Most people have no idea how enormous the United States industry for carpentry is. The numbers show that people spend upwards of $41 billion on the services of carpenters every single year! There are more than 360,000 people employed in the carpentry industry around the country.

People in and out of the carpentry industry often find great enjoyment in creating their own custom wood projects. However, when it comes time to sell these projects, many people do not know where to start. Although learning by trial and error can work, it can be slow and expensive.

It is much more efficient to learn from the successes and failures of others and use the most effective techniques for selling custom wood projects. Read on to learn all about the most important things to understand about how to successfully sell your own woodworking projects!

Many people are getting more and more used to conducting many or even all of their transactions online. With the rising popularity of online stores, many people consider brick-and-mortar locations to be a thing of the past. However, that means that there is less competition for selling custom wood projects in local stores.

Consider making a list of stores in your area that might be interested in selling your projects. By doing so, you can both help each other.

They can attract new customers by selling quality custom wood projects. And you can enjoy the exposure that comes with featuring your projects where their customers will see them.

Once you have found the first store that might be interested in selling your projects, you can also ask about other stores in the area. Over time, it should be easy to build up a long list of places that might be interested in your wood projects.

It is often a good idea to go through this process at least twice. The first time, you might only be able to find one or a few stores at are willing to sell your woodworking projects.

However, if you go back several months or a year later, you can share the success story of your partnership with other stores. That may convince more and more stores to feature your custom wood project.

To maximize your sales, it makes sense to apply a variety of approaches. Along with selling your projects in stores, you can set up an online shop to sell them.

The most famous online shop might be Etsy, but there are many alternatives as well. Although it can be time-consuming, you might want to consider starting up shops on several of the most popular platforms.

That does not mean that you will have to manage all of these online stores simultaneously forever. However, once you see which online platforms work best, you can focus on them and give less attention to the others.

Of course, the competition for online customers can be intense. Selling your projects online may also require you to invest in a good camera to show off your projects. You may also want to experiment with a variety of presentation styles until you find the one that brings you the most success.

You will generate many more organic customers if you invest in search engine optimization. Many people never bother because they do not realize how simple and effective basic search engine optimization can be.

Although it is true that advanced search engine optimization can be complex, you can enjoy a significant improvement in your rankings by applying a few of the simplest tips.

If you like, you can also take your search engine rankings to the next level by writing valuable content. As someone who produces custom wood projects, you have a lot of knowledge about the subject that your customers usually will not. Sharing that knowledge is a great way to attract attention and provide value for potential customers at the same time.

In recent history, almost every business has started to establish some kind of online presence on at least one social media platform. If you have not done so already, this is a great way to access a completely different population of potential customers.

Even if you already have a page on one or a few of the most popular social media platforms, consider building up a presence on the others as well. You never know which platforms will generate the most sales for you.

Here, you can apply the same principle that applies to the various online store platforms. You can try out each social media platform and see how it does for you.

If it does not generate sales, you can abandon it and move on to other platforms. When you find the platforms that attract the most customers for you, you can focus your efforts on those ones for maximum effect.

Many people find that they can sell their custom wood projects best at live events. Expositions, trade shows, craft fairs, county fairs, and more can all be great places to show off your custom wood projects. You may also be able to set up a location at a flea market.

This approach has advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, you will have to transport the project to you want to sell yourself. There is a lot of work that goes into setting up your location and manning it.

However, this is also a great way for people to learn more about the connection between your wood projects and yourself. Many people can share stories and other information about specific projects in a way that convinces more people to buy items. It is almost impossible to do that unless you are at a live event.

One of the most common mistakes that people make is declining to specialize in a specific niche. The problem with this is that it makes it more difficult to build up a reliable base of customers.

Some people find it more tedious to craft the same kinds of items over and over again. On the other hand, focusing on a specific niche can help you to delve more deeply into the niche and exercise your creativity within the constraints offered by the space.

If you haven't focused on a single niche yet, consider doing so at least as an experiment. You might find that it provides different kinds of enjoyment than creating a wide variety of random projects.

Choosing a specific niche will also make your marketing easier. Most people do not search for "custom wood projects" in general. Instead, they search for "custom wood furnishings" or other specific items or niches.

You can also simplify your marketing when you have a specific niche. Instead of having to figure out how to describe the wide variety of items you have to sell, you can refer to the niche and spend your time articulating the unique style that you bring to the niche.

Many people overemphasize how competitive selling custom wood projects has to be. If you take the right steps, you may find that other businesses are closer to collaborators than competitors.

Consider looking around your community for other businesses or services that work with the same customer base that you do. Although you might both want to sell your goods or services to the same customer, that doesn't mean that you can't help each other.

For example, you might partner with a wood restoration company. Such companies have a long list of regular customers who might be interested in custom wood projects like your own.

At the same time, your own list of customers might be interested in wood restoration services at some point. This allows you to swap customer lists with your partner and double your potential customer base.

If you can find multiple services to partner with, you can build up a large customer base much more quickly than trying to do so on your own. Learning more about woodworking tips is essential to create quality products, but learning more about sales and marketing tips is essential if you want to sell those projects.

Taking the time to learn more about how to sell custom wood projects is an investment that will pay off in the long run. Many people focus all of their attention on improving their woodworking skills without appreciating the equal importance of learning how to sell their projects effectively. The more you familiarize yourself with possible selling techniques, the better you can choose those techniques which suit your preferences best.

To learn more about how to make and sell the best woodworking projects you can, check out some of our other pages!