Did I miss the memo?

Hi Jacob-I understand fully

And, that guy in the mirror? He sure is getting a lot older than I am. He better start taking better care of himself
 
Quite a response to my original post!

Well November is over - thank goodness! I figure we are down about 80 to 90% from last November! Now that December is finally here, I am hoping (and praying) for a major rebound. I just had a local lawyer come in and spend $350.00 for one of my pieces as a gift for his wife. A very pleasant surprise start to my day!

I think with a little snow on the ground this weekend, it will help to bring in the Christmas spirit and "may" begin to intice people to start buying on Saturday!

Here's to hoping!
 
I never experienced all that much additional business during the holidays. In fact, my average ticket declined during the holiday period. People do not spend as much money on gifts as they do on themselves. I felt busy because so much had to be finished at the same time. I had much bigger months other times of the year.

Business was good and steady all year 'round for me. I didn't look at the holiday period as a saving grace to a lousy year, or the icing on the cake to a great one. It was whatever it was.
 
Well, the weather was so bad yesterday that the only customer I had in one of the stores was a one-legged transvestite with no pants.

Now, I know I post some eye-blinkers but I swear this stuff happens. Makes life interesting, anyway.
 
Originally posted by johnny:
[QB] Well, the weather was so bad yesterday that the only customer I had in one of the stores was a one-legged transvestite with no pants.

Add them to the customers I had come in yesterday and we had a combined total of one foot walk in our stores. WHAT THE F? Where did everyone go. Oct and Nov were great and then everyone ate their Turkey and forgot that I exist.....

Dear Santa,
All I want for Christmas is orders. I don't even need a lot of them... Some would be great,
Thanks Santa and Merry Christmas,
Harry
 
Originally posted by johnny:
Well, the weather was so bad yesterday that the only customer I had in one of the stores was a one-legged transvestite with no pants.
I had to look twice to make sure that one wasn't posted by Hannah!
:cool: Rick
 
Keep in touch with us next week Ken - be interesting.
 
We offer a special coupon to our return customers during the Holiday season...It's a frame early coupon that allows for a certain percentage off custom framing the earlier they bring stuff in as to avoid the Christmas Rush...

What you are probably about to see is an influx of business in about a week from people that need rush jobs.

This is our busiest time of the year by far, but we also do a lot of advertising in women's magazines, home decor magazines in the area and the like.
 
<font size="1">Kwote:</font><hr>A few years ago I agreed with this theory, Lance. But in our market, it's different now. Consumers are not necessarily spending more time at home -- our main thoroughfares are jammed at all hours of day and night. Restaurants are full. Consumer confidence is not the only issue, and their spending restrictions are strangely selective. Hummers and Ruth's Chris $50 steak dinners are still selling.
<hr>

I see your point - we are yet to see a swing in the statistics like that here - perhaps its another thing to look foward to. I have recently checked and found that such numbers are being surveyed again in Jan next year here so will try to remember to post results when available if you're interested.
 
I was feeling down until I read this. I thought it was me. Last year I designed my first laser, wooden Christmas ornament with my own drawing on it and made them a limited edition. I sold out of them in 5 days and had to pull my advertisement from the local newspaper. I kept a list for this year's limited edition. This year I worked even harder to create a new ornament with a loon in the foreground and have had them a week and only sold half of them and they were to the customers who bought last year on my list. I'm discouraged with gallery sales. Right now the only thing leaving my gallery is small framing jobs. I depend on the Christmas sales to buy my oil for the winter and pay salaries. I guess this year I will fill my pipes with anti-freeze and close up for the winter! That is four months here.
 
I guess maybe we spend way too much time attempting to understand the market. And because Christmas season is so vital to us, we probably spend more time on this effort.

But, when we analyze our biz,we have found an absolute chartable trend of sales coming later and later in the season every year

Two negatives are that we simply have a capacity issue and the other being that way too many competitors appear to have "first crack" at the finite amount of Christmas Dollars.

We think (because we really do not know) is that we no longer are a "first choice" destination and that we may be seeing this shift as other, more "first in mind" competitors cannot complete their projects

I'm sure this might not apply to any others, but it is absolutely spiraling into a tighter and tighter selling period usually coincideing with the last day of school for the holidays.

Others that have much more refined analysis may have a better take
 
This thread offers quite an amount of food for thought and ideas too

Many fellow framers obviously are experiencing a slow down, because the consumer is spending money on other gifts, because TV ads tell them so.

