You might feel it is up to the organiser to promote the show and guarantee attendance. They can tell local media and get the listing onto craft show websites, and if you are lucky it is an established show with a reputation for bringing in buyers year after year.
But there is a great deal you can do yourself, and the sellers who do it are the ones who have a good day.
Bring your own customers
This is the single highest-return thing on the list, and most sellers skip it.
Tell everyone you know you will be there – by email, by post, on whatever social accounts you use. Give the date, the venue and the times.
People who already like your work will come specifically to see you. They arrive intending to buy, which is entirely different from browsing.
Visit the show first
If it is one you have not done, go as a visitor the year before. You will learn more in an hour than from any amount of asking.
What is selling, and at what prices? Who is buying – what age, what sort of spending? How busy is it, and when? Which pitches get the traffic?
That tells you whether to book at all, which is worth knowing before you pay a table fee.
Stock and price range
Bring a range of prices. Most sellers under-stock the low end and lose the impulse purchases that make up the volume.
Have something at a few pounds, plenty in the middle, and a few larger pieces. The expensive items often sell less than they anchor – they make the mid-range look reasonable.
Bring more of whatever sold last time, and be honest with yourself about what did not.
The stall itself
Height matters. A flat table of goods is far less appealing than one with levels. Boxes under a cloth, a small shelf unit, anything that lifts some items to eye level.
A cloth to the floor looks professional and hides your boxes.
Clear pricing on everything. People will not ask. An unpriced item is an unsold item.
A sign with your name visible from a distance.
Practical kit
Change – more than you think. A card reader. Bags. Business cards. Something to write receipts on. Tape, scissors and safety pins. Water and food, because you will not be able to leave the stall.
A chair, and the discipline not to sit in it when people are passing.
On the day
Stand up, look approachable, and greet people without pouncing. The most common mistake is sitting behind the table looking at a phone – it reads as closed.
Collect email addresses from anyone who is interested. That list is worth more than the day’s takings, because it is what brings people to the next show.
