Tailor Archive

thought i would help out all thetailors out there.i might be giving away some good secrets but oh wells (all is fair and love and war). most of this is common sense butsome of it might not be. hope this helps one person.

DISCLAIMER: DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT LIKE PARENTHESIS. *ahem*

1: put your store on either naboo or tattoine. that is where most of the server is.

2: pick a spot where alot of people frequest. i.e b/w bestine and anchorhead. its all about where the people are.

3: have a macro shout that give wp to your store. and shout a few times in each city close to your store where the loc is. trust me. alot of people wp it for later. talking bout macros, have a few that say your most popular items, something catchy "Wookies come get your gear here! All wookie gear comes flea/tick resistant"

4: REAL IMPORTANT! have a fwd email at the top of your mailbox. included is loc of store (planet/closest city), special deals, any info, and of course the wp attachment. now any custoemr you have you fwd that email to. i have had alot of customers referred by someone else and its cuz i made it so easy for my custoemrs to fwd the email to their friends.

5: watch out for tailors (esp masters) near you. your business will suffer greatly if you have to compete with a master who will sell the same things you do at half the cost.

6. REAL IMPORTANT: have a niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice layout/showroom. people hate looking thru vendors to find the stuff they need. have a showroom with EVERYTHING or close to everything you can make. try having each outfit in different colors. also have a "thing", get a fishtank or some nice furniture or something special. hang some axes on the wall. anything so people remember your shop "hey you gotta visit this shop.. it has the coolest manequines holding axes". incidentally while they are there they will probably buy something small at least.

7: include the colors in the name of item (i.e. Gunmans Duster -black-:smileytongue. easier for customers to find what they need on a vendor. also have a trademark for your name. (i.e.CTA Uniform Boots -black- "CTA" being your initials)

8. REAL IMPORTANT: i found this tip to be very good for repeat customers (which we need with this no decay bs) keep a running list (using a database/spreadsheet/dinner napkin) of your customers and what they bought (doesnt have to be specific. could just be separated into formal/casual/field). anytime you get a new skill box, email the customer that you got new items (again, doesnt need to be specific just saying you got new formal wear). most people will come to your store again JUST cuz you gave em some love. combat classes RARELY get email, so when they do they feel happy and open their wallets.

9. give MASSIVE deals out to repeat customers. lets be honest. tailros have one of the highest profit ratios. our items take almost nothing to make and we are gaining a boatload in profit (using the 2-5 credits per resource rule). when you do give the deals the customers will be more likely to tell his friend how good you are and that you can get good deals. always do "package deals". if a customer wants 4-8 items at once for an outfit, cut the guy/gal a break. dont forget to tell them how much youare giving a discount so they know they are saving.

10. not the last thing you can do, but the last thing i will say... be nice but dont take **** from bad customers. /ignore em. they arent worth the effort. although watch out for being rude to guildies.... you can cut alot of profit out if the guildie decides to put some effort into blacklisting you.

hope this helps all the upcoming tailors. enjoy!

One thing you forgot to mention is to KNOW your stuff! Being able to find the 'right' outfit is VERY important for repeat buisness. If you can hook up a few players with incredible outfits, then they GET noticed by other players. I get alot of buisness from people who say: "I want an outfit like you made for so and so but not the same color". I also get a ton of referrals, "so and so told me you were the best tailor, can you make an outfit?"

Make sure not to exclude any customers, I had a rather grumpy customer, he complained about the price of a gunmans duster.I said its 5000 credits, and he was like I saw them for sale for less. I was like well go buy from that tailor then. Then he said, they don't have it in white. So he bought mine and I knocked 1000 off the price. He then later came back to buy some wedding rings, and again at first he was 1000 for one ring??? I was like, yeah but you only NEED to buy ring, unless you get divorced. Then he wanted to see it in some other colors, I ended up making 4 rings and he paid me 4050 credits... so in the end, he did concede to pay me what I asked. Patience is a MUST, explaining things is a must as well. Thank goodness he didn't ask for more rings as I was almost out of jewerly settings.

regards..

Chiana

Most of this is good advice. But macro shouts are NOT a good thing. They get you ignored my a large portion of the population.Even if they don't /addignore you, they will just not buy from you. Shouting in town is irritating. Instead, have a seat in the cantina, displaying your flag, with your crafting droid out. Chat with the dancers. Offer them small items for free. Cut them deals on the items they need most. While selling to/chatting with the entertainers, you will find the combat classes will ask for dusters and cloaks, along with other items. Shouting is bad. Getting friendly in the cantina is good.

And you left one thing out... sell on the bazaar. Use the "seller's description" to give your shop info. And once they purchase something, send them a thank you note. Very simple, very effective, not time consuming at all.

I am wondering about number 5. There is another Master Tailor about 2000 meters away from me who sells her stuff for almost half of what I do. (For example, my exotic leotard= 7500, hers = maybe 4000). Plus her shop is bigger. Don't get me wrong, she is VERY VERY nice, I just wonder if it affects my business, and it makes me wonderif I should lower my prices too. I don't know...pricing is hard for me to figure out & decide on.

Plus my shop is on Naboo near Theed, another thing on the list. Hmmm...wonder where else I could go. I am the most familiar with Naboo.

On Sunrunner there are a lot of people in Coronet too.

I would move if I was you to be honest, have a look around, find a good spot for a house and look around for another tailor. It's what I did, I found a place with no tailor around and it worked pretty well.

I found that aftera while your reputation takes over. I am on Talus, which is not the busiest place but people are coming to me from as far as Naboo as they heard about me, and I know there are a slurry of tailors over there, and some now come all the way over when they want somehing new rather than seeing the local tailors. I suppose the pace of Talus is nice as I do very good business but am not swamped, and therefore not pushing people out of the door and have time to do other things. (Oh this is Dearic, not Nashal, which is too dead by miles)

I don't advertise on the map, andnever put anything in the vendor.

The key is be nice and fun. I socialise more than tailor and give discounts and freebies to people. I have crates of customised tatooine sunburns (Mon Calamartinis) that I give to good customers.

Of course this is mostly after I got master. I was very poor until I got to master and found that the best things I could do were to pick up medic and meet people in the med center and cantina. Also getting scout friends for hide donations was good for that 60k hide or so needed to make all those cloaks...

Anyway, if they have fun then they will come back and refer you to people they know.

Smi

One important tool to build a customer base is to make liberal use of the bazaar.

Post the popular items on there (Heavy Reenforced Jacket, Uniform Boots, Light Bustiers, Dusters, Packs, etc) ... not only will this give you a steady stream of cash in the early poor years, but it will help you build customers. Makes sure to send a pleasant email to every one to thank them and to invite them to your shop.

In the early days, I would post items on the bazaar of two or three cities around my shop (up to the limit of 25 items total on the bazaar). Folks do travel around a lot doing quests so think further than the town next to your shop.

Make sure to loiter a lot in the cantina too ... even if just sending thankyou emails or making items to put on the bazaar. This will get you known by the entertainers AND the combatants that come in for healing. And make sure to wear something nice and unusual (but not guady).