Increase Your Sales

 I came across this just now and think it might have wider relevance. As Patricia says, make a 10-minute space in your day for some inspiration on selling.

From The Design Trust

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Do you want to get more sales, clients or commissions? Of course you do! Grab yourself a nice drink or lunch for this 'long read'. Today I want to take you through these 6 questions to help you get more sales, orders & commissions. See it as a short, unexpected 10 minutes mini-marketing course. Full of ideas & inspiration. For free in your inbox. Enjoy! And feel free to pass it on to other creatives too. ​ Q1: What are you *really* selling? You might think that the answer to this question is: “My jewellery” or “My workshops” or ‘My illustrations & prints”. But … people who buy creative products and services often buy so much more than ‘just a product’! They buy because they want something really original and unique. A special gift for a special friend or occasion. To celebrate. To treat themselves! Start to think about your creative products much more in terms of a 'memory' that they are buying, or a gift that reminds them of 'friendship' or 'the freedom of the sea'. Focus on the feeling that they want to get when they are wearing your colourful necklace or give a beautiful handmade jug with hand-picked wild flowers to a dear friend who is going through hard times. And even if you are selling to shops and galleries think about what you are selling to them. They want to create wonderful displays of emerging or local creatives. They want to show gorgeous hanging flower pots for the summer and to be 'on trend' and share on their Instagram feed. They want to have 'wow pieces' for their window display to lure visitors back into their shop once again. And when you are selling your creative products & services you are also selling a little bit of you of course! That doesn't mean we want to know all your secrets or what you had for breakfast. But your clients want to connect with your creative lifestyle, they want to know how your environment looks like and how that inspires you, your values from sustainable gold, or mindfulness, to Black Lives Matter and how that connects with them as 21st century human beings and consumers. Especially if they love buying from small independents and find it important to spend with small creatives like you! Take action: Brainstorm around what YOU are really selling. Go beyond the 'what' of your products and services, and think about the emotions or feelings your ideal clients have … not just when they are looking to buy, but also when they have bought your work, when they use it or give it to somebody else. WHY do you create the work you do? Emphasis these stories and occasions much more in your social media, your images, your product descriptions and your emails to really connect with the emotional side of buying, owning and loving creative products & services. ​ Q2: Have you got a plan? Did you set a financial goal at the start of 2022? Do you know how many sales you want or need this year? Online, at events, from stockists? We are big fans of financial goals here at The Design Trust! Why? Because without a goal or destination that you are aiming for you will just be running around like a headless chicken or just ‘hoping’ that things will happen and that the universe will listen to you. I personally don’t believe in that working out very well … Plus … if you don’t have a financial goal for your different income streams then you can’t really create a proper marketing plan either! You will need to know which products or services you want to focus on for sales, who your clients are and how much you will charge. Selling £15,- products on Etsy needs a very different marketing approach than selling £150 necklaces online or at an event. Of course, this year is very unpredictable. You might think that there is no point in creating a plan as it will have to change before you have even started. You might have had to change your financial goal for 2022 (we have!). That’s actually perfectly normal! And at least you are being realistic about what's happening in the world right now. You are being pro-active. And you will be more in control when you know what you are aiming for. ​Next Monday morning 4 July I will be hosting a practical 3-hour Plan The Rest of 2022 online workshop where you will be setting your own smart + juicy goals for 2022. ​ ·         Juicy goals + do-able actions for yourself and how to make sure you are in the best mental & physical place to create and work. ·         Juicy goals + do-able actions for your finances, your different income stream goals, to keep an eye on your costs. ·         Juicy goals + do-able actions for your marketing – with my expert tips on exactly what marketing activities to do to get more online sales, event sales, wholesale orders this autumn. ·         Juicy goals + do-able actions for your creative production. To stop making without thinking about who your ideal clients are (see below!), your actual costs + what you can charge. ​If you want to be less overwhelmed and back in charge then join me for this practical, thought-provoking planning workshop next Monday (the first Monday morning of the 2nd half of 2022!). Q3: Who are your ideal clients? And do you know why, when & where they buy? Do you really know who your dream clients are? Why they buy your creative products? When they buy? What’s important to them? What stops them from buying from you? Many creatives find marketing really difficult and it’s often because they don’t really know who their dream clients are. They try to sell to anybody, but then fail as it doesn’t appeal to anybody either! Many creatives rarely think about their clients when producing new work. Some creatives are even scared of their clients! Getting to know your ideal clients at a deeper psychological level can really help you to create products that people love to buy. It can help you to get more confident to create more innovative, unique and more well paid work too. It will help you to connect with the right people who have similar values and interests as you, boosting your inspiration & confidence, and then selling, marketing and talking to them will be so much easier! ​In exactly two weeks’ time on Monday 11 July from 10am – 2pm (UK) I am hosting a 4-hour practical workshop around Dream Clients – to help you to identify, get to know, approach and wow your ideal clients. Step-by-step you will find out and get a lot more confident to reach out to them and get sales and orders. ​ Q4: Are you just selling or actually building relationships? If you don’t really know how marketing works then it often feels like you are ‘pushing’ people to target them to become your client. And especially when you start to get a bit desperate for sales then often it’s very obvious that you are selling the hard way! Marketing & selling should NOT be pushy! At The Design Trust we have a marketing mantra: “People only buy from people they know, like & trust”. Unless people know what you can do for them (see Question 1!) and remember your name (so standing out from the crowd is important!) you will unlikely get any sales. They need to really fall in love with you these days to get their credit card out. And they need to trust that you can deliver. Marketing that works (=to get sales) is based on two principles: 1. Focus on a niche: What are you good at and who is interested in that? Don’t sell to everybody but really focus and get to know your ideal clients. 