Maybe we should start acting as a group. Maybe we should have started a national TV ad campaign to inform the people (obviously those who don't know, and those who know but need to be reminded) that framing and art are also great presents for holidays, birthdays, whatever. And those come in a wide variety of price ranges.

A national TV ad showing nicely framed objects, shadowboxes, art, etc, and informing the viewer how to get in touch with us: Via a unified website that offers links to member framers in each state.

Name of our club or website? No idea, but maybe we can call ourselves "The National Framing Society", "United Professional Framers", whatever, open to suggestions.

This all could be done via a membership (for lack of a better word) so that we pay for the commercial and for upkeep of the website that offers links / info to our stores.

To keep the website affordable, it will only be for web presence and info, not for placing orders.

I believe Norman in NJ started an idea about a website a few weeks ago, that would be a great start.

We can act and advertise like the big chains without being one. If enough framers participate, the costs would obviously be more reasonable.

OK, now reply to this post and call me a marketing genius, totally deranged or just plain crazy...
 
Hey Paul you crazy marketing genius, sign me up!
 
why aren't we doing this through PPFA or PMA??
 
The PPFA's function is to educate the industry, not the public. Our dues would be twenty times what they are now if they were promoting the industry to the public.


Everything Paul describes Framerselect offered and the industry did not support that. If you want to swim with the big fish you have to be willing to pony up the big bucks. Clearly, the percentage of us in the industry won't or can't. It seems that a marketing plan on that scale would be a way to revive the industry. I'd like to see a show of hands of those who are willing to shell out thousands of dollars a year to see it happen. I'm one of the struggling ones who can't. But, I would if I could.
 
It is amazing how framers express enthusiasm for big marketing ideas, but when it comes to actually joining up and paying a share of the cost, they disappear.

Yes, Framer Select was started exactly for the purpose of giving small shop "Select" framers national exposure for a reasonable cost; the program was set up for exclusive gerographic benefit, too.

It would have worked if the founder could have recruited a thousand or so members, but the roughly 500 members weren't enough to pay the administrative costs of producing a newsletter and the best darn postcards in the business for $.25 each. Baffling, isn't it?

I believe a national efort is doomed to failure because it is too obscure to most framers. They think all the advertising benefit would go to the big cities and wealthy-neighborhood framers, and the rest would bear the cost. Silly, but that seems to be the fatal mindset.

On the other hand, a local or regional group of a dozen or more framers could easily buy professionally-produced television or radio ads and get an excellent value for their advertising dollars. But alas, I've never heard of it happening. Yet.
 
Originally posted by Emibub:
The PPFA's function is to educate the industry, not the public. Our dues would be twenty times what they are now if they were promoting the industry to the public...I'd like to see a show of hands of those who are willing to shell out thousands of dollars a year to see it happen...
For years I have advocated an "elite" PPFA membership for $2,000 or $3,000 per year, which would include some killer advertsing aids, such as several general & seasonal postcards, and custom newsletters assembled from boilerplate content menus. If 1/3 of PPFA present membership would go for that idea, we could have national radio ads; maybe even some on TV.

Edie, I'm among the framers who would jump at the chance "...to shell out thousands of dollars a year to see it happen".

Think about it. The typical small business spends about 5% of its revenue on advertising, promotions & marketing. So, a frame shop doing $250K per year probably spends about $12,500 a year. Even if the shop is doing $150,000 and spends $7,500 a year, how hard would it be to dedicate $3,000 of that amount to a plan that is very likely to produce more than any local newspaper or Yellow Pages ads, and less time-consuming than direct mail campaigns?

I would call that a slam-dunk.
 
Yeah, it is funny Jim, every few months somebody comes up with the idea to get a national campaign going and it fades away. Probably when people realize they might have to "chip in". I'll go out on a limb here at "Out on a Whim" and say my guess is that we just plainly don't think big enough. Most of us just don't see the big picture or the big freight train that is coming right at our industry.

I include myself as one of the ones languishing in obscurity. It isn't that I don't see the big picture, I just don't have the funds needed to go global. I don't know what is worse, being the one who has no idea the freight train is coming or to be the one who sees it and can't quite get off the tracks. Gonna be a big 'splosion either way, I suppose. Or possibly just a whimpering sound as those of us fade away. I plan on going out with a bang myself.

