Maja, the first rep I ever had sold like crazy for me and she did so
consistently. The second two I tried were in the wrong market for my
work and didn’t work out. The last rep I tried was a catalogue rep
that went nuts for my work. They didn’t ask for anything up front
although that was ten years ago. The 15% sounds consistent with what
they asked for. Unfortunately, when it came time to swap out the
initial samples for the full line, they returned the initial ones
haphazardly thrown in a box (not secured to the jewelry boards as
I’d given them). They handled my work so poorly that I fired them
and went to the catalogue houses myself.
I learned a lot by submitting to about half a dozen catalogues that
I thought fit the market for my work. You submit samples, wait,
call, wait some more. I finally landed a prestigious catalogue house
only to discover that I couldn’t possibly meet their production
requirements.
All in all, what I’d have to say is that the biggest problems I
think I’ve had with reps is that they didn’t know how to properly
target the right market for my work which was high end. Reps often
need new lines constantly to present to their accounts (I was one
for a few years).
Bottom line, I get very suspicious of any rep that asks me for money
up front, especially large monies. Will they tell you which
catalogues they plan on presenting your work to? Probably not for
fear you’ll go there yourself. You just carry the largest part of
the risk. They’re carrrying several lines to each place they go,
counting on the fact that at least one will sell to cover their
time.
Just my experience and I’m sure there are folks out there with more
updated info than mine. Just be very careful, see how much reference
info they’ll give you, how open they are to your questions, etc.
Make them explain fully what you’ll be getting for taking all this
expensive up front risk. Good luck
