good advertising or just dumb?

hanshewcustom-q

hanshewcustom-q

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
i am new in the buisness so to get my name out there a little bit i thought it would be a good idea to give one of my cues to a really good player ( no us open winner, but a definate fast eddies contender ) my hope being that someone that plays really good and plays everynight with one of my cues might bring some buisness my way. am having second thoughts as i lost a jump/break cue to a really good player gambling and even though he has had it two months or so and been playing with it every night....... i havnt got any phone calls from someone because they saw him playing with it. I have allready commited to make a stick for two players so i will make them regardless of the feedback on this thread..........but i would like to know if any of you did the same thing when you were starting out and if so, what the results were.
 
Don't waste your stick to players. They'd sell it as soon as they are broke.
Join a pool league and show off your cues. Take repairs.
You'll sell more cues by taking in repairs than in any other way.
 
I know a well known player who went on the road a while back. He supplemented his income by talking cuemakers into giving him a cue, and then would sell it the next town. He had the same story about how he would promote the cuemakers cues while traveling the country, but the cue promoting only lasted until the next town each time. Don't waste your time or the materials.
 
I would suggest to promote on this forum. You will not find any more knowledgeable, and/or critical people to promote you cues than the fine people on this forum.

Good or bad they will get the word out for you

Joe
 
daytonajoe said:
I would suggest to promote on this forum. You will not find any more knowledgeable, and/or critical people to promote you cues than the fine people on this forum.

Good or bad they will get the word out for you

Joe
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Just sell them James. If the work is good and the hit is exceptional than the customers will come. You might have to sell them cheap for awhile but if you're good there is no need for advertisement like this. Well keep up the good work.

Tony
 
hanshewcustom-q said:
i am new in the buisness so to get my name out there a little bit i thought it would be a good idea to give one of my cues to a really good player ( no us open winner, but a definate fast eddies contender ) my hope being that someone that plays really good and plays everynight with one of my cues might bring some buisness my way. am having second thoughts as i lost a jump/break cue to a really good player gambling and even though he has had it two months or so and been playing with it every night....... i havnt got any phone calls from someone because they saw him playing with it. I have allready commited to make a stick for two players so i will make them regardless of the feedback on this thread..........but i would like to know if any of you did the same thing when you were starting out and if so, what the results were.
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I agree that giving cues away is not the way to go. You might consider giving a good player a bit of a deal but he should come to you, not the other way around. Start out selling them at a good price and you will be surprised at how quick word gets around.
 
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I have a handfull of guys that are like salesman for me. I treat them very well, I clean up their cues for free and all other work I do for them is deeply discounted. I donated a $1,000 cue to a four month long pool tournment and to tell you the truth I didn't sell one cue because of it! If you make great looking and hitting cue and sell it for a reasonable price your customers will want to show everyone their new cue and word of mouth is the best advertising you can have in this business.
 
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hanshewcustom-q said:
i am new in the buisness so to get my name out there a little bit i thought it would be a good idea to give one of my cues to a really good player ( no us open winner, but a definate fast eddies contender ) my hope being that someone that plays really good and plays everynight with one of my cues might bring some buisness my way. am having second thoughts as i lost a jump/break cue to a really good player gambling and even though he has had it two months or so and been playing with it every night....... i havnt got any phone calls from someone because they saw him playing with it. I have allready commited to make a stick for two players so i will make them regardless of the feedback on this thread..........but i would like to know if any of you did the same thing when you were starting out and if so, what the results were.
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I've given away one cue. It went to a friend that plays super good and has been a great investment. He's like a walking billboard for my cues. Always bragging on my product and more importantly winning with my cue. I have one more cue that I'm building for another player/friend that has lots of exposure to league players. Both are stand up people. I'd say that if you want to give away a few cues, find some players that are respected for their game and their person.Their word of mouth will sell a few cues for you. The only time I concern myself with most of these "champions" is when they're busted and want to sell or pawn their equipment. These people are not who I want to represent my cues and more importantly represent me. They will pay full retail or buy on the secondary market.
 
I gave a few cues away when I was just starting out, and had no luck with it. This is my first post and I thought it would be a good place to introduce myself. I have been building cues here in Illinois for about 12 years. When you are selling cues early on there are alot of things that I have found that can hurt you. I sent a few cues out to people who said they would show them everywhere they went. All I asked was for them to give me some honest feedback on the cues, and the majority of them didn't even take the time out to do that. Having a forum like this in which to post some of your cues is a great thing. When I started out, you had to rely on word of mouth to get your cues out there. Another thing you might want to consider is are your cues ready to be sold? I know when you are starting out you are eager to sell cues to get the money to buy more equipment which is what I wanted to do. But if the quality of your cues is lacking (which it may or may not be) than those early cues can hurt your reputation. I have bought back a few of my early cues.
Another thing you want to stay away from is selling cues on ebay. It may get you a few sales, but in the long run it will keep your prices low. People will expect you to keep selling at lower prices like you did in the begining. I have always been kind of a quiet person, and I was never really comfortable with walking in a pool room with a big case of cues, so I looked to local dealers to do that for me, but I have been burned in just about everyway you can be burned by selling cues on consignment. There are a lot of good people on here that can help sell your cues. I would recomend using this as a place to post some of your work. I am sure it would get you some feedback on your cues. Like I said before, I am very new to this site, but I am really amazed at all of the opinions and knowledge that alot of these people have regarding cues. Building cues is what I have always been good at, but the business side of selling cues has always been tricky. Anyways thats just my opinion. Best of luck to you.
Princecues
 
