Tips and tricks

[#1]

What is your favorite tip or trick about selling at shows? Anything from technique, to merchandising, to marketing. Post now.

[Former_Member]

Hi there, I am looking a 10 x 10 canopy that is very easy to set up. Would appreciate any suggestions!

[WireExpressions]

Some of my tips that work for me!
- Raise it up! As soon as I raised my table and brought stuff closer to people's line of sight, I started selling more. And many regular customers commented on 'new' stuff. That they'd walked past dozens of times before
- Smile, and recognise customers. 'Good morning, Hello, etc'.
- Put things in customers hands. As much as possible I either put items in customers hands or invite them to touch. When they have it in their hands, they feel a greater sense of they should own it.
- I try not to comment too much on customers...I don't talk about what they are wearing, or their kids etc. I've found those conversations quickly turn away from my product and on to the customer and they end up walking away 9x/10 without even really even looking at my table. On the same note...I don't talk about myself either, unless it relates to what I sell.
- Stay off the phone! The quickest way to feel like a sale is a failure, is to have your head down in your phone all day. You miss out on engaging with customers. and they don't feel very important.
- Move your car!!! Put your car to the back of the parking lot. Not just the side or the middle, the BACK! It should go without saying, but it is amazing how many vendors don't think this should apply to them. When a customer responds with the parking lot is so full and at the end of the day I see vendors getting in their cars up front...I'm irritated that my customers were irritated about the sale due to parking before they even got in the door. Grumpy customers hold on tho their money.
- A dolly and dolly straps are a must! The best investment I ever made was a folding dolly! The second best investment were dolly straps to secure the load. I'm in and out so quick now and never worry about losing my load going over a door jamb!

[MyHippieSoul]

Any suggestions for lightweight elevation on table tops? A friend of mine uses glass blocks and a piece of wood. Am thinking about this but would like some suggestions, maybe something collapsible and easy to carry??

[JustMeToo]

Maria. Small plastic containers from Dollarama work well upside down with fabric draped over them, or a shelf across. With the containers, you can fill them with stuff when you pack up, so double duty!

[Former_Member]

Maria, I made a riser for our soaps using 9 mini CD plastic crates that I got from the dollar store, and 2 - 6' sections of pine wood, about 8" wide. Stack 2 of the crates, one on top of another and tape together. Then, take 1 more CD crate and tape to the front of the stack. Do the same with the remaining CD crates. You'll end up with 3 risers made from the crates. Then, sit them at equal distances on your table top, place the boards across the crates, drape a cloth or covering of your choice and you have instant risers. In addition to the 2 shelves that the risers create, you also have lots of space directly on the table in front of the risers. Here's a pic of our risers in action:

https://www.facebook.com/SweetAirSoap/photos/a.606396106092733.1073741826.430439667021712/9882300445...

BTW, the CD crates are made from plastic and are very lightweight. After a show, I stack them together then place in a large black garbage bag to keep them together. The 6' pine boards are also light as well. The entire setup probably cost me about $20 or so. Go to Home Depot or Lowe's and buy a 12' board, and then have them cut it in half and you'll have 2 - 6' boards.

[TigersandDragons]

Maria, you could consider making you own risers out of a thin wood, that fit together with slots (that you cut), so that you can pack these flat. I've seen a few vendors use these for books and prints, though they ordered these online instead of making themselves, out of a multi-layered thin wood with a nice veneer.

[Former_Member]

Tigers, I've been thinking about going with something like that. What I've seen looks somewhat like shutters, 2 pieces hinged together. There are slots cut in the shutters and you just open them up a bit so that they're angles to provide stability, then you just slide your pine boards into the slots. They look lightweight and compact.

I've been using the mini CD crates for the last 4 years but now I'm rethinking our display and would like to change things up a bit.

[BohemianHollow]

Carol - Yeah, there is definitely something in the subconscious of us as buyers that reacts to having a back wall in a booth. It's fascinating how well it works!

Allison and Sheryl - The only absolute I have is never sitting in front of your booth. The others are only mere tips on how to make your vending experience go more smoothly, not only with yourself, but with your neighbors.

Tigers - I am surprised that out of everyone here you are one of the ones that opens their canopy -after- unloading everything! We usually think along the same lines so often! However, I know you to be a very organized and well thought out kind of person, so I'm sure you do it in a very well thought out and organized kind of way. It is only a pet peeve of mine after all, not law. (inside voice screaming, "but it should be!") lol!

