Tips & Talk 8 – Craft Show Convo 3 – Overcoming Challenges During the Show

Craft Show Purse DisplayAll is ready to go. You’ve registered for a show where attendees should be your perfect customer. And you’ve planned your booth display and strategically estimated and made products to sell.

Now you get to “go live” and interact with customers in person. So exciting! But hold on …

It’s time to talk about the challenges that can happen during a craft show. Some are completely unexpected and some may be your worst fears. But no need to worry because when you’re prepared, you can handle anything.

Let’s go through the top three challenges that may appear during the show.

Solutions are coming your way. Because when you know how to manage through these obstacles, you’ll be confident in your actions and boldly move towards rewarding results. That means strong sales AND realizing how much fun craft shows, farmer’s markets, church baazars, flea markets, (on and on) can be!

Warning: Pen and paper may be required for this one.

CONNECT with me here:

WebsiteFacebookInstagram

SUBSCRIBE to the podcast:

Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

PAY IT FORWARD by leaving a rating and review.

I’d love to hear your comments. Tell me how the show has helped you or a specific guest or point that had an impact. You can do that right here.

Thanks for listening!

Resources for Growth of  Your Handmade Biz

5 Rookie Mistakes Webinar (FREE)

Start with Confidence

Networking Ninja

Content for Makers

Inspired! Daily Planner

Makers MBA

Check out the Merch Shop

Gifts for you or your biz friends that will make the days brighter and add a touch of inspiration and happiness. Enter the shop here.

Join our community of handmade product makers

Gift Biz Breeze is an active and inspiring group of creators at all levels of business development. Ask questions, see what others are working on, and learn new things – it’s all there and we’re waiting for you to join us!

Finally, would you please leave a review? Thanks!

It helps other makers like you find the show and build their businesses too. You can do so right here: Rate This Podcast

 

Transcript
Speaker:

There I see that you made it over to the new

Speaker:

tips and talk portion of the podcast.

Speaker:

These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and

Speaker:

things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.

Speaker:

Welcome to the second part of the obstacles and challenges that

Speaker:

come up when you're at a craft show.

Speaker:

So at this point you have already registered for a show.

Speaker:

The prior episode of tips and talk,

Speaker:

we talked about the questions that come up once you've registered

Speaker:

and then your planning and getting set up and thinking through

Speaker:

what you're going to need at the show today,

Speaker:

we're going to talk about the obstacles and challenges that can

Speaker:

come up in real time when you're at the show,

Speaker:

things that can occur at your booth and how to deal

Speaker:

with them.

Speaker:

During this episode,

Speaker:

you'll hear me reference some point that I've discussed before.

Speaker:

And those are in the prior episode of tips and talk,

Speaker:

if you've already listened to that,

Speaker:

you know that this portion went a lot longer than I

Speaker:

was anticipating.

Speaker:

So I've split it up into two.

Speaker:

If you haven't already listened to tips and talk number seven,

Speaker:

I encourage you to go back and start with that one.

Speaker:

And then you can come back here.

Speaker:

You'll still get the same value if you do it the

Speaker:

reverse way.

Speaker:

It's just,

Speaker:

if you're doing it in chronological order,

Speaker:

it might make more sense.

Speaker:

All right,

Speaker:

with that,

Speaker:

let's go ahead and dive in.

Speaker:

Okay. So now let's get into,

Speaker:

on site.

Speaker:

During the show,

Speaker:

we were just talking about,

Speaker:

if your checkout process is really slow,

Speaker:

your booth can get overcrowded.

Speaker:

What'll happen is either,

Speaker:

there are so many people in front of your booth that

Speaker:

other people will walk by and say,

Speaker:

Oh my gosh,

Speaker:

I'll come back later to the booth that there's too many

Speaker:

people there good that your booth is crowded because that creates

Speaker:

interest but bad.

Speaker:

If people can't even get up to the table to look

Speaker:

because truth is,

Speaker:

if they walk away,

Speaker:

they probably are not going to be coming back.

Speaker:

They're just going to walk away and be gone.

Speaker:

Here's how you handle this.

