# Selling furniture



## nate22 (Jul 12, 2010)

I have had my business for over four years now. I have done pretty well but I am looking how to get my name out there more. I have been doing craigslist for awhile but like some of the other guys on here people that go onto craigslist are looking for a deal or looking for stuff free. I did have a website made about 3 months ago and I have had people email me off of that. My wife has a cousin that is starting his own business building houses and doing remodeling. My question is would it be worth it to have him hand out my business cards to his clients or customers. If you have tried this or are doing it what have been your results from it. And if I do it should I make fliers or should I have business cards that he can hand out. Any opions will help.


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

If your cousin could do that kind of advertising for you, that would be great. Also, make a catalog with pictures and maybe prices too for the interested people. It could be one you show them and make a copy of the pages they are interested in. That would save printing costs for starters.

I hand out business cards at art and craft shows and get some business from it. I have also got orders form things they saw on Lumberjocks. So on my new business cards I listed my Lumberjocks address so they can look at it all if they wish. I do not put an offer to sell on Lumberjocks but I let them ask if I'll make one for them and it takes off from there.
You make a lot of beds so I would try to advertise in bedding and mattress stores. You have to be creative in marketing and advertising to "hook" the customer!! Get a working relationship with a good bedding store and tell them you will push their products with customers if they push yours.. I think you have an edge in that you can custom make anything they want. Some factories can't do that, it disrupts standard production too much. It is a good selling point for you….................Jim


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## nate22 (Jul 12, 2010)

thanks for the ideas Jim. I have been thinking of advertising to bedding and mattress stores. I will have to do that and see where it takes me.


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## nate22 (Jul 12, 2010)

Would it be worth it to hire some one like a sales person to market and sell my products that I make.


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## Tennessee (Jul 8, 2011)

One of the things I did was to get my name in a few appropriate magazines. I wrote an article for Fretboard Journal, and they put it online, sold about a dozen guitars off that article, which is now in it's fourteenth month and still going strong. 
I also got myself in the local paper as a local craftsman, they really ate it up, couple more guitars.
The more of your furniture you put out there, along with plenty of business cards and flyers with each sale, it should be a self fullfilling situation. I would also look into Guerilla Marketing, a great book that shows you how to leverage the Internet for no money. There is also a great book called Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day, which I found to be a great book that shows you how to get out there for almost nothing.
And lastly, I would take a good look at www.designer-woods.com. This outfit has made bandsaw boxes into just about an industry. They support multiple families off designs that most of us would consider average. But their marketing, along with the neat little videos, are very compelling.


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