There is nothing quite like seeing a crystal or glass award sparkle in the sunshine or feeling its weight in your hands. Tim Williamson, manager of Just Right Awards and Engraving, jokes that he wishes that all days could be sunny ones for his glass and crystal products.
Profits That Sparkle
How to boost your margins with glass and crystal products.
By Caroline Heller
(Originally printed in the November/December 2022 issue of Insights.)
There is nothing quite like seeing a crystal or glass award sparkle in the sunshine or feeling its weight in your hands. Tim Williamson, manager of Just Right Awards and Engraving, jokes that he wishes that all days could be sunny ones for his glass and crystal products.
“We have our glass and crystal pieces out in the sunlight, so you can see the rainbows and reflections they make,” Williamson says. Unfortunately, for his shop based in Portland, Oregon—which averages 144 sunny days a year, more than 60 days below the average number of sunny days per U.S. city—that isn’t always the case. “If we could sell all of our glass and crystal items during the summer, that would be perfect.”
Glass and crystal products from Crystal-D
Constant sunny summer days would certainly make it easier to sell glass and crystal products, but what about turning a profit? Glass and crystal pieces can carry high price tags, potentially limiting owners’ desire to charge enough to earn a good return.
But industry professionals need not fear. These products are special; all that’s required is convincing customers as much. After all, they carry more weight and can be sandcarved to feature intricate designs. “Having a belief in the value of glass and crystal pieces is really the first step to increasing sales,” Williamson says.
With the right processes, such as setting up an assembly line, avoiding using a lot of tape and building a solid customer base, any business can thrive off glass and crystal products.
Seeing is Believing
One of the most important steps in selling glass and crystal products is letting customers see and feel their value.
“Hand that glass or crystal product to a customer and say, ‘Feel the weight of this,’” Williamson says. “They can feel the impact that it’s going to make on the person they are giving it to through the very object itself.”
This demonstration, Williamson says, helps to make the cost of the item start to fade into the background for the customer. In fact, Just Right Awards and Engraving relies on this storeroom experience to sell its higher-end products, to customers big and small. “We do everything from working with single customers doing items for their little shop to working with big businesses like Key Bank and FedEx,” Williamson says.
Navigating Sandcarving
Shana Kayne Beach, owner, Chase Street Accessories & Engraving, recommends sandcarving glass and crystal instead of lasering because sandcarving leaves a deeper, more contrasted mark. “You can charge more for this because it’s higher quality, and it only costs you time and the initial equipment investment,” Beach says.
Sandcarving is especially impressive on crystal items that have depth. Lori Champagne, owner, Champagne Engraving, says that sandcarving can amplify a product’svalue. “The way it captures light is just beautiful,” Champagne says. “It makes the customer go, ‘Wow!’”
However, sandcarving can be labor intensive. “Reducing the amount of time that it takes to sandcarve something is the equivalent of charging more money,” Champagne says. The more hours you get back in the day, after all, means more orders you can fulfill.
To begin reducing the amount of time it takes to sandcarve, Champagne recommends figuring out an assembly line operation. Try to group similar products together, and do all the processes at once.
Secondly, make a mask that will fit multiple products. “If you have a whole bunch of pieces, and you’re not paint filling, then you don’t have to bag each one individually,” Champagne says. “You can make a mask out of an engravable plastic with some foam going around it to reduce the time you spend prepping each product.”
Her third tip: Buy a bag sealer. “If you do have to paint fill and need to bag your items individually, then buy a bag sealer,” Champagne says. “It is this wonderful little machine that seals the ends of bags. I no longer have to tape bags shut, and it has saved me a lot of time.”
Darin Jones, technical sales and training specialist, Ikonics Imaging, also recommends against using a lot of tape or what he calls “mummifying” your items.“It is too time intensive,” he says. “There are many ways to reduce or eliminate labor in the sandblast process.” Ikonics Imaging sells sandcarving equipment, and Jones teaches classes on how to operate the equipment.
