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5 Tips to Bring More Success to Your Vendor Events
Vendor event, craft show, state/county fair, expo or shopping days – doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s an event where your direct sales business is represented. In many cases, direct sellers are permitted to have inventory on hand for cash and carry. If you’re going to invest the time in setting up and manning a booth, make wise business decisions to make your time spent worthwhile.
The five tips below are extra steps you can take to help ensure more traffic and more sales to your table or booth.
1. Free: Have lots of FREE signs. People love the word FREE. Many will take something just because it’s free, even if they don’t initially think they are interested in it. This can work both for and against you. It can work against you if you are far too liberal with costly marketing collateral and product samples. But it can also work in your favor if you have a take-away that they can put in their hands and later visit your website. Most customers won’t ask “Is this free?” No one wants to look like a cheapskate. So if you have samples that you want them to take, make sure you have signage on your table that reads FREE samples, please help yourself. Continue reading
Surviving an Outdoor Vendor Event
Ah, the good old summertime. It sure is nice to be outside, especially after a long, cold winter. With so many festivals, state fairs and vendor events, one doesn’t need to look terribly hard to find a place to set up your wares to sell or display your direct selling products.
However, working an outdoor event in the heat presents some interesting challenges if you sell a product that could melt or discolor – such as candles. Below are a handful of tips to help you survive the doldrums of summer and still work your business in the warm open air.
- Make sure you have a system, such as coolers and zip lock bags, to keep the wax (or other product that could also get soft) from melting. Without the ziplock bags the labels will get soggy as the ice melts.
- If you have access to a generator or other power source, bring a fan, it’ll help keep you cool and customers will love it and want to stick around your booth longer.
- Bring plenty of water for you and any helpers. Don’t underestimate how dehydrated you can get working in the sun all day.
She Lost Money on That Vendor Event
As I have discussed many times, vendor events can be worthwhile. They can also be a huge waste of time and a vacuum for your hard earned money if you are not wise in selecting the right ones and then not optimizing your space once you get there.
I attended a vendor event as a customer last week. I am fairly certain the consultant lost her shirt by participating in this one. What do you think?
- It was a first time event. It was advertised mildly on Facebook and there were yard signs dotted around town.
- It was $7 just to get in the door as a customer.
- Vendors were charged $750.00 booth rental for this three day event.
- The consultant had quite a bit of marketing collateral that she liberally handed out, at least $300 worth.
- She also had a medium size amount of inventory (medium meaning not spectacular and not nearly enough for a show of this caliber, but at least a showing. It wasn’t a totally pathetic display; I’ve seen worse.) She had approximately $1,000 or more in inventory. Continue reading
7 Common Vendor Event Blunders
‘Tis the season for vendor events. I went to a couple of craft shows this weekend. It’s always good to keep up on what the competition is doing; plus I might see some treasures I have to have. Some of the vendors stated that things were “a little slow” (translate: they weren’t selling much of anything). Sure we can blame the economy and I will acknowledge that may have some bearing on it, but I venture to guess that those most affected by the current economic situation likely just stay away from craft bazaars. So if there were people and they weren’t buying, it’s time to take a deep look at the root cause.
I didn’t have to look far to find a number of common vendor mistakes that were likely the culprit for their low or no sales. If you’re going to participate in a vendor show, avoid these seven costly errors:
1. Little or no inventory for sale. Facts are most people go to vendor events to buy things. They want to take it home on the spot. They don’t want to order it. If they wanted to order they’d likely just stay home and order online. Most people are not (or shouldn’t be) comfortable giving money or a credit card to a complete stranger in hopes they will receive their product in three weeks. If you don’t have ample supply and variety of inventory to sell, don’t plan on any sales during the event.
2. No signage. I walked up to more than a few tables that didn’t have the company logo anywhere. I should have known before I even reached the table what vendor was at that booth. Then once I reached the table there was no price list to be found anywhere and none of the products had any price tags. Do I assume those were all display items? Or were those vendors just waiting for me to ask “How much?” You know the saying – ‘if you have to ask, you can’t afford it’. Continue reading
Are Vendor Events Worthwhile?
Vendor events are called many things – craft shows, expos, farmer’s markets, flea markets, festivals, bazaars or fairs. Some are one day events and others can last as long as one week. Some are as affordable to enter as $25 per booth while others can cost hundreds of dollars or more. How do you determine if it is worthwhile to participate?
Do the math and make sure you calculate all expenses, including your time. Also consider the cost of goods sold. A common question is “How much inventory should I bring?” Bring as much as you can afford without going into debt over it. Many experienced direct sellers would not do a vendor event without a large supply of cash and carry. People want it NOW; they don’t want to place orders; they won’t give money to a stranger in hopes that they’ll get the product in a few weeks; they don’t want to fill out any contact sheet – they just want to buy the goods and go. They’ll buy whatever you have – impulse purchases.
Some people set up a small display, without much on-hand inventory and choose to do events in hopes of future sales. That’s too much of a business gamble and far too much of an investment of non-income producing time in hopes of orders later.
Below are some factors to consider when calculating return on investments before deciding to do a vendor event or not.
Based on a 25% commission rate, if the booth fee is $50 you’d need to sell at least $200 just to break even on cost of goods sold – and that does not account for your valuable time, investment in business cards, samples, catalogs, and any display pieces (tables, table cloth, racks, cases, signage, etc.)
If you sold $500 at the show then you’d only profit $125 (assuming you’re at the 25% rate and did not invest any other monies) Figure between product preparations, pack up, travel, set up, time working the booth, tear down and return travel, you had 12 hours invested. That’s earning just a little over $10/hr, yet you still have to deduct taxes from that rate.
That said – if you had on-hand inventory and sold $500 product at the event, you’d make about the same amount of money you’d make at McDonalds.
Take the same above example, only this time figure what you would make if you sold $200 worth of inventory. You’d be working for free and the event would have cost you money. Now figure this example without the inventory or without the sales? Pretty glum picture, isn’t it?
That is not to say that vendor events are never worthwhile. Sometimes they can be very profitable and a great way to advertise to the masses. It is just vital that you do the math first and actually calculate your incomes to expense ratio.
About the Author: Laurie Ayers is a WAHM from Michigan. She started her first home business in 1988. As a single parent, Laurie has supported her family by working at home. She is currently a Superstar Director with Scentsy Wickless Candles. You can find Laurie at http://la.scentsy.us or http://www.ThrivingCandleBusiness.com
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