COOPERATIVE UPDATE
Savvy Salesmanship
Innovative marketing helps craft co-op increase sales
Editor's note: This article updates one that first appeared in the July 1993 issue of Farmer Cooperatives.
Even after two decades of operation, the
Watermark Association of Artisans craft cooperative is still striving to develop new
marketing and training programs that will provide more income for its members, most of
whom are rural women working in their homes around the small community of Camden, N.C. The
co-op's leaders believe the best way to strengthen the bonds between the cooperative and
its members and to continue the recent growth in sales is to ensure that members
understand and support the co-op and its programs.
Camden, a city of 6,000, is about an hour from
Norfolk, Va., and sits along U.S. 158, a well-traveled road leading to the beaches of the
Outer Banks of North Carolina. The cooperative was formed 20 years ago by 35 rural women
who pooled their efforts to sell handmade crafts. Membership has since grown to 800,
although only about 100 are active. Ninety-eight percent of the members are women. The
cooperative operates with a staff of 10, most of them women.
Watermark draws its members from a 15-county
coastal plains area which is known for its agriculture and the Outer Banks attractions.
This economic base offers few income-generating alternatives for many women in the area.
Watermark's headquarters outside Camden, N.C.
Kimberly Sawyer has been Watermark's executive director for the past two years and before that was its marketing director for seven years. "My years with the cooperative have given me a chance to become acquainted with every facet of its operation from shipping and bookkeeping to sales and marketing," she said
.
The Watermark craft cooperative uses marketing avenues that range from the co-op's own
retain giftt store to cable television shows. (Photos courtesy of Watermark)
Watermark members make 500 products -
from decorative wooden products, rocking horses and rag dolls to teddy bears, wreaths and
baskets. Many are featured in a colorful catalog that's used as a promotional piece. Its
combined retail, wholesale and telemarketing sales for 1997 reached $400,000.
"Individual earnings of members ranged
from $40,000 to a few hundred dollars. We anticipate our sales for fiscal 1998 will reach
$600,000," Sawyer said. " Some of that increased business will stem from
Christmas season orders derived from our trips to major trade shows in July and August. We
continually provide our members feedback from these shows and craft industry
magazines."
Payments on Watermark's 10,000 square - foot
headquarters, built in 1990 at Camden, proved to be a financial drain on the cooperative
in the early 1990s. But a pair of zero interest loans - one from USDA’s Rural
Utilities Service through Albermarle Rural Electric Membership Cooperative, the other from
the Campaign for Human Development - helped put Watermark back on its financial feet.
"Without help like that, plus other grants
and donations, we could not exist," said Sawyer. "We worked twice as hard,
diversified our sales, and added training to increase our revenue. And we earned more by
reaching out to the community of Camden. We've had to counter the attitude of people who
don't see crafts as an industry," she said.
Sales from Telemarketing
Phyllis George, a television personality and
ex-wife of Kentucky's former governor, has been a big booster for the cooperative, hosting
a two-hour arts and crafts show on cable television's Quality Value Channel's (QVC) home
shopping network. "They order from us at the New York Gift Show, one of a series of
wholesale shows Watermark's sales staff attends across the country," says Sayer.
"Watermark sends samples, and out of them QVC selects one or two to feature. QVC
places an order for an amount they believe they can sell. Products are then shipped to
QVC's warehouse at Suffolk, VA.
"To show you the power of television, the
show sold 600 of our hand-painted apple stools in a three-minute period one evening. It's
like a catalog or department store and you can see how the product is sold," Sawyer
said.
"We are also telemarketing four styles of
Indian blankets for the American Indian College Fund. Orders come in on an 800 number at
Watermark's building. We provide customer service and ship the blankets for them.
Pendleton makes the blanket, but the designs come from the Indian tribes," she
explained.
Warehouse Addition
A major improvement in Watermark's operation
in recent years was the addition of a 4,100- square-foot warehouse and loading dock at the
Camden headquarters.
"Previously we unloaded supplies by hand.
And when it came to shipping out an order, we'd make an announcement over our public
address system for all the employees to help load the truck, including shrink-wrapping the
paletted boxes. Sometimes we even had to 'bribe' the truck driver with a soft drink so
he'd wait a little longer." The warehouse, financed by an empowerment grant from the
state, makes the co-op's shipping operation more efficient, enabling it to go after larger
orders.
About 10-15 percent of the members earn a
living from craft production, but they're often well-versed in making a wide variety of
items, willing to learn new skills, and can be very flexible in what and when they can
make particular craft items, Sawyer explained. "For others who supplement their
income from crafts, it's a pastime that makes life interesting.
