Do you ever wonder
what goes into prepping for those craft shows you visit? Have you been thinking
about selling your work? We asked Jenny and Sabrina of The Pig and The Peacock for their expert
advice on being a vendor. And they delivered! Check out their earlier post if you haven't already …
Prep for Doing
Business
One or two weeks
before the show, gather everything you need to do business and ring up
transactions. Pens, calculators, invoice/receipt books, shopping bags, are must-haves.
Make a bank run to
get change – think about your price points and plan your change based on that.
If you take credit card payments via Square or any other device or app, make
sure they are in working order and that you remember passwords for apps. Another
thing we do is create a cheat sheet of all of our items pricing with tax. At
the bottom we have every price point from $1-$100 with tax added for quick
reference.
Prepare for the Day
Bring bottled water
or soda and snacks even if there will be food/drinks on site. You may be too
busy to take a break! Be sure to snack when you can so you don't run out of
energy toward the end of the day. It's also great if you can recruit friends to
help, whether it is to drop off lunch, give you a break or support.
Prepare for the
Unexpected
Know that no matter
how much planning you do, you can't plan for everything, but you can try your best
to be prepared so if the unexpected does happen, you have it covered. We always
bring a disaster kit. In this kit, along with our pens and invoice books, we
keep the following:
- Stapler
- Scotch
tape
- Duct
tape
- Packing
tape (no joke we bring 3 kinds of tape with us and have used them all!)
- Kleenex
and napkins
- Safety
pins
- Advil
(you will be glad you had it)
- Calculator
- A
multi-use tool
- Lighter
- Power
strip
- Extension
cords
- Bungee
cords
- Band-Aids
- Purell
- Sharpies
- Blank
index cards (for ad-hoc signage)
- Business
cards
- Notebook
– we like to take notes of things we forgot or wish we had and items customers
asked for that we currently don't make
- We also
bring a hand truck and a thick floor mat to stand on
Have Fun Selling
The best part of
being at a craft show is being able to talk with your shoppers, and tell them
about your process and your passion for your craft. Have fun selling and they
will have fun shopping.
If you are on the
shy side, think about an opening line to break the ice – perhaps something that
makes your items special or what inspired you to make it. Instead of answering
questions with a yes or no, take advantage of the opportunity to tell people
more about the item too. Even a simple hi and a smile will go a long way to
make people feel welcome. We like to chat with people and ask them how they are
enjoying the event as a whole, and find out what cool things they have seen at
other booths.
