When doing shows do you really need to do demonstrations?

[genek]

What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of doing Demostrations.

Advantages of doing demonstrations is it let the customer know and see how you make
Products. Sometimes it brings in buyers that normally would not come into your booth. It is a crowd stopper.

The disadvantages are.
It let’s your competitor or soon to be competitors see how you make product.
Wear and Tare on the equipment, and the operator.
Liability of someone getting hurt.
Possible damage to equipment at the show as well as in transit.
Having to constant set up and tare down of machine.
You have to have two people present during show. (one to do Demo’s the other to do Sales, You lose more sales while you are doing a demo than most realize. You need someone watching equipment while you go to lunch or to the Bathroom.

Theft of equipment. (this can happen on a in-door show as well as a out-door show.

I used to do demonstrations at shows. I had the normal guards in place on the equipment, however Murphy showed up. I was turning a candle stick, My gouge broke went over the guard, over the clear wall I had between the customers and the equipment, hit a lady in the crowd. It cut her across the noise and face bad enough to have to have Stitches. I went to the Hospital where she was taken I paid for the Doctor and Hospital bills, Told the lady I was sorry. I thought everything was going to be ok.

Then two weeks latter I got a call from her Attorney. They ended up collecting over $150,000.00 in damages from my insurance company. Luckily I had a rider to cover accidents when I was doing shows.

After that I quit doing demonstrations while doing show.
The little bit of added sales was not worth what I had experienced.

If you plan on doing demonstrations at shows or in your shop, remember that Murphy can show up at anytime. Have insurance to cover yourself.

[harryball]

That's why I use YouTube. I can buy a new camera a lot cheaper than some lady's attorney's new car.

It works really well, you can find our channel on YouTube by searching for h4bats. I'll be adding more videos over the next few months. Most of mine stand pretty well over time. We got a fair amount of orders from the videos. It's sort of a "show on demand" for those that want to watch.

As for the competitor's learning how I build them, well I'm not too worried about that. Most give up when they see the complexity and quality that goes into them. I've had a few try to reverse engineer and a few copycats over the years, but none are willing to put in the required effort to get the quality where it needs to be. People can spot someone who is in it for the cash and doesn't love bats, that helps too.

/RB

[genek]

Mr. Ball that is a good Point. I use a digital picture frame now. this way customers can see how things are made, with out the danger or totally showing how they are made. Doing demonstrations with cnc, lasers and other equipment that is computer controlled sometimes hurt your sales. The ones that want to buy hand made will not buy from you, where as if they just see the product and they like it: they will buy. most do not ask if it is hand made, Those that do I explain the full process from start to finish. I might have one or two a year to ask. Most just say that had to take a lot of time. I just nod and tell them it took some time.

[shilala]

I have always thought demonstrations were a bad idea for just one reason.
Folks see what you're doing and see "how easy" it is. They also think "Wow, that only took five minutes". They (as do I) equate difficulty and time spent as a part of value.
Folks (and again, I'm guilty) don't take into mind the tremendous cost of equipment, a place to put it, consumables, etc.
Hell is, I know better. We all do. I know how long it takes me to build a desk or piece of furniture and my machines save time, but they also allow me to do things that I'd not be able to do, or would take such an incredible amount of time that nobody could ever afford what I've made.
I think it's best to leave that "mystery" factor in there.
Case in point...
I use one of your little sugar scoops all the time, Gene. I have no idea how you made it. I just know you made it by hand, and I love it. It's got that special component to it that I appreciate in things people make that you don't get from factory cranked stuff.
And I know you made it with your tools and your skill, and it probably took you an hour to make 100 of them. Doesn't matter. There's still that "special something" there.

Lisa uses every bit of the stuff you made and gave to her while you were here. Same reason. You made it, it's special, and it's appreciated for it's craftsmanship.
If we watched you crank them out, I think that factor would be either diminished or lost altogether. I'm not sure of that, but at least you know where I'm coming from. :)

[genek]

I have always thought demonstrations were a bad idea for just one reason.
Folks see what you're doing and see "how easy" it is. They also think "Wow, that only took five minutes". They (as do I) equate difficulty and time spent as a part of value.
Folks (and again, I'm guilty) don't take into mind the tremendous cost of equipment, a place to put it, consumables, etc.
Hell is, I know better. We all do. I know how long it takes me to build a desk or piece of furniture and my machines save time, but they also allow me to do things that I'd not be able to do, or would take such an incredible amount of time that nobody could ever afford what I've made.
I think it's best to leave that "mystery" factor in there.
Case in point...
I use one of your little sugar scoops all the time, Gene. I have no idea how you made it. I just know you made it by hand, and I love it. It's got that special component to it that I appreciate in things people make that you don't get from factory cranked stuff.
And I know you made it with your tools and your skill, and it probably took you an hour to make 100 of them. Doesn't matter. There's still that "special something" there.

