Have you asked yourself Why my business does not do well at events?

As a business owner and some times event promoter I am writing this article for people to get some advice and tips on whats makes some vendors do really well and what makes others just well suck.

TERMS I USE IN THIS BLOG:

A VENDOR is a business selling a product or service at an EVENT.

A PROMOTER is the person or company hosting the EVENT.

EVENT is a fair, craft fair, special event, or any event that uses VENDORS!

#1) NOT ENGAGING THE CUSTOMER:

This is one of the biggest mistakes I see at many events from VENDORS. 

Your sitting in your booth on your phone or on a computer lab top and the customers are strolling by. 

At the end of the day you had poor sales and your asking yourself WHY?

I would ask you this:

Do you want to go to the bank and want your teller on the phone?

Do you want to go to the store and have the cashier ignore you?

Do you want to go out to eat and have the waiter or waitress over in the corner and not serving you?

 I may walk into a booth and if that person took some interest in me, even a simple hello. or we started a conversation I may not buy some thing (MANY VIEW THIS AS A WASTE OF TIME BY THE WAY ) but the simple fact is I most likely will recall the experience.

 Lets say my friend down the isle here may want what you got. 

So because I had a pleasant experience I say to my friend you should go check that booth out. 

My friend ends up buying from you. 

Did it pay off and was it a waste of time for you to to engage with me?

Also maybe down the road I want something you got so I go to event and see your booth. 

Do you think I will buy from you or the person down the isle that just sat back and did nothing.

Also  I do not understand paying a fee to sell a product or service than sitting back and doing nothing, and expecting your product or service to sell it self. There may be certain products or services that can but most likely your going to have to engage with the customer at some point in  time.

Being to pushy as well is a big turn off for me. 

Recently we had been looking for a mattress so my wife and I checked out a store called Willy. ( Not the real Name) 

The staff was nice but the minute we entered the store we got smothered by sales people. 

They did not even ask us any relevant questions like what size mattress, what price range, what we like in a mattress.

Instead we had a sales guy hovering over us like a hawk, it was really a bit much.

Annie even made a comment to the sales person: 

Do you think we are going to put the mattress over our heads and run out the door.

We ended up leaving the store wondering what the heck just happened.

I was recently at the mall and my daughter and we had been seeking a Christmas gift for my wife. We noticed a really cool kiosk with some pretty cool wood carved things from over seas. The minute we hit the booth the VENDOR began to talk to me. He was not pushy but did explain where is products had been made , and how they had been made , and where they came from. 

We ended up buying a gift from him, 

Here is the thing if he would have just sat there and said nothing or did nothing would we have bought the gift?

When a customer comes to your booth they have found some thing that interest them or that they want. It is than your job to try to figure out what. Some customers are easy and some are not but the simple fact you must engage them is the main point I am making here. You have to find a balance of what that customer wants or needs to get your product or service sold.

As a VENDOR in the past I admit it is frustrating being at an event and maybe not having a big showing pf people,  or maybe not even selling a lot of product. It is disappointing and frustrating because this is my business and how I make a living. However I began to look at it like this maybe I meet some new people, had a weird experience, or just talked to other vendors. 

No matter what something happened and I had an experience in the least.

As a customer do they think about how I paid for my space,or how I am going to pay my bills. No they are there to see my products or services. They may not have even came for that maybe they are just checking out the event or strolling around. Maybe they have no intentions of buying anything from anyone. Maybe it was a last minute decision,  or spur of the moment or maybe I talked them into the sale.

So my point is this is ONE MAIN REASON why some VENDORS do well and other do not,