Dang, somebody get this girl a drink........
 
Jim-Years ago, I organized a group here in town and we committed to a 6 week run of ads in a local rag. The firt thing we, smartly, did was to have everyone prepay.

Then, it went downhill.

We couldn't agree on things as simple as font style, nuch less a campaign. 8 fiercely indepedent retailers running different types of frame shops-mamma mia. what a nightmare

And, to think each of us were absolute mavens in advertising

Don't think we were? All you had to do was to ask us-We would have all told you so

Would I ever do it again?

What do you think
 
Originally posted by Emibub:

I don't know what is worse, being the one who has no idea the freight train is coming or to be the one who sees it and can't quite get off the tracks.
You mean THAT'S what that light at the end of the tunnel is?? :eek:
 
If we have a vehicle in place such as PPFA and PMA, and we don't utilize it, who's fault is that?? I think we need to address the "WHY" of why we couldn't or won't pony up the "elite" level of dues to have a national campaign that the gurus at PPFA/PMA would run. No bickering on fonts, style, etc. The Board or subcommittee would decide - these are the individuals that we vote into place to run our organization.

Am I missing something here??

Bob, I do think it is more difficult to do this at the smaller local level - I can't get my merchants association to agree or show up to the meetings half the time. No one wants to stand up for what they believe in, in a face to face situation, they just want to B*tch. Go figure

my 2 cents
 
I am glad this idea has generated enough interest and discussions.

Let us though look at some concerns that have been mentioned:

Cost: TV ads, national and regional: Those are not cheap, But I don't think hammering the consumer with ads is the point here. Ads should run before major holidays (how many do we really have when people go out and buy gifts? 4, 5?? And occasional ones to keep people aware. So we are not talking ads ad nauseum, like the "Can you hear me now?" and "Having that MasterCard card to buy junk, priceless" crap. We should have strategic advertising, not saturation advertising. And it could be less than what you think if enough people join the campaign.

I advertise in newspapers and direct mailing (coupons). I would divert most, possibly all this money to the membership, because it reaches a wide audience, and it gives me web presence. And if somebody Googles for a frame shop in New Canaan, well, they'll find me. More people Google these days than open their junk mail or the phone book to look for a framer.

Agreeing on fonts, colors, whatever. These could be done through consensus. Just like we do polls here, we submit those and let the paying members vote. If 90% want hard-rock music to accompany the TV ad, well, so be it!

The consumer has to know that fine custom framing is alive and well. And that it could be affordable; it can preserve someone's art. It could restore and conserve grandma's favorite painting, etc.

And those people who do these things are us, private little shops that are in their neighborhood who contribute to the local economy, the community and the local tax base.
 
For me - the problem with Framer Select was it wasn't available in Canada.
 
Paul's idea sounds good but needs lots of fine tuneing. What is wrong with a web site that people can purchase from? If every frame shop who joins for a fee wants to advertise one item for sale, why not? How about two items or three? Many, many of us sell our own prints, specialty mats, etc. Heck, shops in the boonies like mine would never get an inquiry for framing but I just might sell a special mat or a print. A percent of the sales would go to the site. Hmmm, understand? We could have our own little eBay! Think BIG ! Well, of course I'm not real serious but if we all throw in ideas, maybe something will develop.
 
Just an thought, but wouldn't it be nice if the major suppliers such as Larson, Omega, et al., were to run media campaigns that instill the benefits of custom framing to the general public? These campaigns would no doubt train the public to ask their local framer for "Geniune Larson Juhl, Omega, frames only", etc.
 
I think we could get some great sponsors who supply to all the areas that the members are from.

Larson Juhl and perhaps Frameguild.
 
Ken: isn't that what Larson does in their ads in Architectural Digest and other higher-end pubs like that I know several customers have come in with these ads cut out requesting the frames they've seen in the mags.

Unless you mean something more in-depth.
 
Michael:

I guess I was thinking more along the lines of a television and/direct mail campaign. High end publications are great, but frankly, I really doubt if most of my customers read that sort of magazine.

A campaign geared more towards the middle income "masses" that educated the consumer about quality custom framing.

Just a thought...
 
Its all a great idea but just as an example, of the almost three thousand registered on this site I would guess at best that maybe 200 participate with any regularity. It would be a very uphill quest to get a significant number of all framers to commit financially to fund a national TV campaign of any kind. As Bob has pointed out getting a mere 8 to agree on content was a nightmare. What would be the results from just the diverse few who post here?
 
