New woodwork business

[Wood24]

Hello, after injury ive had to switch from installing bathrooms to making carpentry items, I now made items for the garden, bird houses, feeders and other wildlife pieces from a workshop at home. Have sold some on Etsy and 1 on Facebook but despite constant adverts I just cant seem to get sales going ! I have even contacted all local garden centres but not one has come back to me. Thinking of contacting schools also. Its a bit frustrating as I have some lovely well made items and all my sales on Etsy so far have 5 star reviews. Am I missing something or doing something wrong , or will it just take time? I started it 2 months ago. Thank you

 

[Wood24]

Can I add, I am new to this site so was not sure if I can show you my website if it is allowed. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Mark T Jones]

As many have discovered 'the internet' manages to be both infinite and incredibly crowded!

To get things rolling, why not try selling at shows, fetes etc as the season starts.

I can't comment on specific platforms, but if you are selling online it really is important to differentiate yourself and to define your ideal customer

I believe there is a big garden centre exhibition each year at the NEC - cou could also try just turning up at some local independent ones

 

[simon field]

Hello, after injury ive had to switch from installing bathrooms to making carpentry items, I now made items for the garden, bird houses, feeders and other wildlife pieces from a workshop at home. Have sold some on Etsy and 1 on Facebook but despite constant adverts I just cant seem to get sales going ! I have even contacted all local garden centres but not one has come back to me. Thinking of contacting schools also. Its a bit frustrating as I have some lovely well made items and all my sales on Etsy so far have 5 star reviews. Am I missing something or doing something wrong , or will it just take time? I started it 2 months ago. Thank you

Have you tried any local neighbourhood sites? There was a young chap on one of these near me (Nextdoor I think it was called) and he was making really stunning looking gothic-style birdhouses etc. He was completely inundated with work!

Also, website reviews on here are only available to full members.

Good luck.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

How are you contacting the local garden centres, the best way is to arrange a meeting and take some samples, also allow for the garden centre to make 100% profit or more on what you sell to them

In my area it seems that half the villages have small trade fairs at a few pounds a table for the day, also car boot sales or local market could be a good outlet but be prepared to go each week

Depending on your front garden you could display some items from dawn to night there although eventually the local council may get involved and try and charge you for the privilege

Online selling you need lots of great images and a story to tell to get people to want to buy from you, you will have plenty of competition unless you stand out from the rest

 

[MOIC]

Are your products sufficiently different to warrant retailers to stock and consumers to buy?

I suggest your local market first to keep your expenses low. That will give you a good idea of consumer interest and you can discuss features they like/dislike face to face.

 

[simon field]

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0b8dhiWbQWm9EIPl10VDE00-w

Sorry, I’ve messed up the link somehow but you should still be able to see the pic?

 

[Wood24]

Thanks, can see the pic thats really nice.
We have just emailed garden centres with photos and the website link. Should we just try turning up or email to arrange a meeting thanks

 

[Mark T Jones]

Thanks, can see the pic thats really nice.
We have just emailed garden centres with photos and the website link. Should we just try turning up or email to arrange a meeting thanks

You need to be a little more strategic

starting with which garden centres? If Haskins were to placce an order,, could you supply them.

Why not start by visiting some local ones, seeing what they offer, how you are different and how you can supply them?

 

[WaveJumper]

You could also try independent pet shops & general stores and this maybe off the wall but we have a few independent petrol garages around here who seem to sell everything but kitchen sinks on their forecourt.

 

[MBE2017]

MOIC has given great advice above, get yourself onto a couple of markets, talk to the end customer, get feedback, see it as market research.

You will be able to see the level of interest, find out price expectations, any quality issues, or if people even want them.

 

[fisicx]

Can I add, I am new to this site so was not sure if I can show you my website if it is allowed. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Reviews and comments on websites are reserved for full members.

But to answer your question: chap near us puts them up in his front garden and sells from his house. He will help nail it to your tree if you ask. Loads of people talk about him on nextdoor.

 

[Wood24]

Thanks some useful ideas here, much appreciated

 

[Davek0974]

You sound pretty much where i was some years back - i was metalwork though not woodwork. I made hanging basket brackets, fire-pits, house-numbers and other garden style stuff.

I started out with eBay and Amazon plus my own website/shop. Things were slow but it was making pocket money at least, I then asked here about expanding like you did, I had similar great responses too.

