Liability
General liability policies offer protection for bodily injury and property damage. The primary concern for all retail businesses is injury to customers in the frame shop or on the property. Claims in this category generally are the results of slips, trips and falls. Framers who do installation services have an increased exposure to property damage at the site of the installation. Having the proper liability limits is crucial.

A basic limit of at least $500,000, along with an umbrella-liability limit of $1 million or more, should cover most claims, depending on the size of your business. These policies are usually reasonably priced.

You should also consider employment-related practices liability and employee-benefit liability. Employment-related-practices liability protects against suits claiming discrimination in hiring, promotion, pay and termination, as well as other business practices relating to employment. Businesses providing benefits such as health insurance or retirement plans should consider purchasing employee-benefit liability. This coverage provides protection for errors and omissions in the administration of these benefit programs.

Building & Personal Property
If you own your store, you generally provide the primary insurance. Know the amount of coverage you have and what it would cost to replace the building. Insure the property on a replacement-cost basis but make sure the coverage limit is adequate. Also consider the deductible amount, the amount you feel you can financially afford to assume. The general practice is to select a $1,000 deductible.

If you lease your space, pay particular attention to the insurance provision in the lease. Your lease may require you to provide primary insurance on the building, building glass or other items.

You should pay particular attention to any improvements or betterments you make at your own expense to the property. Your lease may not address such improvements, which may include adding or removing walls, installing flooring, or improving lighting, and your policy must cover these items. You must obtain written permission from the building’s owner for any changes you wish to make.

Just as with building coverage, you should determine the amount of coverage you need on a replacement-cost basis for your shop equipment, office furniture and inventory. Also consider the amount of the loss you are willing to absorb: your deductible. Depending on the size and scope of your operation, you will want to address property of others in your care, as well as off-premises property coverage for you and your customers. In determining the replacement cost for the property of others in your coverage, be sure to include all of the property of others you have in your shop at any time.

Business-Interruption Coverage
Loss-of-business-income insurance reimburses you for lost profits due to an insured loss and may extend to include your employee payroll. It’s best to write this coverage in an actual-loss-sustained format, but you may instead choose a specific dollar amount for a specified period of time. You should review the specifics of these broadened coverages with your agent.

Extra-expense coverage will reimburse you for extra costs you incur over and above what your normal operating expenses would be for you to get your business up and running after an insured loss occurs.
Extra-expense coverage includes expediting expenses to get in equipment and stock, as well as increased costs to set up and operate at an alternative location.

Automobile
The same coverage issues apply to both owned and leased vehicles that your business uses. Most insurance agents recommend a limit of $500,000. An umbrella-liability policy extends excess liability coverage beyond your basic limit.

Uninsured and underinsured coverage generally carries the same limit as a liability policy and provides coverage for medical needs.

The physical-damage portion of the policy provides you with comprehensive coverage for fire, theft, vandalism and glass replacement, along with coverage for collision with another vehicle or an object. Most agents recommend a deductible of $250 for comprehensive coverage and $500 for collision coverage. Consider a no-deductible, full glass coverage rider for a small fee, along with coverage for towing and reimbursement for rental vehicles. Consult with your agent about limits and premiums.

Make sure that the title to any owned vehicle insured on a business policy is in the name of the business as it pertains to insurance. If you lease the car—whether from a leasing company or an individual—secure a written lease to reduce the chance of claim denial.

Workers Compensation
Frame shops with employees generally need to purchase a workers’ compensation policy, even if the business only occasionally hires help. Each state has its own laws regarding policy requirements. Some states have inclusion or exclusion elections regarding business owners and close family members. Consult with your agent regarding these and other state-specific issues.

If you, as the owner, choose not to purchase workers’ compensation coverage, you should consider a disability-income policy to provide income if you become disabled. It will also free up funds you would normally take in income to increase the pay of whoever absorbs your duties and responsibilities. You would also need an individual- or group-health insurance policy to cover your medical needs.

