Okay I admit it!  I’m addicted to Sorority Life on Facebook for my family it’s Mafia Wars.  Sorority Life is a game where you do things like the girls in a sorority would.  You must add a certain number of new friends every level or you are bound to be beat.  You can send your friends gifts and vote for them etc.

So you are asking me what does this have to do with my art or craft show booth?

Well you only have so many friends you can invite each day.  You need to add that many or suffer the consequences.  Many people that you invite will probably not even be interested in playing the game with you.  A large percentage of the people you invite will not respond at all and many will not respond right away.

This is like your craft show customers, it is important to contact the people most likely to buy your craft.  The more people you contact who are interested in buying your product each day the more chances you have of finding the ones that will buy the most product from you. Continue to contact people who truly aren’t interested and you waste both time and money.

You need to try to contact a certain number of the prospects you should have collected at your last art or craft show each day of the week.  Give them a gentle reminder of who you are.  Offer them useful-useful to them, not to you-information about your product or service.   Offer them an incentive to buy right now for instance a coupon that is good for a limited time.

The people who aren’t prepared to buy your art or craft right away will appreciate the reminder that they still planned on buying your merchandise.  Contact them when they are ready and they are likely to become buyers.  Forget to contact them and when they are ready to buy they might buy from your competition.

Like your friends in Sorority Life your craft show customer likes to receive gifts.  Gifts make them feel appreciated and help them to trust you.  Your gifts can be small things like discounts, buy one get one xx% off, or a free newsletter or information about the product they bought.

You also need to be aware of your customers rights when collecting contact information.  Ask your customer if it will be alright to add them to your mailing list.  Let them know the valuable information that you will be sending.  Don’t do this and just like in sorority life you will be banned from sending messages to them.

The friends you add in Sorority Life also often add you as a Facebook friend and if done respectfully you might find some new prospects and customers there for your craft business.

See what you can learn about marketing from the games you play in your life.

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First of all Happy Independence Day! I’m grateful for this nation and all the freedoms that we enjoy.

Today I was writing a note to my artists and crafters to wish them a Happy 4th when I realized I should just write a quick note for every holiday and include them in my auto-responders (I can set the day they will go out so they will deliver automatically). I used the same formatted note I just copied and pasted it to each one, then edited each one for the holiday it should go out on.

I will set up pages with a free article(s) for each holiday so when my customers get the note they will also get a free goody. The free
information will let them know that I care.

Reasons you can send a note to your customers telling them you care:
New Years
Valentines
St. Pattys Day
Easter
Mothers Day
Fathers Day
Grandparents Day
Secretaries Day
4th of July
Halloween
Thanksgiving -Send Thank You Note for being your customer
Christmas
Customers Birthday

You can also send information about your products or services as well as updates and exciting news about your business. Staying in touch with your craft show customers reminds them of your business when they are thinking about buying. Sending them a personal note builds relationships and trust.

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How many times has someone who was trying to help you actually hurt your chances of getting what you wanted?  How many times has someone with good intentions tried to help you reach what they saw as your full potential but actually stood in the way of you reaching your dreams?  How many times has a pushy salesman stood between you and the car you wanted trying to sell you a different one?

Your job as a business person is to help a customer who already has an idea what they want, find it and then sell it to them.  Remember not to stand in the way of them buying your product.

Some Don’ts. Don’t stand in front of your booth (or anyone’s booth) talking to people you haven’t seen in a while catching up.  Get their number so you can call later and allow them to move on.  Don’t read in your booth.  If you work on a project in your booth talk about what you’re doing even when no one is around.  Don’t get so caught up in the project that you become unapproachable.

As an art or craft vendor it should be
your goal to discover what every customer
who walks into your booth wants.

First establish a relationship. Smile, say hello, and introduce yourself.  Give customers an idea of how things are arranged in your booth.  For example say, “Hello, my name is Shasta.  Necklaces are  here, bracelets over there, and rings are by the checkout stand.”  Tell them your special of the day.  For example, “Today we’re having a sale on jewelry buy one necklace (valued at $x) and get a free pair of earrings (valued at ($x).”  Some show promoters don’t allow sales so be sure that you are not breaking the rules.  If you are not allowed to have sales then show the customer the featured item of the day.  You don’t always have to run the same special, but if you find one works particularly well for you, use it often.

Narrow the choices. You might allow them to shop a few minutes or you could try to help them narrow their choices.  Ask them if they are shopping for themselves or for someone else today.  When you know who they are shopping for you narrow down which questions to ask to help make their choice easier.

