# Big artist agreement - please help



## jolenes (May 26, 2013)

Hi, I run a clothing brand and I've approached one guy who's got VERY BIG following on social media and was in some media as well. His manager seems to be very interested in our Royalty Agreement (% of sales) and has asked me questions that I don't know how to answer...

The thing is, we're a small brand, I've barely sold anything in the past year BUT I've got some celebs wearing it and my marketing emails sounds ****ing amazing (just saying). But yeh - I didn't sell, it's hard.

So he's asking me: 
*1. Can you send me through your comparable sales figures on hoodies , sweatshirts, t shirts and bags?* I have no clue what to say. Should I just make up some random number? Is 50 to low? I don't know... 
*2. Units sold per item per month, cost price , sales price , net profit per item and manufacturing location?* same :/ 
*3. What would be your initial order number for each item?* I don't know what to say because I've never done such a collaboration. 
4. Are you open to selling through an additional sales platform? (E.g. Shopify button on his social media? Personal website? App?) I want traffic to my website and more connections to our clothing brand rather than just random apps/his website
*5. What sales platform do you currently use and how would our accounting have access to the figures?* I use only my website though ... 

Is there any nice soul to help me out? thank you


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## red514 (Jul 21, 2009)

jolenes said:


> Hi, I run a clothing brand and I've approached one guy who's got VERY BIG following on social media and was in some media as well. His manager seems to be very interested in our Royalty Agreement (% of sales) and has asked me questions that I don't know how to answer...
> 
> The thing is, we're a small brand, I've barely sold anything in the past year BUT I've got some celebs wearing it and my marketing emails sounds ****ing amazing (just saying). But yeh - I didn't sell, it's hard.
> 
> ...


do not make up random numbers, give them factual information. you should be able to answer all those questions honestly and accurately.

honesty is the best policy.


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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

I agree, just be up front with them. It could make or break this deal, but if you give them expectations that don't hit, you'll have more troubles than answering his questions. I'd just let him know you don't have a lot of sales right now and are experimenting with different marketing strategies and even are willing to work with someone who has the experience in that area.

Again, you may lose the potential customer, but you might also create a good team with them too.


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## jolenes (May 26, 2013)

I understand the point of you two but then again - once he posts items and the orders start going on, no one will know from who exactly is it anyway: are they my customers or no. Those are my thoughts recently... I don't know


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## john221us (Nov 29, 2015)

The advise above is spot on. Make a list of your strengths and play to those (celebrity adoption), be honest about your weaknesses (unable to translate that to sales and no infrastructure, such as accounting processes). Be open to getting help in order to make the partnership successful. Inspire confidence by being open to change and bringing in the pros to fix the problem areas. Perhaps recruit some help in those areas, prior to responding and go in with a strong plan, including marketing and a way to share revenue data. It is possible that one of the things that attracted them to you was your small size, giving you the flexibility to adjust your processes to their needs. If they were to partner with a larger organization, they might lose a level of control that they desire.


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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

jolenes said:


> I understand the point of you two but then again - once he posts items and the orders start going on, no one will know from who exactly is it anyway: are they my customers or no. Those are my thoughts recently... I don't know


In that case, he shouldn't care how many sales you are doing currently other than the fact he may think you could be overwhelmed with sales and can't fulfill his orders.

In sales there is a common saying, You don't know, what you don't know.

He is asking these questions for a reason, but you don't know why he's asking them. Making something up to fit your narrative of what he's thinking isn't wise. You need to be up front and honest. The response I would have would be that I don't have a lot of experience in sales right now, but I do have experience in fulfilling orders and anything that you can bring to my business, I will make sure they are done correctly and on time.


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## jolenes (May 26, 2013)

JeridHill said:


> He is asking these questions for a reason, but you don't know why he's asking them. Making something up to fit your narrative of what he's thinking isn't wise. You need to be up front and honest. The response I would have would be that I don't have a lot of experience in sales right now, but I do have experience in fulfilling orders and anything that you can bring to my business, I will make sure they are done correctly and on time.


