Craft Show Success Secrets
Your ability to craft is not in question. You're talented and you're passionate about creating your craft. Friends and family admire your work and may have purchased some of your crafts from you. Now you think you're ready to show (and sell) your crafts to a wider audience. The keys to a successful show is preparation and presence.
Other People Are Reading
-
Organization
-
It is imperative for you to be organized. At the craft show, make sure you have your materials readily on hand or in boxes that are clearly labeled. If you spend 10 minutes looking for your sales book, searching for change, or looking up the price, you appear unprofessional and lose 10 minutes of valuable time that could have been used to meet a potential customer. That's also 10 minutes you've allowed a potential customer to change his mind about making a purchase from you.
Marketing
-
Always have your marketing material available. Have professional-looking business cards and/or post cards with your name and contact information. Some should be strategically placed near your displayed crafts and some should be in your pocket, ready to be handed out. Pass them out to those who stopped to admire your crafts, or include your card in their package after a purchase. If you're selling small items like jewelry, have your name and contact information on the packaging itself. Always find ways to remind them who crafted that item they just admired or bought.
-
Interactions
-
Engage with your potential customers and draw them into your booth. Be able to talk to them. Usually, when you can draw someone to take a close look at your wares, she will see an item she may have missed during a cursory glance. If you engage her in conversation, you may learn that she's looking for something that you have but didn't have room to display. If he's "just browsing," gather his contact information in a guest book. The contacts you gather can be the target of a follow-up marketing email or mailing.
Assistance
-
Having at least two people in the booth is critical. In shows with low turnout, you will have company. If there is a high turnout, your assistant could pass out your card or gather contact information while you're helping a customer. Alternatively, the assistant can handle the monetary transactions and help keep an eye on your wares while you interact with potential customers.
Transactions
-
It is imperative that you be able to take multiple types of payment and have plenty of change. Many customers will not have much cash on hand and expect to be able to make purchases with a debit or credit card. If you don't have the ability to take credit card transactions at the show, then at the very least take checks or know where the closest ATM machine is. If people DO have enough cash, most of the time it will be in the form of $20 bills. At the very least, have more than enough change in small denominations.
Perseverance
-
If your first show is not as successful as you'd hoped, don't give up. Learn from each of your shows to figure out what works best for you. You may need to make adjustments to your prices to increase sales. Sometimes you will run into potential customers who initially walked away at your second or third show. Only now, he or she will finally be able and willing to buy.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit hand crafted items image by Susan Rae Tannenbaum from Fotolia.com