Lisa uses every bit of the stuff you made and gave to her while you were here. Same reason. You made it, it's special, and it's appreciated for it's craftsmanship.
If we watched you crank them out, I think that factor would be either diminished or lost altogether. I'm not sure of that, but at least you know where I'm coming from. :)

Scott Thanks for the kind words. I am glad you and your wife use those kitchen items. I try to design things that are not just beautiful but are functional in use and as a decoration. Our time together will always be in my heart. I love learning from you.

[myxpykalix]

This is one of the pitfalls of demo'ing at a show or making during a show. To me it cheapens your product if they see you can make it in 2 minutes. "You want me to pay 10 bucks for something you made in 2 minutes?" is the attitude you get.

Several times people have asked me to design or cut something for them and i'll do it but tell them they have to come back in 2-3 hours and then cut it in an hour and charge a fair price.
It is rare that you will say to them...look i paid 10k for the machine, X amount for the material, it took X amount of time to make so i should get paid a fair wage"....and they say OK...

Let them think it took a long time, what they don't know won't hurt them...
then if you want to demo something, videotape it and edit it and play it on a monitor or laptop but slow the process down so they can see it is labor intensive.

[scottp55]

Yep. Can see why people would spend half an hour during a show having a video of a "Lobster Spoon" on a laptop or monitor vs. watching a spoon being carved for THEM in half an hour and lining up for them and selling 10 minutes off machine. Slow feeds and speeds.
Meanwhile, while the kids watch, You're talking!! Ran out of Biz cards! Major interest in Plaques for future retirements.
Small show! Kirks father (5'th generation chip carver sold nothing-- But he's megabucks at a local show).
Just saying-- unless it's a cartoon, hard to get this expression on a kid's face! (Shopbot photo), but Kirk has the same enclosure.

[feinddj]

The best response to the it only took you X minutes to do that:

It took me 30 years and 15 minutes to turn that balluster.

Dave Davolt, professional production woodturner.

I am lucky enough to share my shop with him. He has contractors and others who often say I would do it myself but....

He holds up the gouge and invites the person to turn one, just one, balluster in the same time. Your whole order will be free if you can.

To date, no takers and a lot of people who shut up quick.

D

[tri4sale]

I have a small wholesale bakery, and 2 times a year we do shows, and sample our breads. It makes all the difference in sales when we sample. We get the occasional person who tells us "I can make that at home."

My favorite is when the a daughter tasted banana bread, and really liked it, and asked her mom to buy some. Mom said "No, I can make that at home" and daughters reply was "yeah, mom, you can make it, but you won't, and if you do it won't taste as good, and you'll spend half the day in the kitchen" They ended up buying 4 loafs.

[harryball]

He holds up the gouge and invites the person to turn one, just one, balluster in the same time. Your whole order will be free if you can.

To date, no takers and a lot of people who shut up quick.
D


That's cool, I'm going to have to remember that one.

I get the occasional rude person that tells me things like "Oh, I'll just build a bat house myself" and "it looks easy enough" etc... ALL WHILE asking me a boat load of questions about how to build a bat house.

Now I'm OK with anyone building their own but when they add the attitude and gall I start to get a little testy (anyone that knows me might be surprised by that ;) ). I stop answering their questions like "how big are the chambers" and "what material should I use" and start replying "oh, it's easy enough to figure out"

/RB

[Brian Harnett]

I demo my chainsaw carving at some shows I am not worried about anyone figuring its easy. I usually carve stuff that takes a half hour or less birdhouses small bears ect.

Though, a lot of shows we do well at I don't demo so not sure about the effect on sales I used to think drawing a crowd would help.

I have performers insurance and my area is wrapped in deer fence the ones you got to watch for are the little kids that run around while the parents are glued to the cellphone.