Consider developing an employee-safety pamphlet or manual with safety procedures to follow on the job, including procedures for reporting unsafe conditions and injuries.

Business Continuation & Key Employees
As the owner of your business, consider who would be in charge of the operations if you were gone for an extended period of time, how well-trained this employee is in all aspects of the business operation and how this employee would then receive compensation. Consider what would change if you were to die. Consider whether someone in the business would want to buy the business and whether this employee would have access to adequate funding to do so. If you employ such an individual, you may want to purchase a business-continuation insurance policy addressing a written buy-sell agreement that life insurance would fund.

Determine who is absolutely key to the success of the business operation. You may have a lead framer, a production coordinator or another employee that you heavily depend on. Give consideration to the value that this person brings to the business and the financial effect of this person’s death or disability. You may choose to insure this individual with key-person insurance to compensate the business for lost revenue and production if this key person were to become disabled or to die.

Shop owners operating successful businesses face many challenges. You can ease the matter of insurance decision-making with the aid and consultation of a knowledgeable and qualified insurance agent. Consult with this agent at least annually to review your insurance in detail. The agent should review not only what policies you currently have but also areas of exposure your insurance program does not currently cover.

Other Coverage Considerations

– Data breach: This coverage is more recently available for small businesses and is reasonably priced for the industry. It covers both electronic- and paper-file data breach.
– Detached signs
– Cash and checks
– Credit card receipts
– Data, media and programs
– Floods and earthquakes

Paul Kotnour has worked in marketing business insurance for nearly 40 years. In addition to insurance marketing, he has helped clients and attorneys establish business continuation plans, retirement plans and estate plans. He has also marketed health insurance, retirement plans and disability and life insurance. He holds the designations of chartered life underwriter and chartered financial consultant. His wife, Pat, owns and operates a framing gallery, so he has an intimate knowledge of the exposures the industry faces today.

The post Critical Coverage: Why Should Schedule Annual Reviews with an Insurance Agent appeared first on Art Business News.

The start of a new year always brings the opportunity for introspection and review. Beyond the regular New Year goals of extra exercise and better eating—which are rapidly abandoned due to the lack of excitement inherent in extra carrots and reps of burpees—there is real value in looking at your business and trying to see how you can keep your service relevant and attractive to your customers.

There has been a radical change to the art gallery and picture framing business over the last 15-20 years. The purchasing patterns and expectations of the modern consumer make it a completely different animal. If you have been conducting business over this time frame this is not news to you. First there were entire television networks dedicated to showing the average homeowner how completely unnecessary it was to hire skilled tradespeople. Why pay all that extra money when you can do it yourself?

DIY—A Detriment to Custom Framing?
Interior decorators show people how to buy IKEA frames, pull out the glue gun and assemble their
own art for a fraction of the cost. Decorating magazines reiterate the same monotonous litany and display most of the art in their interiors without any framing at all. Canvas art gets hung raw and naked with all its edges on display. Interior design media encouraged an attitude less concerned with how beautifully art could be displayed on a wall. All that mattered was getting it up in the most economical manner possible.

I worked for years in a “do it yourself” frameshop. The owner, we’ll call him “Jim,” was a completely charming alcoholic who took great pride in the fact that he had spent most of his adult life “putting four pieces of wood together.” The fact is that the frame assembly is the least of what a picture framer does. I remember Jim with a great deal of fondness—and a lot of head-shaking! I will continue to write about Jim whenever I need an example of what not to do.

I and my fellow coworkers would often come into the shop in the morning to find posters covered in bloody fingerprints because Jim had handled art unaware that he’d cut himself on the edge of a piece of glass or given himself a paper cut on some cardboard backing. We all got really good at fixing
things with hydrogen peroxide!

Customer Education is Everything
A good picture framer, like a doctor, should have the ultimate goal of doing no harm. That makes a good picture framer into a conservator. Knowing what NOT to do is every bit as important as knowing what to do. For example, as an industry, we are fully aware of the importance of acid-free materials as a protective agent for artwork. If we are to expect our customers to pay the additional cost for these premium materials, we need to explain their value.

