Watcha' sellin' ? (And how are you selling it?)

[Old Greenhorn]

I'm giving this thread a little bit of a bump because I just re-read it and there has been a lot of good and useful information posted thus far. Also the summer craft fair season is upon us. I did a show 2 weeks ago, total bust, no advertising or even road signs outside the show, very very little folks attended. It happens, that's the game. But it served my needs and gave me a shakedown show with my new setup and trailer. I learned a lot and have made a lot of adjustments based on that learning. I have another show this weekend with much higher hopes. Better location, at least some advance advertising, and we will see what happens.
 But I have a new question I would like to hear folks input on: How do you balance your 'smalls' verses your bigger dollar items?  Also, how do you see things moving out, do you make more on the smalls or the bigger items? How do you balance your stock with smalls verses major items. It takes a lot of $5 items to equal a $150 item.
 Maybe what I am really asking is "What is your philosophy on this point?" How do you approach it.
 I can't figure out the 'smalls' yet. I don't really enjoy 'production' work at all. I did that for 50 years and would like to be done with it, if I can. To me 'smalls' mean 'production' in that you have to make a bunch of them, and quick, to make it worth anything. OTOH I have made some quick and dirty stuff just to use in my booth that folks like and want, like my little business card crates. I made a few because I wanted something to hold more than 20 cards or so and would be not affected by wind. I wound up selling two of those to other vendors, which I did not expect. So I made more this week. I have sold other card holders too, so it's on my list of 'things to make'. But I sell them for 5 bucks with not much effect on the bottom line. (Actually, that's cheaper than the Lucite ones at Staples.)
 So for you show guys, how do you approach the balance and what are your thoughts on this?

[Old Greenhorn]

I am getting caught up these last few weeks and have yet to start on my firewood yet, I have been doing a pretty good job of staying on task and filling my show trailer with a good mix of stuff and filling in stuff I am missing to get a good show balance. I think I have the smalls 'sort of' figured out. Just have enough on hand to satisfy to needs of that particular crowd and maybe keep the show from being a total loss and at least covering costs. So I think I have a good mix of stuff as best as I can make given my skills.
 What's been on my mind the last week or two is what I can do to improve sales. There is a lot more than meets the eye of the layman in this handcrafted stuff and I am wondering if there is something more I can do to get that across. I am engaging with all the folks that come in the booth without pushing it too much, some just look and move through, others are open to chat which can lead to questions.. I would guess I chat with about 30% of the folks walking through. I have informational posters I can use to show the inside of a blind spline joint and things like that. I put up other stuff that might drive questions, I have several different brochures on different subjects: Custom builds, Cremation urns, other services offered, and today I added one just to discuss my woodworking philosophy. It explains how most of my wood is harvested for reasons other than making lumber, processed by me, etc. I talk about how I finish all sides to keep environmental stresses balanced and things of that sort. Some folks like to read that sort of stuff and think on it. I am trying to figure out if there is something wrong, or lacking, in the way I present my stuff. Yeah, I get that you can't control who comes to any particular show or if the crowd is 'buying' but you can do something to help make a sale to someone who is on the edge, not looking carefully, or distracted. I'm not talking about 'fast freddy salesmanship skills' here, just wondering how to present a full view to everyone who comes through.
 Maybe I was deceived by a couple of decent sales and a custom order at a show last September and then made a poor choice investing in the trailer for this season. Maybe most shows are non-productive? You just have to do enough to hit one winner once in a while? I am looking at booth costs for upcoming shows and starting to second guess. $30-50 bucks is reasonable and always worth a shot, but getting up around 100 bucks for a show that may not deliver is something (or even anything) I have to think on (plus all the work that goes with it). Maybe I am hoping for too fast of a return on my investment, but I don't see myself ever making the money back on that trailer at any point. let alone within 5 years. I do understand this takes time. My wife spent years picking the shows that worked for her. She is a patient and hard working lady and took all those losers in her stride with little complaint. She (along with many others) got screwed more than a few times by lousy and less than ethical show promoters and she narrowed thigs down, but it took a decade or more. I don't have that kind of time and I sure don't have her spirit.
 I'm wondering if I am doing something wrong, missing something big, or if I am just lousy at this and should look elsewhere for income?. Is there a better way to present my stuff?
 Don't misunderstand, I am not whining here. I think I may have made a mis-calculation and turned the wrong way. It happens, that's business. Take your lumps and move on, right? So I have over 6 grand of inventory in that trailer right now and I sure would like a way to start moving some of it. Any ideas (let's skip marketplace and FB for now OK?)?