There are not too many reasons why he's asking this:
1. So he can play around with the percentage deal. So if I say we've sold 50 shirts total, he can say we want 80% deal. Or if I say we've sold a couple of thousands, he'll know how to play again. 
2. He wants to know how serious/experienced are we

I can't think of any logical reasons.
AND he knows we're not big but we've got some celebs. So I'll come across super bold. My past orders are none of his business. If I get 1000 orders, I can deal with that - I'll make them. I won't sleep 3 days but I'll make them. 

Has anyone got any advice what to say about this: *4. Are you open to selling through an additional sales platform? (E.g. Shopify button on his social media? Personal website? App?)* I want it to go through my website only


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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

Well all I can say is your post says "Please Help". Several have given similar advice and you don't seem to want to listen to it. The way it looks to me is you have your mind set on a certain solution and you would like others to agree with you without you saying it out loud.

Again, your assumption of what he wants to know these answers for is what I said before, you don't know what you don't know.

Honesty is always the best solution, in the end, if you give anything other than the truth and they find out, you'll be worse off. If you don't want to answer the questions for him then just let him know you are not comfortable answering those questions and present what you can do, at least you're being honest. As for question four, it looks like you've already given your answer here. Convey the same thing to him, there's not much else we can say about it.


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## tcrowder (Apr 27, 2006)

jolenes said:


> There are not too many reasons why he's asking this:
> 1. So he can play around with the percentage deal. So if I say we've sold 50 shirts total, he can say we want 80% deal. Or if I say we've sold a couple of thousands, he'll know how to play again.
> 2. He wants to know how serious/experienced are we
> 
> ...


 So two months ago you were giving up because you could not sell anything, now you want to lie to a potential client and act like you are the king of the world. Wow is what comes to mind for me.


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## jolenes (May 26, 2013)

JeridHill said:


> Well all I can say is your post says "Please Help". Several have given similar advice and you don't seem to want to listen to it. The way it looks to me is you have your mind set on a certain solution and you would like others to agree with you without you saying it out loud.
> 
> Again, your assumption of what he wants to know these answers for is what I said before, you don't know what you don't know.
> 
> Honesty is always the best solution, in the end, if you give anything other than the truth and they find out, you'll be worse off. If you don't want to answer the questions for him then just let him know you are not comfortable answering those questions and present what you can do, at least you're being honest. As for question four, it looks like you've already given your answer here. Convey the same thing to him, there's not much else we can say about it.


Thank you, appreciate it.


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## jolenes (May 26, 2013)

tcrowder said:


> So two months ago you were giving up because you could not sell anything, now you want to lie to a potential client and act like you are the king of the world. Wow is what comes to mind for me.



Stop judging people if you don't know s**t. I've approached many people and they've stolen MY IDEAS. Only because they're bigger. I'd tell all number, all plans, all costs, all marketing ideas, show all designs. They'd stop responding and after a few weeks they'd start selling and doing this I SUGGESTED. And as a human being, sometimes, you feel down. Which is why I came here to this forum. This industry is nasty and as the guy above me said, you don't know what you don't know...


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## Hotpuppy (Sep 21, 2016)

He is trying to gauge your capacity and how much money might be involved.

25% of $200 is a crappy deal.

25% of a deal with a company doing $500K in sales is more attractive.

I would have them execute a Non-Disclosure Agreement, or NDA for short. Then I would sit down and answer these questions as honestly as possible. That protects everyone. You want to try and think of areas where things could result in a disagreement and work out mutually how to resolve these items.

Example 1:
- He thinks you are cheating him on money. How do you prove that you aren't?

Example 2:
- You drive a yellow car. He hates everyone who drives a yellow car and no longer wants to do business with you. What is the procedure to terminate the agreement if you are making good money?

Example 3:
- What happens to misprints and seconds? Is commission paid or are they destroyed? How do you prove this?

Example 4:
- Things are going great. You bring another artist on who your first artist is convinced is the devil. Your two artists refuse to work with the same printer. What rules are in place so that you can run your business with minimal kindergarten interference?


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