1. Get a Square. Period. - If you have a smart phone or an iPad you NEED a square. You can download the app for FREE in the app store and register and they will send you a free device that you can plug into your phone or ipad. This allows you to take credit cards. It direct deposits the money into your account in about 24-48 hours and even sends your customer a receipt to their phone or email. There is a charge per transaction but it's super small plus because there are no monthly fees, you don't have to worry about paying a bill! Three out of four of my sales were with a debit card so if I couldn't take them, I would have lost those sales.
2. Bring cute bags to package your sales. I didn't have to worry about this since all mine were orders but I saw a few people putting their sales into simple cheap brown gift bags with a piece of colored tissue paper. I thought this was such a cute idea. It really makes your products have a nice "boutique" feel to customers. Hey, Victoria's Secret makes billions off of this strategy, make it work for you too.
3. Offer an incentive to customers to place an order the day of the fair. I didn't think of this until the last hour or so but I really should have done this. I noticed that I went through about 40 fliers and people said they wanted to order but would order later. Next time I will offer a special such as 15% off your order if you order at the craft fair.
4. Stand up. I know this may sound crazy, but it works. For my "real job", I work college fairs and have to stand behind a table all day. My boss is always so insistent that we stand, not sit and there is actually some logic behind it. I noticed at the craft fair that when I was sitting, only half the people came to my table as when I was standing. I started looking around and noticed that the people who were standing had much more traffic than those sitting. You appear more approachable when you are standing. Try it out!
Anyone else have any craft show pointers??
Finally, here's a pic of my booth, my husband was such a proud hubby that he had to take a pic...he's going to be one of "those dads" one day :)