By asking where a person is from you establish a casual conversation which can give clues to what styles they might be looking for.  You can ask them if they like the style most common to their area.  For instance people from Montana might like a western or outdoor theme, while people from Florida might like a beach theme.  They might like that theme but be looking for something different just because they like to be different.  The question is really just meant to give them a way to express what they do and don’t like and what they might be looking for.

You can always ask if they had a specific item in mind, or if they would like you to show them some of your ideas.

Close the sale. When they seem to be stuck ask if they would like to see more options or if you can ring up their selections?  They might just be waiting for you to ask for the sale.

Offer an Upsell. Never let a customer who is purchasing just buy the one thing they have picked out.  Offer an additional item similar or complimentary to the one they purchased at a small discount.  For instance if they decided to buy a platter ask if they would like the matching gravy pitcher for 10% off or offer them two platters for $x.

Keep in contact. Try to collect every customers name, address, phone number, and email address.  Ask their permission to add them to your mailing list.  Tell them you will be sending relevant product information, specials, notices of where they can find your products.  If they will share their birth date with you send them a special discount on their special day.  Only mail to customers who give you permission and keep all information relevant.  Remember how much you hate junk mail and spam!

Two inexpensive programs for automated email respones are AutoWebBusiness.com and the other is Constant Contact.  I highly recommend you check out these two companies if you don’t already have some kind of automated follow up/email system in place.

Listen carefully for the clues your customers give you, that indicate what they are looking for.  Watch your sales increase now that you’re an expert in helping them find what they want.

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After posting this message I found this great resource and wanted to share it with you.
How to Sell: Eliminating Obstacles to Sales
To Making Your Business More Profitable,

Shasta

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You need to be a great salesman to make money selling arts and crafts.  The problem is how do I become a great salesman without becoming the pushy salesman?

I have to admit I haven’t been the best example of a good art and craft salesman.  Why, because I was always afraid of being too pushy.  So, when I heard the word no I took it to mean no and I didn’t push the issue any further.

A good salesman of arts and crafts will have already contemplated all of the reasons someone would buy their product as well as the reasons someone wouldn’t buy.

They will already have answers ready to overcome the objections made by people considering buying their arts and crafts.  They won’t take no personally and will simply see what they can do to gently persuade the customer to make the purchase, without being pushy.

So what are the reasons people should buy your art or craft?

1. high quality
2. price-affordable vs. good value for the money
3. handcrafted
4. great customer service
5. support local economy – local artist
6. help a good cause – charity

What are the reasons someone might not buy your handcrafted merchandise?

1. poor quality
2. price – not affordable or not a good value for the price
3. poor customer service
4. not ready to buy right now
5. not what customer is looking for -salesman needed to offer something else
6. salesman didn’t ask for the sale

So now you know why someone might buy your handcrafted art and you know why they might not.  You are now prepared to offer the customer the sale several times through out the sales process and work to overcome their objections.

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Set a goal for your art or craft business, then set a reasonable amount of time to accomplish that goal in.  Working on it a little bit every day makes it nearly impossible not to accomplish it eventually.

Goals that you might need to work on to improve your handcrafted business:

1. Learn to know my customers and market better.
2. Improve the customer service my customer receives.
3. Sell more at shows-become a better salesman.
4. Follow up more with customers-collect contact information and follow up respectfully.
5. Improve marketing plan or pieces.
6. Build a website.
7. Promote my “handcrafted” website.
8. Automate more of the sales process.
9. Make my business paperwork including business cards, fliers, brochures, catalogs, invoices, etc. more consistent to build brand awareness.
10. Make sure all my business paperwork has correct information on it including business name, contact name, complete mailing address, phone, website, and email.
11. Improve my displays.
12. Find new places to sell my arts and crafts including gift shops, galleries, specialty shops, and handcrafters boutiques, etc.
13. Improve my online sales.
14. Improve my offline sales.
15. Improve my accounting techniques.
16. Improve profits-set correct prices or cut costs.
17. Organize my workshop, studio or store for a better customer experience and better efficiency.

Setting a goal for your art or craft business  is like climbing a pyramid you can’t do it in one giant step.  Instead break it down into smaller steps.  Promise yourself to at least try and do one  smaller step a day.  Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t, instead try to go on the next day and celebrate the days you accomplish more than one step.

Work on one of your business goals at a time until you get really good at doing it consistently.  When you are really good at reaching your current goal add another goal without dropping the first one.

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