Pen turners take a good look

Rob Keeble

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So....many guys turn great wood pens. Some have shown us they can take this skill and have truned it into an art form with what they have done.

Repeatedly i have witnessed the cry that "i cant get that in my market or for my pens"

For years i have held off saying something about this issue because its hard to get people to understand a subject like selling through this medium.

But ...then i came across this guys kickstarter project and thought ....Rob show the wood pen turners and give them a chance to see a sample of someone that makes pens and demonstrates how to sell a pen.

So take a look but keep in mind selling is a science and just like you learned the skills involved in turning a pen so do u need to learn to sell to get your price.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cogentuk/titanium-pen-ultimate-high-end-pen-for-everyday-ca

Note u may not like his pen, you may not like his style, liking it has nothing to do with it . Take a look at the technique of selling.
 
You are right. Bottom line is it is just another pen. The selling style is the genius. Actually, not a new genius idea. It is the same sales pitch used to sell hair growing miracle salve or many-many other products. Only the words for the item are changed around. The kickstarter concept is currently a fad concept. I suspect it will not last long.
 
I disagree Frank that it is only a fad. It falls into a new category called crowd funding that is growing at an incredible rate.
To me it demonstrates the failing in our banking system.

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Yep, he's using a classic "back of the magazine" sales pitch. ;)

Crowdfunding is a fad? Sort of like the Winchester Repeating Rifle is a fad, right? :D
 
i also think this crowd funding is growing. i have in the last month seen over 4 different sites that have worked for others.. there are alot of good folk out there willing to help others in one form or another if they have some spare coin..
 
Heheh, his sales pitch doesn't really work for me mostly because I've seen it to many times so I sort of have a knee jerk negative reaction. Its a good one though and clearly worked for a lot of other folks.

There are a couple of things I thought were interesting:
  • he continually called out how he'd been previously successful
  • repeating the "best" thing over and over and over and over
  • differentiating the product from the competition very clearly

It sort of reminds me of the company (VentMatic) that made my beer tap handles, they milled them out of solid stainless steel and are entirely beautiful! They shortly thereafter went out of business - partially due to some patent issues but mostly because of the cost delta[1]. The knock off which is the Perlick/Shirron is cast and then ground and has much rougher internal finish (better than it used to be) lives on. I was pleased to have been able to grab some of the last of the ventmatics made so .. maybe I'm not entirely immune to this either :rolleyes: (in my defense when I bought them it wasn't clear that you could get any other forward seal taps ongoing and the forward seal is indeed clearly superior).

[1] Nominally coming back again years later (not actually holding my breath): http://www.chicompany.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3277
 
Well any one here selling $75,000 in pens? Hes had about a $10,000 gain since Rob posted this. Marketing seems to be working...like it or not. ;-)

I met a guy who claimed he sold ~$100k+ worth of (turned) pens last year in NC (plus some other stuff he enjoyed more but pens payed the bills). I believed him because he was in _all_ of the gift shops on that section of the parkway and he was fairly forthcoming on his time per pen and wholesale price. He could whip out a pen quicker than I can get a blank prepped.. He was also a retired marketing exec who clearly understood that side of the business really well so I'm sure that had a non trivial impact on the situation :D
 
Ryan that is the point ..pros and hobbyist woodworkers are not by nature marketeers or salespeople. The guys that do get those disciplines and what makes them work well they make money period.

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Ryan that is the point ..pros and hobbyist woodworkers are not by nature marketeers or salespeople. The guys that do get those disciplines and what makes them work well they make money period.

Yeah this fellow was interesting because he had both sides down pretty good and had fairly effectively productionalized both his pen and other turnings and also had the marketing side down pat.
 
At what point is a person that can turn but hates the marketing afford to hire a marketing person? Is it a dollar amount? Does the marketer work on sales commission or straight pay or????
 
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