Dear Diary - the Smitten Kitten Blog

5th June, 09

My studio’s kinda a mess right now.  Cards drying everywhere, journals stacked all over the place… as I’m packing and filling my orders from the National Stationery Show, I start thinking about trade shows like the NSS and lessons we’ve learned along the way.  For anyone thinking about entering the trade show circuit, it can be pretty intimidating and you kinda need a thick skin to put yourself out there.  I’m by no means an expert but here are some tips on exhibiting at trade shows that you may not find in a regular ol’ hand book. Here they are in no particular order:

1)  Flooring - the trade show floor is essentially a concrete floor.  Yeah sure you might dress up your booth flooring with some kind of carpet, but after standing on that floor for 10 hours, your feet aren’t going to know the difference.  The only thing they’ll know is just how badly they hurt.  Bring a spare pair of shoes.  No no I don’t mean another pair of high heels, I mean flats.  Yeah you might be a couple inches shorter in the afternoons than in the mornings, but your feet will thank you.

2)  The hall is lit but you should get lighting anyways.  If the booth across from you has lighting an yours doesn’t, it’ll make your booth look even darker than it is.

3)  Lighting makes the booth hot.  Make sure your outfit looks cute with or without a sweater.

4) Sweaters, jackets and purses can get bulky and look messy hanging on the back of your chair.  I usually keep an empty box (a nice decorative box not a busted up moving box covered with packing tape) on a bottom shelf somewhere, out of sight, so I can store my random stuff during show hours.

5) Buy your coffee / muffin on your way to the trade show.  Last I checked an extra large coffee and fancy muffin cost $9USD at the Javits.

6) Yes we are sensitive artist types.  I mean why else would we be doing this?  But remember that trade shows are the time for you to sell.  Get that old cheezy used car salesmen image outta your head!  It took me a long time to realize that selling is not a dirty word.   If it makes a difference don’t think of it as selling, think of it as introducing your products to someone who doesn’t know anything about what you make.  Kinda like introducing strangers at a a party.

7) Alright if you’re not convinced, if you are painfully shy and the thought of talking to strangers hurt more than a hot glue gun burn, then maybe it’s best to pass on the selling duties to someone who’s more comfortable.  Otherwise you may end up hurting your business.

8 ) You can’t talk someone into buying your products.  And why would you want to anyways?  The buyer knows if your product is or isn’t a right fit for their store.  Talking someone into buying something that isn’t a good fit just means that your stuff will end up sitting on the bottom of their sale shelf.  Not a good impression.  The right store will find you.  And if they don’t find you this time, they will the next…

9) … which reminds me, you’ve gotta do the same show more than once.  I can’t tell you how many orders we got at this show, came from buyers who just picked up a catalogue at the last show.  You can’t judge the success rate from any show until you’ve done it at least a couple times.  For me, three is the magic number.  If the show sucks three times in a row, cut your losses and move on.

10) Speaking of catalogues.  Ask for a business card from everyone who asks you for a catalogue.  Don’t be shy!  Seasoned buyers expect you to ask.  You’re not some kid standing on the street corner in a hot dog outfit handing out flyers for $8 an hour.  You’re a business who wants to follow up with whomever is interested in your products.

11) If you’re in the habit of sending out invites to stores to come see you, send them to everyone.  Being from Toronto I didn’t think any of my local stores would be going to New York.  That was until one of my regulars from Toronto came to my NSS booth and asked why I didn’t sent her an invite.  No body wants to feel like they weren’t invited to the party.

12 )  At some point you’re going to feel like calling it quits and getting a job at Starbucks.  DON’T!  Remember  what might be a great show for one company, is the worse show ever for another.  I know it’s easy to be down and out about yourself if a show’s not going well, but you gotta keep your chin up!  Scowling in your booth only makes things worse.  Think of it like Lavalife.  You just haven’t met the right store yet and the right store haven’t found you.  In the meantime, repeat after me, “It’s not me, it’s you.”

13) Oh yeah you gotta let it roll off your back.  Not everyone’s going to like your stuff and that’s OK.!  We had this rep who kept coming by our booth at the NSS.  She says she loves my product but my pricing is too high and she can’t sell it to her stores.  That’s a fine comment and I wouldn’t have been so annoyed if she hadn’t come by a couple times, then came back the third time with her partner (while I had other customers in the booth) to tell me the same thing “Your pricing is too high… I can’t sell it at this price.” On and on.  Just when I was about to doubt my pricing I realized that all her fussing didn’t reflect on my ability to design and make a great product at a fair price, it actually reflects on her inability as a sales rep to sell.  I have plenty of stores who think my pricing is just fine thank you very much.

14) … but you kinda have to listen also.  If 10 buyers in a row tell you your pricing is too high, you might want to reconsider.  It’s a fine balance.  Listen, but listen objectively.  You feel what I’m saying?

15)  You gotta stick to your guns.  I had a buyer writing an order with me once, who was on the fence about some necklaces that I was looking to get rid of.  In a moment of weakness I offered her 10% off said necklaces, just so she would take the bunch and I can discontinue the line.  Ooh boy was that a mistake!  For the next 20 minutes, everything else she liked in the booth she haggled over.  “I’ll give you this much for these.” and “What’s the best price you can do on these?”.  It never stopped.  So yeah lesson learned.  No on-the-fly discounts.  All pricing written in stone on signage.

16)  Be nice to your neighbours.  For no reason other than it’s nice to be nice.  You’ll be spending a lot of time around these peeps for the next few days.  It’s rough out there so let’s try to support each other.

17) Oh and before you wander into anyone else’s booth, it’s courteous to ask them first.  Your booth is kinda like your temporary home for the next 4 days.  Wouldn’t you want someone to ask before coming into your home?

18) At every show there’s inevitably some poor schmuck (who’s wife obviously has a booth at the show), walking around the show floor with cards or random products stuck all over him, holding a sign that says “come to booth #1234 to see more!” like a human billboard.  This usually happens late in the afternoons when traffic has died down a little bit and they’re thinking it’s an awesome guerrilla marketing technique.  Don’t be that guy.  It’s embarrassing.

19) It’s worth entering the best new product display, or any other general display area the show might offer.  We haven’t won a contest yet but sure have had lots of buyers come looking for whatever it was that they saw at the display areas.

20) Don’t leave your purse or wallet in the car when you’re moving in or moving out.  I know it’s a pain to have to carry your purse with you back and forth but a friend of mine made the mistake of leaving her purse in her car during move out once.  Someone smashed her front window and snatched her purse,  JUST her purse and nothing else, like the guy knew exactly which car to hit and what to go for.  Yup there’s evil folks out there who pray on exhibitors during move in/outs just to take advantage of the chaos.

21) You are a human not a robot.  Don’t forget to feed yourself, water yourself and go to the bathroom during the show.

22) You’re probably at your most raggedy ass and run down right before the show.  So do something nice for yourself that makes you feel a million bucks again BEFORE the show starts. I tend to bite my nails when I’m stressed out, which means my nails are usually at their worse right before a show.  I once spent $70 getting a manicure before a show.  Why did it cost !#@*$70 you ask?  Well it was in NYC, after hours and *whisper under my breath* they were fake nails.  But as the MasterCard commercial would say: Manicure - $70, self confidence to get out there and sell your products - priceless.

Alright I think my cards are dry.  Better get back to work now.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Categories: Shows and Events, show review.
Tags: national stationery show, tips for exhibiting at trade shows.
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