[trimguy]

I am not a salesman. You had mentioned at least 1 of the shows was not promoted / advertised very well. I would think that would be a big thing , the more people that know , the more people that are going to show up. I would guess it's a lot to do with the " law of numbers  ". The more people who show up the percentage of buyers is higher.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well yeah, that is kind of the point. A lot of these events are put on to raise money for their organizations and they don't think much, id at all, about how they need to get the word out and get people in. From a vendors point of view I give you my money and you give me a space at your event and get the crowd in. Now when it's only $10-20 to get a booth you can't expect a big advertising budget, but when it's $50 bucks or more, you expect more than a couple of Facebook posts and one sign out on the road. Some learn and improve, others do not. They think providing the venue is enough and expect the vendors to go out and advertise it.
 Last week my local FD had a 'touch a truck community day' and they invited vendors to participate. They have a large field, easy setup for all. I only saw one or two 'vendors' there this time, last year we had over a dozen. There was a lot fo stuff for kids to do and it was a very nice family day. but without any signage around town before the event, and only one hard to read sign out on the state road during the event, there weren't many people outside the very local area. If I were in town (I had a wedding a few hours away) for the weekend, I would have done it anyway. It's an easy event, the money all goes to the FD, and I meet a lot of neighbors. This time we only got home in the middle out of, so I just made a visit to check it out. I again suggested they work on advertising, but...
 All I can do is live and learn and not do the ones that just take your money. Your right, it's a numbers game. That's why I am giving the last one I did another shot, because I think the numbers will be better next time. The crowd wasn't bad last time, but they just weren't buying. The other vendors bore this out, so I know it wasn't just me. 
 It's a crap shoot and a hard way to make a meeting. I am just trying to figure it out. I am used to be able to look at a problem and coming up with a solution that works to improve things in some way. This one is tough to figure out.

[Old Greenhorn]

I've been thinking some more on this stuff in general (selling your stuff) and a very recent situation brought me back to a better line of thinking.
I give some of the details in another thread in THIS POST that talks about a show I did this past Sunday. It wasn't a real good show, but I did at least sell a low end bench and a couple of smalls. Not great, but at least not a loss like the previous two shows. But this crowd was a bit more engaged then the previous outing at the same location. Better and more in depth questions and conversations. In one case, a shopper looked at my beer caddies and suggested I take them to a new local shop that would 'probably love to sell them'. Well I've heard this many times before, but the well meaning folks don't understand the business side of it for either party and there are a lot of details involved in anything like that and they all have to work out. So I was prepared for another dead end.
Now the shop in question is on the main state road, a better location you won't find around here IMO. All the weekenders and tourists headed into the mountains have to pass by it. So yesterday, being SO hot, I jumped in the truck and drove out there. Well, it turned into a winner. They need me to modify my design and sizes to fit the products they sell and also ordered some custom crates for testing out as gift boxes. But they are crates, so this is easy stuff and makes it easy for me to be generous with the start up work to get them what they need. Not a big investment of my time and material at all.
Then we talked about consignments and they are anxious to get some of my stuff on display in there store at a fair rate. So it looks like we are on the way to a nice relationship if all goes well. I plane on making them some quick and dirty display racks as a little gift to make their displays a bit tidier. Easy simple, and quick stuff like a postcard/business card rack.

My point in telling this is to show that not all of this is straight selling opportunities, a lot of it is networking and following up. Some might say it's luck, but I like to think that we make our own luck, by following up every lead. Thinking back over my life, almost every major turn in the road has come from an oddball connection through multiple people connected by happenstance. It is rarely the straight forward "just go look for it and find it" route. So I guess that's the lesson, don't discard any thoughts or suggestions until you run them into the ground yourself. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you make your own luck.

[JD Guy]

OGH In business we had a saying that " It's not who YOU know it's who knows YOU". 

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah JD Guy, I suppose you are right.