Speaker:

If you are at a craft show and there are people

Speaker:

huddled around the table,

Speaker:

there are a bunch of people who are in line ready

Speaker:

to buy.

Speaker:

There are other people who are asking you questions.

Speaker:

Oh, one thing that I did forget to mention earlier when

Speaker:

we were talking about displays is make sure that your displays,

Speaker:

all your products are either individually priced or you have some

Speaker:

type of a chart that shows what the prices are.

Speaker:

You know,

Speaker:

three for X number of dollars prices for different sizing,

Speaker:

whatever it is,

Speaker:

make sure it's very easy to see because that's one less

Speaker:

question that they have to ask you.

Speaker:

Let's say you have this situation.

Speaker:

Your booth is crowded.

Speaker:

You got a couple people who are in line to check

Speaker:

out. You got some other people who are looking,

Speaker:

asking questions.

Speaker:

So have as much done in your booth where they don't

Speaker:

have to ask you a question as possible.

Speaker:

Because if there's only a few people at the booth,

Speaker:

you can always engage in conversation.

Speaker:

But if someone wants to ask you a question and they

Speaker:

can't get an answer,

Speaker:

they'll be frustrated and then they'll walk away.

Speaker:

Here's what you can do.

Speaker:

You've got your checkout process going.

Speaker:

And if somebody else besides you knows how to manage checkout,

Speaker:

let one person between,

Speaker:

let's say you have two people working in your booth,

Speaker:

have one person just be in charge of the checkout process.

Speaker:

So they are doing the cash,

Speaker:

running the cards,

Speaker:

et cetera.

Speaker:

So that you have a flow to your booth.

Speaker:

People who are looking browsing,

Speaker:

asking questions,

Speaker:

you're just commenting with.

Speaker:

And then another place where they can just go to checkout.

Speaker:

Because once they're ready to buy,

Speaker:

they're ready to buy.

Speaker:

You want to make it fast.

Speaker:

You want them to be able to move on.

Speaker:

Okay? So it makes for a better customer experience when you

Speaker:

do it that way.

Speaker:

But if you have people waiting in both categories,

Speaker:

so browsing category and the checkout category,

Speaker:

here's some ideas for you.

Speaker:

Remember, I was talking earlier about that QR code.

Speaker:

If you have a QR code that leads to more information,

Speaker:

maybe it's a YouTube video,

Speaker:

maybe a behind the scenes of how you create products.

Speaker:

This allows for them to interact with you.

Speaker:

Without them just sitting,

Speaker:

standing, waiting.

Speaker:

Another way to manage multiple people at your booth is to

Speaker:

get people talking with each other.

Speaker:

If you recognize somebody who's been a customer of yours before,

Speaker:

and you recall what they bought say,

Speaker:

Oh, Laurie,

Speaker:

it's so good to see you here.

Speaker:

And then you can say to everybody,

Speaker:

Laurie loves my lemon candles.

Speaker:

You know,

Speaker:

or recently Lori placed an order for the butter pecan sauce.

Speaker:

What did you put it on Laurie?

Speaker:

Then people start talking to each other in the line,

Speaker:

making friends it's also helping reinforce your product and your kind

Speaker:

of testimonials on the fly.

Speaker:

If you will,

Speaker:

that will keep people at the booth until you're able to

Speaker:

talk with them.

Speaker:

Barring both of those.

Speaker:

If you have people there at the booth who are waiting

Speaker:

to talk with you,

Speaker:

acknowledge them.

Speaker:

This is the very least you do is either with eyesight

Speaker:

and smile.

Speaker:

Just recognize their presence there or say,

Speaker:

I'll be with you in a minute because what has that

Speaker:

done? It's kind of like sealed the deal versus someone who's

Speaker:

feeling, not recognized at all.

Speaker:

First of all,

Speaker:

they feel invisible,

Speaker:

which is never a good feeling.

Speaker:

Second. It's easier for them to walk away because they think,

Speaker:

well, you know,

Speaker:

they'll never even see that I was there,

Speaker:

but once you've engaged with them,

Speaker:

they're more likely to stay.

