Open Studio or Jewelry Show Invitations

Have you ever entertained the though of an open studio or jewelry show but you keep putting it off for a variety of reasons? Target your invitations and the "people" will make the event not the setting!

Why Clients Don't Answer Open Invitations

As an Accidental Entrepreneur, you need clients and customers. And if you’re not 100% confident that folks are interested, you may feel that the best way to approach getting clients is with an open invitation.

After all, you wouldn’t want anyone to feel excluded, would you?

But being specific about which clients and customers are just-right isn’t about exclusion. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite.

How are your just-right clients supposed to know you are talking to them if you don’t tell them?

The Problem with Open Invitations
The problem with open invitations is that there’s no way for your just-right clients to know you’re aware of their existence, let alone that you actually care about their concerns.

From your point of view, the open invitation makes it ultra-easy for them to approach.

From their point of view, the open invitation disappears into the background noise of everyday life. To get their attention, you’re going to have to be more inviting.

Not All Invitations Are Inviting
When we moved to Suquamish a few years ago, we had an open house. We invited friends and neighbors. Our friends came; our neighbors didn’t.

After a bit of pondering, I realized that our friends felt invited. Our neighbors felt notified. And you know something? They were right.

Since we were going to have the party anyway, I figured we might as well invite our new neighbors (and I wanted them to know what the commotion was). But the point of the party was to share our new home with friends, and somehow that came through.

The moral of the story? If you truly want to reach your just-right clients, you need to send an invitation, not an announcement.

What Makes an Invitation Inviting?
If you consider the invitations you receive, including advertisements and marketing materials, you’ll notice that the ones that draw you in have four ingredients. I call them focus, fit, comfort, and response.

• A focused invitation speaks directly to a specific recipient, not a generic audience.
• An invitation that fits is appropriate to the relationship and situation.
• Invitations that tell us what to expect recognize our comfort zones.
• Invitations get answered when they request a specific response.

Invitations in Action
Like me, you probably get invitations to charity fundraisers fairly regularly. What distinguishes those consigned directly to the recycling bin from those that get at least preliminary consideration?

Of those we consider, what determines whether we buy pricey tickets and attend, make a modest contribution but don’t attend, or decide to recycle the invitation after all?

The first cut depends on the focus. It’s easy to tell whether you were invited as an individual or as part of a target group. In the first case, you’ve got some prior connection. In the second, they got your name off a list, in which case, unless you just happened to have a yen for involvement in the annual tiddlywinks playoffs, you’re not interested.

The next consideration is fit. If you’ve been sending the Human Society $25 every December for ten years and suddenly get invited to a $500 per plate dinner and auction, odds are that you’re going to stay home. But you just might pony up (no pun intended) $50 to attend a fundraising barbecue.

Assuming the occasion is a fit, you want to know what to expect. Should you bring a gift? How will people be dressed? It’s no fun to arrive at an event in your work clothes, hungry and looking forward to dinner, only to discover that you’ve walked into a formal cocktail party. No amount of olives and maraschino cherries is likely to make a hungry guest comfortable.

Finally, there’s the response form. A good one gives you options to participate in spirit (send a check), in body (volunteer), or by attending. It will be self-addressed and stamped so all you have to do is put it in the mail. The clear request for an RSVP and/or a donation completes the invitation.

Don’t Wait Until You Renovate to Have a Party
If you think you need more experience or your business needs a Web site or you have to have new business cards before you start inviting just-right clients to work with you, stop. When the fit is right, the setting isn’t nearly as important as we think.

I used to think we needed a bigger house and more than six glasses (unmatched) before we had people over. Then our friends Steve and Michelle invited us for dinner and to watch an opera on video. (I know. Different strokes for different folks.)

Like many Bainbridge Island homes in those days, Steve’s and Michelle’s was an imaginative and functional space that wasn’t quite finished. In addition, it was crammed with interesting furniture, objects d’art, record albums (remember when?), and books.

Oh, and they had two mature Great Danes. One slept on the overstuffed couch. The other sat sentinel next to a huge purple armchair and dribbled into the lap of its occupant.

All ten guests in that crowded room had a grand time, and I learned that the secret to a good party is not the setting but the people.

What applies among friends applies with your just-right clients. The quality of the relationship is a lot more important than the state of your Web site or stationery. Just apply the four ingredients of an inviting invitation to your communications. Whether it’s an email or an elevator speech, check for focus, fit, comfort, and response.

Invite Them and They Will Come
The worst thing about open invitations in business is that they are a self-fulfilling prophecy. We use them to avoid appearing pushy and to protect ourselves from rejection.

But because open invitations aren’t addressed to anyone in particular, no one in particular responds. We wonder if even the open invitation was too pushy. We worry that people really aren’t interested.

Sometimes, we increase the scope of our invitation while getting quieter. It doesn’t work. (How could it?)

Sometimes we try a noisier strategy out of desperation, following the lead of a get-rich-quick guru. It feels icky, looks inauthentic, and doesn’t work. (How could it?)

Fortunately, there’s a remedy: directly and thoughtfully addressing your just-right clients. It’s slow (aren’t most good things). It’s sure. It works.

Publication and Reprint Info

U.S. Library of Congress ISSN: 1530-311X
Unless otherwise attributed, all material is written and edited by Molly Gordon, MCC. Copyright (c) Shaboom Inc.(r) 2008. All rights reserved. Visit our extensive archives at www.mollygordon.com .

Reprinted with permsiion from http://www.authenticpromotion.com.