What does Real Estate have to do with selling arts and crafts?

The way I see it your art or craft show booth is kind of like trying to sell a house. If you try to sell an empty house people can’t see in their minds what the house will look like when it’s all finished, painted, furnished, and decorated. You will also have a hard time trying to sell a house that is full of clutter, people can only imagine that the rest of the house hasn’t been taken care of well. They will see that the house will be too much work and cost too much money.

Your art or craft show booth is like selling your house. The booth will help your customers imagine using the product they have purchased from you. You have to do the imagining for them. How?

First you need to think about your product, who is it designed for, how and where will it be used? The answers to these questions should affect the theme and design of your booth.

Is what you’re selling for boys, girls, men or women? Is it for children, preteens, teens, young adults, or mature adults? Don’t present children’s items in an adult setting or adult item’s in a child like setting. Use colors that appeal to the ages you’re selling to. What ideas and themes appeal to them?

For instance fancy jewelry for teens might be presented as if at a prom, towel racks might be presented as in a high class hotel bathroom, and clothing needs to be presented as if it were in a fancy closet but also as outfits on the person.

When you created your product you had a vision of how people would use it, your booth is your opportunity to present them with that picture.

Stage your booth just like you would a home that you were trying to sell. Imagine yourself as a customer walking into your booth. Critique and criticize as if you were the customer, ask friends and family to do the same. Ask for them to point out things that are distracting, look odd, and especially anything they feel is not safe.

Entry 3 of 6 in series My 30 Day Plan to Greater Craft Show Profitability.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Recently I’ve been working to make my business more profitable each and every day.

Week one I worked on catching up on left over unfinished projects from previous weeks to prepare for my 30 days of greater profitability. As usual I accomplished some of the things I intended to do, did some things I planned to do later early, and didn’t accomplish some of the plan.

Week two I learned new things about my email marketing to keep my messages from being flagged as spam. I joined a networking site I’ve been meaning to join for months when they ran a special I couldn’t pass up. I did a client consultation which was a new service for me. I blogged about what I was doing and I did all this while keeping up with requests for information about my business.

This week I got less accomplished than I had intended but what I did do I feel good about.

Week 3 what I accomplished.

• I did mail coupons to show promoters.
• I had a second client consultation.
• I learned something new about my facebook profile and group page. Added links to my group from my profile page.
• Worked on creating my profile on LinkedIn. Added a few contacts there.
• Worked on cleaning out my overly full email box.
• Signed up for a MySpace account. You can follow our posts at http://www.myspace.com/extravaganzacrafts.
• I blogged about my experience working toward greater profitability this week.

Here is what I didn’t accomplish.

• I still didn’t get my accounting done.
• I didn’t call the people I just mailed free newsletters to in the last few weeks to ask them what they thought of the newsletter. It is probably too late but I will try to fit this into next week anyway.  Call your prospects right away they are only interested about 7 days!
• I didn’t create any articles to send to show promoters that will encourage them to list their shows with me.
• Since I didn’t write the articles I also didn’t start calling my huge list of show promoters. Obviously I didn’t sign them up in my email marketing system.
• I didn’t contact Power Pay and get signed up to accept credit cards.

I hope that this series is inspiring you to work along with me to improve your businesses profitability by doing something each day that will make your business stronger. I know that I’m a bad example but I would really suggest that you write your goals down on a calendar. This way you can truly see what you did accomplish and will remember what you didn’t get done so you can work on it in your spare time or in your next 30 day plan.

The plan for the next 7 days:

• Day 16 -Call the people I sent newsletters to. Ask them if they would like to receive free articles. Sign them up as prospects.
• Day 17 -Create articles for show promoters.
• Day 18 -Call show promoters and ask them if they would like to receive free articles to make their businesses more profitable.
• Day 19 -Call Power Pay and get set up to accept credit cards.
• Day 20 -Find my friends who are already on MySpace and try to connect with them.
• Day 21 -Do my accounting!
• Day 22 -Write article for my newsletter.
• Day 23 -Blog about my accomplishments this week.

Don’t forget to to visit the Commonwheel Artists 38th Annual Labor Day Arts & Crafts Festival in Manitou Springs, CO this Sep. 1 to 3, 2012

Handcrafted arts and crafts festival vendors contact Julia Wright at 719-577-7700 to reserve your show booth now.  Remember to tell her thank you for listing her show with The Extravaganza Craft News.

Want more information on this and other art and craft fairs in Montana each month subscribe to The Extravaganza Craft News at www.extravaganzacrafts.com.

