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Craft Show Tips
Starting a craft business is rewarding, but a LOT of work. My wife and
I own O’Brien Photography (www.OBrienPhoto.com),
selling black and white photographs of Washington DC. Like many crafters,
this started as a hobby and evolved into a business.
When we first started our business one year ago, I could not find many
craft show tips on the web, so in response, I wrote this tip sheet to
help others who wish to sell at craft shows.
The below tips/observations are not listed in any particular order.
- There are NO constants. In a business, it is important to learn from
the past to prepare for the future. You always read that planning is
what separates the successful business from the unsuccessful. Unfortunately,
I have found that planning is of limited use in craft shows.
For example, we had one show where we sold out of a particular photograph
in the first hour. Learning from this experience, we made dozens more
of the photograph assuming that it would continue to sell like hotcakes.
But logic lost out, and this picture has never quite sold like that
one day.
For two-day shows, it seems that you do better on Saturdays than on
Sundays. But we have had a few shows where this was opposite. It also
seemed that you do the most sales in the first few hours of a show.
But a few weeks ago, this proved to be untrue. In the first 2 ½ hours,
everyone’s tents were packed, except ours (we made three sales in this
period of time). Then, for no apparent reason, things took off and we
made over $1,000 in the next three hours.
If there is one constant, it is that there are no constants. Personally,
I find this maddening. But it is the nature of this business.
- Recognizance. Before you start selling, visit different shows in your
area and take notes. Note vendor’s tent layout, display systems, lighting,
signs, etc. It is also useful to visit shows you are considering to
see whether they are well attended or not.
- Network. During slow periods, either my wife or I will walk around
and visit with other vendors. We have found fellow vendors to be among
the friendliest people on earth. After a few shows, you will start seeing
the same people and build relationships.
Your fellow vendors have a wealth of information. They can give you
tips on different shows, tent setup, credit card systems, or anything
else you can think of. We owe a GIANT part of our success to the friendly
vendors who were more than generous with their time to help us get started.
After I talk with a vendor, I often get their business card and write
them a hand written note after the show thanking them for their advice.
- Subscribe to Sunshine Artist magazine (www.sunshineartist.com).
Not only does the magazine have good articles on craft shows, they also
provide a comprehensive list of upcoming shows. Equally important are
the ads – this is a good way to find crafter-specific things (such as
display panels).
- Choose your shows wisely. Some shows have exceeded our expectations
and others were complete dogs ($300 for the entire day).
For the first few shows, my wife and I sold at small venues (church
and high school craft shows). As I will talk about further down, image
is crucial, and you want to have your look down before you explode onto
the big scene. The small shows allow you to tweak your display, prices,
and general setup so that when you do the big shows, you have a consistent
approach. Further, you will invariably make some mistakes, and it is
better to make them early at cheap shows.
Although there are exceptions, we have found that craft shows are far
better than street fairs and festivals. When people go to craft shows,
they come with cash, plastic, and a checkbook, and they come prepared
to spend money. Whereas people attending festivals may come to listen
to the entertainment, ride some carnival rides, eat cotton candy, oh
– and look at crafts too. We find a very different psychology in our
customers between the two.
Further, we also prefer juried shows to non-juried shows. Once again,
there are exceptions, but we have found the general quality of crafts
at juried shows to be much better (which in turn attracts bigger and
better crowds). Further, juried shows help prevent buy/sell (resale),
and commercial vendors (for one show, we were next to a tent selling
Sprint long distance).
Back to tip #3, we have found fellow vendors to be the best source on
shows. I often will look at their schedule and ask them about different
shows. You will often hear things like, "Well, Show X used to be
big, but it really seems to be on the decline. Although I have sold
at Show X for ten years, his is probably the last year I will do it."
This is golden information.
There is also a fantastic web site with a database of just about every
show under the sun. It is called Arts and Craft Shows (http://www.artandcraftshows.net/).
- Work to create a memorable image and brand. This cannot be overstated.
People don’t just buy a product, but they buy the STORY behind the product.
Further, you want to be easily recognizable. It is not uncommon to hear
passer-bys say to each other, "I love this guy’s stuff. His photography
is excellent." Considering that we are still reletively new, this
makes me jump for joy.
It is important that people can recognize you at a glance. To do this,
you should have a consistent look from show to show. And it is very
helpful to be in the same spot from year to year.
You also want to have a professional looking logo. If you are not a
graphic artist, you should consider paying a professional to create
your logo. It is good to have this on a big sign that people can see
from across the street.