Princecues said:
I gave a few cues away when I was just starting out, and had no luck with it. This is my first post and I thought it would be a good place to introduce myself. I have been building cues here in Illinois for about 12 years. When you are selling cues early on there are alot of things that I have found that can hurt you. I sent a few cues out to people who said they would show them everywhere they went. All I asked was for them to give me some honest feedback on the cues, and the majority of them didn't even take the time out to do that. Having a forum like this in which to post some of your cues is a great thing. When I started out, you had to rely on word of mouth to get your cues out there. Another thing you might want to consider is are your cues ready to be sold? I know when you are starting out you are eager to sell cues to get the money to buy more equipment which is what I wanted to do. But if the quality of your cues is lacking (which it may or may not be) than those early cues can hurt your reputation. I have bought back a few of my early cues.
Another thing you want to stay away from is selling cues on ebay. It may get you a few sales, but in the long run it will keep your prices low. People will expect you to keep selling at lower prices like you did in the begining. I have always been kind of a quiet person, and I was never really comfortable with walking in a pool room with a big case of cues, so I looked to local dealers to do that for me, but I have been burned in just about everyway you can be burned by selling cues on consignment. There are a lot of good people on here that can help sell your cues. I would recomend using this as a place to post some of your work. I am sure it would get you some feedback on your cues. Like I said before, I am very new to this site, but I am really amazed at all of the opinions and knowledge that alot of these people have regarding cues. Building cues is what I have always been good at, but the business side of selling cues has always been tricky. Anyways thats just my opinion. Best of luck to you.
Princecues
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Welcome to AzB Tim! I have seen some of Tim Prince's cues and he does beautiful work. After reading the above, I think he also gives good advice.
Rich
 
The local cuemaker here brings his cues with him to the local weekly tournies. Sometimes it takes him a few weeks, and then it seems that in one night, he'll sell them all out! He also shoots in these tournies, which seems to help his sales. Plus, he does some really interesting stuff. He came in one night with a cue that had a solid wood nose and butt, but the wood handle had rambow-type points up and down in it....really a neat looking cue. It sold immediately.

Lisa
 
There is no free lunch. They won't give it to you, so don't give it to them. Run your business right, build your product right, and the bottom line will happen automatically. If it doesn't, then you are in the wrong business.
 
thanks to all

JoeyInCali said:
Don't waste your stick to players. They'd sell it as soon as they are broke.
Join a pool league and show off your cues. Take repairs.
You'll sell more cues by taking in repairs than in any other way.
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thanks joey, you are right have been getting quite a few repairs from the pool league........the fact that a pool player might sell the cue as soon as they are broke seems to be the common thought. either i am a poor judge of charachter or that wont be the case with the two players i am making a stick for. i guess only time will tell on that.
desertonepocket, thanks for the advice once again though that is somthing i don't think i will have to worry about with these individuals.
daytonajoe, thanks, i have to agree with you completely about this site being full of knowledgable people. really wish i would have known about this site when i was first starting out, it would have been a huge help.......and hopefully the word that will get out for me will be good rather than bad.
mysticcuefan, thanks, guess you will have a better idea on the hit in a few months, will let you know as soon as yours is ready.
mace, thanks , think my prices are ok not to high and to low, you can check them out at www.myspace.com/hanshewcustomcues ......let me know what you think
dunkelcustomcue, i can see your point. like i said right now a champion is playing with one of my cues and i havn't sold one because of it yet. thanks for the advice.
tellitlikeitis, thanks, hope that doesnt happen wiht these cues but like i said before, i guess time will tell. as fot the other, i am saving the cues that dont turn out right and have some shaftwood that i wont use on my cues. when those are turned down and ready i plan on giving them to some of the players with promise at the ymca, any thoughts on how to do this? dont want to single some out and make others feel bad and dont think i can run a tournament and give them out as prizes and cant make one for all of them. let me know if you have any suggestions
sliprock, finaly, glad someone had a decent experience, maybe their is hope. as for everything else, i agree with you completely. thanks
princecues, thanks for all the advice, i am new to this forum as well but i agree that it is a great thing to have at your disposal, either for feedback or for answers to questions. i agree on the early cue thing, hopefully the quality isnt lacking that much, if i finish a cue and dont like the way it plays, i dont sell it. i am sure quality is lacking everywhere else, ( uneven points here, a glueline or two there )......but i can deal with an ugly cue that plays good with my name on it.........what i cant deal with is a cue that plays bad.......no matter how good it looks. do you have any pics of your cues? i would like to see some of them. thanks a lot for the advice.
hadjcues, ..............im doing my best

ridewiththewind, thanks for the advice, i am currently trying that out as well, i am sponsoring a monthly tournament here in waco, this will be the second month so i guess we will see how it turns out.
petreecues, thanks, that is good honest, sound advice, i am doing my best.........as to whether im in the right buisness or not i guess time will tell


thanks to all for the advice. next time i will ask advice before hand rather than after to see how my decision was. right now the vast majority says i am wasting my time. since you are all speaking from experience im sure i can expect no better outcome ( although i dont think the cues will be sold ) but i am a man of my word so i will go ahead and make them anyway. maybe with luck the two cues i make will help me sell at least two cues and i can break even. thanks again to all for the advice.
 
hanshewcustom-q said:
i am new in the buisness so to get my name out there a little bit i thought it would be a good idea to give one of my cues to a really good player .
Click to expand...

I'd suggest to post a few photos on the Cue Gallery to start (in addition to all the other excellent suggestions).

Fred
 
i'm not a cuemaker, but i have to agree with joey. it is a false assumption that you're going to get anywhere giving your cue to a player.....unless you get real lucky like capone. and it's an assumption most players would love to perpetuate because they get a free cue.
 
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