Need help getting starting orders

i'm with royce on this one. start setting up sales calls with businesses. a sales call can be as elaborate or easy as you want it to be and worthy of another thread. i've not been on too many, which is too bad because the ones i have done have worked out pretty well. just like with women, it's all about sincerity ~ if you can fake that you've got it made. seriously, though, i believe some people are more apt towards that than others, so you have to determine whether or not that's something you can dig or if you some other cat can prowl the alleys more effectively. volumes and tomes have been written on the topic, but it think it boils down to the interaction between two *people* more than gimmicks.

anyway, i've never been a big proponent of handing out shirts with our name on it unless it's a design people would want to wear, and even then be selective about who you give them to. bar shirts, shirts work give you, that kind of thing i see all the time. lottery shirts, which i've given scores away over the years as we sell lottery tickets, i *very* rarely see, which is ironic considering those are more colourful and with a professional design. i can't explain it, just that some people are willing to pay for a shirt that blatantly advertises a place or product, while others won't wear a shirt you give them for free. again, i believe it depends on who your market is as to whether or not that's going to be appropriate, and it had better be as free shirts are an expensive promotional item just to be handing out.

if money wasn't an object, i think i would do a web site, have a store front, and advertise appropriately. like i said, by virtue of just having a store front people will come to you.

as far as fairs and flea markets, imo those are best suited for selling already made shirts (or shirts you're able to make on the spot with transfers or vinyl) more so than selling a service, which would take a backseat in that kind of setting. you would want to make your services known, of course, and you're likely to talk to a lot of people who want to know more about your screen printing services. i think the real problem here is you're making contacts, not necessarily sales, and meanwhile you have booth rent to pay for. i think it *can* work out, but, imo, you need merchandise to pay for the costs of being there. you'll talk to a ton of people, so have some information and cards ready for them, and a little sales pitch. i used to sell toys at a flea market ~ trust me, it won't take long to get into the swing of dealing with people and figuring them out.

the wife and i have talked about doing the flea market thing and giving it a shot. if we do it'll be towards the end of summer when kids are going back into school as we plan on doing school shirts, which is a market segment we've noticed is lacking there. then again, the flea market we have access to is massive, so we know thousands of people will see us every weekend.

Amy

First you need business cards. Less than 50 bucks can get you over 500. Carry them with you and hand them out to everyone you meet. Give them to family and friends you've made shirts for and ask them to pass them to friends. Even stick them on bulletin boards at Office Max and such. A website would be good (if you can afford it) but at the minimum create a google place account. It's free and will give people something to find online.

Then I would look at your competition. Where do they do most of their business? Figure out where they are or what groups they are missing and start there. As you get better, bigger, and more efficient take on the competition.

Personally I wouldn't spend the money on doing tshirts with your name on the back yet because the cost of the shirt compared to how often it would be worn could be spent else wear.