2. Build relationships with your clients, especially if you are selling unique or less frequently bought purchases, high end work, or services like craft & design commissions or workshops. People need to think about their purchase, and that's part of the natural process of buying from you. Stay in touch and be helpful. Marketing & selling is about pulling in the right people that love what you do & what you stand for! Listening to them, taking care of them, creating value for them in their lives. Get into action: How can you build your profile, credibility & trust with your ideal clients? How can you reach out to them and remind them what you really do? (See Question 1 again!) How can your marketing become more ‘educating them’ around your values or creative process? And especially if you are selling to other businesses, galleries or shops how can you be helpful to them right now? How can you promote them and highlight them on your website, emails or social media? Could you offer to do a demonstration or talk? Have you talked to them about the new work you are developing and have they got the best images to promote you? Q5: Do you encourage clients to spend more? Offer commissions & pre-order! This might sound counter-intuitive but the creatives that are struggling the most right now are those selling work between £100 - £1,000. Why? Because up to £100 is a gift. Either for themselves, or for others. And it’s often a quick purchase that they don’t need to think about too much. There will always be birthdays, weddings or other special occasions that need lovely, unique creative products! Above £1,000 is the territory of commissions and higher end unique work. These are often very special and very personal purchases, for special occasions like wedding anniversaries, house extensions and even memorials. And many collectors will keep collecting! (This part of the market has not been impacted that much by the cost-of-living crises as most of us …) When you are trying to sell work between £100 - £1,000 then often you are both too expensive (for people looking for a gift) and too cheap (for people who want something really unique) at the same time! We are big fans of using more pre-order options and don’t really understand that not more creatives are using this opportunity to promote new work to their clients who then can purchase it for a selected period only at a very special price. The big benefit of pre-ordering is that you get a far better idea of how much stock to create, which designs or colours will be more popular and you will be paid upfront! Very useful indeed for your cashflow and to avoid loads of unsold stock later in the year. We are even bigger fans of commissions! These are creatively, financially and personally great opportunities for creatives to create amazing and really unique works of art, that push your creative skills, raise your profile, and really are very meaningful for your clients too. Commissions really can be amazing for both creatives and their clients. But … we also know that many creatives do not manage their commissions or their clients very well, and have trouble setting boundaries, do not charge properly for their time and expertise, and find it difficult to promote themselves and their commissions. We recently did some research around commissions and realised that there is very little advice around this important topic and income stream. So, we created this brand-new online course Creative Commissions to help creatives manage commissions professionally (with loads of templates!), price your commissions properly and promote yourself too. ​Creative Commissions is a 2 x half day online course on 14 – 15 July PLUS we have invited 3 creatives and experts for 3 x 1-hour interviews too so you can learn from their expertise and as them questions too. Can’t make this course live? No problem! All the sessions are recorded and you will have access till the end of 2022 to the course. Q6: Do you encourage repeat business? And finally … something that’s often overlooked by creatives: your existing or previous clients! Don’t take them for granted. They already know you, like you, and trust you! So it's often much easier to sell to them. Get into action: Have you heard about the Pareto principle or the 20/80 effect? It turns out that about 20% of your sales will come from 80% of your clients! Do you know who your top clients are? Check your bookkeeping system and see who those top clients are. Can you get to know them better? Do you know where they live, what gender they are, how much they spend and how often they return? If they bought online or at a specific event? Even simple factual data like that can help you to get to know them, and to connect with them better. Could you let them know that you are working on some new work that’s related to what they purchased before? Hint: Tell them they are the first to know about this new collection you are launching in September! Have you got an event coming up near them that they might like to get an invite to? What else would this client like to buy? Could you give them special treatment to show that you appreciate their custom? Can you create exclusive videos showing your creative process, could they get VIP invites for your Summer Sale, or can you give them free postage & packaging next time they buy? Making your clients less ‘strangers’ and more human beings is really the only way to build your business, your ideas, your creativity and your confidence. ​ And that’s it! The end of your unexpected mini-marketing course! 6 questions to help you get more sales this summer. I hope you found it useful and that you got inspiration to take some action too. And of course we would love to help you with getting more sales & getting more organised in one of our 3 Summer courses. Looking forward to seeing you. Patricia van den Akker The Design Trust – the online business school for designers, makers & other creative professionals ​www.thedesigntrust.co.uk @TheDesignTrust​ ​ ​

