Start off your next jewelry show on your best foot – have a budget, state your goals

My early jewelry shows felt like a rush of nervousness, and a complete lack of understanding about what I was supposed to be getting out of each show. Some were amazing, others seemed meh, and I wasn’t tracking any of the information coming in. Because of this, I couldn’t really step back and see how well or poorly my sales strategies were working until I understood what story the numbers were telling.

After a number of shows that “went really well!” or “only sold a few things” I did a ruthless assessment of my numbers. What I spent, what the pieces cost me (after all, everything I sell has a replacement cost), transportation, booth fees, displays and more.

Take a detailed look at your budget and your numbers

Here was what I learned from taking the ruthless examination approach:

• A show that I thought had been meh, was actually super profitable and netted me a client who would go on to buy from me over the course of 10 years.

• A trade show that I thought had been one of my better ones actually wasn’t. The real numbers told me that it took about 2 years to reach a breakeven point thanks mostly to reorders from one account and not from sales at the show.

• A trade show that I thought was a flop was, in fact, a flop.

• A craft show that I thought was just OK had actually netted me 20+ active email subscribers and the exposure on their website directed traffic and sales for almost a year after.

What could you learn from the same analysis? How would it help you make future decisions about your business?

Match your jewelry sales goals to your pricing

Here is the other way this examination helped me – I confirmed that my pricing wasn’t “too high”. It confirmed that my pricing was meeting my needs and covering my ass overhead and COGS. It confirmed that I wasn’t underselling my work and leaving money on the table.

Get the Show Decider – budgets and calculators to help you plan your next show – only $10!

Was this scary to start? It sure was! I was avoidant with my numbers for a while and didn’t want to face the facts that I needed to sell so much more to make some of these shows worth it – I was avoiding knowledge.

So I took baby steps. One day of looking at my expenses. One day of waffling back and forth between two different set ups for a show and the budgets involved, one day of letting myself imagine both my best case and my worst case scenarios.

Use your budget to help you meet your jewelry show sales goals

The results were greater clarity on what and how I should be making at each show – it helped me set my minimum and maximum goals at any show. It showed me that I didn’t need to discard the silver segment of my collection, but I did make sure that my silver prices were highly profitable and worth my time to make them.

Here’s a real world example of a time that I used a system like my Show Decider to plan not just for a show, but to plan WHICH shows to do:

A little background – there used to be a more robust network of regional trade shows (RIP San Francisco Gift) and while some still exist, many have closed down.

These shows were:

• Smaller than the big Las Vegas and New York shows.

• Kind of junky, to be honest.

• Full of cash and carry merchandise – meaning lots of mass-produced goods.

• Not targeted at my ideal client at all.

• Cheap! If the NY shows are around $4800-$5500 for a very basic 10×10 booth, these were more like $900-1500, plus I wouldn’t need a hotel room or a flight.

And hey, it happened to be extra-super-convenient that one of them was a 10 minute walk from my studio, and in my mind, that meant it couldn’t be worse than spending many more thousands to fly across the country and still not making my booth fee back.

A trusted friend in the jewelry industry advised me to go ahead and do it – after all, I could afford to lose $900. I could afford that a lot more than I could afford to lose thousands on a travelling show, so what was the harm at testing these waters?

Using this budget process to make better choices in my jewelry business

I did the math, made sure that I’d survive a zero-sales show, took the plunge, and you might be surprised at what happened:

I profited at a trade show. Like actual, measurable profit. Money. For me.

A $900 table fee netted me $4000 in orders and that was actual profit sticking around in my actual business!

I did the math after this show just to be sure, but it was true – the local show, the one that was supposed to be slow (to be honest, it was, but it had pretty good buyers), that lacked prestige accounts, that was not a great show to look at, wound up being one of my most profitable. I was able to take that money and churn it back into my business to take it to the next level (at the time, hiring someone to edit my photos for my website), and also pay myself.

How this budget helped me prioritize profit

If I had made this same amount at one of the NY shows, it would have meant losing money. But when I prioritized profit, it made the biggest difference in my business.

That’s what a mini-course like this Show Decider can help you do – figure out when a show is worth it, and when it’s time to cut your losses. It takes the thinking off your plate.

This was one of many moments that taught me to prioritize profit because it allowed me so. Much. Flexibility.

And I couldn’t have recognized that flexibility if I hadn’t looked at my numbers, my budget, and my costs to make the jewelry for all of these orders. These numbers helped me recognize the abundance right in front of me and helped give direction to my business.

Use this Show Decider with budgets and calculators to help you do the same!

This kind of calculation can be step one in prioritizing profits over prestige, what will step two be for you?