I can recommend a local town market if you have one, get a stall booked, take some items, business cards, flyers etc and see how it goes. Don't expect miracles, i was more happy to give out leaflets and chat. I also monitored web traffic on my site and it did increase.

After about months sales started taking off, I was still in fulltime employment though so it meant long days and all weekends used up but that was great as the orders were growing. The business was self-funding after about 9 months and i started taking back some payment. Feedback from customers was the best growth media - mostly eBay, i also had a FaceBook storefront which helped too.

I did approach local garden centres but after analysing the deals requested passed it up as the margins were simply not worth the hassle, I was competing against cheaper stuff so my products had to be better to gain sales and it meant i could not supply to garden centres as well as sell myself so i concentrated on my own web site, had some help from members here and designed a tidy little store which served me well.

Get your family in on it - word of mouth is very powerful. I ran my business for 12 years and the last 6 years as a sole employment as the day job closed down. It was absolutely manic and I could hardly keep up some weeks. two years ago I retired early at 56 and closed the business down. I didn't have much choice as arthritis was making shifting steel sheets hard and at times dangerous.

I say try a market stall, spring is here so now is the peak time, don't sell yourself short, if your products are a cut above the rest then people will buy - concentrate on bigger sale value rather than loads of cheaper items - its less work and more profitable. Keep adding new products and announce on places like facebook when you do.

It can be done and its great when it works

 

[Wood24]

Thanks that gives me hope! I have listed on EBay but nothing yet, Etsy has been where the sales have come from. Amazon just seemed way too expensive to sell on so scrapped that idea for now. Just hoping we can get more known in the local area then build up from there.
Thanks

 

[Davek0974]

I dumped Amazon after 4 years, it was too hard to maintain and the returns were low. My own web store was the main place for me

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Get on the knocker and visit a few independent garden centres with a couple of samples. The experience and knowledge gained will be invaluable.

If I were you I'd be asking if there is a gap in the market for higher quality. £500 Dovecotes etc., rather than trying to compete with established low end suppliers.

 

[MBE2017]

Get on the knocker.... I can tell which generation you are from lol.

Too many people have forgotten the old ways.

 

[Davek0974]

If I were you I'd be asking if there is a gap in the market for higher quality. £500 Dovecotes etc., rather than trying to compete with established low end suppliers.

Yes, never, ever try to compete with the low-ballers, you will either lose or die trying. The hanging basket bracket business is rife with £3.99 brackets - I could not even get the steel for that much let alone bend it, weld it and coat it. I succeeded with higher quality brackets in the £12.99 to £24.00 range based on size. Custom designs were also a big thing, people love bespoke stuff.

 

[Wood24]

Thanks, our planters are more expensive as very sturdy and all mortice and tenon joints, they are price data over £100 but you can get cheap £20 ones banged together with some rough nails ! A few people locally have said they love the planters but were looking for something cheaper .
We did wonder if we should offer a cheaper range as well as the more upmarket range?
Dovecoats are an idea, have all the tools in the workshop so will see what can be done.

At the moment the website has about me and the photo gallery but not set up yet to order via the site, this is more expensive and we have only sold a few items so far !

 

[fisicx]

Forget the website for now. Think local. As suggested, local markets, promote on local websites, samples in garden (or friends garden). People ordering online will be looking for cheap. Similar in most garden centres. Consider a delivery and setup service. You position and fill the planter.

It’s about getting out and being seen. People will pay for quality if they can see and touch.

 

[Wood24]

Ive just contacted local bee keepers and pest control as we did sell some bumble bee homes to one a while back, out of 5 , 3 replied but only 1 said they would let their customers or anyone asking know that we do bumble bee homes so I have suggested sending them some business cards.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Thanks, our planters are more expensive as very sturdy and all mortice and tenon joints, they are price data over £100 but you can get cheap £20 ones banged together with some rough nails ! A few people locally have said they love the planters but were looking for something cheaper .
We did wonder if we should offer a cheaper range as well as the more upmarket range?
Dovecoats are an idea, have all the tools in the workshop so will see what can be done.

At the moment the website has about me and the photo gallery but not set up yet to order via the site, this is more expensive and we have only sold a few items so far !