"We're very conscious of foreign
competition, of course, and counter it by producing quality crafts," Sawyer says.
"Quilts are an example of the global market. We started out making them. But when
cheaper versions began to roll into our markets from overseas, we relegated the sale of
them to our Camden store. It supports keeping some crafts alive, even though they are no
longer produced in large quantities.
"We still have clients who are interested
in American-made crafts and will pay a little extra to get them. These handmade quality
pieces are often passed on down to the younger generation in the family," Sawyer
says.
Member Relations Challenge
But Sawyer finds member relations in her
cooperative a real challenge. "Some members find the cooperative difficult to
understand," she said. "So we are developing a new one-day orientation program
that would involve the whole staff in acquainting new members with our operation and
personnel. We may even bring in an outside speaker at times."
Communications are essential to link management
and the members in the cooperative. "If a printed flyer about the cooperative isn't
being read by the members, we have to find other ways of reaching them," says Sawyer.
"Sometimes we may get a more honest
response when members can express their opinions anonymously in a questionnaire. So we try
to focus on problems in advance. Often the best way to get people's reaction is to ask
them impromptu questions over the phone.
One of the new wrinkles is to develop craft
guilds within the cooperative for people working on the same craft item. "They will
discuss particular techniques in making the individual craft, purchase supplies together,
and even go to marketing shows. With more interaction, we hope to spark their interest in
the cooperative."
Last year, the co-op started holding discussion
roundtables at which individuals would discuss their particular craft, tools used and
techniques. This helped members gain new skills, regardless of whether they were painting
stools, making cloth dolls or involved in some aspect of woodworking.
"We have a coordinator for our craft
training program and use the classes to stimulate interest in the cooperative. It's
exciting and develops community spirit for the cooperative," Sawyer said. "We
teach classes in everything from basket weaving to sewing. They serve as a way for members
to gain more income and help Watermark connect with its small home community of Camden.
Members are paid to teach the craft classes.
Part of the class fee goes to the instructor, some of it for supplies and the balance to
the cooperative.
"We've trained between 200 and 300 members
and community people in recent years. Some of those who weren't members join the
cooperative while others become our gift shop customers. It takes a couple classes to
become comfortable in making crafts.
"One member brings in another. Soon, it
becomes a social event for a church or office group. For us, it's a way to keep the
membership involved. We're a working cooperative and our members' time may be limited, so
we find ways to adjust to that.
"We have an interesting blend of members
reflecting both age and experience with crafts," Sawyer said. "Even our
12-member board reflects it, the chairman being one of the founding members of 20 years
ago and another director having only two years with the cooperative. All are craft people
with different levels of education and skills. It helps the more recent members learn from
the older ones about craftmaking techniques, the cooperative's operation, and its need for
quality products.
"A number of our members are military
wives looking for a job they can conduct in the home to bring in some extra income and
still take care of the children. We're still in a very rural area," she commented.
"Many of our pioneers like to maintain
membership in the cooperative because it gives them a sense of community or home. Some
stop at our retail store and others just want to say 'hi.' Others stayed in contact when
we had a newsletter or took one of the craft training courses we offered," Sawyer
said.
"And after 20 years, we're just excited to
be operating. We want to create jobs through the sale of handicraft items. We have a lot
of respect for our members. They compete with national companies that manufacture their
products in factories. We make hand-crafted items in our homes and work twice as hard for
our sales."
Teaming with the Smithsonian
The cooperative is always interested in
displaying its products where more people can become acquainted with them. "Two years
ago, Watermark was asked by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. to make
'Sarah' cloth dolls. The Smithsonian's product development and licensing department works
with specific customers to make licensed products. The 18-inch doll was inspired by one in
the Smithsonian collection. The doll features a special hang tag that combines Watermark's
name and Smithsonian's logo. Watermark was chosen because of its quality work and
commitment to the American craftperson.
"At our New York Gift Show booth last
fall, we met a group looking for items for the new museum in the Roanoke Island Festival
Park at Manteo, N.C., about an hour east of Camden. It focuses on the history of Northeast
North Carolina. They later visited our headquarters at Camden. Their gift shop promotes
North Carolina artisans. The meetings generated a $4,000 order that included our
hand-painted stools and native American dolls. We hope they become long-standing
customers," Sawyer said.
If the Watermark Association of Artisans has
achieved some measure of success, Sawyer said, "it's due to the variety of products
made in members' homes and their flexibility in making many different crafts in a short
time period. We couldn't exist without that flexibility. These women are the real stars of
Watermark." 
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