Archive for the ‘vendor fairs’ Category
June 26, 2009
In my direct sales career, there are many small incidents that don’t seem worthy of a blog post all their own, yet I’d like to have a record of them for posterity or amusement. So I hereby present a random assortment of recent happenings:
* I have a repeat customer with a shopping compulsion that she hides from her husband. She refused to give me her credit card number over the phone the other night, because her husband was in the vicinity and would overhear her. I can’t imagine keeping secrets like that from my spouse. I feel a bit guilty that I’m somehow enabling her…
* When I do booths at fairs, I often put out some crackers and dip as a way to entice people to stop and check out my display and engage them in conversation. At a recent fair, a Board of Health inspector came along and told me that was illegal and I had to throw it out. I understood his position and happily complied, but I thought it was strange that I’ve done this at 30+ fairs before without anybody ever commenting on it.
* I was unloading my car in the rain before a recent party. I opened my trunk to grab the next round of products, and a cat leaped out! I would have got a shock if I’d been driving home and had suddenly discovered I had a live stowaway souvenir from my hostess…
* At another recent party, the glass screen door slammed behind me as I had my hands full of products, hard enough to knock some tchotchkes off a shelf in the next room. Everyone came running to see if I was OK. Fortunately the damaged teapot and photo frame didn’t appear to be of great monetary or sentimental value, but I felt awful! I am meant to be leaving the hostess with additional items, not breaking them!
Tags:craft fairs, credit card, customer, direct sales, display, Hostesses, Party summaries, vendor fairs
Posted in Customers, Hostesses, Party summaries, vendor fairs | Leave a Comment »
May 13, 2009
- Wait until our fourth communication to tell me it’s an outdoor event.
- Organize a pointless in-person planning meeting for vendors.
- As the organizer, turn up late to said meeting.
- Make us switch rooms three times for this meeting.
- Have us drive 20 minutes each way for this meeting, only to be told the set-up time and the inclement weather plan – both of which could have easily been communicated by email.
Let’s hope the actual event goes better than the planning has! Suffice it to say, my expectations are low…
Tags:craft fairs, direct sales, expectations, outdoor, vendor fairs
Posted in Pet peeves, vendor fairs | 2 Comments »
May 7, 2009
Have you ever tracked where your parties come from? It can be a worthwhile exercise and can help you refine the best places to concentrate your marketing efforts. I believe it is Karen Phelps’s site where I first read about the idea of tracking your parties to see how long each chain lasts.
For example, I met Annie at a fair I did at the hospital where she works one Spring. At the fair itself I didn’t sell much, and I had to waste a lot of time and energy dealing with a bounced check from a customer – so when I thought about the event afterwards, it left a sour taste in my mouth. But Annie booked a party, and from that original contact I ended up with 9 other parties and thousands of dollars’ worth of sales…all from people I never would have met if I hadn’t booked Annie.
Or there’s the more recent example of Caroline – I set up my display in a restaurant foyer for their “girls’ night out”. Caroline took my card, and called me a few days later to order a small item. Even though the order wasn’t large, I tried to provide extraordinary customer service, going out of my way to deliver the item (and probably canceling out my commission in the process!) However, Caroline was impressed and told several friends. Three of them then contacted me about the business opportunity, and I’m working with them now, and Caroline wants to have a party in her swanky new city apartment, introducing me to a whole new clientele.
So if you’re feeling like you are stuck in a rut or can’t break out of your circle to get any bookings, remember: it might be that next call or one single contact you make at a playground, mall or fair that turns your fortunes around!
