Network Marketing?

[Joe Jones]

I used to have eight vendor booths around Kentucky and Tennessee. I fed those booths with metal art and other things, and it was a bit of a task to keep them going.

HOWEVER ... that is mainly because I was making ALL of the metal art that I displayed "FOR SALE" in each booth.

I might be interested in doing the vendor booth thing again, but with a twist.

WHAT IF I were to open booths, and stock them with products made by other table owners? I would have a wider variety of items to display, and I would not be required to work endless hours in my shops to make them.

I am wondering if owners would be interested in some sort of consignment arrangement. You would make your widgets and trinkets, and put your price on them. Pack them up and send them to me. I would display them in my booths with a price tag on them, with a modest markup, to cover costs etc. When something sold, I would be paid by the booth vendor once per month, and forward an itemized list of what sold to each supplier, along with a check for those items that sold.

I would experiment a bit with pricing, but we would have a solid price set for the items you send to me, and I would only fluctuate the final tag price based on what moves, and where, and when. So if I decided to mark an item down by (n%) you would still receive the agreed price for the sold item, and I would just absorb the loss.

I am in a pickle here! I have more tools and machines than most people. I have just lost any desire to actually CUT anything with my plasma table, because of the simplicity of the process. It just isn't challenging! I do like nice metal art, and I would work hard to sell the stuff! I just don't want to go through the process of turning sheet metal into clocks, and planter boxes, and signs, and ... and ...

I do like the software, and I do like training people on how to USE DesignEdge. However, as far as PRODUCTION in the shops goes, I am shifting my focus to the lasers and the 3D printer, etc. Yes, the 510 cnc plasma table is here, and yes, I can mount a router which I enjoy using much MORE than a plasma torch to make things.

I am just wondering ... if I set up a dozen vendor booths here and there, and kept them stocked with the stuff YOU make, could that work?

Joe


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[cuttinparts]

I am not sure that scenario would work out well unless the folks providing you with the metal art were somewhat local. The cost of shipping these days is out to lunch and for large heavy steel pieces it would dig into someones profits to get them to you. Then the items that just are not moving would need to be shipped back further increasing costs. So that is the first problem i see with that but I can think of others. Not to be a party pooper but I just don't see that working out.

[Joe Jones]

Then the items that just are not moving would need to be shipped back further increasing costs. So that is the first problem i see with that but I can think of others. Not to be a party pooper but I just don't see that working out.

There would be no shipping back. You would set a price, and I would mark up the item to sell it. We would JOINTLY agree on a reduction of our original price points, perhaps once per month, until the item sold, and we would SHARE the reduced profits.

Yes, shipping costs are off the charts. Why do you think I keep asking people, "Where are you LOCATED?" It is because in certain situations, it would make sense to just deliver, the items to me, or have me go get them, or we could rendezvous at a half-way point!

There are other cnc plasma tables around me, but trying to figure out WHO has them and WHERE they are ... it is just ridiculous! For whatever reason, table owners are like dogs with bones. "You CANNOT know where another table is, or what is made on that table!

GRRRR!!! You will take away all of my business!" I see plasma tables near me as an ASSET, when a job comes along where a company wants 10,000 widgets made by Monday morning, I would be GLAD to contact the other guys near me and split up the job to meet the deadline! But NOPE! In the cnc plasma world it is ... MINE! MINE! ALL MINE!

Joe

[Joe Jones]

I am not sure that scenario would work out well unless the folks providing you with the metal art were somewhat local.

There are so many cnc plasma tables out there, that we could mount a wooden pole to each one and rebuild the wired telephone line system.

I have perhaps ten tables near me, within a two or three hour drive. Everyone is struggling to "make it" but no one wants to WORK TOGETHER!

Fun fact: Auto wrecking yards in SoCal were almost obsolete, until they all got together in the early 70s and decided that they needed to WORK TOGETHER to sell parts. So the radio system was created, and today they have the Internet, of course. I remember walking into a wrecking yard in Compton ... I would ask for something that THIS yard did not have. Rather than tell me "We ain't got one!" and force me to run all over six counties looking for the part among HUNDREDS of junkyards, he would grab a mic at the counter ... "Danny's Compton - Lookin' for a 100 Amp alternator for a 1971 Plymouth Fury ... 383 ..." A minute or two later ... "Oscars in Lawndale - $90" ... "Freds Salvage Long Beach - Two at $85.00 each"... So EVERY auto wrecking yard sold EVERY part, and they all made money by matching the customer to the part! I no longer needed to search for parts. I would just go to the local "automobile recycling center" and find out WHERE the part was waiting for me. They all made money, because the customer was standing at EVERY junkyard's counter.

Joe


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[cuttinparts]

Ah I see, makes sense. Still going to be tough to get folks to jump on board as you clearly already know.

[Joe Jones]

Yep.

[Joe Jones]

I think I would create something that has not yet been done, as far as I know.

I would set up an iPad at every booth, with cellular service. It would be in a secure pedestal mount, to prevent theft by ...

People would be able to browse the ENITRE inventory of all booths and the holdovers as well. They would have the option to enter a name and phone number, and request that an item from one booth be moved to another booth (within (n) days) for purchase. They would also be informed of the item's current location, in case they wanted to go get it there.

The iPad would offer a way to contact me, to inquire about custom requests ... "Can I get the 'Kitchen Muffins' plaque in red?"

Sales are less about giving people reasons to buy something, and more about eliminating their reasons NOT to buy it. I may even offer a FACETIME instant communication feature!

I like to do things differently.

Joe