| Web-Only Features |
 Why Conservation Framing Matters
By Ken Baur
Customers have never come to independent framers because they are seeking low prices. They have always come because of custom framers’ design capabilities and knowledge about proper treatment of their valuables. If framers don’t continue to provide the things that customers come to them to get, they will no longer have a market share. Read this online. |
Building a Stronger Company
By Ken Baur
Owning and operating a small business exposes you to almost every challenge and reward. It can also be a very lonely lifestyle. That’s why it’s so important to build a team of individuals from outside your company to help you make good decisions. Read this online. |
 Ten Things Your Customers
Won't Tell You, But We Will
By Nancy Friedman
Most business owners know their customers will take their business elsewhere if they're not treated as they'd like to be. How does a business owner find out what customers really like or dislike? Here are things they would like to say but won’t tell you directly.Read this online. |
 What’s Your Real Image?
By Ken Baur
Creating the right company image is the result of having a winning attitude. It shows in how quickly customers are greeted and what kind of greeting they get. What is the immediate impression employees give clients? Do they help them find what they need? How professional are they? Do they give customers their full attention? Do they seem to appreciate the patronage? With the right training, feedback, and rewards, your team can create a business image that customers will appreciate and respond to. Read this online. |
 Orange Is Catching On
By Vivian Kistler, MCPF, GCF Adv.
Beginning last spring orange really arrived as an accessory color. Take advantage of its current popularity for your autumn displays. It is a natural for fall, when pumpkins, gourds, and autumn leaves provide natural sources of orange color. Use orange matboard as a backdrop in displays. Frame a couple of pictures in which the art or framing feature orange. Liven up your shop with this popular seasonal color.
Read this online. |
Cause Public Relations
By Ken Baur
One form of marketing that can often be overlooked for its effectiveness is cause public relations. It’s effective because it allows your company to give something back to the community that supports your business and, when done correctly, it can greatly enhance your company image. You can’t buy the type of positive recognition it brings, and your team will feel great about what your company is doing for others.
Read this online. |
 Collectible Photographic Storage
By Paul MacFarland, MCPF, GCF
Preparing safe collection storage systems for vintage photographs is a growing market for both photographers and custom framers. Here are some tips that will provide more effective and safe photo interleafing techniques, keeping photos safer for long-term storage. Read this online.
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Sydney 2009
By Vivian Kistler, MCPF, GCF
A look at Australia’s major industry framing show, including education, framing competition, and trends.
Read this online. |
 The Direction of the Framing Industry
By Jay Goltz
Over the past 30 years the picture framing industry has grown from infancy to maturity. As the industry continues to evolve, framers can still succeed—if they learn new ways of doing business.
Read this online. |
 House Calls
By Heidi Knodle
Many clients are looking for great in-home personal service. There’s no better way to develop more business and a strong working relationship based on trust than to use your experience and taste in framing artwork in the comfort of your customers’ homes.
Read this online. |
A Cautionary Tale
By David Mandravelis
A small frame shop owner has a close encounter with an Internet scam artist—and shares his experiences with other retailers.
Read this online. |
The Phone Call
By Vivian Kistler, MCPF, GCF
You spend a lot of money and time letting people know about your store. Be ready for the phone calls you receive from all that promotion. Handle that first call right and you can gain a good customer. Handle it wrong, and you’ll never get another chance. Read this online. |
Why We’re Framers
By Jane Wright
In this current financial market, it's easy to forget why you got into framing in the first place. The changes in the last few years have been enormous. But maybe it's time to get back to basics. People are the backbone of our business. As framers, we take the bits and pieces of their lives and place them carefully under glass—where they'll remain fresh and beautiful forever. This is something that will continue because everyone has moments they need to hold onto.
