There I see that you made it over to the new
tips and talk portion of the podcast.
These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and
things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.
Welcome to the second part of the obstacles and challenges that
come up when you're at a craft show.
So at this point you have already registered for a show.
The prior episode of tips and talk,
we talked about the questions that come up once you've registered
and then your planning and getting set up and thinking through
what you're going to need at the show today,
we're going to talk about the obstacles and challenges that can
come up in real time when you're at the show,
things that can occur at your booth and how to deal
with them.
During this episode,
you'll hear me reference some point that I've discussed before.
And those are in the prior episode of tips and talk,
if you've already listened to that,
you know that this portion went a lot longer than I
was anticipating.
So I've split it up into two.
If you haven't already listened to tips and talk number seven,
I encourage you to go back and start with that one.
And then you can come back here.
You'll still get the same value if you do it the
reverse way.
It's just,
if you're doing it in chronological order,
it might make more sense.
All right,
with that,
let's go ahead and dive in.
Okay. So now let's get into,
on site.
During the show,
we were just talking about,
if your checkout process is really slow,
your booth can get overcrowded.
What'll happen is either,
there are so many people in front of your booth that
other people will walk by and say,
Oh my gosh,
I'll come back later to the booth that there's too many
people there good that your booth is crowded because that creates
interest but bad.
If people can't even get up to the table to look
because truth is,
if they walk away,
they probably are not going to be coming back.
They're just going to walk away and be gone.
Here's how you handle this.
If you are at a craft show and there are people
huddled around the table,
there are a bunch of people who are in line ready
to buy.
There are other people who are asking you questions.
Oh, one thing that I did forget to mention earlier when
we were talking about displays is make sure that your displays,
all your products are either individually priced or you have some
type of a chart that shows what the prices are.
You know,
three for X number of dollars prices for different sizing,
whatever it is,
make sure it's very easy to see because that's one less
question that they have to ask you.
Let's say you have this situation.
Your booth is crowded.
You got a couple people who are in line to check
out. You got some other people who are looking,
asking questions.
So have as much done in your booth where they don't
have to ask you a question as possible.
Because if there's only a few people at the booth,
you can always engage in conversation.
But if someone wants to ask you a question and they
can't get an answer,
they'll be frustrated and then they'll walk away.
Here's what you can do.
You've got your checkout process going.
And if somebody else besides you knows how to manage checkout,
let one person between,
let's say you have two people working in your booth,
have one person just be in charge of the checkout process.
So they are doing the cash,
running the cards,
et cetera.
So that you have a flow to your booth.
People who are looking browsing,
asking questions,
you're just commenting with.
And then another place where they can just go to checkout.
Because once they're ready to buy,
they're ready to buy.
You want to make it fast.
You want them to be able to move on.
Okay? So it makes for a better customer experience when you
do it that way.
But if you have people waiting in both categories,
so browsing category and the checkout category,
here's some ideas for you.
Remember, I was talking earlier about that QR code.
If you have a QR code that leads to more information,
maybe it's a YouTube video,
maybe a behind the scenes of how you create products.
This allows for them to interact with you.
Without them just sitting,
standing, waiting.
Another way to manage multiple people at your booth is to
get people talking with each other.
If you recognize somebody who's been a customer of yours before,
and you recall what they bought say,
Oh, Laurie,
it's so good to see you here.
And then you can say to everybody,
Laurie loves my lemon candles.
You know,
or recently Lori placed an order for the butter pecan sauce.
What did you put it on Laurie?
Then people start talking to each other in the line,
making friends it's also helping reinforce your product and your kind
of testimonials on the fly.
If you will,
that will keep people at the booth until you're able to
talk with them.
Barring both of those.
If you have people there at the booth who are waiting
to talk with you,
acknowledge them.
This is the very least you do is either with eyesight
and smile.
Just recognize their presence there or say,
I'll be with you in a minute because what has that
done? It's kind of like sealed the deal versus someone who's
feeling, not recognized at all.
First of all,
they feel invisible,
which is never a good feeling.
Second. It's easier for them to walk away because they think,
well, you know,
they'll never even see that I was there,
but once you've engaged with them,
they're more likely to stay.
