Let’s face it, we all have a few bad business days throughout the year. And sometimes, these days come in the form of slow craft fair sales. If you have ever had a less-than-spectacular day at a craft show (that you thought would bring in lots of dough), you are not alone.
Here are some tips to help you get through those bad days:
Do Some Work Ahead Of Time: Yes, it would be nice to assume that the person holding the show is going to promote the hell out of it. But you can’t always be sure they will. So make sure you do a little marketing work before the event. You should be blogging about it, talking about it on Twitter and Facebook, let your newsletter list know about all of the events you’ll be at (and maybe include a special coupon that they can print out and use at the event).
Don’t Get Discouraged During The Event: If you are at an event and sales are dismal, don’t get discouraged. Or at least hide your discouragement! If you have a big scowl on your face or are laying your head on the table crying, no one else is going to stop by your booth. Keep smiling. Pretend you’re having the time of your life. And keep hoping that your last sale of the day will be a BIG one!
Sometimes, It’s Not About The Immediate Sale: Remember, you are still introducing your product to everyone who stops by your table. Have some business cards out for people to grab, and put a clipboard and paper out to capture people’s email addresses. Who knows? These people might be broke today, but they won’t be broke forever. If they fall in love with your items, and you keep in touch with them, they might end up being very good customers.
Make The Most Of Your Time: Like I mentioned above – use this as an opportunity to pass out business cards and get to know people – and not just customers! Take some time to go around and meet the other vendors. This is a a great way to meet people with complementary businesses who might be interested in trading swag with you. For example, you send out an order and include their business card or sticker. They send out an order and include one of your promo items.
Unfortunately, we cannot stop slow craft fair sales, and we cannot guarantee that every show will be a success. But that doesn’t mean that every show that does not end in a big payday is a failure. Unexpected bonuses can happen – so keep looking for them.
Here are some more posts with great craft fair tips:
Craft Show Tips From The Hip Hostess
Craft Show Display Tips And Must Haves (from Etsy)
Hi Everyone! Crissy’s tips are great. It is so important to keep a happy face during the ENTIRE show, even when you haven’t sold anything, because others don’t know what you have sold. In fact, handing out business cards to visitors as they stop by your booth makes other vendors think you may have had a sale, especially if your visitor stays a while to chat and picks up items to look at. I have always offered my current Newsletter Readers and Blog Followers a special deal – if they visit us at a craft fair, they get to pick a “thank you for visiting” prize from our box – we make smaller samples of full-size products in our most popular fragrances, and make enough just for our Prize Box. That is a sure-fire way to keep repeat customers coming to our shows!
Good Luck to everyone selling in 2011!!
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