pgr8dnlvr
An obsolete oldie...
Hello all, just thought I'd bring up some topics for discussion. In the short time that I have been more involved in the "cornsnake" industry, some comments I sometimes frequently hear really start to make me think. I just wanted to put my opinions on the matter out and see what some others think 
1. It is so much easier to buy and sell someone elses stock than it is to breed your own and sell it.
2. I can't sell my snakes for X amount of dollars, because yours are so much less!
3. There are only so many people in the market for high end corns each year so we should be careful not to "overproduce" them.
Ok, so I know some of you don't want it, but here are my opinions -
1. It is so much easier to buy and sell someone elses stock than it is to breed your own and sell it.
I don't think it's much easier to sell someone elses stock than it is to breed your own. I have absolutely done both now, and there are positives and negatives to both, but there aren't such glaring differences as some would have you believe.
When I import a batch of babies in, I would usually get a decent amount at once. When I say "decent" we are talking about 60 - 80 babies. So when I get them in I have to set each up into their individual containers the same as I would when I breed my own. Each container needs a proper label set up with the morph, sex, and if they shed when on the road, they need hides cut out, water, etc.
So then after the set up is done two days later I feed them all. Then the same as if I bred them they all have to be marked as to what they ate, checked that they did eat etc. This has to be done at LEAST four times before the animals can be marked for sale. Then once it's time to sell them, most need to have individual pictures taken, and a certain amount of advertising done. A price must be decided upon. To me a fair public markup is either 2 times or slightly above that. Thus if I land a butter corn for $32 I would likely mark it around $70. So not a lot of profit considering I might not sell that snake before it's eaten a dozen or even more times.
Now for when I breed my own. I have previously done the math and have posted it in my personal threads and once I get the babies set up in their individual containers and feed, again the MINIMUM of four times frozen thawed, each baby no matter what the morph would have a landed cost of about $9.50 or so Canadian. So with these babies a number of which see with the average price of $60 I am making SIX TIMES the amount of money!
So for work, here is where the difference is. Yes in my cost of goods figuring I figure out a labour value of about $8.00 per hour and I counted the average amount of time spent on the adults for the year. The added labour is in the fact that you have to deal with 20-25 babies of the same morph when if I imported I would have only gotten in about 6 of each morph at a time tops. So it is a lot more work to care for those babies which won't be sold until a much later time, but I don't know if it is SIX times the amount of work.
So in short, I don't know how valid I feel statement number one is...
2. I can't sell my snakes for X amount of dollars, because yours are so much less!
Ok, this is another comment I don't necessarily agree with. Yes it can be more difficult for you to sell your animal for double what I may want to charge, but there is another method of thought.
There are people evident even on this site who have vastly different prices on their animals yet they can still manage to sell out. Look at Poppycorns and her pink snows. She was selling them for two or three times what anyone else might have sold the same morph, but what are her secrets?
Marketing is one. If you want to sell your animals for a lot more, you need to market the animals and let people know why your animals are so much better! Take AMAZING pictures of them that highlight the quality, participate in forums with positive supportive comments wherever possible, strive to have THE BEST customer service possible, keep METICULOUS records on your animals and make sure to post GORGEOUS pictures of the parents of your animals. Perhaps register all your animals with ACR. Most of all, I think you need to really feel and know the VALUE of your animals! If you can pass along your own excitement about your animals, other people will see the value! No you may not sell as many animals as the guy charging half, but if you are happier selling less but with a much better air of quality then GOOD FOR YOU!! Look at name brand clothes, the names sometimes charge 4 x what another almost identical piece of clothing might cost even made by the same manufacturer. It's that TAG that people want!
Of course, marketing is only one aspect. If you want to sell your animals for a lot more than someone else is then you had better make EVERY effort possible to attain the best breeding stock you can. You want to truly have that above par animal which blows peoples socks off when they see it on the table in front of them!