Tags:customer, delivery, direct sales, Hostesses, Marketing, Recruiting, vendor fairs
Posted in Customers, Hostesses, Marketing, Recruiting, Referrals, vendor fairs | 1 Comment »
April 6, 2009
Recently I was at a vendor fair when a woman approached my booth and asked if I would consider selling her my database of customer names so that she could promote her line of children’s clothing. While the monetary offer might have been momentarily tempting, I said no for a multitude of reasons:
- I am a big advocate of permission marketing. Seth Godin may not have invented this concept, but he can certainly be credited with popularizing it. In short, the people who are in my database have given me permission to email them about my products. They did not agree to be contacted by other people or about other things. I believe this would apply equally to commercial as well as non-commercial interests. Not only would I not sell my list, but I wouldn’t use it to ask for charitable donations either.
- Once I sell my list, I lose control over the content my customers receive. This could reflect badly on me if the other business has poor quality products, horribly written advertisements or bad customer service. By default they become associated with me and could negatively affect the goodwill I have taken years to build.
- I put myself in the customer’s shoes. I don’t like it when I receive calls from vacuum cleaner salesmen saying that they’ve received my name and number from friend X (or should that be ex-friend!) So why would I do that to other people on a large scale?
- I have taken the time to cultivate those relationships with customers over many years. Their trust and respect was not gained overnight, but it could certainly be lost overnight with one bad decision from me.
- I’m in this business for the long-term relationships. I’m not in it to make a quick buck by any means, fair or foul, and then disappear into the night. My primary objective is to build a trusted brand so that when people need something I can offer, they will remember me and seek me out. I couldn’t see how allowing this woman to harvest those names was going to do me any favors in the long run.
Here’s my advice when it comes to building a customer database. Ask people if you have their permission to email them every (month/week/quarter) with your latest product news and information – and then do precisely that. Offer them something of value, be it exclusive useful information or a readers-only discount. Allow them to opt out and be gracious about it if they choose to do so. Don’t email them every other day if what they signed up for was a monthly newsletter. Don’t sell their names. Just be consistent in doing what you said you were going to do, and gradually build up your presence and authority in your given market niche. Make it easy for people to recall your name and contact you when they need what you have to offer. Offer incentives for referrals. Over time, I think you’ll find that your efforts are amply rewarded in terms of the business that comes your way, simply as a result of your consistency and credibility in this area.
Tags:customer, direct sales, Marketing, vendor fairs
Posted in Customers, Marketing, Referrals, vendor fairs | 2 Comments »
February 24, 2009
A recent in-car conversation with a friend…
“Look, that car has the license plate REDHAT1.”
“That’s funny.”
“I hear those ladies are the worst tippers.”
“Really?”
“I mean, great: get older, go out with your friends, wear your funny outfits, but at least tip well.”
“Did I ever tell you my Red Hat stripper story?”
“NO!?”
“I had a booth once at a Red Hat event. All these genteel old ladies browsing my stuff. I made a few sales. They sat down for a meal. I’m sitting behind my table, idly flicking through a catalog and minding my own business. Then all of a sudden this music started up. Duh duh duh duh DUH. This buff young guy walks in wearing a white shirt and black pants and starts gyrating to the music. He’s sitting on all these old ladies’ laps and they’re going wild. Pretty soon the shirt comes off and then these 70 year olds are sticking dollar bills in this 20-something guy’s leopard print thong underwear. I was so shocked! I honestly didn’t know where to look.”
“You’re meant to look below the waist!”
“It just seemed so WRONG! I’ll never look at those Red Hat ladies the same way again.”
Tags:direct sales, stripper, vendor fairs
Posted in Customers, vendor fairs | Leave a Comment »
November 27, 2008
At a fair last Saturday with 40+ vendors, I did the most business of anyone there by a long way. More than one other vendor came up to me during the day and asked, “What’s your secret?” So I thought I’d add some more craft fair pointers to the ones I originally listed back in May.
- You’ve got to come up with a win/win scenario. In my case, that means selling products that make the customer feel like they are getting an amazing bargain, while also making me a decent profit that will cover the cost of the table fee and make the day worthwhile. I buy the hostess specials on parties where my hostesses decline them, and then turn around and sell them as cash and carry at fairs. I buy $40 items for $9.99 and sell them for $20. I make 100% profit and the customer saves 50% on retail. Like I said, everybody wins.