I am beginning to realize there is no 'handbook' for this sort of thing and all the 'rules' are fluid. Affected by weather, timing, crowds, happenstance and any other thing you could guess. I need to figure out how to cut down some of this variability, and there has to be a way to do that.
 So I am resolved that at least this summer will be one of discovery and trying things to learn whatever I can about these pieces of the puzzle. If I am one the fence about trying something, I will just do it and use what I learn without worrying about if I made money or not.
 To that end, I drove up to Woodstock (local tourist town) today to check out their weekend market. It gets a LLT of traffic and is every weekend. I was going to talk to the owners and see about getting in this month, maybe this coming weekend. But town was so crowded that after driving around for a while, I could find no place to park, and I know the back streets. So I left. But on my way into town I noted that right where the main intersection is going into town where all the tourist and local traffic has to pass, was a new shop. So on my way out I stopped there. They had local makers vending in front of the shop, and of course the shop was open. High traffic location for sure, thousands of cars passing on a Saturday, easily.
 I spoke with a nice young lady vending out front about her hand thrown pottery (nice work) and gave her a few leads for other shows. Then I went inside and talked to one of the owners. They do consignment in addition to straight sales. She was a 'tad flaky' to my liking, but she's the boss, so I have to deal with that. But I left with a plan in my head and decided I would give this a shot. I sent her an email this evening asking for a spot on Saturday (the 6th). I figured she could look over all my stuff and see what she might want to have in her shop, of not. But it's an easier way to show what I do. It's a 12 minute drive for me and she seemed very open. If it works into something, great, if not, I spent a Saturday sweating a little and cooling my heels for a few hours. It's another one of those shops I do not think will survive more than a year or two because they aren't doing any more advertising or work than using a single social media outlet. But I might be wrong and so I will pursue it anyway and see what happens.
 I'm starting to understand that this business is a crapshoot and the only way to drive it into some stability is to keep trying new things and approaches until you stumble into a tiny nitch that is a slam dunk for you and you only. 
 Of course, I could have this all wrong. Does anybody have other thoughts on it?

[Old Greenhorn]

OK, now I am REALLY confused.
 The show I talked about in the previous post was today. It was supposed to rain all day, or maybe anyway, but the weather came through earlier and the rain that woke me up at 5am was coming down in buckets. I figured that day was shot and my prep (not much this time) was wasted. But when I got up at 7, the rain was tapering off and done by 8am with nothing showing on the radar, so game on.
 Black top parking lot, but a good location with lots of car traffic LOTS of traffic. It was HOT by golly. Soaked through shirts were the order of the day. Traffic through the booths was a steady trickle all day, But I sold more stuff than any other show this year. a cost rack, a coffee table, a mirror, 2 rustic stools (RO) and 1 spalted maple stool, that silly 5 minute chainsaw stool. I also picked up one custom order to modify an existing lamp table, and another for a rustic bench similar to one I have, but slightly different. I also sold 2 device stands, which is weird, because they are cheap and move fairly steady, but only sold 2, to one buyer, late in the day. I already have the slab for that and legs made, so it's a few sessions of work. I sweated out plenty of moisture today but at least it paid off this time.
 I had one of my GS's help me setup and my son showed up as I was closing and it went easier as I could stay in the trailer and pack and they did the heavy lifting outside. Was over 90° most of the day with very few breezes at all.
 If I could do that at every show I'd be out of stuff in a season or less. The shop owner was very pleased that I was there and had a very visible booth drawing people in with 'very nice stuff'. She was also glad I did OK. I was glad they had a bathroom we could use.  Remember, I did this show on a whim, checked it out last Saturday and signed up for today with 'iffy' weather forecast.
 I will never figure this stuff out. Why was today so good and all the previous shows so poor? There really is no formula, rhyme, reason, or logic to it at all. A week ago I was thinking this 'big idea' of buying a trailer was a bone headed move (except that it solved my storage problem). $4k invested with pretty much zero return. Now things seem to be picking up, I just wish I knew why. I really do. I'll have to try this site again soon and see what happens.
 I had resolved last week to not make anything else until things sell, now I have some customs to do and some things to replace.  Nope, I'll never figure it out. Does anyone else have any ideas how this all works?  It sure is fickle.

[SwampDonkey]

Just be glad you're not selling handwoven towels and the lady with a juicy burger with the drippings on her face and hands uses your new towel as a rag for her face and hands.    This happens, I have read it many times of weavers at shows. It's funny, but not, at the same time. 

[Resonator]

But I sold more stuff than any other show this year.

 

[Old Greenhorn]

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut... once in a while.

