This advice isn't necessarily directed at any particular builder. It's directed at a builder who is trying to figure out how to break out of the limitations of selling online, direct.
The internet really changes everything, but not necessarily for the better. When I started in 1995 the only way to sell was through stores, so during my second year I went on a road trip to visit cities that had them, taking strange routes across the country, zig-zagging and backtracking to hit as many as I could. It was fun, but it was instantaneously heartbreaking because there were no real sales... However, I did get my pedals into New York.* The magic thing was, after some time went by, the stores that had poo-pooed the pedals at first called me up to order as soon as I got a little bit of press in GP magazine, when a writer/reviewer (Joe Gore) bought a few of my pedals I managed to sell to Rudy's Music Stop in New York.
Now the internet has made it possible to get a lot of attention on these kinds of forums as each buyer does a review and increases visibility. The thing that fools you is that this is such a tiny segment of what's out there. The vast majority of musicians who actually buy product are visiting stores, not forums, and ultimately that's where your customers are. So the key thing to do is get in your car with a buddy who wants to travel and head for one coast or the other, passing through the best boutique pedal stores you can find. There's lists available everywhere online. My site has a list, Fulltone has a list, just do some research and plot out the cities on a map, and go show off what you do. Selling in stores causes you to have to raise your prices. That's tough in this economy, but it has to be done. Best time to bite that bullet is when you're small and relatively unknown. Don't undercut your dealers by advertising your pedals cheaper than retail online.
Some time after my road trip, I called up Mike Fuller to ask him if I could use the name "Black Box Number 9" (original name for the Machine pedal). He had recently ceased production on a power supply he called "the Black Box." I didn't want to step on his toes. He said flat out "absolutely not" in typical Mike fashion, but he went on to talk with me for at least an hour about everything I could think of to pick his brain about. He said something that completely freaked me out. He'd been in business for 6 years and I was just starting my 2nd year, and he said "it won't be long and you'll be doing a quarter million a year in sales." I shook my head when I got off the phone and laughed, thinking I'd be lucky to break 5 digits, let alone 6.
It took a few years. I remember that conversation often. I wish I'd payed more attention to the details of what he was telling me. Who knows what I'd have learned if I had believed him at first.
footnote
* The road trip to NYC did not immediately result in getting Rudy's to sell my pedals. I arrived in NYC during a light rain on a Friday night and expected all of the stores to be closed. We drove past Rudy's and saw people going in... my heart raced. John drove the car to a 24-hour parking ramp and some crazy driver there took it screaming and squealing around corners up to a high floor until we couldn't hear it anymore. We trudged up to Rudy's a few blocks away, me wearing a backpack full of pedals. I went up to the floor (3rd or fourth?) where the accessories were sold, and I awkwardly introduced myself to the salesman, Tomo. Tomo had a thick German accent and laughed at my pedals, telling me that nobody in New York would want such crazy things (Octane, Fuzz Factory, SHO). He said that NYC was heavily blues-based and crazy pedals weren't hot. I reminded him that the US music scene was beginning to show real signs of picking up noise influences from the shoegaze scene in the UK which had been raging for some years, and he was mystified by the whole thing, not recognizing any band names I mentioned. I gave up, packed up 15 pedals into my backpack and strapped it back on, trudging down the stairs to the street where I stared at the city rising above me and felt like a schmuck. Trip was over, and I'd consigned 3 pedals and sold none. Then I heard Tomo's voice behind me. He'd come down the stairs and was out on the sidewalk, talking quietly like he was making a drug deal. He wanted to buy a Fuzz Factory for himself. I was like, wtf? You want to buy one for yourself and not for the store? His reaction was, "You don't understand the owner here. He's not going to let me spend money on these weird pedals. He doesn't trust me to make those kinds of decisions. My band is really weird, so I have to have this sound." I'm like, shit, you just want to be the only guy in NYC to have a Fuzz Factory, and he laughed right in my face. I figured a sale is a sale, so I handed him one, and he took my card and told me his "record label" would send me the money. I was stunned.