If possible, it is good to have an easily recognizable product. For
us, we mat all photographs in a black mat with an inner white bevel.
Each mat is signed with a silver marker under to lower right of the
photograph. Further the style of my photography is unique and easily
recognizable. The idea is that by looking at one of our prints from
across a room, you know that you are looking at an O’Brien.
You also need a story. People love stories of the American dream, taking
risks, and entrepreneurship. They like stories that show your work to
be different and special. They like to hear about craftsmanship. I talk
about how I got into photography and how Christina and I enjoy working
side by side doing this together.
Once people know your story, it makes the product more compelling. Our
company image is intrinsically tied to us, our story, and our personalities.
We have an information sheet that we give to everyone. On one side is
the story about our business, with a picture of me in the darkroom.
On the other side is a list of upcoming shows, contact information,
information about our mailing list, etc.
- Create a fan club. You will find that a lot of your customers are
repeat buyers. Success at craft shows often has to do with customer
relationships. To make this work, you want to do everything possible
to cultivate your own fan club.
Christina and I have both an e-mail and snail mail mailing list. You
can get on this list via our web site, sign-up sheet at craft shows,
and by checks (we record the name and address of every check we receive).
We will use snail mail to mail out a list of upcoming shows with a coupon,
and e-mail to notify our customers of new prints that we have added
to our gallery.
When we get a sale for over $100, we try to mail a hand written thank
you to the customer. For all Internet orders, we also send a hand written
thank you (which often leads to further sales).
- Business Cards. We enclose a business card with every picture that
we sell. Further, we put small stacks of cards on the tables in our
booth. Although we suspect that most of our cards get thrown away, it
only takes one or two big sales to make them worthwhile. Further, even
if the card is thrown away, the short period that they are holding your
card reinforces your brand. We first purchased 500, then the next order
was for 1,000, then the next order was for 2,000, and we are almost
out. We will probably order 5,000 for the next order.
- Come up with some good catch phrases that make people interested in
your product. When people are browsing our prints, I often say something
like "Just FYI, all our pictures are done in our darkroom the old
fashioned way with an enlarger and chemicals. There is nothing digital
to our process." Or "The neat thing about our prints is that
since they are done in a darkroom, they will last a very long time and
since they are black and white, they will never go out of style."
When people ask if I do color, I often respond: "Nothing in Washington
DC has color – so while most people take color pictures of black and
white things, I take black and white pictures of black and white things"
or "Black and white is my strength. Many people who sell black
and white pictures in Washington are primarily color photographers,
and it shows. I think that people are either geared to see in black
and white or color, and I stick with what I am good at."
I also have a few photos on display where I can explain what I did in
the darkroom to enhance the photograph.
- Be mindful of they psychology of selling. You need to have a display
that catches people’s eye and invites them to cross the threshold of
your booth. Once they are in, it is good for them to touch the merchandise.
Once they touch the merchandise and know a little about you, there is
a good chance you will make a sale.
I have a mix of abstract and non-abstract pictures. Although people
generally don’t buy the abstracts, I often put them on display to draw
them in. They always ask, "Where was this picture taken?"
– right away I got them in the booth and I have a conversation going.
Consider placing a conversation piece by the entry of your booth to
draw people in.
I also find that people hovering by the threshold can be brought in
with eye contact and a hearty "Hi!".
People want to feel served. To do this, you always need to be attentive
to customers passing by (i.e. put down the book). Remember to always
smile. At the end of a long show, my face hurts from smiling so much.
I must admit that on slow days when we are not making any money, this
is very difficult to do.
- Give customers a reason to buy NOW. We offer a deal at craft shows
– buy three matted prints, get the fourth free. Further, our prints
are discounted at shows (the web price is slightly higher). These two
things help people decide to buy now, instead of putting it off.
- Tents. If you are on a tight budget, an EZ-UP
10X10 tent will suffice, but if you are in this for the long haul, you
should buy a Craft Hut or Light
Dome. Unfortunately I could not find tips on this subject and purchased
an EZ-UP. Although it is easy to put up (as the name implies), it is
not a very solid structure (hence their nicname: EZ-Down). When the
wind starts blowing, the whole frame twists. We plan to buy a Craft
Hut or Light Dome in the coming year. Our inventory is far too important
to chance it with an EZ-UP.