 Yeah SD, I am very glad I do not sell soft goods as my wife did for 25 years, keeping them clean and fresh is quite a job. Most of my stuff is very durable. Yesterday I had a family of 4 walk through and the little boy, about 5y/o sat on one of my chairs and his Dad quickly said " Oh Jimmy, NO, NO, NO! You can't sit on them!" I just laughed smiled and looked at little Jimmy and said "Aw go ahead, test them ALLL out, you can't hurt them." So he did!
 However I did have  rather large woman a couple of shows ago who thought my Coffee Table with thin legs was a bench and started to sit on it. I quickly, but politely said "that is a coffee table, not a bench, here, try this one out." The table would have been fine but the slim feet on the legs would have been driven into the ground and given her 'size' I thought that once the table got off centered she would go over and all the load would be on one or two legs and not in a vertical direction. SO I do have to be vigilant. Fortunately I sod that table yesterday.

[trimguy]

How was the advertising, any better than the other shows , or maybe because it was a holiday weekend ?

[Old Greenhorn]

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give the advertising for this show a "2". This shop is only on Instagram, no facebook or website at all.
 But, they are at the top of a TEE intersection and every car going into the village of Woodstock HAS to pass by. Most of the folks who came through saw it while waiting to make that turn into town and said they had no idea that shop (new) was there or the vendor event. Shop is only open since March and used to be a restaurant. They do have a decent sign in the middle of the parking lot that is readable from the road.
 Also it is a holiday weekend and Woodstock is very much a tourist town, filling all the rental rooms and air B&B's most summer weekends with lots of folks walking town. Weekends are nearly gridlock and finding a parking spot is difficult even with the 3 or 4 municipal lots around town.
 So I think for this show, being right on the very edge of the town may have helped. Folks could pull in and park and walk around. The holiday weekend also helped. For me, I think it was just being a unique vendor in that group, 2 jewelry vendors, 1 clothing (dress) vendor, a macramé artist, and somebody I could figure out. I was the only guy with any wood products, I have a large booth and that was drawing folks in from the road or that's what they told me. My biggest sale of the sale was from a woman who saw me from the road, went to no other booths. She drove in and from the car asked how long I would be there, then she drove off. 1/2 later she was back with her partner and bought the coffee table. I gave her a moving blanket and loaded it in her car. They went home, came back again and returned the blanket that I said she could keep. But they also had dimensions and ordered 2 pieces to be made. I did not count the custom pieces in my sales, not until they are delivered. Probably another $250-350.
 I think it was just a merging of some good conditions.

[Resonator]

But, they are at the top of a TEE intersection and every car going into the village of Woodstock HAS to pass by.

"Location, location, location." (Old real estate saying).

[mudfarmer]

But, they are at the top of a TEE intersection and every car going into the village of Woodstock HAS to pass by.

"Location, location, location." (Old real estate saying).

There are two towns 20min from here (BFE), both with Farmer's Markets. One is at an old school 'town square' kind of park where every road in town leads to. The other is at a park on a riverbank, if you take the right road you will pass by the big parking lot that blocks it from your view... All GPS's, signs and directions and maps and compasses suggest you take the other road   You can guess which gets more traffic and even the number of vendors at one versus the other tells the tale.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yup and EVERYBODY follows the dang GPS when they are not at hoe, especially the city folk. It explains why we have tractor trailers driving through the PRIVATE road that is our Mill site. At least that's what they tell me when I jump in the middle of the road swinging a tree pickeroon at them.
 Fortunately, in the mountains and hills here, roads are confin3ed by geography. So in this town wher I was, there are 3 basic options, one each for the east, south, and west. Nothing comes in from the north, that's over the mountain, the only route is a carriage road built in 1850 and now on state parkland which is now a hiking trail.
 So yeah, it's a good location. The only question is, if their destination is in town, will they take the time to stop? We work the percentages.

[Old Greenhorn]

I continue to ponder the questions that drove this thread, in fact, it's been a little bit of an obsession and a summer project for me. I remain confused for the most part but I think I am starting to figure some of this stuff out... a little bit.
 I have done 5 shows so far this season with great variation in results, show over show. My average sales per show is $219.00 which I don't think is too bad, but I would like to see that go up a bit. My best was $1,100. and my worst was $0.00 in sales. I have 3 more shows scheduled with one other pop-up sale possible and I may stick in another couple depending on weather. 2 of those shows I consider major events I have been waiting for.
 So here are some of my observations and I am hoping some folks will chime in with either their thoughts or counter opinions or refinements. In no particular order:

1) There is no real way to predict how sales will go on a given day in a given location/event. I did a sale twice at the same location with the same (great) weather a month apart. My first time I generated my best day which included 2 custom orders. The second time was ZERO in sales. At the same 2 shows, the gal selling jewelry next to me did ZERO on the 1st weekend and did great the second weekend. People are fickle and crowds are unpredictable.