Acid-free protection is a necessary step in the picture-framing process. If it’s done right you will only have to do it once. Acid-free mats and backing, UV glass, museum glass, proper hinging, spacers…whether hidden or obvious to the naked eye, once conservation materials are explained, they reinforce your role as trusted advisor and caretaker.

Beware the Glue Gun!
When working with valuable artwork it is very important not to do anything that can’t be undone without destroying the art’s value. The customer needs to know why the glue gun is not their friend. The “just get it up on the wall” market has been cornered by the big box store. They are experts in turning interior design into disposable fashion. The trend that started out as a beautiful African brown/black hardwood veneer called “wenge” has been degraded and polystyrene-ed into everything under the sun and labelled “espresso finish” (aka brown, ugh).

This is the new reality in the interior design industry. It seems less important where a trend starts than how to cheapen and replicate it until whatever made it beautiful in the first place has been completely obliterated. This is the opposite of finely designed custom framing. With all the design work invested by the better picture frame importers and manufacturers to fabricate elegant profiles and utilize glorious wood veneers, why would you, the professional picture framer, produce work that’s indistinguishable from what can be purchased ready-made?

Unleash Your Inner Avant-Garde Genius
The finishes that are available now—gold or silver leaf, modernized barn board, lacquer, frosted metallic leaf, graphite—are completely overwhelming. The range of frame profile and finishes are virtually limitless. So how do you dive in? Use fine materials, but also utilize them in a way that is visibly superior. The design aspect of this process cannot be overstated. Imagination and vision are key. Stacking frames to create truly custom combinations isn’t a new concept but it’s one that seems to be oddly under-utilized.

Playing with spacers in shadowboxes and between mats to emphasize the perception of depth within the volume of the framing is also not groundbreaking but adds to the design impact of modern art. Use offsetting in your mat proportions to exaggerate the verticality or horizontal sprawl of art that otherwise would have awkward proportions in the awaiting space. Why just use a safe black cube frame when you can use a black frame with a stunning profile, lacquer finish, or super deep rabbit that transforms the safety of black frame/white mat into avant-garde genius?

Yes, it is probably easier to sell predictable, safe framing to your customers. But the extra effort expended to supply creative design options to your customers will be rewarded with a solid loyal customer base who will love to tell their admiring friends where they framed that jaw-droppingly beautiful piece hanging in their front hall.

Allowing yourself to be the expert that your customers can rely on should be your goal. This expertise will be the cornerstone of a thriving, expanding customer base. Know your materials and contribute the design flair that will have your clients leaving your store confident that their hard-earned dollars were well spent. Letting your work express the passion you feel for your craft will be good for you too. It’s a resolution that shouldn’t be too hard to keep.

Tara Crichton has worked in the framing industry for more than 24 years and is a graduate of University of Guelph with a double major in fine arts. She started out working in the framing industry to pay her way through school and never left the industry, for it was her calling. She has worked in every aspect of the industry from retail, to wholesale distribution, OEM and art direction. Tara now owns and operates a gallery just north of Toronto, Canada.

The post Your Number One Resolution for 2014: Embrace Your Inner Designer appeared first on Art Business News.

You know those ugly frames you see in some frame shops? The ones that are covered in dust because they’re so hopelessly unappealing they just never sell? Well, The Framing Place & Gallery has given these little monstrosities their moment in the sun—while also creating a highly successful social media promotion for their business.

“You really can’t underestimate the importance of online brands,” says Matt Coles, owner, “especially when you consider the ever-expanding social media networks. Contests like ‘The Ugliest Frame Contest’ are simple, cost-effective ways to help establish your online brand.”