Speaker:

So these are tactics that you can use on the browsing

Speaker:

area. Now on the checkout area,

Speaker:

if your checkout process is a little more complicated,

Speaker:

let's say you have something that's customizable and there's a form

Speaker:

that needs to be filled out.

Speaker:

You can give the form to all the people who are

Speaker:

already in line with pens,

Speaker:

cause you're going to be prepared.

Speaker:

So you'll have a pen handy so they can start filling

Speaker:

out what they're going to buy.

Speaker:

And again,

Speaker:

that commits them more to the purchase because they've got the

Speaker:

paper, they're filling it all out and then they're going to

Speaker:

buy. And then you have your checkout process,

Speaker:

easy, smooth.

Speaker:

And it just carries on from there.

Speaker:

It's important that you're the leader and the controller and tell

Speaker:

people what to do,

Speaker:

not in a bossy way,

Speaker:

but you guide people through because then they feel like,

Speaker:

okay, there's some pattern here.

Speaker:

And I'm part of this process.

Speaker:

Now I'm just moving through the system.

Speaker:

And again,

Speaker:

this is only if your booth becomes overcrowded,

Speaker:

okay? But you want a plan for that because you don't

Speaker:

want to lose the sales for sure.

Speaker:

And you want to move people through the booth.

Speaker:

So that then there'll be more people who are coming to

Speaker:

the booth because they see it's popular until you have that

Speaker:

consistent flow of traffic going through.

Speaker:

The next thing that can happen.

Speaker:

Big challenge and obstacle with shows is what if people are

Speaker:

coming to this show and you're not getting any sales that's

Speaker:

I think probably the worst fear that we all have.

Speaker:

You know,

Speaker:

you make an investment in a show,

Speaker:

you set up your booth,

Speaker:

you've made all the product and nothing is selling.

Speaker:

Here's the thing you guys.

Speaker:

And this is one of the other things that is so

Speaker:

great about face-to-face shows if for some reason your product isn't

Speaker:

selling, this is a place to figure out why.

Speaker:

And don't you want to know why before the next show

Speaker:

that you would go to or why your stuff is sitting

Speaker:

online and not selling.

Speaker:

Okay. So two things could be happening.

Speaker:

If people are walking the show,

Speaker:

meaning there's traffic going through the shell,

Speaker:

people are walking through.

Speaker:

So you're seeing that there's a community of purchasers there,

Speaker:

their attendees,

Speaker:

that the show,

Speaker:

but they're not stopping at your booth potentially.

Speaker:

You haven't done enough to attract them into your both.

Speaker:

There may be some other attention getting thing that you could

Speaker:

do. Now,

Speaker:

obviously, if you're in the middle of a show,

Speaker:

you will be able to do that for a future show.

Speaker:

But for the current situation,

Speaker:

start saying hi to people who are walking by,

Speaker:

not the salesy in front of your booth,

Speaker:

dragging them in,

Speaker:

but just stand in front of your table.

Speaker:

And hi,

Speaker:

how are you enjoying the show today?

Speaker:

You know,

Speaker:

engaging people in conversation shows that you have you're friendly and

Speaker:

then you can welcome them into your booth.

Speaker:

Another thing that could happen is sometimes people don't know what

Speaker:

your product does now,

Speaker:

obviously with a candle.

Speaker:

They do.

Speaker:

But if you have some type of an interesting accessory,

Speaker:

I'm thinking now about pins,

Speaker:

it pins.

Speaker:

It is a,

Speaker:

it's like a two-sided pin that,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

when you have either shawls or cardigans that don't have button

Speaker:

fronts, it's a closure.

Speaker:

If I saw that without no,

Speaker:

in fact it actually happened.

Speaker:

I walked by the booth.

Speaker:

I'm like,

Speaker:

what is this?

Speaker:

I'm not even sure what it is.

Speaker:

Even though they had a display,

Speaker:

I thought she was selling knitted shawls.

Speaker:

She really makes pins it's.

Speaker:

So I didn't know what it was For.

Speaker:

There was another Product that I remember in terms of not

Speaker:

understanding exactly what it is.

Speaker:

I thought it was lip balm.