Writing About your Business

Staying in touch with potential and existing customers is important to getting more sales.  This is especially true for websites.  You need to build an online relationship which is similar, but has a different expression, to in-person relationships.  You need develop your online business profile.  Whether you concentrate on craft fairs or wholesale and online sales, you need to communicate about what you do.  Whether you have a website with a shop or just a Facebook page, you need to tell people what you do to build support.

It may seem difficult at first to know what to write about your business that will be interesting to your customers and support sales and be worth the effort.  There are a lot of things you can say about your business.  When you begin to think of the elements for communication with your potential customers there are lots of things you can say that will interest them and give your business a personality and an interesting profile.

But I don’t have a web site.  I sell at craft fairs and to galleries.

This still applies to you.  You need to tell all sorts of people and organisations about your business.  You need to have something for galleries to look at.  You need copy for newspapers and other media.  You need a  statement about you and your business at craft fairs.  You need to use social media to get people to the physical sales points.  You need to think about how these elements can help provide interesting posts.  Of course, not all that is given here is directly applicable to personal interactions, but it will give you the direction you need to present yourself and your business in the best light.

There are lots of ideas to get you to thinking about what you can do to communicate.  What follows are indicators of what you can do. You don’t need to use them all, but employing a range of these elements will give variety and interest to your communications.  It may also, along the line, provide you with a much higher profile and incidentally, sales.  You do need to communicate regularly and consistently with the audience.  An irregular post every month or so, is not enough.  You may have to set a schedule for publishing communications to your followers.

Write -

- About your business

·        What started you in business? what was the inspiration? Talk about any greater purpose than simply making your items. What are your motivations to continue working? What gives you joy?

·        How, and why did you choose the business name? Who did you involve? How does the name continue to be appropriate?

·        Tell people what it is about you and your work that is special or unique.  Indicate what your niche is, make it explicit for your potential customers.

·        How do you do business? Do you take commissions?

·        Share the stories and case studies of your experiences.  For example, take people through the stages of a commission.  Telling about the changes, developments, challenges shows how you work.  Show the results and tell what the client liked most about it. This provides the opportunity to include testimonials.  Include lots of sketches, photos. Importantly, get the commissioner’s permission to share details.  

An example of a site which provides a number of testimonials: http://www.gilroystainedglass.com/gilroy/testimonials/

Another example is this blog which does everything – the way she works, her stories, information, inspirations and there is no obvert selling at all. https://morganica.com/about-me/

- About your Location

·        Tell people where you are located. This helps to increase trust.  Talk about why you chose the area. How does the place affect your work? Provide pictures of your specific location, the area, and elements of landscape or cityscape that interest you.