So I drove back home with my tail between my legs, alternating shifts with my friend John, and waited for the check for a month. Nothing. Nada. I'm like, country bumpkin goes to the big city and gets conned. One day the phone rings and it's Tomo. He's like "did my record label send you the money yet?" I said no. He swore and then apologized profusely, the label sent the money overnight by FedEx, and within a couple of days he placed an order for 40 pedals for Rudy's Music Stop and saved my broke ass. Rudy's placed orders at the 10 to 20 pedals-per-month level for more than a year after that. I went to visit Tomo there and he took me up to his penthouse apartment which looked directly out at the Chrysler Tower. I was stunned. He said, "This is my wife. She's also runs my record label." Fucking Tomo.
I was crushed when he quit working there to go into real estate full-time. He probably made a total killing.
Another story about Tomo. One day he calls me up to tell me Metallica is in the store and they just bought a fuzz factory. Next day, he calls me up to tell me one of them came back to buy 5 more fuzz factories and now he needs to place an order. I'm like, why 5 pedals? Tomo laughed. "He said he wanted to make sure nobody else would be able to get a fuzz factory in New York while they're working on their new record across the street." I FedEx-ed him the full order that night. That's another thing to keep in mind. Always, always always have stock on hand. No matter what it takes, make sure you can supply your dealers. Never run out. It's not cute. It doesn't make you seem popular. It's seriously aggravating for the dealers to not get what they need. Same with their customers. People want it, and they want it now. The longest I made my dealers wait was a week or two. Never let it get out of control. You'll be seriously sorry. I'm never out of stock now. Ever.
Of course, Tomo sold all of the fuzz factories immediately by telling the Metallica story to his customers. That's the coolest thing about stores. Famous musicians come through and want freaky new pedals (they're making money touring and it's burning a hole) and then the sales guys can tell excellent stories to all of their other customers about it. Your customers. Your happy customers who can show off their new pedals and tell the story about the crazy rock star. Believe me, your customers don't want to tell their friends stories about a crazy pedalmaker.
Get your pedals into stores. Stop believing in this internet bullshit. You can sell direct for more money once you establish a real retail presence. And fuck the guys who say you charge too much. They just want to
use you. Think about it. They want to put a brick on your head. Make you into their pet. Clip your wings. Stunt your growth like a bonzai, keep you in the forums where they can keep an eye on you. Don't drink the kool-aid. It's not kool. This place is a cult. Business is still done in brick-and-mortar stores. The internet is a secondary market.
Look at the truth. Keeley is in stores. Analogman is in stores.
Think about that. Mike from Analogman started off by modding pedals, grew an internet presence very very early in the game, started selling other maker's pedals and his own pedals in his online store, and then sold to where? Brick and mortar stores. That's where the real world is. Go live in it. The internet is small. It only seems big. And forgive me, Mike, if I got the order wrong, but i believe I got it right. Now, look. The brick-and-mortar stores are selling his pedals online. It's exponential. He's now ubiquitous.
http://www.ludlowguitars.com/invento...dals/analogman
Btw, what a laugh that some in here bitch that my 5-knob hand-painted germanium fuzz pedal sells for $19 more than his 3-knob silkscreened germanium pedal fuzz pedal. His has a one-year warranty. Mine has a lifetime warranty. Go figure why I'm always the target for their inane rants about "overpriced pedals." They don't want someone outspoken on here. That person may break the trance. Might pull back the curtain to reveal the tiny little operators of this frightening, all-important machine they believe rules the world. Actually, they're deluded geeks.
Let me spell it out for you. The people on the forums don't want to help you, or make sure you're successful. They just want to be in control. Defeat the matrix. Get yourself into real retail brick-and-mortar stores and get your prices straightened out. You can always cut deals quietly with your old friends. The dealers do that too.
Good luck.