3. There are only so many people in the market for high end corns each year so we should be careful not to "overproduce" them.
Ok this is another one that just doesn't make absolute sense to me. Yeah, I have a marketing background and have access to some very cool post secondary marketing books from my sister in law who heads a marketing department for a huge company here in B.C., but this shouldn't be that hard for people to grasp. Markets are not set in stone. Some of the most successful people in this world have understood just that. If you have something to sell, you need to create a need in someone else for them to have what you are selling! You CREATE your own market! It's not EASY to do, yes that I know, but it's also something that isn't anywhere near impossible to do! I think there are some simple things to start building a market that don't even take much time.
When advertising in local newspapers or online markets Instead of saying "Pied sided bloodred for sale - $1000 obo." why not beef things up!?!
The Perfect Pet!
Would you like a pet that never barks all night long, doesn't scratch your furniture, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg in yearly vet bills?! How would you like to go away on weekends and not have to have a petsitter?! Cornsnakes only get about 4 feet long and as thick as a toonie, are hypo-allergenic, and only need feeding once a week! They also come in over 300 different colours and patterns to choose from, and are fun and easy to breed!
I have one of the newest colour morphs out there that will knock your socks off! Blazing red on stark white! Living art in your home!
$1000 each!
This ad would hopefully get your foot in the door and you might have some curious people give you a call for more information. Then you can concentrate on education and yes, you can even put in the cautions and downsides as well, but at least you have a start! Get people interested! If you believe strongly in what you have and you truly love it yourself, that interest will spread!
Human nature can be quite predictable at times, even from day one - Little Timmy playing in the sandbox, surrounded in toys, disinterested fiddling with one of the toys. Joey sits down next to him and picks up a stick, starts building a castle making the stick a spire, starts stirring the sand like a witches cauldron with the magic wand all of the sudden Timmy will stop at nothing he ONLY wants that stick! Simple human nature...
Anyway, I know there are many different views and spins people can take on these comments, and I just wanted to point out some of the thoughts I have had. I can see and respect other angles as well and just thought I'd ask what YOU guys think!
Rebecca
1. It is so much easier to buy and sell someone elses stock than it is to breed your own and sell it.
2. I can't sell my snakes for X amount of dollars, because yours are so much less!
3. There are only so many people in the market for high end corns each year so we should be careful not to "overproduce" them.
Ok, so I know some of you don't want it, but here are my opinions -
1. It is so much easier to buy and sell someone elses stock than it is to breed your own and sell it.
I don't think it's much easier to sell someone elses stock than it is to breed your own. I have absolutely done both now, and there are positives and negatives to both, but there aren't such glaring differences as some would have you believe.
When I import a batch of babies in, I would usually get a decent amount at once. When I say "decent" we are talking about 60 - 80 babies. So when I get them in I have to set each up into their individual containers the same as I would when I breed my own. Each container needs a proper label set up with the morph, sex, and if they shed when on the road, they need hides cut out, water, etc.
So then after the set up is done two days later I feed them all. Then the same as if I bred them they all have to be marked as to what they ate, checked that they did eat etc. This has to be done at LEAST four times before the animals can be marked for sale. Then once it's time to sell them, most need to have individual pictures taken, and a certain amount of advertising done. A price must be decided upon. To me a fair public markup is either 2 times or slightly above that. Thus if I land a butter corn for $32 I would likely mark it around $70. So not a lot of profit considering I might not sell that snake before it's eaten a dozen or even more times.
Now for when I breed my own. I have previously done the math and have posted it in my personal threads and once I get the babies set up in their individual containers and feed, again the MINIMUM of four times frozen thawed, each baby no matter what the morph would have a landed cost of about $9.50 or so Canadian. So with these babies a number of which see with the average price of $60 I am making SIX TIMES the amount of money!
