work. No one is going to come to your studio to home looking for you.

[MTRuth]

Oh shoot and I had the light on for them

[zed]

Ann, you just described half the ideas for my next few projects
I'm going back to what I enjoyed, playing with different wools and fibre combinations, surface design, resists, shapes, structure, because I like the discovery and like Ruth said, for the challenge.
I won't get in any 'shows' or galleries, and it'll all end up in a box somewhere, probably.

Or maybe I'll be the JML/Innovations of felting and make useless tat you didn't know you needed until you saw it. Like a viking hat for your phone or pretend raccoon tail for your car aerial.

[lyn]

Ruth - something like your umbrella tree would be used as your 'artist's statement piece' showing what you are able to achieve with your felting. It would be an 'eye-catcher' so that people will then look at what else you've made and, hopefully, buy something.

Installation pieces could be bought by large companies for foyer display but I think the company would want a say in the colour/design.

[Shepherdess]

I understand just enjoying the process or a statement piece. I guess sometimes I wonder how people eat making only peices that fill a gallery for a couple of weeks and then go into the back shed. Maybe am just jealous of their money and time.

[Pandagirl]

Lyn, that's a great idea. Good marketing strategy. It may be why you see some of those pieces on artists websites. They may not sell but make a statement on what they can accomplish. I look at some of those pieces and think "Wow, I want to be able do that! Or how did they do that?"

Back to idea of problems and benefits -- has anyone thought about it since the article? What about being a loyal customer - what benefits do you get from frequenting a vendor as a loyal customer? Are they solving some problem or goal for you?

[luvswool and dyestuff]

Exactly, Marilyn! When the day is done, I love to browse my computer and fiber books to look at the lovely pieces felters make! I am sometimes astonished at the lengths to which they go on making huge pieces or intricate garments. I ask myself constantly why they didn't stop with the first giant truck-size pod, or the wedding dress that simply goes on and on. What keeps them going?

[lyn]

Marilyn - I've been trying to apply the problem and benefit question to rosiepink's pdfs.

Annie and I wrote our first pdf after we'd had several requests from different countries about running workshops. We figured we'd write a concise tutorial so that it would be like a self-run home 'workshop' either with one felter working on her own or with a friend.

So the problem would be someone wanting to learn but not having easy access to a class, and the benefit would be in the opportunity to buy a clear, visual step-by-step guide to be able to learn at home.

Maybe we need to re-think our selling description?

I think the loyal customer question would only apply to us if we churned out pdfs on a regular basis!

[MTRuth]

I have lots of loyal customers at the store. We do extra things like shipping at cost (whatever UPS or post office charges), free gift wrapping, special orders if we don't have something in stock or they want a different color etc. and trying to keep our merchandise fresh, with new fun hand crafted "stuff". For tourists, they often say "how nice and friendly" we are here. Just being pleasant and helping them with where they should go eat or how to get here or there provides an extra service that doesn't really cost us anything.

People who sign up for our newsletter get coupons and special offers. We also have events such as artist openings for what is called Gallery Nights. We give away free refreshments but it gets people through the door. There are a set of people that come to every opening. It is kind of a social event but we always sell a lot on those nights.

These days, if you just go a little beyond "normal" service, people are wowed because the norm is pretty low.

Lyn - what does your selling description say on your pdf's?

[Pandagirl]

Lyn, I think you were spot on with your evaluation. However, the other thing to consider is the person has to be self motivated and read. I'm actually using your wet resist tutorial now to try to make some Easter baskets. I have to keep my computer next to me to keep reading the next instruction. My memory's not too hot any more. I don't mind doing that and I'm self motivated even though I have access to classes nearby. I can do this at my own pace in my own time frame. Key benefits for me.

When I say people "read" I mean we live in a world of you tube and since the majority of people are visual learners and videos may be the preferred method. Most people today don't read much. Or it has to be bare bones in an easy to read format.

When I meant loyal customers I was speaking about you as a consumer.

I can say I would be a loyal customer to rosiepink and Zed because you both provide great visual and clear instructions. Plus I enjoy learning new techniques and can do projects at my own pace in my own time. Now you have a profile of one of your customers.:-)

[Pandagirl]

Ruth, it sounds like you have a really good handle on your marketing strategies. All those customer service perks like shipping at cost, making custom items and keeping inventory new and fresh are all great motivators as well as the gallery nights, coupons and newsletter. I'm going to talk more about communication next time. Do you ever have in store demos or giveaways?

[MTRuth]

We have had giveaways and a few in store demos back in the store's infancy. Haven't had any demos lately. But we do have "Ladies' Night Out" in November where customers get to draw to see what percentage off coupon they get and a Christmas Stroll.

I give away a ton of $20 gift certificates to charity auctions. That way instead of giving product, the person who gets the certificate has to come in to redeem it and lots of times they spend more money than the amount of the gift certificate. About half of these don't get redeemed so I'm not out anything but I still get the exposure of supporting whatever charity event it was.