“Sandcarving requires manual labor,” Jones says. “You hold a nozzle in one hand, a substrate in your other hand and step on a foot pedal to send pressurized air and abrasive to etch or carve your substrate.” He works with companies to reduce sandcarving time by implementing different techniques. “Some of the customers I work with don’t have a need for masking tape anymore.”
Jones has taught sandcarving classes for 17 years, and he thinks reducing the amount of labor also involves having confidence. “I’m a positive person and passionate about what I do. Some may lack confidence when they first start to operate sandcarving equipment,” Jones says. “We help customers sandcarve with confidence.”
Build the Base
Once the production is nailed, selling glass and crystal is just like moving any other product—it’s about proactively seeking out customers and new sales.
When Lori Champagne moved from Carlsbad, California, to Waterford, Michigan, her client base changed dramatically. “When I worked at a shop in Carlsbad, our customer base was largely corporations. There were tons of world headquarters, and golf was huge,” Champagne says. “We were in a community that screamed ‘corporate awards,’ and it was much easier to sell higher-end crystal awards.”
Now that she’s in Michigan, she doesn’t do corporate awards anymore, but her business is booming nonetheless.
“Something to keep in mind is that it’s not just about reducing the cost or increasing the prices in order to make more money,” Champagne says. “It’s about the relationship you have with customers and about establishing a new regular customer.”
“Once you have done an annual or monthly award for a customer, it behooves you to call that customer 10 months later or 20 days later to see if they wish to do the project again,” Champagne says. “Your greatest source of additional revenue is your customers who already know you do great work.”
Similarly, Sheila Kloski, president, B.B. Trophy and Awards Company, did not immediately start by selling corporate glass and crystal awards. “I started working with schools and sports organizations where I encountered coaches,” Kloski says. “These coaches were volunteering their time, but during the day, they worked for larger companies.”
Kloski’s products impressed these coaches who then referred her to their workplaces. “I was able to step into the corporate world and build a client base through associations I had already made.”
Sandcarving vs. Engraving Glass
Darin Jones, technical sales and training specialist, Ikonics Imaging, has been a sandcarving instructor since 2005. “I’m a realist when it comes to what equipment you should use,” Jones says. “When you’re doing a light etch, your options are endless. You can do laser engraving, sandcarving, acid etching, etc.” Sandcarvers and lasers complement each other, he says.
However, Jones does recommend sandcarving in certain situations, including these four scenarios.
Deep engraving. Jones suggests using sandcarving when you want to do a deep etch. “Deep etching refers to anything deeper than your fingernail thickness,” Jones says. “With sandcarving, you’re removing the material with low frictional heat.”This allows you to dig out greater depths of material and still get a sharply detailed image. “Whether you’re looking for a deeper etch and/or want to color fill it, that’s where sandcarving comes in,” says Jones. Sandcarving creates a nice and smooth textured surface for paint to better adhere to the product.
Dishwasher-safe glassware. For personalized glassware that will go in the dishwasher, Jones says you should sandcarve. “Sandcarved images are 100% dishwasher safe. If you run your sandcarved item through a dishwasher many times, the image will remain the same,” Jones says. “The abrasive etching will last longer than the glass itself. In other words, someone will likely break the glass before the image disappears.”
Three-dimensional looks. Sandcarving can give your awards a more three-dimensional look on glass or crystal, Jones says. “You can etch very deep on the back of a glass or crystal award, and that gives you more dimensions,” says Jones. “When you look at the award from the front or side, it looks like the image is inside the award.”
Large items. There are portable sandcarving machines that allow you to sandcarve on-site. “You can do boulders on-site, shower doors in a hotel room, signage, memorial monuments or gravestones, etc.,” Jones says. “There really is unlimited real estate when it comes to sandcarving.”
Glass- and crystal-etched products courtesy of Ikonics Imaging
Want more sandcarving expertise?
Don’t miss the APA’s International Personalization & Awards Expo, Feb. 7–10 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Expo will feature two sandcarving classes, featuring hands-on instruction from industry experts.
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