Selling your services

[Jerry Jetzer]

Hello to everyone on the forum. I am new here and would like to start off with a question. I would like some comments on the different ways that you sell your sharpening service to people other than setting up at a farmers market or a gun and knife show. Does anyone go to sporting goods stores and have them take knives in as a service to there customers. I would be vary interested in any input that you guys on the forum could give me. Thanks

[cbwx34]

Welcome to the forum.

I don’t have any personal experience, there was a guy in another forum a few years back who would set up at a sporting goods store. It seemed pretty successful for him.

For a dropoff service, I’d probably come up with a plan and present it to them. There’s a hardware store that does this near where I live that I talked to a while back to see how they did it… they handle the payment part but take a cut to do this. You’d probably also have to come up with a way for the store to easily receive the knives and associate the owner (bags, boxes, etc.), and who would be responsible for a lost or stolen knife. I think a lot would depend on the relationship you have or establish with the owner or manager.

Good luck if you try this… be interested to hear out it goes.

[Gib Curry]

Good question…. I can’t answer but I can echo!!

I’m also considering opening myself to public sharpening for $$.

I enjoy hearing about all the different potential venues.

I started looking around and virtually all I can see is 1) knives that are dull and 2) knives that need sharpening!! (Does that make me an optimist or pessimist?)

I got my PPII and thought I’d go right into business… I’m learning that I’ve got a few months more learning curve before I even, really start volunteering to keen up my friends and family….

I mentioned else where but haven’t posted it yet, details of a knife that I hope I didn’t ruin last week by not understanding it’s actual blade geometry.

Thinking about it, I’ve got too many potential avenues. I’ve got an in with a local culinary school and a local chain of restaurants. I know they both have professional services do the bulk of their work but I also know that there are individuals who won’t let those companies touch their knives.

Anyway, I’m also interested in seeing others’ replies….

~~~~
For Now,

Gib

Φ

"Everyday edge for the bevel headed"

"Things work out best for those who make the best out of the way things work out."

[Jerry Jetzer]

Thanks Curtis and Gib for your input. We have a Farmers market here on Wednesdays and Saturdays but they charge $25 for a spot to setup. I would have to sharpen a lot of knifes just to break even. I would also have to be set up a few times before people would know that I was there and that would be with vary few knifes to sharpen. The Farmers market is only set up in the summer and I would like to find a way to sharpen all year round.

[Gib Curry]

Joking with my wife and some friends, I said the other night, “I’ll sharpen free for family & friends. But, friends of family & friends pay.”

Got to thinking about that and I’m not quite ready to ruin/sharpen friends’ & family’s knives. Soon, but not quite.

When I purchased my PPII, I also set aside a total amount of $$ for a budget. It includes a small bundle to be “invested” in seasonal markets like you are talking about without expectations of immediate return.

I have no experience but I can see the booth fee as an advertising expense that will “eventually” begin to pay for itself. Just not to begin with — necessarily.

I’ve been to probably a dozen different art festivals, farmers’ markets, street fairs, etc this summer. Not one person sharpening — and I saw no less than a dozen vendors actively struggling with dull knives & scissors.

I did see a guy with a booth set up at a local florist/nursery but he was mostly doing gardening tools. He was taking a few knives home to work on.