The Northlands Creative site gives you a sense of place. 

·        Essentially, offer a behind the scenes view of how your location interacts with your creativity.  An inner-city industrial area can be as interesting as the countryside.

An insight to working practice is given in the Bob Letherbarrow website. 

- About your inspirations

·        Talk about people that have inspired you, role models, influencers. What have you learned from them?

·        What events – personal and world-wide – affect your work? Write and illustrate them.

An artist statement example from Bob Leatherbarrow 

·        Write about the kinds of environment that influence elements of your work.

- About things that interest you

·        Reviews of exhibitions, events, books.

·        Share your passions, reveal your personality, what excites intrigues you about your craft.  Why your glass expression than others? Does your work tell stories? Do you have a bigger purpose in making your craft?

·        Write about what is important to you.  This shares your values, and by writing from different angles will bring more visitors to the site.  Recommending other small businesses with similar values not only creates a business community, but a customer community too.

- About the process

·        Share the creative process involved in your body of work.  It can  be in words or images, short videos. 

·        Show the design process – inspiration, sketches, prototypes, final items and then the results at shows.  Use lots of pictures.

- About useful information

·        Share information and guidance about looking after your products.

·        Give information about related businesses.  These will be services or products that you do not supply but are relevant and are provided by other local businesses.

·        General tips related to your area of business shows you are knowledgeable, helpful and trustworthy.

·        General tips on how to display, use or wear your work grab attention.  Pictures are especially important here. 

·        Write useful communications.  Think about what your ideal clients would find useful to know.  Is there any maintenance needed for your glass? How to clean the glass. Give practical advice and suggestions. 

·        Promote other resources or books you like. Avoid a sales post, just include a link to the relevant page of your site as a sign off.

·        Think about having guest writers.  Getting others to write occasionally for you saves you work.  Interviews are another way to vary the voice of your communications.  It is essential to be clear about what these guests are to focus on, and give them the opportunity to promote their own site.

- About your customers

·        Ask your followers specific questions, get them involved in new developments at an early, planning stage, rather than at the end.  This gets people committed early to your work and without any explicit sales pitch. 

·        You can ask about the barriers people have to buying from you or others.  You can get information about what publications, sources they use, by asking.  This can be done on social media, or via direct emails.

·        Answer clients’ questions quoting their words.  This can increase the visibility of your site by using others’ searches, so leading them and others to your site. 

·        Helpful responses create a trusted business source.

- About developments and news

·        Write about the events you are planning to attend. There needs to be a group of communications leading up to the event.  Lots of advance notice is needed for people to plan a visit.  To give this notice, you can produce a number of  notices: Lead them through your preparations, the development of your collections, background to the work you will be taking, show the packed van and the final show setup.  These six notices will involve potential customers and build their interest in coming to the event.

·        Tell the stories of the event. What happened, your best sellers, star purchasers, meetings with fellow exhibitors all provide interest to your customers. You can include links to your price list or catalogue in these communications.  This is much better than sending a bare list or catalogue.

·        Talk about your product of the week or month - why the design, what inspired it, how did you name it, what’s special about it.   Start with a good photo of the work.  Possibly add something special – free p&p, special price in combination with another item, etc., to attract a purchase.

- About outlets

·        Blog about your retailers and wholesalers.  It cements your relationships with them, by showing your commitment to supporting their business too.   It  provides publicity for your work. Photos of your work in the locations is good customer-assuring publicity.

·        Let other businesses know that you have sent out information about them.  It may get you reciprocal mentions.

·        Working with wholesalers has better results when directed to individuals or single companies.  Preparing introductory material that is relevant to the client and adding the relevant images, lists, catalogue, gets better results than generic approaches.

An example of telling people where your work is available in Steve Immerman's website. 

Of course you do not need to write about all of these elements all the time. But they form the background to what you write about your business, craft, current work, and to some extent your life.

Writing specific, focused, timely communications

·        Timely communications are important.  When are customers likely to buy? – send out things prior to that time.  Think about the reasons they might buy and include them.  Gift giving times (such as back to school, springtime, valentines, awareness days) are times for focused communications indicating what you have that is relevant to the event or occasion.