Social Media-Savvy Marketing

Here’s how the contest worked. Using Social Apps HQ (www.socialappshq.com), Matt created a promotion that would run seamlessly on Facebook. People were invited to post pictures of their ugliest frames, or to make their own ugly frames and post the pictures via the contest. Then, users would encourage their friends to vote on the worst frame by “liking” the image and sharing with their Facebook friends. As you can imagine, this created a lot of viral activity. When the voting deadline was over, the picture with the most likes was crowned the winner, and the person who submitted it was awarded a $300.00 framing makeover. Fun stuff, great branding and a buzzworthy promotion.

“The competition was a success in more ways than one—not only did participants have fun viewing and voting on ugly frames, but the more likes a picture got, the more exposure it would get on Facebook through users’ news feeds,” says Matt. “As a result, The Framing Place and Gallery was promoted to new audiences on social media, who were directed to The Framing Place website.”

As a side note, Matt also took care to accommodate those contestants who aren’t on Facebook but still wanted to participate. He simply asked them to email him their photos and descriptions, and he uploaded the images for them. That should tell you a lot about the kind of customer service you’ll get at The Framing Place.

The Little Frame Shop That Could

Nestled in the small, Canadian town of Huntsville, Ontario, The Framing Place & Gallery has been doing business for 30 years. It all began in Orla Irwin’s basement, when she set up shop and began to share her passion for framing and decor with her neighbors. Her innovative approach to design began to attract more and more clients, and before she knew it, she had opened a framing shop and gallery space in downtown Huntsville.

The secret to The Framing Place’s success? Innovation, creativity, and client care: “When you frame something,” says Orla, now retired, “you can’t treat it like a simple object, because it’s not just an object to the client. It means something to them, a memory, a hope, a desire. Whatever the connection is, you have to be aware of it, and let it influence the decisions you make.”

Matt began working at The Framing Place eleven years ago. A landscape painter, Matt already had both knowledge and an intuitive feel for composition and design, and he easily applied his skills to the world of framing. Orla quickly recognized his talent for the business.

“He really had a natural instinct for framing. He was creative, great with people, but most importantly, he had vision – he knew how to compete in the modern world and brought our business to new levels.”

It was precisely this vision that inspired Matt to purchase The Framing Place from Orla and her husband, Doug, in 2012, after the couple had run the business successfully for decades. Now, he plans on bringing the business to new audiences and new heights.

“There are a number of new challenges in the modern business landscape with social media, online businesses, networking, etc., but I really see these as new opportunities to develop the business and bring its services to new audiences,” he says. “And I’ve always liked the idea of contests; not only because they’re a cost effective marketing tool, but because they’re a lot of fun.”

Over the last decade, in addition to managing The Framing Place, Matt has found time to jury numerous art shows and has worked as the Art Director at the Algonquin Art Centre, a world-class gallery in Algonquin Provincial Park. We’re looking forward to seeing more great things from him in the future.

Visit The Frame Place & Gallery online at www.framingplace.net and be sure to like them on Facebook too.

The post “Ugliest Frame in the World” Contest: A Beautiful Promotion for The Framing Place & Gallery appeared first on Art Business News.

Did you make big plans for 2013? A few months have passed since our annual turning of the calendar and it’s probably past time for some of us to check in with the goals we casually sketch out on notebook paper. If you’re like me, you’ve got big hopes for your business, but if you want those hopes to become reality, you’ve got to have a plan. It’s time to click the “refresh” button and map out specific details on how to make this year your best year ever.

The economic situation may have changed over the past few years, but it’s hardly as bad as the “sky is falling” reports you hear on the daily news. Downturns in the business cycle are a normal part of the glamorous and ever exciting world of self-employment. I’ll admit though, flat sales numbers are much less exciting than the double-digit growth of years past. This is reality of the job we chose, accept it as normal part of the business cycle and make solid plans on how to weather the storm. To thrive in the upcoming year, we must develop an annual business plan. Here’s how:

Look at the past

Before going in a new direction, reconsider what worked and what didn’t. Specifically identify which activities have been your most successful in terms of profit, not just income. Evaluate the services and products you offer. Did photo frame sales meet expectations? Did installation charges cover costs? Is there an employee that needs retraining, or perhaps replaced? How much money did you make selling Museum glass versus Premium Clear? Identify what made you money in the previous year and what didn’t.