Read this online. |
Reviving the Layaway Plan
By Vivian Kistler, MCPF, GCF
There was a lot of talk this past holiday season about reviving layaway plans. Stores once used them to increase sales in the days before widespread credit card use, and they make good sense in today's economy. Read this online. |
Referrals Can Jumpstart Your Sales
By Barbara Markoff
The importance of approaching business with friends on your side has come to have a greater impact on the way I conduct my growing corporate art sales. Read this online. |
A Survival Strategy for Today’s Market
By Jim Miller, MCPF, GCF
Independent shop owners who adapt to changes in the retail framing market will not only survive but be ready to grow when the economic climate improves. Read this online. |
Distributors Help Framers
Succeed in a Slow Economy
By Margery Schwartz
These economic times are tough on everyone, including custom picture framers. To help framers deal with the current circumstances, many distributors are taking steps to help their customers cope with the challenges they are facing. Read this online.
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 Maximizing Your Cash Flow
By Mike Hulser
To keep good control of your cash flow, which is more important than ever in the current economy, you need to watch your inventory, turnover, capital expenses, and day-to-day flow of money in and out. Here are some practical ideas to help you manage and improve the cash flow at your frame shop. Read online.
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Stopping Art from Buckling
By Vivian Kistler MCPF, GCF
Restriction of movement is the primary reason that art buckles in a frame. Several things can cause this, but one of the most important is that paper expands and contracts with changes in temperature and humidity. Here are some practical steps to help you avoid this problem. Read this online. |
Maximizing Frame Shop Profits
By Mike Hulser
These specific fiscal management techniques will help you make more money at your frame shop by managing your money better. Topics include sales, inventory turnover, improving gross margin rate, advertising and promotion expenses, overhead expense, capital expenses, and personnel. Read this online. |
 Art Consultation: An Alternate Income Stream
By Barbara Markoff
In today’s uncertain business climate, art consultation for commercial clients offers a profitable adjunct to art and framing that can broaden your client base. Here are some guidelines to help you make it a valuable part of your business. Read this online. |
 Remaining Profitable in Slower Times
By Kevin Colbert
Who says you have to participate in slow times? Just focus on these ideas and increase your bottom line: community involvement, providing new services, and turning scrap into fun kits can all lead to more sales. Read this online.
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Use Customer Complaints
to Build Better Clients
By Ken Baur
Does your stomach drop when you hear that a client is unhappy and wants to talk to you? Learn how to handle problems and use them to build loyal relationships. Read this online. |
Basic Customer Courtesy
By Vivian Kistler
Regardless of the size or scope of your operation, your business is directly affected by the treatment your customers receive. Training your staff to dealwith customers is an important part of retailing. Read this online. |
| Additional PFM Editorial Content |
2009 Annual School Directory
For the latest in-depth survey of picture framing education, explore the full guide to current classes that are offered on a wide range of subjects of interest to frame shops and galleries. Read this online. |
Frame Shop Lighting: A Look at the Basics
According to Rob Markoff, CPF, effective lighting in a gallery and sales area can produce a more meaningful shopping experience for customers. Learn about the styles, types, and colors of light and the techniques that will create a welcoming atmosphere. Read online.
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 A Digital Canvas Test Study
By Chris A. Paschke, CPF, GCF, CMG
In an effort to make the stretching and framing of digital canvases a little more predictable, a series of tests is being done by Mounting Editor Chris Paschke in an attempt to determine the causes and control of sagging of stretched canvases. This article is the full version of the condensed article that first appeared in the August issue, complete with spreadsheets showing the actual test results. Read online. |
20th Century Frame Innovator: Spotlight on Robert Kulicke
For the inaugural issue of PFM in 1990 Bruce Gherman interviewed Robert Kulicke and talked to him about his views on frame making and how he became the foremost frame maker in America. Read this online.
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 A Master's Legacy
Robert Kulicke, creator of the metal section frame and Plexi box, raised period frame restoration to new heights and enjoyed a successful career as an artist and jewelry designer. “To aim at originality directly head on is the only certain way of never arriving there,” he once said. “True originality is always a byproduct of the search for a technical-esthetic solution to a technical-esthetic problem.” This article by editor Patrick Sarver offers a retrospective of the life and career of Kulicke. Read this online.
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Added commentary on A Master's Legacy
Here are more comments about Robert Kulicke that we were unable to include in the article due to space considerations. They offer further insight into the artistry and character of this prominent 20th century American frame maker. Read this online. |
