If you are great at crafting but only so-so at the sales portion of your business, you can get help. I am a sales professional and have a website dedicated to sales and direct selling in particular.
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Enjoy!
Make sure you are reading the small print on the vendor show contacts.
When is the last day to cancel if you cannot attend? Rain Dates?
Tents or supplies required? Specific color?
Pics required? Is it judged?
Insurance required?
How much is the cost of the booth? Can you Realistically sell enough product and make a profit at this show?
How many other vendor will be there with the same type of product as yours? You can ask! It is important if you are going to make a profit.
Some food for thought!
Chris
I found a few old pics of a display that I set up at a function. I thought I would share them with you for an idea or two on setting up a display.
What I like is the tables split and running lenght wise. It gave me and my customers a lot of moving around room and that means shopping room. I have set up this way several times and it is great.
The second picture has some of my neighbors product behind mine so it is a bit distracting to look at the picture. One thing that I like about this pic is the cute bushel baskets that I found to put items in. They fit the theme and were a great time saver in packing up.
What is great about taking pics of your displays is that you can critique them and get a different view of your set up. You can see it the way the customers sees it. I have made several changes to my set up since these pics, added some things and taken away some things. It is always a work in progress. How about yours?
Chris
Be My Customer!
What is the first thing you need to do??
Fill out the forms and send in exactly what the promoters want. If they want pics, get some pics. If they want licenses, get them! By doing this professionally, you will become a professional and be seen as such.
Is this a juried Show, meaning are the jurors going to judge your products? Send in the product needed. 99% of juried shows will not accept pre made items, so be aware of that if you are appling for juried shows. If you make your own items, go for it. Make sure your photos are Clear and Professional.
Check the fees Can you afford them? How much will you need to sell to make back the fee and then make a profit? To find out, take an average price of your products and go from there. Remember, if this is a first show, you are not going to move a lot of product unless you have an awesome, special and unique things, so take that into account before you sign up for a big $$ show. You do not want to ruin your first experience on a big $$ show and have a small return.
Until next time!!
Chris
Direct Sales Talk
DirectSalesFundraising.com
My friends checked out the site and admonished me for forgetting some of the obvious ways of finding shows. I said, hey, I’m getting to it… so getting to it, I am!
**The Classifieds and the Upcoming Event Section in the paper.
**Cable stations have the Whats Coming Calendars that a lot of folks use. Or the Television websites may have listings as well
**And don’t forget Signage. A lot of folks may post a sign advertising their upcoming show.
Check them all out
Chris
DirectSalesTalk
The most difficult thing sometimes is getting started! After making the decision to include craft shows in your business plan, you need to get busy planning!
First finding a show in your area!
The best place to check is your local newpapers and chamber of commerces. Ask your friends that do shows. Check out the calendars on websites like Event Lister and Craft Lister. You can google the words Craft Shows and the name of your state for even more information locally and not so locally. You will even find some magazines and newsletters that rate a particular event and give you tons of information on it such as pricing, what products are allowed and set up information.
Enjoy!
Chris
Direct Sales Talk
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