·        Send out notices of an upcoming event through all your communications sources in a kind of countdown to the event giving your activities toward the opening of the event or show.

·        Be consistent in the style of the communications.  Short, direct, and focused posts with lots of pictures are most likely to be read.  Handmade Lives says immediately what it is about (unfortunately now ceased). 

News vs. Newsletters

These communications are not newsletters. Who reads newsletters anyway?

• Stay updated https://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/
• Use lots of photos.  Make the communications visual. E.g. https://www.designspiration.com/
• This site has busy visuals, but leads by images rather than words https://www.craftscotland.org/

All your posts and communications should be simple and direct.  They should be fairly short (unlike this post!) to be sure they are read.

In Summary

How do you put all this together?  This is an example of a blog which does everything – the way she works, her stories, information, inspirations and there is no obvert selling at all. https://morganica.com/about-me/

Writing about your business is more than just the business.  You are the business.  So, it is writing about you and what you do, not just a dry business description.  You have an advantage over big business. You have a personal story to tell.

Quiet Craft Fairs

“A decade ago or so it was possible to predict sales from a craft fair, but that’s much harder now! It’s an unpredictable market out there right now for crafts and design products! … Even doing a show that was successful in the past might not be so good the next year.

All successful craft exhibitors confirm that they have to work harder to get sales and commissions, do more promotion in advance themselves, and follow up after a craft fair as more people delay their purchase decisions.”

Patricia van den Akker, Crafts Magazine July/August 2014 (page 26)

There are many reasons for quiet fairs. Among them is that the recession and recovery from it has created uncertainty among potential buyers.  House moves, which are big drivers of purchases, are less frequent. On the other hand, there is an increasing awareness of craft and handmade which has led to an increasing number of competing craft fairs.  Online selling such as Etsy creates a new kind of competition for craft fairs.

These and other developments are outside your control.  You can’t affect this. You need to concentrate on the things you can do to make things more successful.  

This is about some of the things you can do.

What Can I Do During the Event?

You will have done your research in choosing this event, which lead you to think it would be successful for you.  During the show you can do some things to help inform you about what to do now.

·        Is there good footfall?  What are the numbers to date compared to previous years? The organisers should be able to tell you how many visitors have come so far. You can make the comparison from your research on previous years.  Don’t panic.

·        Consider the composition of the people who are present.  Are the visitors the right people prepared to buy? What does the visitor profile seem to be?  Are there retail and wholesale buyers present? This is a good opportunity to engage with them for future orders if not present ones.  Networking is important and this is a time and place where you can meet a lot of people and discover reactions to your work, even if they are not buying.  Remember that your fellow stallholders can be part of that supportive network, and even sometimes be future customers.

·        Have you put out enough publicity?  Is there anything you can do now to get people to come before the close?  If you have a quiet time, you can use your social media outlets to tell people about your participation in the event.  Possibly you can offer an incentive for people to come to this show.

·        What does your interaction with the visitors that are at the event tell you? What interest and feedback are you getting? What questions are being asked? Which piece was is most popular? Think about rearranging the placing of your work to better reflect the interests of the visitors.  Can you follow up with the visitors after the show? Are you collecting their contact details?

·        Is your display right for the venue? Can you adjust your display to attract more visitors to the stand? Think about a white board for people to post their reactions to your work.  Which is most popular, for example?  Possibly a special offer is in order. 

·        Are the other exhibitors of a similar price level and quality?  If not, think of ways for your products to appear a better fit for the rest of the event.

·        Are the other stall holders having a quiet time too?  If they are, it may be a general problem with the event.  If you are performing less well than other stall holders, perhaps you have the wrong pricing, or glass products with perceived difficulties for transport.  Lots of packaging is necessary.  Offer a delivery or postal service, if appropriate.

Review the Event

Research – how good was your investigation of the event before you signed up?  

it’s crucial that you research craft fairs before you apply. Choosing the right events to suit your work can be difficult and there are no guarantees of instant return. Don’t be afraid to ask some probing questions of the organisers and past exhibitors.   Patricia van den Akker, Crafts Magazine July/August 2014, p.26.

