Apart from a quick clear up in the workshop and the loading of a biscuit firing, to help warm the pottery up tomorrow, today we just gave ourselves time to sit and think!
In all of the time we’ve had off I hadn’t sat and thought too much about the pots I’m going to make this year, the nucleus is there I just haven’t put any meat on the bones as such, if that makes any sense?
Until today!
Looking at a pot in our kitchen that I made in May 2020, I suddenly noticed what I liked about it so much, I mentioned it to Marion and my thoughts were confirmed “ I love that pot” she said, it was as if I’d finally had a Eureka moment!
I’m not going to show you the pot or explain the thoughts behind it because this is my equivalent to Willy Wonka’s golden ticket and it means I'm going to have to rethink my making process.
What I have done is think about the pots I’ve been getting bored of making and what I intend to do about them. So some drastic changes to the products on the website were made last week following our meeting sat on that log!
Some 22 items have been cut from the website whilst some items have had a radical overhaul in the pricing making way for new pots and new designs that will continue to stimulate us as makers and most importantly our customers!
As a maker, you are the only person that can see what's going on in your head, and as a potter when you open the kiln door and finally see there before you something that is the full creation of those pictures the feeling is amazing! the pot literally sings to you and stands head and shoulders above other pots you’ve made in the past! It doesn’t necessarily mean your older pots were poor, just that these new ones excite you now in the same way those earlier ones once did, it’s all about development, and if you don't allow yourself to develop as a maker, your going to die from the inside out.
Now here’s the difference, having being trained in a professional sale’s environment for 24 years before coming back into pottery, the feeling of getting a great sale is the buzz that drives you on, but in the sales world you’re always told, "that your only as good as your last sale". Tomorrow it has to happen all over again, when you love what you’re selling and believe in it that shows and customers see that and want to buy into that feeling that you are giving them, that's what I love about selling direct to our customers. But ,when you’ve lost faith in the products you’re selling, it becomes a much harder job to sell. That’s when the changes come, Car manufacturers don’t just keep making the same old cars, they adapt them, introduce new colours, new models, but at the heart of it they keep their Style in essence you will still recognise it as a Barrington Pottery pot.
Having time to evaluate every aspect of what you do and what things cost has been instrumental in the changes we have made, above all, the pots that have been giving me that makers buzz over the past few months, have also been getting an excellent response from our customers and followers on social media. So hopefully this year we will continue to grow in both confidence and stature, secure in the knowledge that we are heading towards our ultimate goal of pleasing ourselves in our daily working life and our customers in theirs.
3 comments:
Well done..taking a break does us all good, and re evaluation is a must, whatever we do, for our own sake and others.
Happy New Year!!
Nice article and good piece of advice. Thanks for sharing!
That's true, I recently always feel tired so I often sit and just chill doing nothing and it gives my lots of ideas about my business.
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