WAHM Forums

Has anyone here done craft shows or booths? I am thinking about participating in a local craft show. It is a 3 day event, but not 100% sure on how the traffic flow is going to be.
I was wondering if anyone has any ideas of what I should bring to show, what I should bring to sell and how to handle bookings and samples.
Any advice would be helpful!
Tara
www.beautinet.com/tarabryant

I do at least one a month around here!
I can tell you in the small towns like where we're at, you'll have little old ladies who will only buy at the event. And if you're there twice a year, they look for you.
But most other place's its about bookings.
I always have the Instant Mani to try, and some fragrance's,and whatever's on special.
An IFL poster always attracts people, but mostly keep it simple. And a calendar that shows how many spa's are on , and add as the day goes.
Then I have out the neckwrap,tingler, socks,host special gift. Talk about the spa while they mani,and give them a back rub.
Then get their info by having a drawing, asking if they'd like to be on your mailing list,and have a spa.

And you have to weigh the pro's con's,if booth costs much, there should be good traffic!
Always talk to other vendors, I book a lot of spa's that way, without having to 'trade' even.

And Gary's blog has a cool thing about Bridal Fair's that shows a booth set up that was neat.
Hope this helps!

Hi there!

I agree with prior post. Try to keep it as simple as possible and be sure to know what your goal is before moving forward. If you want sales from the event, then focus on things that will be at a good price point for cash and carry (under $20-$30)...don't throw in a bunch of Regeneration Golds and think people will fork out $50+ for an item they aren't sure will work.

Instant manicure is always a great draw. If you can't demo it at your table, see if they will let you put one in the bathrooms w/a sign for the guests to visit you at the BC table for the final step in their Instant Manicure...you'll know who's looking for you because they'll be rubbing their hands together while trying to find you. :)

If you have access to electricity, try to keep some neckwraps warm in a crock pot for people to wear while you give them a hand massage w/the extreme repair hand creme...let them know it is a hostess only perk to receive one.....

Most of all, don't break the bank getting displays, or 'demos' of everything we have to offer...sure, it can make a pretty table, but can be overwhelming to people.

I also like the idea of a picture of the instant face lift to draw people in....you can also say that this special treatment is a benefit to hostesses only at their spa party..... Have themes ready along with hostess perks, and your calendar there for bookings.

Good luck...I know these can be hit or miss...I'm geting ready to do a two-night one at the end of April and am trying to figure out what my focus is going to be as well.

Keep us posted!

HI TARA,
One of my gals just did a great booth at a women's event themed Empowering Women. she set up a simple display board, BC Blue balloons, covered her table with a black cloth, had some glass beads, and unlit candles on the table with a few products. Her display board focused on the spring makeup collection, but you could focus on anything attention grabbing. She had heated neck wraps and demo-ed instant manicure and lip apeel. Use a big bowl and a spray bottle with warm water in it to rinse the product off. Use the tiniest- just enough to sorta feel it - amount of instant manicure and it will come off easily with the spray bottle. The white lips also draw a lot of attention and then the soothing lip balm. She is just getting started with her business so this was how she chose to get contacts for booking spas.
It was a huge SUCCESS! She has almost 80 contacts. She put a strong emphasis on the spa experience is a gift that I want to give to you FREE. And, if you invite friends, I'll give you the neck wrap. She is still making contacts from the weekend but feels confident that her calendar will be full.
Try to take help with you to run and get water, keep your neck wraps rotated as they can "burn" in the bottom of a crock pot, etc. Be engaged no matter how badly you feel it is going or going to go AND FOLLOW UP! This is the only way to make these events successful is to follow up. Good luck!

Natalie,

Are you MY upline in AR??? If not, this sounds very much like my March 6th event.

Dawn

Hi Dawn. I was talking about your event becasue it was such a great success. If we all would follow that example we would have amazing results with every event!!

I had fun, it was a small event even know it was all weekend. I was very thankful to have my director with me, even know she was fresh off the plane from LA (yes she was 1 or the 6 to spa Ali).
We didn't have any sales, but that wasn't our goal. Our goal was contacts, and we each walked away with a decent amount. We are having a community spa tomorrow night for the people we met at the mall. It is going to be AWESOME.

Tara - How are you doing a community spa? Where will it be at? how did you advertise it? How many guests are you expecting?

You can also go to Art and Craft Shows, Festivals, Fairs, Expos, Concerts - Event Directory of 50,000 FREE Online Listings! (http://www.eventlister.com) to get more ideas on upcoming events. Good luck!

Hi Natalie, for our community spa we printed invites to hand out at the booth, much like a regular spa invite. In order to get an invite, the customer needed supply contact information. We handed out probably 20 invites between the 2 of us. We rented a meeting room at a local hotel. We made our calls Tues. night to see who all was going to make it, I wound up leaving a lot of messages, and got 1 "I can't make it". Then I also had invited so people from work. My director did the same sans the people from work part, since she is BC fulltime. We thought we would be having around 6 in total, and only wound up with 2. But with those 2 they both booked a party, and had a decent size retail for only 2 people.
In my eyes it was kind of a flop, but I think it will be worth it in the long run, at least at the booth we got the name of BC out there and I know I received a handful of good leads, even know they were unable to make it to the spa last night.
My area is a completely open market, I need to get the name of BC our there!

Tara - my director keeps encouraging me that "it only takes one" - one spa to make lots of contacts, one recruit to move your business forward, etc. I am the Queen of 2 people spas. Happens to me all the time. But if they both booked at yours, you have 2 new spas on your schedule!!! And, that is always a success.
Congrats!