There are a number of things you should look at to determine if this was the right event for your glass work. 

Organisers

Who organises the event? Look at their track record for this and any other events they organise.  There are sites for rating events that you can use such as Folksy’s.  You can look at Trip Advisor show reviews  for the visitor reactions.

Exhibitors

Who the other exhibitors are, or have been, is important in judging your fit within the group of exhibitors.  This information should be available from the organisers.  Are these your peers in price and quality?  Think about how you will both fit with them and stand out from them.

A good craft fair curator should make sure there’s a wide mix of things and not too many of the same.  David Andrews, And at What Cost

Visitor numbers and average sales

The organisers should be able to tell you of the number of visitors to previous events and at least the average sales of the event.

Visitor profile

Does the proposed event seem to be oriented to buyers?  If the craft fair is in support of a main event, you need to determine if your glass work will fit the apparent interests of visitors to the main event.  You may be able to make items that will interest them.  If the craft fair is the main event, you have a greater chance of the visitors being buyers.

The publicity may be oriented toward individuals, or to buyers for businesses and wholesalers.  These will each need different approaches.  The organiser should be able to tell you about the composition of the visitors for previous event.

Publicity for the event

Look at the publicity issued for previous events.  The organisers often give you this information.  This will provide an idea of what they produced and maybe how it was distributed.  Look at what local, and if appropriate, regional and national, press was obtained.  Did they get into lifestyle publications? What business and trade press was received?

Visit the event

If at all possible, visit the event.  This will give you a first-hand feel of the style of the event.  You will be able to see the range of exhibitors, the various styles of stands.  This will help you determine if this is an event you would fit into.  It also will  give you ideas to help design your exhibit. 

You can engage with exhibitors that appear to have a business of a similar size to yours to get the benefit of their experiences. You must be careful about this.  Be honest.  State that you are a potential exhibitor and ask if they have the time to give their experience about this event.  Approach them only when they are quiet.  Be aware of the need to avoid blocking other visitors from the stand.  Do not engage in long conversations.

If you can’t visit, look at the social media of the organisers and any exhibitors you know attended.  This will give some feel of the previous event. 

Location

This is about where the event is being held in relation to your location.  Do you need to travel and stay somewhere to attend, or is it near enough to avoid overnights?

It is also about where the event is located.  Venues range from dedicated events arenas to school gyms.  How easy is it to find? Is it signposted well? What are the parking facilities?  Look at the venue as though you were a visitor and decide on the suitability of the place.

Consider the timing

Craft fairs are held throughout the year, but those in the months leading up to Christmas most often get greater footfall and have a higher proportion of buyers.  Summer shows are influenced by the weather – a sunny day can take everyone to the beach or lakeside, but a stormy, rainy day can keep everyone inside.

Try to make your products relevant to the existing season or the coming one.  Think about opportunities people want for securing gifts relating to celebrations or awareness days.  Trade shows are often working 6 to 9 months in advance so the buyers can get the products into stock for the relevant season.

Promotion

This is not about what the organisers do, although that is important.  It is about what you do to generate interest.  There are going to be a lot of competing products.  You need to generate interest in people coming to your stand. 

My bugbear is exhibitors who expect footfall and sales and rely too much on the organisers. YOU need to do marketing & social media to get sales. – Patricia van den Akken, The Design Trust on Twitter.

You should be prepared to do a lot of social media work in the months and weeks leading up to the event.  You need to be telling people about your participation and preparation for the show.  You should make up a press release about the show and your participation in it.  Even if this is not taken up by the press, the material in it can be used for all the other marketing  you do.

You need to ensure that you provide the organisers with text and excellent photographs well before the deadline they impose.  If you have good images of your glass work and send them in plenty of time, you have a greater chance of being featured in one way or another.

After the Show

You need to consider what lessons can be taken from a quiet show.

Display

Review the layout of your stand.  Does it do justice to the quality of your glass work?  Think about what you can do to make the glass more eye catching – lighting, space for each item to breathe, clear pricing, arrangement, etc.  Make it clear what you do, what you make and why.

