1st Time Craft Fair Vendor Experience; 10 Dos & Don'ts to Help Better Prepare
Wow, what a ride! It's been almost a month since the 2016 Clark County Holiday Gift Fair and I still feel like I'm recuperating. I'll admit, I had every intention to start prepping early, read anything pertaining to craft fair tips and tricks BUT I didn't. I did initially but life takes over and by life I mean wrestling season for our boys. During the show I kept of list of things I would do different, items I forgot and information I missed so that I could share my experience with any other vendor newbies like myself. Enjoy, hope it helps and please contact me for advice or any questions you may have :-)
1. Don't Procrastinate. For a first time vendor I would start prepping, and by prepping I mean getting paperwork in, getting your display ready to go, printing out information, things of this nature. I'm not including stock items. Depending on your craft you may need 6 months or even more to get enough inventory. My stress levels would have been SO much lower if I had started even a week earlier than I did; I pretty much got my entire display done in a matter of a couple weeks which I guess is an accomplishment in itself.
2. Read the Contract, then Read it Again. I didn't get my feet wet with a small bazaar, I jumped head first into the largest fair in our area. This event is very regulated and has strict rules. I was so excited I was granted a booth that I signed a check and started moving forward but what I didn't do is read the fine print closely enough. There was 2 things I had to scramble to obtain literally the day before, the first was event insurance and the second was making my display fire resistant. Luckily both were easy to get done, I purchased event insurance through Artists, Crafters & Tradesman Insurance and I ran over to the local fabric store and picked up this fire retardant spray that I applied to all my linens the day before. Easy peasy.
3. Oder Items Early. I didn't get to buy the tablecloths I really wanted, being in the middle of holiday season the item I wanted was out of stock. I was able to find a different size that worked but I really wanted the ruffles! As soon as you know you're in go ahead and start ordering anything you need shipped in, this especially applies to banners, banner stands, display items, anything that needs to ship needs to be ordered way in advance.
4. Offer Made to Order. My jewelry is not quick to make and I probably should have had more pieces on display, oh on a side note if you run an online store make sure you put it on vacation mode before and during the fair so items on display do not get sold through your site, but I did my best to have a good selection. What I did plan for was taking custom orders. I brought a separate receipt pad for made to order items, all my tools to properly size the individual and even brought stones in for people to choose from. This worked out well and I even offered free shipping. I do wish I had a large sign made to promote this option so that will be a change for the next show.
5. Bring a TON of Business Cards. I almost ran out and was shocked by that, I had brought hundreds of cards. My site traffic jumped an insane amount and this did lead to sales so make sure you have something customers can take with them that has ALL of your information, store address, social media info, contact info, it seems basic but I realized that I had forgotten to put my email on my cards so yea I felt like a dummy.
6. Demonstrate Your Craft. The general public for the most part does NOT understand what hand fabricated jewelry really is; after explaining it what felt like a million times, on day 2 I brought in a piece of sheet metal, a piece of bezel wire and some decorative wire. As soon as a customer would approach I would hold out the items and tell them this is how each of these pieces started. This helped A LOT. Next time I will have a video of me using my torch and fabricating on loop.
7. Research & Find DIY Displays.I had a tight budget, more like no budget lol. Fantastic if you're able to order items to display your crafts, if not then just do some research. Of course I sought the help of Pinterest, you can see my booth design board here. With the help from my super handy boyfriend, I was able to make necklace display stands using plywood and .99 cent picture frame easels from the dollar tree. The necklace displays I would have loved to order were 20 bucks each, eek! I did receive lots of compliments on my displays so it was a win win. Watch for my next blog for the tutorial on how to make the necklace stands and other cheap display ideas.
8. Plan for Bathroom Breaks. Silly? I know. Something most people think to plan for? Not usually. Did I plan for this in the beginning? Nope. Fair rules stated booths MUST be manned during every hour each day of the show. Yes they did have fair marshals walking around checking. I only had booth help for 2 of the 3 days and I was at the fair for about 10 hours each day. I had too many pieces to just throw in my handbag and make a run for the bathroom and my stuff was small enough it would be easy to steal. I don't recommend this but I was lucky enough to have made friends with the sugar scrub gals next to me so I felt safe enough to ask them to keep an eye on my booth while I sprinted to the restroom. Even to just alleviate boredom, try to find booth help.
9. Display Set Up Test Run. My booth was a 10x10 space that was not on the end. I used painters tape to mark out a 10x10 space in my basement and played with table arrangement till I was happy with the results. Next I put the whole show together, linens, display stands, jewelry, the whole deal. This is probably the most important step I took, it saved me a ton of time and allowed me to be prepared for necessary quick changes. The gals next to me had a sign set up in their booth that would have blocked my sign from a large portion of traffic. Once I saw this I just flipped the layout to my second choice and all was good.
10. Set Small Goals & Limit Expectations. This fair normally is a big draw, 2016 was not. In fact the other vendors said this was the worst turnout they had ever seen. I never did hear the total number of attendants and I don't really want to know. In the short-term I lost money doing this fair but I had only set two goals for myself, to make it through the show and to get the Cabin Creek name out there. Both I succeeded in. Don't set a numbers goal if this is your first fair. Just make it through, have a good time, make some future customers and that will make it a sucess.
Am I glad I did this show? Absolutely. Would I do this show again? Absolutely not. I did great meeting my goals but this type of fair just isn't the right place for my type of jewelry. Next year I'm going to hit the local one or two day bazaars and craft fairs. In the future I may be open to doing a large fair again but it will take some work and new ideas for jewelry that would fit better in that type of setting.