Since it doesn’t take much wind to put a tent airborne, it is critical
to weight your tent down. There are several methods to do this – I would
recommend that you walk though a craft show and see how different people
do it.
- Tent layout and Display is critical. We find that a "U formation"
using two six foot tables and one four foot table works best. This allows
the most counter space so we can display as much product as possible.
The tables are covered with heavy duty vinyl that was cut to length
at a fabric store. Although this seems trivial, it really works great
for us – it is highly durable and cleans up easily.
We also use a combination of gridwalls and ProPanels
to display our products (for gridwalls, I use National Equipment Company,
http://fixtures-displays.com/).
Often people do not want to touch, so with our display, customers can
see a good sampling of the photographs we offer.
We also have several price sheets throughout the tent. People often
don’t want to ask about price and this makes it easier for them to consider
your product.
- Keep all of your inventory in plastic tubs. This spring, eight out
of eight shows were deluged with heavy showers. We quickly learned that
you really need a waterproof way of storing all of your inventory. We
found the perfect bins for our needs at Staples.
- Keep a check-list. When we leave for a show, we go through the below
check-list. Because of this list, we have never once forgot something
critical.
( ) Table(s)
( ) Table cloth(s)
( ) Ticket Books (stamped)
( ) Calculator
( ) Four Pens
( ) Change box
( ) Change for change box, and bills
( ) Patch-handle bags
( ) Shopping bags
( ) Business Cards
( ) Windex and paper towels
( ) Matted 5X7s
( ) Matted 8X10s
( ) Framed 8X10s
( ) Framed 11X14s
( ) 8X10 Frames
( ) Framed trios
( ) Price Sheets (basket sheets, trio sheets, etc.)
( ) OBP big signs
( ) Tape
( ) Garbage bags
( ) Credit Card Machine
( ) Backup up credit card paper rolls
( ) Backup credit card imprinter and credit card slips
( ) Dolly
( ) Printed signs (e.g. price sheet, buy 3 one free, etc.)
( ) Plastic drop cloths
( ) Two chairs
( ) Gridwall and gridwall feet
( ) Gridwall hangers
( ) 8.5 X 11 sign holders
( ) Pro-Panels
( ) Pro-Panel connector kit
( ) Pro Hanger velcro hangers
( ) EZ-UP Tent
( ) Tent walls
( ) Tent weights (leg weights)
( ) Flags
( ) Tool box
( ) Big trash bags
( ) Bungee cords
- Put together a tool bin with a screw driver, pliers, duct tape, packing
tape, box cutters, rope, bungee cords, super glue, rubber cement, clothes
line, etc. Most items in our bin we have not used, but when we have
needed the bin, it has turned out to be a lifesaver.
- Whether or not to accept credit cards depends on your business. For
us, it makes sense. About 65% of our sales are credit cards. Our lowest
priced item is $15, and our highest priced item is $99. It is not uncommon
for someone to buy three $99 prints at one time, and few people carry
around $300 in cash. Our average sale is about $40.
Finding the right credit card company can take a LOT of time. There
are as many different payment structures as there are companies. My
initial research found that I would be paying about $50 a month just
to have an account. This seemed like a lot.
If you decide that you do want to accept credit cards, the first thing
you need to choose is whether you want live transactions or not. A live
transaction (using a built-in cell phone) ensures you have a good credit
card, but is expensive. The wireless credit card units sell for around
$1,000. My wife and I found this to be too expensive.
We first went with ECHO Electronic
Clearing House. They charge $20 a month on months that you use them,
$0.35 a transaction plus 2.6% a transaction. We would use the imprinter
and then enter the credit cards that night over a special web site.
Although this worked, it was very labor intensive. Using the imprinter
was too slow for times that we had a line out of our tent. Further,
re-entering the numbers once we got home as a lot of work.
We since switched to Paynet
Systems (if you sign up via this link, I get a referral fee). Through
them, we purchased a battery operated swipey credit card machine. Once
the credit card is swiped, it prints a receipt for the customer to sign.
All credit card information is stored in the machine for later upload.
When we return home, we plug the unit into a telephone jack, hit a button,
and all credit card sales are processed. They charge a $10 monthly fee,
$0.24 plus 1.6% a transaction. We figured that our savings would soon
pay for the $450 credit card machine.
For payments over my web site, I use an entirely different system: PayPal.
Owned by eBay, it is a rock solid system allowing for a professional-looking
shopping cart system. When a purchase is made, PayPal sends you an e-mail
informing you of the purchase. You can then have the payment direct
deposited to your checking account. There is not upstart fee or revolving
monthly fee, just $0.35 plus 2.5% a transaction.