How many times has someone who was trying to help you actually hurt your chances of getting what you wanted? How many times has someone with good intentions tried to help you reach what they saw as your full potential but actually stood in the way of you reaching your dreams? How many times has a pushy salesman stood between you and the car you wanted trying to sell you a different one?

Your job as a business person is to help a customer who already has an idea what they want, find it and then sell it to them. Remember not to stand in the way of them buying your handcrafted art.

Some Don’ts. Don’t stand in front of your craft show booth (or anyone’s booth) talking to people you haven’t seen in a while catching up. Get their number so you can call later and allow them to move on. Don’t read in your booth. If you work on a project in your art festival booth talk about what you’re doing even when no one is around. Don’t get so caught up in the project that you become unapproachable.

As an art or craft vendor it should be
your goal to discover what every customer
who walks into your booth wants.

First establish a relationship. Smile, say hello, and introduce yourself. Give customers an idea of how things are arranged in your booth. For example say, “Hello, my name is Shasta. Necklaces are here, bracelets over there, and rings are by the checkout stand.” Tell them your special of the day. For example, “Today we’re having a sale on jewelry buy one necklace (valued at $x) and get a free pair of earrings (valued at ($x).” Some art show promoters don’t allow sales so be sure that you are not breaking the rules. If you are not allowed to have sales then show the customer the featured item of the day. You don’t always have to run the same special, but if you find one works particularly well for you, use it often.

Narrow the choices. You might allow customers to shop a few minutes or you could try to help them narrow their choices. Ask them if they are shopping for themselves or for someone else today. When you know who they are shopping for you narrow down which questions to ask to help make their choice easier.

By asking where a person is from you establish a casual conversation which can give clues to what styles they might be looking for. You can ask them if they like the style most common to their area. For instance people from Montana might like a western or outdoor theme, while people from Florida might like a beach theme. They might like that theme but be looking for something different just because they like to be different. The question is really just meant to give them a way to express what they do and don’t like and what they might be looking for.

You can always ask if they had a specific item in mind, or if they would like you to show them some of your ideas.

Close the sale. When they seem to be stuck ask if they would like to see more options or if you can ring up their selections? They might just be waiting for you to ask for the sale.

Offer an Upsell. Never let a customer who is purchasing just buy the one thing they have picked out. Offer an additional item similar or complimentary to the one they purchased at a small discount. For instance if they decided to buy a platter ask if they would like the matching gravy pitcher for 10% off or offer them two platters for $x.

Keep in contact. Try to collect every customers name, address, phone number, and email address. Ask their permission to add them to your mailing list. Tell them you will be sending relevant product information, specials, notices of where they can find your products. If they will share their birth date with you send them a special discount on their special day. Only mail to customers who give you permission and keep all information relevant. Remember how much you hate junk mail and spam!

For automated email responders I use AutoWebBusiness.com . I highly recommend you check them out if you don’t already have some kind of automated follow up/email system in place.

Your customers won’t buy art from you if:

• They don’t know where to find you or your product.
• They aren’t prepared to buy now. For instance they weren’t expecting to see a product they wanted so they don’t have money right now.
• They don’t know what you are selling.
• You aren’t selling what they want.
• If your handcrafted product is hard to get, the wrong price or bad quality.
• You haven’t asked them if they would like to buy.

We were selling World’s Finest Chocolates as a fundraiser to earn our trip to Jamaica with ROC Wheels in March 2011.

The first day the kids sold chocolate bars, they sold very few. The next day more people knew they were selling them and several bought. The third day their sales increased again because people knew they could count on them having them and had their money together.

• Problem: Not knowing it was available!
• Solutions: Consistency, advertising, marketing your finished crafts to correct market, having a website or blog to show case your art work, email marketing.

One day my son took the chocolates to school. A child asked him if he had Mint Meltaways. He answered yes and was swarmed by kids who wanted the mints. They hadn’t bought before because they didn’t know he had them.

• Problem: Not knowing what was available! Not offering enough variety.
• Solutions: Better advertising and signage, having a website or blog, email marketing. Offering the right product to the right customer.

We arranged to sell the chocolates at a grocery store in town, set up a table and sat down to wait for our first customer. I noticed that although we were directly in front of the door many people walked right by or bought a product right next to us without even seeing we were there. When we asked if they could use chocolate for stocking stuffers many people checked out what we were selling.

• Problem: Not knowing where to find you. Not knowing what you are selling.
• Solutions: Consistency, better advertising and signage. Not being afraid to offer your product and ask for a purchase.

The favorite chocolate we are selling seems to be the caramel candy bar. Chocolate sales increase when we keep those in stock and decrease greatly when we run out. Some people will buy another variety, some won’t.

