Find a craft person to add to your products

By Bill Doran

Recently several of the ScubaBiz.Help Team were in Curacao, and while there, we attended a farm market to enjoy the local culture and art. The farm was called Hofi Moringa, and the market was filled with only locally made items; this was well worth attending. We enjoyed the food and purchased creative local crafts to decorate our condo.

Although there were many interesting booths, Karen, Kelly, Jean-Marc, and I noticed one stall. This table caught the attention of each of us, individually, with the large selection of underwater creatures and divers. I guess we are creatures as well. These homemade items were crocheted from wool by a lady that could be described as the perfect grandmother figure. Both she and her creations were truly remarkable.

The table also had many non-underwater items, but as professional divers looking for ideas to benefit scuba businesses, we were drawn to the underwater themes.

We discussed with her the time each model took for her to fabricate and the prices she charged. Wow, what value she offered. Her thoughts were simply that she enjoyed making these items and that she needed to sell them to make room for making more! As to the underwater themes, scuba divers and scuba lionfish hunters, well, that was her husband’s hobby, scuba diving and lionfish hunting.

This got us thinking! Could scuba businesses be enhanced by bringing in items from local crafters? Indeed, there is an artist or craft person in each of our areas. Could we not place their products in our store. These can be promoted as locally made and often placed on consignment as well. This could be a zero-cost way to fill in the empty spaces in your store or office and one where you can make money too.

Can this bring more people to my store, you ask? Yes!

How:

1. Promoting “locally made” will attract new people to your store that care about their community.
2. Remember that these craft people have friends and family who would share the news of their displays and successes. These friends and families have friends and families too. How many new people would come to your store?
3. Once in your store, you can present people with your courses and adventures. Remember that our mission is to get people into our store and sell them something.

 

Here is a crazy idea! Take some time and attend local events or craft shows in your area. Be a presenter or, better yet, have a table. So often, we all look at attending events full of competition for the same customer. For instance, how many of you have attended an adventure or boat show? These are filled with people all competing for the same customer. At a craft, you stand out and are not competing with the vendors. What is the worse that could happen? Some might stop by your table and ask why you are there. What an opportunity! Instead of people walking by your table, they may stop to talk. Turn a few of these conversations into course sales, and you are set!

Thank you, Een Knuffel Voor Ieder Kind / Dushi Amigurumi Curacao, for inspiring this article!