Custom Makers Network?

[billymac814]

Would it be possible to start some sort of network, possibly maybe a seperate section on the forum where members can post what items they make or would be willing to make? This way say I get a customer who wants a wallet and its not something that I either specialize in or have the time to take on I could go find another member who does that would be willing to take it on. At this point I could either turn the customer over to whoever I'd recommend from the list or somehow mediate the transaction depending on the situation. I'm sure there would be some potential problems with something like this but if done correctly the problems should be rare and no different than normal business problems. I have somewhat of a local network similar to this where I do work for other companies, I charge my full rate and I'm sure they mark it up from there and they dont have to worry about their customers going somewhere else and others who just refer me to the customer and the customer comes directly to me and the other way around. It helps us all better serve our customers better by either providing more services or at the very least being able to refer someone who can. I don't have any other leatherworkers that make things though.

Any thoughts on this?

[Cyberthrasher]

We kind of have that with the "help wanted" section, but I'm always up for anything more specific between us all. If nothing else, I'll put my name out there right now as someone willing to take referrals.

[billymac814]

I thought about the help wanted section and maybe that can work but the problem I thought that that had is it isn't exactly instant. So if I get a customer in my shop that wants a wallet the best I can do is take their name and then create a post and wait to get a response then either send the customers info to them, send the makers info to the customer or explain what they want get a price contact the customer, get paid, go back to the maker... It just seems kinda hard for everyday business and frankly too much effort for most cases. Also who's to say who would respond, I wouldn't want to send a customer to someone who's just going to assemble a Tandy kit(no offense to those that use them). If we had a list of people who each had a list of services along with some pictures of their work, website, current wait times and any other pertinent info I could simply pull up the list, find someone and give them the contact info.

You could almost even choose someone in the customers price range if need be. Maybe I get a customer who doesn't want a super expensive item and isn't as particular about it, I could possibly pair them with a newer member who may be just starting out or someone that does just assemble Tandy kits who's price is lower.

If it were a seperate section of a forum I would think it should be somewhat blocked as far as posting in it so that it doesn't get jumbled up with posts, it should simply be a list of sorts, maybe with each participant having their own thread.

I turn down a pretty considerable amount of work which is what's making me think of this. Work that others may love to get and these customers may get something factory made or just forget about their idea when I turn them down.

We'd obviously have to use some common sense and not be trying to drop those "bad" jobs on people, like the customer who wants a holster than can be worn IWB, OWB, in the pocket, holds a spare mag and shoots spiderwebs.

Make sense or is this too big of an endevour?

Edited January 29, 2013 by billymac814

[Cyberthrasher]

It makes sense, I'm just wondering about the feasibility of it. it almost sounds like we would need a separate directory listing like we have for the vendors.

Now, tell me more about these holsters that shoot spider webs!!!

[billymac814]

Yes come to think of it I think there is some sort of directory for the members.

I may have exaggerated about spiderwebs but I certainly get my share of customers who have some pretty ridiculous ideas involving holsters. Usually ones that are more transformers than Spider-Man. I normally say that if you can't find the type of holster you want its because its probably a bad idea. There are very few truly original ideas left by now, good ones anyway. Everything is basically variations of some other design.

I do seriously turn down quite a bit of work though. Unfortunately though I can't take it all so I usually take either things that interest me or things I can make money on easily and I know that others can make things more efficiently than I can if they specialize in them. My main thing is holsters and belts where someone else may be bags and wallets and someone else may be guitar straps and rifle slings.

I could certainly build up my own network by checking out everyone's work on here and contacting them personally but I thought it would make more sense if we all could benefit from the idea.

[Cyberthrasher]

Yeah, I just found the directory listing for leatherworkers and checked it out. I think that might be the best thing to do, then maybe just keep a list of your preferred people. But, I'm up for something more out in the open on the forum too.

I'll add you to my holster list right now

[lowlife]

I also build turkey calls and am a member of someof the turkey hunt and custom call forums. There is one feller that is a collector. He compiled a list several years ago of all the call makers that we on the forums and posted them on the forum. He is religious about up dating them once a year as there is always call makers coming and going. But most of the guys that have been around awhile stay on it. most of know each other for the most part and I have folks that call and order something that I aint really good at making or dont have the supplies for refer them to someone on the list that I know is trust worthy. It works out really well. I dont refer them to anybody that Im not sure of or I havent heard or used one of their calls. I get some buisness from it and give some also. Works really well but you have to know who you are dealing with and the quality of their product.

Kehl

[EmbossingDieCompany]

Maybe the Admins (or someone else) could create a list of people that want to be on it by category (ie. holsters, purses, etc.) and then pin the list to the top of the Help Wanted section. Not sure if you would want it to be alphabetical or first come first serve,,,,,,because the people at the top of each section will always get contacted first.

[Cyberthrasher]

Here's the directory we already have. It's just a little cumbersome to find if you don't know about it. I had forgotten all about it until I went searching earlier.

I need to get my information added to it soon.

http://leatherworker.net/pmd/category/finished-leather-goods/

[billymac814]

I forgot completely about it as well until we started talking about it. Mine probably hasn't been updated in 2-3 years and I'm sure others are the same. Out of site out of mind kinda thing. I guess we will see what others think and who all would be interested in utilizing such a list. It sounds like a couple so far.

Here's the directory we already have. It's just a little cumbersome to find if you don't know about it. I had forgotten all about it until I went searching earlier.