Product range

“When planning which products to sell at a craft fair, think 1) affordable, 2) achievable, 3) aspirational, and try to bring a range of products so you have all three covered.”  Folksy

This is applicable to all shows, perhaps with the exception of trade shows, where you need to concentrate on glass work that you can produce in quantity.  If you can produce a variety of glass with a group of price points, you will make it easier for buyers to choose.  Of course, you will need more items in group one, with a moderate amount of group two and only one or two of group three.

After a quiet fair you need to reflect on whether the glass range you brought was a fit for the event.  Were they relevant to location, suitable for the season, relevant to the event, suitable for a range of ages, etc. You need bring only the relevant products, not your full range of glass work.

Engagement

You need to review your performance at the show too.  Look at how you interacted with the people who did stop by.  You need to be sure you maintain a friendly appearance throughout.  Did you enjoy your conversations with visitors?  If not, you need to work on picking up on their cues.  You need to get them talking about themselves and their interests to be able to direct them to the appropriate glass.  Are you approachable?  Being at the front of your stand is important to drawing people in.  Showing your enthusiasm for doing your glass is important, because people like a story about the maker and her glass.  This helps engage people with your work and may lead to purchases.

Transport

Glass is heavy, and perceived to be fragile.  You need to find ways to overcome these resistances to buying.  Some things you can do are:

• excellent packaging (bring lots);
• a pick-up service (after they have paid and given their contact details) before they leave the event;
• after show delivery by post or courier. 

There will be others that you can think of too.  Signpost these services, so people know while they consider their purchase.

Payment

It is essential that you are able to take card payments.  You can use PayPal.  There are a number of companies that either have short term hire of terminals, or do not have monthly charges (although their percentage take is a bit higher).  Without electronic payment facilities, you will lose many sales.

Reflect on the Benefits of Attending Events

Feedback

You get direct feedback on your work, its pricing, and how it fits with people’s lifestyle.  You can learn of misunderstandings about your glass and so correct or anticipate them in the future.  Conversations at shows can be vital in guiding the direction of your work.

Networking 

Communicating with other stall holders makes a community of interest and support.  Also, potential customers can be discovered at shows and some of them may be the fellow stallholders. Making good relations with them has the potential to get write-ups about you from them in their discussion of the fair on social media, just as you may and should write about them even though they don’t do glass.

Meeting people that can promote your work

There is a great variety of people who are not buyers but are looking for things and people to write about.  This is great publicity.  The craft press attends shows looking for items of interest to their readers. Bloggers increasingly are writing about people they discover at events. Stylists, interior designers and influencers are also milling about.  You will not always recognise them from their badges, but treating everyone with enthusiasm for your glass work will include them.  They may give you feedback at the show or be available afterwards to contact and learn of their views.

Stockists

Shows are good places to meet stockists, who may be retailers, shops, galleries, wholesalers and others who want to stock your glass.  Take details and follow up all of these contacts.  You should be prepared for these people by having price lists and  professionally produced publicity material under the counter to give to them.  Business cards are essential.  If you offer one, you will get theirs in return.

Future sales 
It is not only stockists that you need to keep a list of contacts.  Get the details of all the interested people and contact them after the show and in the future when appropriate.

I do believe that craft fairs and events are still one of the best marketing tools for creative businesses. They help you to build your profile, to reach many potential clients in a short period of time who can get to know you a lot better, and events can really boost your confidence too.

But … you do need to … promote yourself! Even if your contacts are unable to attend the event it’s crucial that you let them know through a series of emails, blog posts and social media. Events are one of the best ways to stay in touch with your potential clients!

An event invite can be a great tool to drive more traffic to your website and get online sales instead.

Selling events aren’t there just to get sales but are also a way to stay in touch with potential clients, to increase your profile, and to get new contact details for your database. Start a database and stay in touch. And by following up you can often turn a quiet craft fair into a pretty successful one!

Patricia van den Akker, Crafts Magazine July/August 2014 (page 26)

Take advantage of quiet events to reflect on what you can do during the show and after the show to make for better outcomes in the future.  Reflect on your research of the event.  Consider location, timing, relation to a main event or awareness week or month.  Look at your promotional effort leading up to the show.  Consider how to improve your marketing.  Remember that even a quiet show can provide great contacts and that follow-up with the people you have met can garner purchases.  Not everything is about the immediate monetary returns.