If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail
me.
- Make sure not to keep too much money in one place. First, our cash
box has a cable that we attach to the table that prevents people from
steeling it. Second, if we start getting too much cash in the box, I
take out all the $20 bills and put them in my front pocket.
- You will probably receive a sizable amount of checks. After a while,
endorsing the checks becomes tedious. Buy yourself a signature stamp
that states:
For Deposit Only
your signature
Account: 049316421
Stamping the back of checks is much much much faster.
- Inventory. Back to tip #1, there are no constants. Managing inventory
is one of the most difficult parts of our business. How much to make,
and how much to bring of any one item has a certain level of randomness
to it.
My philosophy is that I am in this for the long run. I figure if I make
too much, then it will take a few years to sell that item instead of
a few months. But I never wanted to be caught short on any one item.
One thing that we have started doing is helping people make an obvious
choice. Of our trio
prints (five total), we have created a new trio which has three
of our very best pictures. We dropped the price and make sure to note
that this is a sale item. We display it prominently in three places
in our booth. Because of this, we can ensure we sell from ten to fifteen
of this item per day of a craft show. This is one thing that has stayed
constant, the new trio sells better than any other trio, which helps
us prepare.
- Upstart costs. We are generally good planners, trying to think everything
through. Yet, in spite of our planning, our upstart costs were far far
far more than anticipated. My advice is think of everything you need,
and then quadruple the price. Did you think of buying shopping bags?
Did you think of buying containers to transport your merchandise? This
all adds up.
- No mention of a new business would be complete without mentioning
the web.
For years, I have had an IT consulting business, and have designed numerous
web sites. I designed the site for O’Brien Photography (www.
ObrienPhoto.com). The one simple question I ask my clients is: What
criteria will you use to determine whether or not your site was a success
(over a one-two year period)? In other words, what do you wish to accomplish
with your web site?
Although this sounds like a dumb question, it requires a lot of thinking.
Obviously you wish to make money, but so does everyone else. Don't think,
for instance, that the second you launch your site, random Internet
orders will flood in. What is the market for your product? Who else
is doing it ? How did you find your competition on the web, and can
you compete on their level? Are they actually profitable? (Not that
you can find this out, but a lot of sites lose money.)
The main strategy for my site was to compliment the image we are building
with craft shows. As I stated earlier, success in craft shows is largely
about relationships and cultivating a fan club. My site was designed
primarily to further this relationship building. As an aside, I was
hoping to get random Internet orders, but I never thought that this
was a realistic possibility. Although I did do some planning and marketing,
I am still surprised that I have made roughly $1,000 this year from
random orders.
To expand on this whole strategy thing – we did a craft show a few weeks
ago. A woman who was at one of our previous shows (now living in Georgia)
was on the phone with her sister who was in our tent. Using the web
site from her PC in Georgia, they were able to decide what pictures
to buy (which ended up being our largest single sale ever!!!). This
was one of the ideas I had for my site. At the Occoquan Craft Show,
a couple who saw us at previous shows were redesigning their house and
didn't know what would fit in their new space. After their living room
was finished, they knew exactly what pictures they wanted (because of
the web site) and we got a sale within minutes of them entering our
tent.
My point is that I didn't intend to make money with my web site. I intended
for it to allow customers to research our collection of photographs
so that they could come to craft shows prepared, knowing what they want.
So, this is question #1. What do you wish to accomplish with your site?
Once you have this down, you then have to think of site design. If anything,
it is good to have pictures of your merchandise, contact information,
calendar of events, a fan club sign-up sheet, and a blurb about your
business.
Keep in mind that a web site is an extension of your company and helps
set the image of your company. It is a resume in some ways. A sloppy
or poorly designed web site is worse than not having a web site at all.
Also, keep in mind that there is a difference between knowing HTML and
being GOOD at HTML. A lot of people believe that they can design a web
site since they know HTML. That would be like me thinking that I can
write a book because I know how to write.
A good web page requires good content, good design elements, consistent
navigation, and good graphics that don’t bog down the page, but keep
it appealing.
I would recommend that you consider getting a professional to create
a web site that you can easily update in the future without their help.
I great HTML program to update pages is Macromedia Contribute.
I hope you have found these tips to be useful! If you have any comments/questions/additions,
feel free to contact me at michael@OBrienPhoto.com.
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