I need to get my information added to it soon.

http://leatherworker.net/pmd/category/finished-leather-goods/

[Cyberthrasher]

I liked what Bobby Park did with his. He has the webpage link pointing back to his gallery here. That seemed like a pretty cool idea.

[lightningad]

Its a great idea, but i think the site would need a different kind of access for those who are not currently signed up.

I have tried to direct friends to gallery images in the past, only to be told they couldn't see anything without joining the site.

A marketing forum would be less effective if all it does is preach to the competition!

In fact - is it possible to allow non-members to view galleries, even if they can't view the discussion forums?

[azrider]

Hate to suggest it outside of the forum, but what about setting up a facebook group? I have had two inquires I couldn't help with this week, and refered them tot he help wanted section of this forum, but I sure would have rather sent them directly to another craftsman.

[lightningad]

Aaaarggghh! I hate Facebook!!

[billymac814]

I don't think personally that I'd just want to direct them to this site and be done with it, maybe in some cases that would be fine however I would rather be able to pick the person out for them. The Facebook group page would be a good idea, I would think we would want it to be a private group personally. That way we could talk openly if need be as well as having a list of members. The only problem with that would be that someone would probably have to set it up and manage it.

[billymac814]

Aaaarggghh! I hate Facebook!!

I used to despise Facebook and I still don't use it on a personal level and the people that spend their entire day on it I don't quite understand. I will say though getting a Facebook page for my business has proved to be a really good move. It allows me to stay in constant contact with my customers, they are able to see new items that I come out with or just other items that they may not know about. You would probably be surprised at how many people have and use Facebook, nearly every younger person does, most middle aged people and quite a few older people. I recently did a "how its made" type thing on mine where I documented the process of making a holster and it was received very well and I think it have the customer a new appreciation for what goes into making a good holster. This wasn't a "how to" as I didn't really tell them how to do it, just showed them each step.

[lightningad]

I have honestly never understood why anyone uses it. I tried but could not find anything useful on it, and dont even get me started on how un-navigable it is.

I realise it works for many, but i have no idea why!

[Johanna]

I'm okay with opening the Gallery to the public for viewing. Anyone have a problem with it?

I would rather improve the current Directory here than take a list off-site or make another FB group (I belong to 200+ that I've been added to and it's overwhelming) and generate interest for the members right here. LW is a powerful social media tool.

Tell me how we can improve the Directory to benefit the members.

~J

[Cyberthrasher]

Tell me how we can improve the Directory to benefit the members.

~J

I think a good step there would be to make it more known. Up until I went looking I had forgotten that we could have a free basic listing, and it took me a while to find it since I forgot that it was actually outside the forum portion. Maybe start with a link to it at the top of the forum. Something like the chat or calendar links.

As for the galleries being public, would it be possible for us to mark our individual folders as private or public? I know sometimes we post things in our galleries that aren't top-notch in order to get critiques and such - things that we may not want potential customers to see.

[Jwalker]

there are several great facebook groups as well as guilds and other email groups available to serve this purpose

[Bob Blea]

I like the idea of having a referral network like this, and I now realize I need to set up my own entry in the directory. Thanks all! One big question that comes to mind though is how do I convince the rest of you (as my potential referal sources) that I am a quality maker? It seems pretty subjective, and even if I have lots of postings showing nice looking work, it's hard to know what my quality really is like or how good of customer service I provide without some sort of feedback. I do think this is work pursuing. I don't make holsters but I know people who do good work that I would refer a customer to if someone asked me to make one. But in these case these are people I know personally and I know their work first hand.

Bob

[Cyberthrasher]

One big question that comes to mind though is how do I convince the rest of you (as my potential referal sources) that I am a quality maker? It seems pretty subjective, and even if I have lots of postings showing nice looking work, it's hard to know what my quality really is like or how good of customer service I provide without some sort of feedback.

With quality pictures, I can tell how good someone's work is. But, the customer service is something that would have to be based on a trust relationship. I think by having a good listing of people willing to trade jobs, it would be up to the individuals involved to built those relationships with each other.

[Bob Blea]

With quality pictures, I can tell how good someone's work is. But, the customer service is something that would have to be based on a trust relationship. I think by having a good listing of people willing to trade jobs, it would be up to the individuals involved to built those relationships with each other.

Sounds reasonable to me. I certainly don't see a better way to do it. I do really like the idea...

Bob

[billymac814]

I would much father keep it on site as well. I don't know if opening up the gallery to the public is exactly what I was thinking as far as the "network" is involved however that may be fine for certain customers but for my good customers I'd rather hand pick someone.

I agree that with good pictures I can tell the type of work someone does. Its not much different than ordering something online and that's how most of us sell our items. Customer service is something that could be documented if our directory listing had a comments section. I doubt anyone wants to get into developing a rating system as that would be a bit complicated.

There's a few instances where I'd probably like to not just send the customer away to someone else but instead commission someone to do it and handle everything for them. This would be only for the best customers and only if I didn't expect any issues. I'm not saying taking credit for anyone's work or anything like that.

I could have used this last night as a good customer came in looking for a checkbook cover which is something I don't normally do, especially in a softer leather which is what he wants. I ended up taking the job, I can do it and have the correct stuff to do it with but I'd probably rather have just given this to someone that may do this type of stuff on a regular basis as it'll take me longer to do.