Time is money lost, every one mortice and tenon joints but maybe a steel angle plate is a option to reduce time and cost. does not have to be one option you can offer both

Produce a number of items at the same time mini production, saves a lot of time making say 6 of the same in one go rather than one at a time

 

[Wood24]

Yes made 10 bird houses in one go recently as Etsy showed 9 people had them in their baskets! Then they all disappeared from the baskets but, have a good stock now all ready to go

 

[Davek0974]

Thanks, our planters are more expensive as very sturdy and all mortice and tenon joints, they are price data over £100 but you can get cheap £20 ones banged together with some rough nails ! A few people locally have said they love the planters but were looking for something cheaper .
We did wonder if we should offer a cheaper range as well as the more upmarket range?
Dovecoats are an idea, have all the tools in the workshop so will see what can be done.

At the moment the website has about me and the photo gallery but not set up yet to order via the site, this is more expensive and we have only sold a few items so far !

If you are that way inclined, the web store can be done pretty well by yourself, i used to do it in the evenings while relaxing a little. I used Wordpress for the site, WooCommerce for the shop and had Paypal and Credit/Debit via Stripe payments and it all worked well.

As many here will likely tell you, content is key, quality photos, well worded texts, a snappy home page, keep it simple and clean. The site was hosted on a fast server/host but at a budget cost, i had my own domain name too, not a GoDaddy type mess (been there done that).

 

[Davek0974]

Yes made 10 bird houses in one go recently as Etsy showed 9 people had them in their baskets! Then they all disappeared from the baskets but, have a good stock now all ready to go

Ignore the baskets it rarely ever pans out to sales, maybe one in ten if lucky.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Get on the knocker.... I can tell which generation you are from lol.

Too many people have forgotten the old ways.

...and proudly so

My guess is that a kitchen fitter used to dealing with Mrs Ponsonby Hobbs, who's ready to criticise every blemish, every misaligned mitre, would be turning out some pretty decent quality stuff. He needs to take his showroom to potential buyers and shove it in their faces

I typed up the above last night but forgot to hit the send button.......but now see this...

Thanks, our planters are more expensive as very sturdy and all mortice and tenon joints, they are price data over £100 but you can get cheap £20 ones banged together with some rough nails !

It seems like you are introducing quality to a product that doesn't demand it? If a customer wants longevity they have the option of ceramic or stone. If they want wood then there is no reason why a lower priced option should fall to bits simply because it's not morticed and tenoned.

For the record, for a number of years I sold wooden garden products for Larch-Lap, later to be bought out by Forest Fencing, who primarily drove the idea of DIY Pergolas, carry out sheds, planters, hanging baskets etc., That was 30 years ago and I still have a softwood untreated basket in usable condition!

 

[MBE2017]

Thanks, our planters are more expensive as very sturdy and all mortice and tenon joints, they are price data over £100 but you can get cheap £20 ones banged together with some rough nails ! A few people locally have said they love the planters but were looking for something cheaper .
We did wonder if we should offer a cheaper range as well as the more upmarket range?

You need to listen to this feedback, the people are telling you they are not prepared to pay for your product, despite its obvious quality. You cannot force people to buy, you can only make it possible to buy.

One product that is made a lot in my area is a wheelie bin store, to hide the big ugly bins in. Don’t make it with mortise and tenons, make it good enough to last say five years, people normally are not prepared to pay such a premium as say five fold the cost.

If you cannot make a living at the lower cost, then you simply don’t have a potential business, without sales it is all pointless.

 

[fisicx]

A Local business does outdoor wood stores. Unplaned treated timber he assembles on site in an hour. He makes the panels and roofs in a shed on demand. As @MBE2017 said, you need to sell what people want to buy not what you want to make. The local garden centre sells planter kits for about £30. The sell hundreds of the things. That’s the sort of market you need to get into if you want to make money. The local chap doing nest boxes and bird feeders knocks them out using scrap wood and old pallets. That’s his angle: recycled material. They are all sorts of odd colours but that’s the charm of them, very eco friendly.

 

[MOIC]

I used to drive a lot around Oxfordshire on the A & B roads and often found in the spring and summer months, sellers on the side of the road selling wood products, such as overgrown toadstools, unusual gnomes, animal cages etc etc.

Interesting and no expenses . . . . . unless a council member tells you to move on.

 

[MOIC]

That’s his angle: recycled material. . . . . . . . . very eco friendly.

This!

 

[Mark T Jones]

@MBE2017 says may or may not be correct - the real point is that your version of quality isn't want matters - The only thing that matters is what your customer wants.

They are unlikely to jump up a with excitement about dovetail joints, but tey might be swayed by added longevity, or just by the visual detail. Which is where your marketing focus neds to be.