We noticed however that when we sold to a wider variety of people (at the store instead of the school) the different flavors all sold about the same.

• Problem: Not selling what the customer wants.
• Solutions: Find the right market for your product by selling to a different group of people. Change your product to meet the needs of the group you are currently selling to. Offer a wider variety of products or narrow your products to the ones your customers buy.

People at the store weren’t expecting to see us so they didn’t have a few dollars cash on hand. They usually went to buy groceries and came back with money to spend.

• Problem: Customers aren’t prepared to buy now.
• Solutions: Follow up through mail, email, a website or blog or even an occasional phone call. Remember just do it respectfully always giving the customer something they want for instance information they need, a discount, or even a special just for them.

One problem we didn’t face was resistance to price or quality. The problem is that a low price can give the idea that a product isn’t high quality, but if the price is too high customers won’t buy. The solution is to do your research and carefully set your price within a range the customer will pay. Decide if you want to have the lowest price, the highest price, or some where in the middle.

Looking for art and crafts shows occupies a large amount of time for the vendor who makes a living selling at shows.  One time saving hint: knowing where to look for shows is the key to saving time looking for them.

For the longest time the only place you could find good shows was to attend a show and talk to the different vendors about the shows they had attended.  Unfortunately these show had often happened in the previous two weeks or were about to happen in the next two weeks.  Often there wasn’t time enough to get registered for them and the shared information was already forgotten by next year.

And now a brief message from our sponsor:

If you’re looking for shows in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota or South Dakota…The Extravaganza Craft News is a great place to look!

Okay enough of tooting my own horn, smile!

When I was looking for shows to attend the places I looked were:

The internet-using different combinations of keywords you will come up with all different kinds of results.  Search for combinations of: arts, crafts, fairs, festivals, antique shows, jewelry shows, gem and bead shows, trade shows, farmers’ markets, shows, show listings, bazaars, boutiques and other words to do with your craft to narrow down the search.  Include the name of the city and state to search the area where you would like to sell.  Include Christmas or holiday if you’re searching for seasonal shows.

Many sites will give you sample listings, some will have free listings, and others will have paid memberships, newsletters etc.  Hint:  Find a listing that covers your area and purchase it.  It will help you find the information you need before considering which shows to apply for.  Freeing up your time to do other more profitable tasks.

Chamber of Commerce, Visitors Centers, Community Centers, Fairgrounds-These are either the places local shows are held or they are often the sponsors of local shows.  They will usually know about which shows happen yearly and might have phone numbers for the contacts of many local shows.

Local Newspapers-Newspapers will often carry advertising for shows that are happening in their area of coverage.  Look for call to artists/crafters in the press releases as well as in community calendars, etc.

Grocery stores, gas stations, local restaurants, store windows-You will find bulletin boards in many businesses around town.  Many places will even hang posters in their windows so open your eyes and look.

Ask show promoters-Don’t forget to ask show promoters if they hold other shows or if they know of any other shows they recommend in the area.

Buyers at art and craft shows love to hear the story of the person creating the crafts.  They love to feel that they know person they are doing business with and that they are doing business with a real approachable person.  This is an important part of the trust building process that must go on between a buyer and seller.

A craft blog (short for weblog) is a great inexpensive way to share your story with buyers at the markets, both before and after they attend craft shows.  There are many different providers of free blogs including WordPress.  I used WordPress because when I built my website I had no technical knowledge of HTML, installing blogs, etc.  WordPress was fairly easy for me to figure out and install, yet it has many different plugins that add functionality.  You pick and choose what you need your craft blog to do.

Your blog is a great place to let people know what craft shows you are attending and what booth number you will be in.  It’s a wonderful place to announce new products and services, as well as to share tips on product maintenance.  Share bits of your personal story, as well as information about the techniques and supplies you’ve used.

Key to getting a lot of traffic to your blog stay on topic giving your customers the information they are looking for, and post search engine optimized posts often.  Be sure your blog points your visitors back to your website if you have one.

One last tip that was shared with me recently join blogfrog at http://theblogfrog.com I joined a few weeks ago and new people follow my blog every single day.

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Art and Craft Show Expert Shasta McLaughlin provides articles, hints and tips, checklists and more for artists and crafters that sell handcrafted products who want to save time looking for shows, packing for fairs, and get more sales at festivals. Now she is revealing how to collect your customers contact information, follow up with them and make more money while working less. Go to http://www.extravaganzacrafts.com to get her newsletter, The Extravaganza Craft News, that will help you avoid mistakes, save time and money when preparing your craft show booth.