Speaker:

It was kind of in like a chapstick type of a

Speaker:

tube, but it was really any essential oil mixture that you

Speaker:

put on your temples for helping with mood,

Speaker:

like to fall asleep or to make you happier or that

Speaker:

type of thing.

Speaker:

So if you have a product that may be a little

Speaker:

more creative,

Speaker:

that isn't obvious,

Speaker:

you want to make sure to tell people what's on your

Speaker:

table. You know,

Speaker:

just explaining it in a very fun,

Speaker:

nice way.

Speaker:

I make pins that allow you to keep your shawls on

Speaker:

so they don't fall off,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

or whatever the case might be.

Speaker:

That could also be a reason why people aren't coming to

Speaker:

your table.

Speaker:

They're not understanding what your product Does,

Speaker:

but let's say That's not the situation.

Speaker:

People are coming to your table,

Speaker:

looking at the products,

Speaker:

thinking browsing,

Speaker:

you might even talk with them a little bit,

Speaker:

but they start to walk away.

Speaker:

This is a point where you want to understand what's going

Speaker:

on. See if you're going to have conversation with them as

Speaker:

they're considering and make comments like,

Speaker:

well, which flavor do you like the best or with mother's

Speaker:

day coming up?

Speaker:

You know,

Speaker:

which one would you think like your mother would like,

Speaker:

or you might say,

Speaker:

you know what?

Speaker:

I was thinking of two different,

Speaker:

I'm going to do candles candle sense for mother's day.

Speaker:

And I was between this one and this one,

Speaker:

I ended up doing both of them,

Speaker:

but which one would you have liked the best?

Speaker:

Like you can do some market research.

Speaker:

You could also say,

Speaker:

if you're thinking about doing smaller or bigger candles,

Speaker:

just say,

Speaker:

Hey, could you help me out?

Speaker:

Is there a size that you don't see here that you

Speaker:

would have liked to purchase?

Speaker:

You see what I mean?

Speaker:

You're drawing them in and you might find a hole in

Speaker:

your product line.

Speaker:

That is exactly what people would be wanting.

Speaker:

They might say,

Speaker:

you know what?

Speaker:

I have a little window sill in my kitchen that,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

I've just been looking for a pot for my little plant.

Speaker:

And I just can't find the size that I'm looking for.

Speaker:

Whoa. You know,

Speaker:

if You make planters bingo.

Speaker:

So of course you want to be making sales at craft

Speaker:

shows, but if you're not,

Speaker:

here's the time to figure out why through all that.

Speaker:

I was just talking about.

Speaker:

It's valuable research time.

Speaker:

The thing not to do is to start discounting your price,

Speaker:

totally to just make them sell.

Speaker:

You want to get the information that's going to make the

Speaker:

next show better.

Speaker:

You don't want to lose money on the show because of

Speaker:

the products that you made in your selling below cost.

Speaker:

The other thing I don't want you to do is stop

Speaker:

interacting and stop talking and just be so upset and feel

Speaker:

like you're defeated or something,

Speaker:

because this is the time again,

Speaker:

that you can gain the best information for moving forward.

Speaker:

The third challenge that can happen,

Speaker:

right? When you're live at shows is something that nobody can

Speaker:

control. And that's whether the weekend,

Speaker:

normally every time of year is set up to be perfect.

Speaker:

Whether it's,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

based on where you live in the country,

Speaker:

it's like the best,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

stacking the odds in your favor.

Speaker:

But then all of a sudden,

Speaker:

the clouds open up and it is pouring.

Speaker:

What's going to happen.

Speaker:

People are going to go running for the cars and you

Speaker:

can't sell when no one's at the show.

Speaker:

So that is something that you need to think about with

Speaker:

Results of the show,

Speaker:

because weather absolutely positively affects Results.

Speaker:

And if it pours like that all weekend,

Speaker:

you almost can't say the show.

Speaker:

Even you were even able to give it a shot.

Speaker:

However, let's have a plan.

Speaker:

Okay? If that happens,

Speaker:

you still invested in the show.

Speaker:

So how do you try and make back your money?

Speaker:

Why not do a pop-up shopping show on Facebook or Instagram

Speaker:

live and say,

Speaker:

you're not going to believe this.