Thinking perhaps I should move the shop to China and beat WalMart to the ready-made crowd, but of course I'd need to lower quality standards and prices. Folks are spending less overall and bargain hunting more these daze. Business has ebbed and flowed, mostly the former these past several months. Have used the copious spare time restructuring my business objectives, cost cutting and re-org. All that has started to pay-off. No more break even jobs, free-bees or one hour looky lookers, oh yea, and NO MORE ready made fittings, you buy it at Home Goods or WalMart then by all means have them fit it for less.
 
I had a customer in today with ready mades from Michael's that she needed mats to be cut. Guess they shut down new orders today. Last year once the 2 BB's stop taking orders I had all kinds of bargain hunters come in.
 
Welcome to the grumble ShadowBoxIt
 
Originally posted by ShadowBoxIt:
and NO MORE ready made fittings, you buy it at Home Goods or WalMart then by all means have them fit it for less.
Charge enough for it, eventually they will come around.
 
Well the memo finally arrived. It was stuck between an insurance bill, phone bill and rent receipt.

Dec 24th 1:00 PM, last order picked up. I am closing down until January 2nd.

Dec 05 v Dec 04.... Down 35%

Where's the Eggnog? Oh heck, just gimmie the rum bottle!

Grumble, grumble, grumble...

Hope everyone else is having a better season.

Sincerely,

Merry Christmas to all!
 
We, on the other hand, welcome 'mat only' jobs. I used up lots of scrap. Since the Wizard, these jobs are like picking up money on the ground. Are these people going to be so grateful that we will get all their framing forever? Heck, no... they are cheap and real do-it-themselfers. (I know this because I recognise sisters and brothers of the breed. I make lots of stuff myself because I have a general idea how, and I am too cheap to pay someone else to do it.) But they gave us their money last week, and they will give it to me next time they need to 'farm out' some part of their job. I know that what I am charging will make me money even if I have to cut into a new matboard. So, it's all money... and I want them to give it to me! It looks like this year is somewhat better than last, but we have to wait until next year to really hit it big! (Aren't retailers incredibly optimistic?)
 
Ellen:

I do occasionally (once, twice a month) get questions whether we carry ready made / pre-cut mats.

I have lots of scrap, but what colors would you have ready and what sizes?

Somebody called yesterday for a ready-made 9 x 13!! Many assume that ready mades come in every size possible.

I will not drop everything run downstairs, look up the exact mat color they want, fire up the Wizard and cut a mat, for $10; it is really not worth it.

If we're talking cutting standard sizes and in every color (as long they are black or white...) then it makes sense, maybe.
 
I'm with you Ellen

Both on the practical side and the optimistic side

And, yes, it is a retailer thing
 
We could do a ready-made 9x13! (We carry sectional frames as well as ready mades) As to the colors we carry... well, we keep scraps over 12" on the short side. So we almost always cut these quick-and-dirties from scrap =found money. And we sell them glass. And we give them a handout on 'how to frame your artwork yourself'. These folks aren't going to go for 'real custom framing' so I might as well make what I can off of them... And what a PLEASURE when they ask with trepidation "How long will it take" and I can tell them 10 minutes, (when they were expecting me to say 3 days) during which time they wander around and sometimes find more things to buy... I also carry commercially made pre-cut mats, but those I buy in about 10 standard sizes and 6 colors. I don't even think about trying to guess what the public wants and wasting time guessing wrong...
 
I need to thank Ellen for her Furst Brothers referral for Readymade frames - THANK YOU!! I sold a lot of these the past two weeks and then upsold mats, and acid free foamcore for the package. I had a lot of NEW people come in looking for frames and mats and help with their projects. To me, this was found money, because they probably wouldn't have been in the market for custom at this time of year anyway. Any time I can get new faces in the store, I view them as future custom framing customers, or repeat customers for the readymades.

We were up in 2005 over 2004 for custom framing. We realigned our products from gift/gallery type items, and became more focused in our product lines for framing. I think the realignment is serving us well, and am looking forward to a good 2006.

Here's to a GREAT 2006

Elaine
 
I gladly cut mats for people.

If I'm not in the middle of something I do it while they wait. That does impress them.

Some of their money is worth a lot more than none of their money.

It also creates good will.
 
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