So these are tactics that you can use on the browsing
area. Now on the checkout area,
if your checkout process is a little more complicated,
let's say you have something that's customizable and there's a form
that needs to be filled out.
You can give the form to all the people who are
already in line with pens,
cause you're going to be prepared.
So you'll have a pen handy so they can start filling
out what they're going to buy.
And again,
that commits them more to the purchase because they've got the
paper, they're filling it all out and then they're going to
buy. And then you have your checkout process,
easy, smooth.
And it just carries on from there.
It's important that you're the leader and the controller and tell
people what to do,
not in a bossy way,
but you guide people through because then they feel like,
okay, there's some pattern here.
And I'm part of this process.
Now I'm just moving through the system.
And again,
this is only if your booth becomes overcrowded,
okay? But you want a plan for that because you don't
want to lose the sales for sure.
And you want to move people through the booth.
So that then there'll be more people who are coming to
the booth because they see it's popular until you have that
consistent flow of traffic going through.
The next thing that can happen.
Big challenge and obstacle with shows is what if people are
coming to this show and you're not getting any sales that's
I think probably the worst fear that we all have.
You know,
you make an investment in a show,
you set up your booth,
you've made all the product and nothing is selling.
Here's the thing you guys.
And this is one of the other things that is so
great about face-to-face shows if for some reason your product isn't
selling, this is a place to figure out why.
And don't you want to know why before the next show
that you would go to or why your stuff is sitting
online and not selling.
Okay. So two things could be happening.
If people are walking the show,
meaning there's traffic going through the shell,
people are walking through.
So you're seeing that there's a community of purchasers there,
their attendees,
that the show,
but they're not stopping at your booth potentially.
You haven't done enough to attract them into your both.
There may be some other attention getting thing that you could
do. Now,
obviously, if you're in the middle of a show,
you will be able to do that for a future show.
But for the current situation,
start saying hi to people who are walking by,
not the salesy in front of your booth,
dragging them in,
but just stand in front of your table.
And hi,
how are you enjoying the show today?
You know,
engaging people in conversation shows that you have you're friendly and
then you can welcome them into your booth.
Another thing that could happen is sometimes people don't know what
your product does now,
obviously with a candle.
They do.
But if you have some type of an interesting accessory,
I'm thinking now about pins,
it pins.
It is a,
it's like a two-sided pin that,
you know,
when you have either shawls or cardigans that don't have button
fronts, it's a closure.
If I saw that without no,
in fact it actually happened.
I walked by the booth.
I'm like,
what is this?
I'm not even sure what it is.
Even though they had a display,
I thought she was selling knitted shawls.
She really makes pins it's.
So I didn't know what it was For.
There was another Product that I remember in terms of not
understanding exactly what it is.
I thought it was lip balm.
It was kind of in like a chapstick type of a
tube, but it was really any essential oil mixture that you
put on your temples for helping with mood,
like to fall asleep or to make you happier or that
type of thing.
So if you have a product that may be a little
more creative,
that isn't obvious,
you want to make sure to tell people what's on your
table. You know,
just explaining it in a very fun,
nice way.
I make pins that allow you to keep your shawls on
so they don't fall off,
you know,
or whatever the case might be.
That could also be a reason why people aren't coming to
your table.
They're not understanding what your product Does,
but let's say That's not the situation.
People are coming to your table,
looking at the products,
thinking browsing,
you might even talk with them a little bit,
but they start to walk away.
This is a point where you want to understand what's going
on. See if you're going to have conversation with them as
they're considering and make comments like,
well, which flavor do you like the best or with mother's
day coming up?
You know,
which one would you think like your mother would like,
or you might say,
you know what?
I was thinking of two different,
I'm going to do candles candle sense for mother's day.
And I was between this one and this one,
I ended up doing both of them,
but which one would you have liked the best?
Like you can do some market research.
You could also say,
if you're thinking about doing smaller or bigger candles,
just say,
Hey, could you help me out?
Is there a size that you don't see here that you
would have liked to purchase?
You see what I mean?
You're drawing them in and you might find a hole in
your product line.
That is exactly what people would be wanting.
They might say,
you know what?