Kristi - I have to completely disagree with you on the point of talking to customers about themselves. In my experience, I've seemed to make just as many sales talking about or complimenting customers. As long as it's genuine though. It goes right along with the whole "You're not just selling your product, you're selling yourself" thing. That being said, all your other tips are spot on! And who knows, maybe it's just a matter of location and / or product and / or personality. :)

[TigersandDragons]

Ha ha Stefan :), I do see your point about putting up the canopy first, so that you don't have to move your boxes twice. I like to first place my boxes/cases of stock (which don't take much room) and fixtures on the perimeter of my space, so these aren't in the way or underfoot, as I construct the booth, whether it be an indoor or outdoor event. So everything eventually goes in it's place.
My method isn't for everyone, but for outdoors it developed because of 2 of my pet peeves.
- people who partially unload and leave their vehicle sitting there as they set up their booth. Get unloaded, and move right out of there people! Then come back and set up! After we unload, the last thing my partner does is set up the canopy and weights with me, and sometimes he pops the tables up, then he drives away and finds parking.

- The people who quickly set up a canopy, but don't peg it, weight it, secure it, because they are too distracted by everything else that needs doing.

I like your idea about having an interesting back wall. Our booths are set up as perimeter instead of "walk in", but it makes sense to think about creating more of an environment so your potential clients are drawn in and not distracted by nearby elements.

[BohemianHollow]

Ah yes, I didn't think about how much smaller your cases and everything would be. See I have such large product and all the cases and displays take up so much room that I have no choice but to set up (and weight) my canopy first. And that's what I usually seen being done too. People with mountains of stuff struggling to get their canopies open over it all, either stopping traffic or getting in their neighbors way.

And yes, I wholeheartedly agree about unloading and parking as quick as you can!

Yeah, the whole back wall thing is a weird subconscious psychological thing. I've seen plenty of other jewelers who have perimeter booths but still have a very eye catching back wall. One even used their back wall as an artful display of some of their best pieces, it was pretty cool.

[wavejewelry]

I too, like Tigers, unload everything, move my car and then set up the tent. At the craft fairs here parking for unloading is always at a premium. If you dink around setting up your tent before moving your car, other artisans will hate you. My pet peeve at craft fairs is, at the end of the fair, artisans who run off to get their cars before they've packed everything up. Their car takes up space in a prime loading spot for much longer period of time, while they pack up, than if they'd had everything ready to load up.

[TigersandDragons]

Yeah, that's one of my biggest peeves too Julie. By putting themselves first, vendors might save a tiny bit of time, but now have stolen time from all the other vendors who were packed up, and could of driven in, quickly loaded up and then gotten out of there.

There's a few big indoor shows I do where they monitor this because there is so little space in the loading area. Once your booth is completely packed up, you have to get one of the staff to come look at your space. Then they give you a number, then you are allowed to go get your vehicle and drive it into the line of vehicles waiting to park in the loading area.

Or at another outdoor show where they don't allow vehicles on the grassy field you are put on a list once you are completely packed up. Then the staff come by with golf carts and wagons, help you load up, and drive your stuff to the nearby parking lot where you can load it into your vehicle.

They had to implement this system because there were so many people who would have one person packing the booth, while the other person got into the vehicle line up (the indoor show), or lied to the person who was keeping track of the golf cart loading and claim to be packed up when they had barely started (the outdoor show). I know one person in particular who would put herself on the golf cart list about 10 minutes after the end of the show, even though it took her over an hour to pack up.

For both shows you can skip getting in line if you are willing to transport your own goods by hand with your own trollies to the nearby parking lots. For the indoor show that means you have to pull your trollies through snow and ice in the cold to the parking lots - or up a very steep (and usually) icy ramp.
For the outdoor, it's a long distance, in the heat, pulling on grass or narrow gravel paths.

The "Me first" mentality also holds true with those who hog the available trolleys during load in and load out. I see soooo many trolley hogs, who load up their goods then slowly unload them. Or the trolley is completely empty but they just don't bother to take a moment to return it, they are too busy either setting up the booth, or packing their vehicle. Lately I've just started being "rude" and walking up to people with empty trollies and asking "Excuse me, are you finished with that trolley? I'm sure there are people waiting who'd love to use it, if you could just take a moment and return it to the loading area."

We can convert our tables to trollies, but it saves us time and hassle if we can use the large industrial trollies that are available on site. Rarely can I get one of these during load out, and so often I'll see these trollies sitting near someone's booth or vehicle for long periods, when if they'd been quick and thoughtful, they could of just used the trollies for a short period, and then made these available to others.

[JustMeToo]

I got so fed up with the trolley hogs, that I finally made my own flatbed dolly, and bought a smaller one for one day shows. One couple would come in, grab a dolly, load their clothing on to it, and go out for lunch. They wonder why they don't have any friends among the vendors.