Speaker:

I am at X and X show.

Speaker:

Look, what's happening.

Speaker:

You can show your table.

Speaker:

You can show the rain coming down because of this.

Speaker:

I decided I am going to sell from here.

Speaker:

So let me show you what I have and do a

Speaker:

live show and capture sales.

Speaker:

That way people who already follow you,

Speaker:

who might not be even in the area of that show

Speaker:

can play some orders.

Speaker:

And then the show isn't a bust,

Speaker:

right? The other thing to consider is if it does start

Speaker:

raining, but it's not torrential rains.

Speaker:

Like I was just describing where not everyone's leaving,

Speaker:

but they're being a little bit faster,

Speaker:

pack up some of your products.

Speaker:

So they're ready to go.

Speaker:

So if someone's interested in buying your soaps,

Speaker:

for example,

Speaker:

you can have them all ready to go and say,

Speaker:

Hey, you know what?

Speaker:

We're bundling things together because of the rain,

Speaker:

we're making it easy and faster for you.

Speaker:

I'm doing sets of three soaps.

Speaker:

You've got citrus scent Muskie,

Speaker:

and you're like more for men,

Speaker:

you know?

Speaker:

And you've bundled a few things together and you can sell

Speaker:

them really quickly.

Speaker:

What's happening.

Speaker:

You're making more money per sale,

Speaker:

bundling them.

Speaker:

You're making the checkout faster because you've already packed them so

Speaker:

they can go.

Speaker:

All they have to do is make the payment.

Speaker:

And that will also help you get as much out of

Speaker:

the sales as you possibly can.

Speaker:

During a time of inclement weather during the show,

Speaker:

the issues that come up,

Speaker:

overcrowded booth,

Speaker:

how do you handle that?

Speaker:

So you can run people through the booth in a smooth

Speaker:

way and get them on their way.

Speaker:

So you don't lose sales.

Speaker:

And you also open up opportunities for more people to come

Speaker:

to your booth again so that they can look at your

Speaker:

products and purchase.

Speaker:

What happens if there's people in the show,

Speaker:

but you're just not selling at your table,

Speaker:

research, learning,

Speaker:

identifying, and then you can adjust to move forward.

Speaker:

And then the third,

Speaker:

what about whether something you can't control,

Speaker:

always a risk at shows.

Speaker:

When you have a plan,

Speaker:

it doesn't have to be so bad.

Speaker:

Okay? So these are the challenges that I have seen come

Speaker:

up. Maybe it's you,

Speaker:

you decide you're not even going to go to a show

Speaker:

because you have no idea how to handle all this.

Speaker:

If you need to go back with pen and paper,

Speaker:

take down notes of what we've talked about.

Speaker:

I've covered the biggest obstacles and then provided solutions for ways

Speaker:

that you can make these in-person shows,

Speaker:

whether it's a craft show,

Speaker:

farmer's market,

Speaker:

flea market,

Speaker:

even all different types of shows are available.

Speaker:

The end,

Speaker:

honestly, they can be the best investment for you.

Speaker:

You're able to talk one-on-one with your customers.

Speaker:

You're able to interact with your local community as a handmade

Speaker:

creator. I highly encourage you to try your local shows.

Speaker:

I know that you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results and

Speaker:

between these last two episodes.

Speaker:

You know how to select a show,

Speaker:

how to prepare and avoid some of the challenges that might

Speaker:

come your way.

Speaker:

And then judge the results to determine if it's a repeat

Speaker:

or if you should move on and do a different show.

Speaker:

Preparation leads to confidence which leads to strong performance,

Speaker:

which leads to brand new customers who discover you and purchase

Speaker:

from you at the show and brand new prospects who will

Speaker:

buy from you in the future and make sure to tune

Speaker:

in next week where we'll be talking about social media's role

Speaker:

at your craft shows,

Speaker:

that's a ramp to get to the point kind of girl.

Speaker:

And this is what you can expect from these quick midweek

Speaker:

sessions. Now it's your turn go out and fulfill that dream

Speaker:

of yours.

Speaker:

Share your handmade products with us.

Leave a Comment





This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.