- Use bags with your company logo on them. Put each purchase in a logo bag and then when your customers are walking around the fair, it’s like a walking advertisement for your table.
- Get out from behind the table. I see too many vendors using the table as a barrier between them and the customers. It makes you seem distant and unapproachable. You’ve got to get out and make small talk – start by complimenting someone’s earrings or children, and use it as a launching point for a conversation.
- On a similar note, make your display welcoming. I favor an angled display that invites the customer in to explore – like a little shop.
- Set your price point correctly. I saw both extremes on Saturday. One woman was selling beautiful hand-painted furniture. Everybody who walked past stopped to ooh and ahh over it, but she didn’t sell a single piece. I attribute this to the fact that almost all her pieces were $100+. Very few people come to browse at a craft fair with the intention of spending that kind of money. On the end of the scale, another woman was selling dishtowel angels. But when she added up the cost of the component pieces, she was only making cents not dollars on each item. I don’t think she even covered her table fee at the end of the day, never mind making a profit for all her effort.
- Dress up your products. I can buy a $9.99 product and easily sell it as is for $15 or $16. Or I can spend minimal money and effort to dress it up with cello wrap, a ribbon or a Christmas bow for easy gift-giving and sell it for $25.
Tags:craft fairs, direct sales, vendor fairs
Posted in vendor fairs | Leave a Comment »
November 10, 2008
When I have a table at a craft fair, I like to put out crackers and dip for customers to try. It makes them linger long enough that items in my display catch their eye and I can talk to them about our products. The other night I was setting up at a fair and just as the first customers were showing up, I put out my dip and went to get my crackers. Instead I found an empty plastic bag with a hole in it…and some mice droppings. Ick!
Fortunately the girl I was sharing my table with had a bag of chips in her car. So we served those with the dip instead…
Tags:crackers, craft fairs, dip, direct sales, mice
Posted in vendor fairs | 1 Comment »
October 10, 2008
I had to deliver a prize to a raffle winner from a vendor fair this week. I called her on the phone to arrange the time and confirm her address. She asked me to come at a specific time because she would be going out shortly thereafter.
At first I thought it was odd that her house had no number on the mailbox or by the door and that she had neglected to warn me of this on the phone.
Then to add to my confusion, the woman who came to the door was wearing her bathrobe, and did not look like someone who would be imminently heading out somewhere. She refused to do anything except confirm her name and take the prize through the smallest possible opening in the doorway.
The net result is that I am entirely unsure that I actually had the correct person or house!
Tags:delivery, direct sales, prize
Posted in vendor fairs | Leave a Comment »
June 14, 2008
It’s the end of the school year and a busy time for my hostesses and customers. I had two hostesses postpone this month due to kid activity craziness, and several others who won’t return my calls, probably for the same reason. No parties this week but I did a lot of local deliveries, and have a few promising leads.
However, I did manage to squeeze into a local fair last Saturday at the last minute. There was no cost for the booth, which is a nice situation because you’re not allocating your first $40-$60 of profit towards breaking even. To my delight I sold a couple of heavy, bulky items – I was so thrilled to finally get them out of my basement. I even made a sale to an unshaven burly man with a large slobbery dog – not my typical customer demographic, by a long shot. The worst part of the day was the sweltering heat and lack of breeze. My legs sweated so much, my shorts were soaked and it looked like I had peed my pants! I held a strategically placed catalog in front of my thighs for most of the day after discovering that.
Tags:direct sales, vendor fairs
Posted in vendor fairs | Leave a Comment »
June 5, 2008
So you’ll recall my windy, rainy craft fair experience last weekend. Well, someone I met there said she wasn’t able to host a party but she might like to order something, so I gave a catalog. She just emailed me with her order – for over $300 worth of products! So I guess my weather endurance challenge paid off in the end.
Tags:craft fairs, direct sales, orders
Posted in Customers, vendor fairs | Leave a Comment »