List your goals

Write down everything you want to do in next twelve months. Begin with how much money you want to make, services you want to add, or products you want to take away. Be sure to include changes in work patterns and store operations. If it’s your goal to be home at three o’clock to meet the kids coming home from school, set a goal to hire afternoon help. If you want to expand to internet sales, make a goal to hire a reputable web-development company.

Be specific

Now is when you add details to each goal. Instead of simply saying you want to increase sales, be specific. List each product and service you offer and set a specific number for sales and number of customers you’ll need for each. For instance, if you want to double your sales of fillets; look at last years figures, set a number and project how many additional customers are needed to reach that goal. Repeat the same exercise with Museum glass, fine art and prints, installations and accessories.

Develop steps

After every goal, and the specific numbers of each, write down the steps needed to reach that goal. In other words, identify the specific actions you plan to take to insure your success. For example, if you want to increase your customer base you are going to need to attract more customers through marketing. List the ways you plan to do this; advertising, networking, e-mail campaign, etc.

Estimate resources needed

Each step will require time and money to achieve. Estimate the costs associated with each specific step so you can come up with a reasonable cost per goal. This will be a tremendous help when you’re building your budget for the upcoming year. Don’t forget to estimate the time needed to achieve each goal.

Assign people

Next to your goals, figure out who will be responsible for each and if any additional people will be needed. To reach sales goals, every sales person should be included, but if it is to “be green” you may want to assign the task of recycling cardboard to a specific person.

Prioritize your goals

If done right, this list would take more time and money than you probably have right now. So rearrange your list of goals and actions starting with the things you must do to survive followed by the activities with the highest chance of success. Be sure to give your plan a reality check, because if it is too far beyond what you and your employees usually do, you may need to re-prioritize.

Putting your plan into action will become more manageable when you assign a month, week or day for each task. Take it one step at a time and you will be on a steady path to success, strong enough to weather any storm.

The post Meg on Marketing: Help for Small Business appeared first on Art Business News.

Consider what John Moore, a former marketer at Starbuck said about the ordering process:

While it may take a little longer to figure out how to order your double tall, half-caf, vanilla, nonfat latte, once you do, there’s a feeling of belongingness, that you’re part of the “club.”

Whether it’s an exclusive ordering process like Starbucks, a club membership like Costco, or a sense of community like Harley Davidson, creating a feeling of exclusivity is the best way of successful branding of your art and framing business.

The power of exclusivity is often overlook and under-utilized by framers focused on discount coupons to compete. But the truth is that it is the best way to penetrate a very tough marketplace and is best used when competition is fierce. Custom picture framing is exclusive by definition; limited distribution, sold at select stores and at a higher price. The major benefit of this is that customers tend to attach a higher perceived value to products like this which in turn allows for higher profit margins.

How can framers harness the power of exclusivity? Although it’s not nice to exclude people, you can be exclusive in your business. Here are a few tips to keep you focused.

Carve out a niche – Identify a target customer group, and not just one, make a list of several groups that need framing services.

Create a need – Think ahead to solves needs they haven’t realized yet. For example, golfers needing hole in one scorecard framed, or student pilots completing their first flight.

Invent ways to invite friends – Consumers that value exclusive memberships take pride in that exclusivity and will likely invite a few friends to join in.

Establish value for your framing services – Over the top frame displays, strong store merchandising and great website photos are a terrific way to create value by building trust.

Back it up with substance – Making sure every step of the sales process is executed to the best of your ability is the key. Deliver more that you promise is always the best policy.

Considering the success major brands like Starbucks, Costco and Harley Davidson have seen in a difficult economy, we should be encouraged by their commitment to offering a high quality product at a premium price. By following their example and harnessing the power of exclusivity framers can enjoy enduring success.

Meg Glasgow

The post Meg on Marketing: The Power of Exclusivity appeared first on Art Business News.