~~~~
I need to be quiet now and let some experts have a say….

~~~~
For Now,

Gib

Φ

"Everyday edge for the bevel headed"

"Things work out best for those who make the best out of the way things work out."

[cbwx34]

…I’m not quite ready to ruin/sharpen friends’ & family’s knives.

Sure you are… those are also known as “practice knives”. :whistle:

[DARRELL ALLEN]

Hello to everyone on the forum. I am new here and would like to start off with a question. I would like some comments on the different ways that you sell your sharpening service to people other than setting up at a farmers market or a gun and knife show. Does anyone go to sporting goods stores and have them take knives in as a service to there customers. I would be vary interested in any input that you guys on the forum could give me. Thanks

This is what I do Jerry and so far, I’ve stayed pretty busy sharpening on the side for folks. I carry 2 knives with me daily, one is my Kershaw Echelon ,sharpened and polished to the max, that is my ” strictly SHOW knife “……..the other is my Kershaw Shuffle, which is my EDC use knife that I use daily. I use the Echelon to show folks what the WEPS can do, and most of my business has come by word of mouth. Just continue to talk to folks, putting the word out there, and you will get more knives than you probably have time to sharpen. I have gotten knives from Auto parts store salespeople,neighbors whom I pass on the street while out walking, lots of folks from work, hunting buddies, etc…………..have considered hitting up local restaurants and my wife works for a Technical College with a culinary program, so I had her put the word out there and am expecting some students to call on me shortly. There are LOTS of avenues to make a few bucks, and that is all I’m trying to do, which is make this thing pay for itself so I can buy more accessories. :cheer: Good luck with this and don’t be scared to try something new, just have fun.

[Jerry Jetzer]

Thanks to everyone for your input about this subject. I think Darrell is on the path that I will probably take.

[Mark76]

Welcome Jerry! Enjoy the forums.

I don’t normally do commercial sharpening, so others can better help you with that. I do however sharpen for a restaurant. That was not too difficult. I knew they didn’t have sharp knives (but they didn’t 😉 ). I just went there with some samples, talked to the chef and found out he was already frustrated with his sharpening service. So I did a few of their knives. They were quite happy and now I sharpen a lot of their knives 🙂 .

Something you may want to try.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[Leo Barr]

I just had a thought out of the blue why not a picture of a paper cut from a sharp knife or even a flyer with a cut from a sharp knife with a statement saying something like- if your knife cannot do this (its blunt) then I/we can sharpen it .

[Peter Nowlan]

Hello, this is first post, I have yet to introduce myself but I wanted to take a few moments of your time to respond here.
A couple of years ago I decided to take my sharpening to a different level by opening up a business, I was excited, scared, nervous but I was confident. This is what I did: ( I know I will likely state the obvious in many cases and for that I apologize in advance)

I created a business card and presented myself to the manager of a high end kitchen store. The first thing I asked him was ” who do you recommend when people ask where to get their knives sharpened?” His response was “nobody, there is one place in town but we steer people away” so I knew there was a window of opportunity for me. The next step was the important one, I had to prove that I was capable of sharpening kitchen knives, to establish a level of confidence in him, enough for him to recommend me to his customers. Customers that have been going to his store for years.
He asked me to come in the next day and show me some knives, to run the gauntlet so to speak and I did this. That was two years ago and I have sharpened for him ever since, I am in the store 4 days a week.

It became a drop off/pick up location for customers. In order to make this work however I needed to sort out what the store gets out of this. The Manager just happens to be extremely knowledgeable about knives and is also very cooperative. We worked a 70/30% deal so I get 70 percent. Customers pay the store and they just pay me at the end of the month. I have 4 drop off locations like that now in various parts of the city.

The key, from my perspective is to establish a level of trust with the store and ensure that they get something from it as well. What has happened over time in my experience is that the fact that the stores now have a dedicated knife sharpener, this actually draws in more customers and potential purchases from them. While dropping off a knife for example they may pick up a toaster….you get the idea and this is something you can present to the Manager. (not a toaster but the idea that advertising sharpening could pull in people to your store)

You need to run the gauntlet though and to do this, I offered to sharpen one of their own knives. “Give me the dullest knife you have” and go from there. There are different ways to do this of course. Just your ability to discuss knives, bevels, micro bevels, burrs, angles etc. will often be enough to demonstrate a level of knowledge that is usually far beyond most of the people working in the stores selling the knives. Your passion for knife sharpening will become evident as you excitedly discuss scratch patterns and HHT with bewildered but impressed staff. Dazzle them with knowledge and you will survive the first test.

Bottom Line for me was that getting the knives sharp was the easy part, selling myself and getting other people to trust me with their knives was the challenge. Word of mouth really is the key though, and customer service of course.

I am sorry to ramble on, I just went through this a little over two years ago and it has been a very positive experience for me.

Respectfully
Peter

[cbwx34]

Welcome to the forum…. great first post. Thanks!

[Eamon Mc Gowan]

Peter,
Welcome to the forum! It is obvious that you are a fine addition! :woohoo:

[Mark76]

Welcome to the forum! Very good points you make..

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

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