So for work, here is where the difference is. Yes in my cost of goods figuring I figure out a labour value of about $8.00 per hour and I counted the average amount of time spent on the adults for the year. The added labour is in the fact that you have to deal with 20-25 babies of the same morph when if I imported I would have only gotten in about 6 of each morph at a time tops. So it is a lot more work to care for those babies which won't be sold until a much later time, but I don't know if it is SIX times the amount of work.
So in short, I don't know how valid I feel statement number one is...
2. I can't sell my snakes for X amount of dollars, because yours are so much less!
Ok, this is another comment I don't necessarily agree with. Yes it can be more difficult for you to sell your animal for double what I may want to charge, but there is another method of thought.
There are people evident even on this site who have vastly different prices on their animals yet they can still manage to sell out. Look at Poppycorns and her pink snows. She was selling them for two or three times what anyone else might have sold the same morph, but what are her secrets?
Marketing is one. If you want to sell your animals for a lot more, you need to market the animals and let people know why your animals are so much better! Take AMAZING pictures of them that highlight the quality, participate in forums with positive supportive comments wherever possible, strive to have THE BEST customer service possible, keep METICULOUS records on your animals and make sure to post GORGEOUS pictures of the parents of your animals. Perhaps register all your animals with ACR. Most of all, I think you need to really feel and know the VALUE of your animals! If you can pass along your own excitement about your animals, other people will see the value! No you may not sell as many animals as the guy charging half, but if you are happier selling less but with a much better air of quality then GOOD FOR YOU!!
Look at name brand clothes, the names sometimes charge 4 x what another almost identical piece of clothing might cost even made by the same manufacturer. It's that TAG that people want!Of course, marketing is only one aspect. If you want to sell your animals for a lot more than someone else is then you had better make EVERY effort possible to attain the best breeding stock you can. You want to truly have that above par animal which blows peoples socks off when they see it on the table in front of them!
3. There are only so many people in the market for high end corns each year so we should be careful not to "overproduce" them.
Ok this is another one that just doesn't make absolute sense to me. Yeah, I have a marketing background and have access to some very cool post secondary marketing books from my sister in law who heads a marketing department for a huge company here in B.C., but this shouldn't be that hard for people to grasp. Markets are not set in stone. Some of the most successful people in this world have understood just that. If you have something to sell, you need to create a need in someone else for them to have what you are selling! You CREATE your own market! It's not EASY to do, yes that I know, but it's also something that isn't anywhere near impossible to do! I think there are some simple things to start building a market that don't even take much time.
When advertising in local newspapers or online markets Instead of saying "Pied sided bloodred for sale - $1000 obo." why not beef things up!?!
The Perfect Pet!
Would you like a pet that never barks all night long, doesn't scratch your furniture, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg in yearly vet bills?! How would you like to go away on weekends and not have to have a petsitter?! Cornsnakes only get about 4 feet long and as thick as a toonie, are hypo-allergenic, and only need feeding once a week! They also come in over 300 different colours and patterns to choose from, and are fun and easy to breed!
I have one of the newest colour morphs out there that will knock your socks off! Blazing red on stark white! Living art in your home!
$1000 each!
This ad would hopefully get your foot in the door and you might have some curious people give you a call for more information. Then you can concentrate on education and yes, you can even put in the cautions and downsides as well, but at least you have a start! Get people interested! If you believe strongly in what you have and you truly love it yourself, that interest will spread!
Human nature can be quite predictable at times, even from day one - Little Timmy playing in the sandbox, surrounded in toys, disinterested fiddling with one of the toys. Joey sits down next to him and picks up a stick, starts building a castle making the stick a spire, starts stirring the sand like a witches cauldron with the magic wand all of the sudden Timmy will stop at nothing he ONLY wants that stick! Simple human nature...
Anyway, I know there are many different views and spins people can take on these comments, and I just wanted to point out some of the thoughts I have had. I can see and respect other angles as well and just thought I'd ask what YOU guys think!
Rebecca
