Client's Gender

[JohnnyNoName]

I just realized yesterday, that almost all of my clients have been women. There was one project where the man contacted me, but I just dealt with his wife. Another project that was for a friend that was a guy, but other then that it has just been women. I haven't been building things too long, but out of approximately 20 projects, almost all have been for women.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? I wonder if this is due to the furniture that I have made appealing to women, or is it the stereotype of the woman making design/decorating decisions in the house? Another thought was that maybe men are more apt to think "I can build it myself".

Anyone else have a similar experience or thoughts?

Jonathan

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[thewoodwhisperer]

When I was building routinely for clients, I would say well over half of them were women. Or at least the women were the ones doing the talking, planning, and paying. I have also noticed something similar on my website. I have two particular posts that seem to bring in lots of outside general search engine traffic. So I get a LOT of drive-by questions there. Both posts are about finishing and both have a disproportionally high number of women asking the questions. I say disproportionate because I NEVER see this much representation from women in any other area of the site or even on something like our Facebook page.

Check it out for yourself. Just scroll down the comments and look for female names. Then go to any other post on the site and compare how many responses are from women.

http://thewoodwhisperer.com/a-better-way-to-apply-spar-urethane/

http://thewoodwhisperer.com/natural-looking-bartop-finish/

[JohnnyNoName]

Check it out for yourself. Just scroll down the comments and look for female names. Then go to any other post on the site and compare how many responses are from women.

http://thewoodwhispe...-spar-urethane/

http://thewoodwhispe...-bartop-finish/

Wow, you're right.

Jonathan

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[dcustoms]

Looking back now that you mention it most of my clients have been women also. I can only think of one or two jobs where the men spearheaded the whole thing. For that reason I started bringing my wife along on job quoting,which creates a comfortable conversation between two women and as a result has helped me get more jobs.

[JohnnyNoName]

Looking back now that you mention it most of my clients have been women also. I can only think of one or two jobs where the men spearheaded the whole thing. For that reason I started bringing my wife along on job quoting,which creates a comfortable conversation between two women and as a result has helped me get more jobs.

OK. So it's not just me. Bringing along the wife is an interesting idea. Thanks.

Jonathan

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[duckkisser]

and here i was thinking it was my good looks

[bois]

This is one of the most important realizations you will make if you are going to really push into marketing of your work. I could point to any one of a few dozen studies and surveys, but it should come as no surprise that women make the vast majority of the purchasing decisions in the household. The challenge most woodworkers face is that they spend a lot of time talking to other (mostly male) woodworkers and lose sight of the fact that their buyer is a very different persona. For higher end furniture, expect your buyer to be a female 50+ years old. Now go look at your web site / marketing materials / business cards and decide if they are the least bit appealing to that demographic. I even incorporate this fact into my design philosophy, erring on the side of more feminine design characteristics. The challenge is that most woodworkers don't naturally identify with this buyer segment, so really struggle (or sometimes resist) identifying with these prospective customers. But recognizing the problem is half the battle

[Darnell Hagen]

By far most of my clients have been women, my single best demographic is widows. I think a lot of men think that they can go in ther garage and build furniture with their hammer and skilsaw.

Little old ladies are the best, they know what they want, they serve cookies and coffee like five times a day, and if you do a good job they seem to always have more work.

[JohnnyNoName]

I even incorporate this fact into my design philosophy, erring on the side of more feminine design characteristics. The challenge is that most woodworkers don't naturally identify with this buyer segment, so really struggle (or sometimes resist) identifying with these prospective customers. But recognizing the problem is half the battle

Bois -

Can you be more specific in what you incorporate into your designs that you feel make the pieces more attractive to women? One thing I remember from my web consulting days was that men preferred the higher contrast, cooler colors, and women preferred a more subtle, yet complex palette. Maybe this would lead a furniture design towards less "maple and walnut" and more "mahogany and walnut"?

Jonathan

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[duckkisser]

good advise i will keep that little tid bit in mind bacause i notice that i make more stuff that in contrasting but i have some realy soft looking pine with blue streaks through it. has no grain and the blue streaks fuzz out on the edges.

[bois]

By feminine design elements I mean thinner, curvier, more slender design elements - not so much color. To use an example, I designed a writing desk last year that I envisioned would likely appeal more to women than men. If I were designing this for a dude, I would have made much thicker legs and used more bold lines (maybe even something a bit more G&G). This desk is black walnut, which you might not think appeals as much to women but thanks to Pottery Barn, dark finishes are still in demand.

[duckkisser]

very nice i would put that in my home i like the curved draw front did you cut that on a band saw? and how do you do the white inlay or stain on the table top?