2) When things get slow or the crowd ain't buyin' you can't depend on the small cheaper stuff to carry you.  If they ain't buyin' big stuff, they may not be buying small stuff either or anything at all, just kicking tires. Sometimes, those little things can cover your expenses, but not all the time and you can't depend on them.

3) I think 'my' best selling price range is the items I have priced between $40 and $125. A few of those can make a good show or at least save a show, so I will focus on those over the winter for next year.

4) As stated in #1 you cannot predict any show. This is a long game and you have to be in it for the longer haul being happy with a good average. If you fret over each and every event separately, you will go nuts. You have to accept the bad days are not anything you did wrong. Keeping a good notebook with the same details on each show is important and helps you get the full picture.

5) Oddball items will sometimes sell, so if you have room to stick them in, do so. My cheap 5 minute chainsaw stools being an example. $25 for 5 minutes work, no finishing or sanding at all. Very very rough.

6) I have no regrets about buying the trailer, it has allowed me to do this many shows (I would have never done so many without it), but it hasn't paid for itself yet. However, it is great to have it next to the shop and ready to go. I can work out of it and it provides the storage for all the goods.

7) Bigger stuff for bigger bucks (over $200.) sells very slowly, yet I already have a bunch of it. It also requires a larger booth to get it all out there (plus it's heavy to move over and over, show after show). Going forward I am making no 48" benches except as customs. 36" is tops and I am doing some even smaller as material allows or dictates. Smaller stuff packs easier too, the price is a little lower, and they move faster.

8) I need to work on my booth density, that is, I need to fit the stuff I have into a smaller more presentable area. I think if I make a table riser shelf I can get a bunch of smalls up on those shelves and maybe work down from 2 tables to one. That will be a winter project. Ideally I should be able to work out of a 12x12 booth without leaving too much merch in the trailer. This will cut down booth costs at some shows, also maybe slim down setup and packup times.

 This summer I have assimilated a lot of the ideas from this thread and others, either in a direct way, or a 'this works for me' way. It's all helpful. Mostly it is the mental game I have gotten help with here. I am thankful for all the feedback so far. Does anybody have further thoughts based on my above 'opinions'?

[aigheadish]

Anecdotally, sometimes, as you mentioned, it's weird. 

I was on the road to the Pig Roast when my wife went to the 127 Sale (World's Longest Yard Sale?), which I normally try to attend, and we usually find a handful of decent old junk. This year she came back with very little and said everything seemed "new," presumably Chinese garbage folks buy in container liquidations or something. 

That sale is hit or miss also, because it really depends on how much time you have to commit to driving up or down Rt. 127. We typically drive about 30-40 minutes to Rt. 127, then north or south for a couple hours. There are some places that have multiple sellers and a lot of people just out of their garage. You also learn which places may be good over the years. I'd like to spend some time and travel further from the house but it's not usually in the cards as we don't have a big vehicle, should we find many things or anything big. All that to say we usually go with a few hundred bucks in each of our pockets and rarely spend most of it. Every once in a while we find a lot. 

We have similar results at the Springfield Extravaganza. Some years its great and people want to sell for reasonable prices, lately it's stuff like remanufactured signs at real sign costs, or garbage, like cheap silverware or broken items. There are usually real artists (like you, Tom) at both of these. Some are very popular (metal yard art whirley-gigs) and some you pass by without noticing.

My instinct is that if the pop-up show happens, and I'm assuming it's at the shop where you are moving the crates?, you should up your prices a bit on your special stuff. If I'm recalling properly it is in Woodstock, where tourists want to brag about how much they spent on that table or whatever. 

[thecfarm]

We use to sell veggies and my wife would cook biscuits and other things.
As I use to say, somedays there is a guy on the end of the road giving customers $20 bills to come up and the next day he is giving $20 bills to not come up. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Well now THAT explains it right there!