I have a little window sill in my kitchen that,
you know,
I've just been looking for a pot for my little plant.
And I just can't find the size that I'm looking for.
Whoa. You know,
if You make planters bingo.
So of course you want to be making sales at craft
shows, but if you're not,
here's the time to figure out why through all that.
I was just talking about.
It's valuable research time.
The thing not to do is to start discounting your price,
totally to just make them sell.
You want to get the information that's going to make the
next show better.
You don't want to lose money on the show because of
the products that you made in your selling below cost.
The other thing I don't want you to do is stop
interacting and stop talking and just be so upset and feel
like you're defeated or something,
because this is the time again,
that you can gain the best information for moving forward.
The third challenge that can happen,
right? When you're live at shows is something that nobody can
control. And that's whether the weekend,
normally every time of year is set up to be perfect.
Whether it's,
you know,
based on where you live in the country,
it's like the best,
you know,
stacking the odds in your favor.
But then all of a sudden,
the clouds open up and it is pouring.
What's going to happen.
People are going to go running for the cars and you
can't sell when no one's at the show.
So that is something that you need to think about with
Results of the show,
because weather absolutely positively affects Results.
And if it pours like that all weekend,
you almost can't say the show.
Even you were even able to give it a shot.
However, let's have a plan.
Okay? If that happens,
you still invested in the show.
So how do you try and make back your money?
Why not do a pop-up shopping show on Facebook or Instagram
live and say,
you're not going to believe this.
I am at X and X show.
Look, what's happening.
You can show your table.
You can show the rain coming down because of this.
I decided I am going to sell from here.
So let me show you what I have and do a
live show and capture sales.
That way people who already follow you,
who might not be even in the area of that show
can play some orders.
And then the show isn't a bust,
right? The other thing to consider is if it does start
raining, but it's not torrential rains.
Like I was just describing where not everyone's leaving,
but they're being a little bit faster,
pack up some of your products.
So they're ready to go.
So if someone's interested in buying your soaps,
for example,
you can have them all ready to go and say,
Hey, you know what?
We're bundling things together because of the rain,
we're making it easy and faster for you.
I'm doing sets of three soaps.
You've got citrus scent Muskie,
and you're like more for men,
you know?
And you've bundled a few things together and you can sell
them really quickly.
What's happening.
You're making more money per sale,
bundling them.
You're making the checkout faster because you've already packed them so
they can go.
All they have to do is make the payment.
And that will also help you get as much out of
the sales as you possibly can.
During a time of inclement weather during the show,
the issues that come up,
overcrowded booth,
how do you handle that?
So you can run people through the booth in a smooth
way and get them on their way.
So you don't lose sales.
And you also open up opportunities for more people to come
to your booth again so that they can look at your
products and purchase.
What happens if there's people in the show,
but you're just not selling at your table,
research, learning,
identifying, and then you can adjust to move forward.
And then the third,
what about whether something you can't control,
always a risk at shows.
When you have a plan,
it doesn't have to be so bad.
Okay? So these are the challenges that I have seen come
up. Maybe it's you,
you decide you're not even going to go to a show
because you have no idea how to handle all this.
If you need to go back with pen and paper,
take down notes of what we've talked about.
I've covered the biggest obstacles and then provided solutions for ways
that you can make these in-person shows,
whether it's a craft show,
farmer's market,
flea market,
even all different types of shows are available.
The end,
honestly, they can be the best investment for you.
You're able to talk one-on-one with your customers.
You're able to interact with your local community as a handmade
creator. I highly encourage you to try your local shows.
I know that you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results and
between these last two episodes.
You know how to select a show,
how to prepare and avoid some of the challenges that might
come your way.
And then judge the results to determine if it's a repeat
or if you should move on and do a different show.
Preparation leads to confidence which leads to strong performance,
which leads to brand new customers who discover you and purchase
from you at the show and brand new prospects who will
buy from you in the future and make sure to tune
in next week where we'll be talking about social media's role
at your craft shows,
that's a ramp to get to the point kind of girl.
And this is what you can expect from these quick midweek
sessions. Now it's your turn go out and fulfill that dream
of yours.
Share your handmade products with us.
We want them and they bring us both so much happiness.