When you decide to start marketing your art as a business, conventions and events become more important than ever. While the average person goes to a con with the intention of spending money and having a good time, you are there to work and make money. You will sacrifice your ability to see much of the con with the intention of raising enough funds to not only pay for your attendance at the event, but to fund future projects and pay your normal bills. For the business artist, cons are no longer joyrides; they are serious trade shows.
Preparation is the key to success in any business venture, and Retail Events are no exception. In fact, most of your work will be in preparation. To start, you need to make sure you keep a file for all receipts, orders and other paperwork for each retail event. As all of your expenses are tax deductible as a business expense, it is very important that you keep all of your receipts in an organized fashion. If you are computer savvy, I strongly recommend using MS Excel or Open Office Calc to keep track of all of your expenses. If you own a PC, Excel is usually packaged as part of Windows. If you don’t have Excel, you can download Open Office from www.openoffice.org. It’s free.
The first thing you are going to need is a table. While some events provide you with a table, this is not always the case, and you don’t want to be caught without having a place to put all of your wares. Most tables are reasonably inexpensive; you can usually buy a six foot long, three foot wide table for about $30. If you sell particularly large items or have a lot to sell, buy two. Real Estate is very important when selling your items; usually the vendor with the largest space has the most items to sell, and is more likely to make a profit. Also, don’t forget the value of vertical space. Stacking t-shirts, for example, is fine, but having cubes that stack four high to show off those t-shirts and still allow for the shirts to stay folded is better and quadruples your inventory. Nearly everything can be displayed vertically. You only have so much real estate. Use all of it.
Rule One of Retail: Presentation is EVERYTHING!TM When you build your display, you need to do so in a fashion that allows you to make the most of how your products look. To do this, buy a simple, soft black tablecloth. You can usually achieve this by going to a local fabric store and picking up a good fabric. Spare as little as possible when choosing your table cloth. To the average person it may seem silly, but a soft table cloth against hard metal creates a contrast that is pleasing to the eye. Even when you feel that your wares are supposed to look like items that came from the Zombie Apocalypse, how you present your wares can mean the difference between making your sale and sending your customer to your competition.
Take the time to make your own price tags. I suggest Parchment (or Resume Paper) which can be picked up at your local Department Store. Put your Mark on the back and your price on the front. Always make sure your Price is visible! Sam Walton once said, “Show the value, and they will buy it.” If you show them the value, they will hand you their money. If they didn’t, Wal-mart would not be the largest department store company in the world. Did you use business math or guilt mathTM?
Arriving at the convention early is very important. Most events allow vendors to come early to set up their wares before the crush of attendees makes any effort to do so problematic. Check with the vendor coordinator (in their various names) to see if vendors are allowed to arrive early. If they can, do so. There is nothing more difficult than trying to set up shop when your customers are walking through your shop space because they think it is a good place to get past everyone else. When you set up your booth, here are a couple of tips for making sure you have the best advantage over your competition.
First, try to reserve some space behind the table. By arranging tables in a manner that gives you space behind them, you provide yourself space for your cash box, extra merchandise (if you have any), snacks and other needs. It also provides a safe place to stand when your customers are crushing around your tables and you need to keep an eye on your wares.
Second, make sure your table cloth covers the whole table. It is also preferable if it reaches the floor in front of the table, so you have privacy for anything you need to keep under it. This is something you need to be sure of before you even leave home. It is important that the cloth reach the floor in front of the table (customer side) instead of behind it (your side). This gives you access to the storage space without having to lift it. Also, if it isn’t bringing in money, holding money, or helping you survive, take it out of the retail area. Put it in your car, hotel room, whatever. Get it out of your way. It will cause no end of trouble trying navigate a cluttered area and you’ll bring the containers back in when it’s time to break down.
Third, arrange your wares so that they are in groups. This may seem like a very obvious requirement, but you would be surprised how many vendors do not place like with like. When you do, you provide customers looking for one particular type of good an easy way to compare your products. If you have two masks, one with gears on the forehead and one with goggles, they will be able to stand with them together and decide which one they like best.
Fourth, everything must have a price tag. Although price tags were covered briefly earlier, it cannot be expressed enough that this is possibly the most important part of your retail venture.
When you set up your table, make sure your money is organized. A simple cash box can be purchased at your local Department Store, or a file book can be used. Most importantly do not allow yourself to wad it up into your pocket. Not only does this look bad, it also wastes precious time you could be using to sell to another customer. When you do inevitably leave your stall to admire other pieces or enjoy a part of the event, make sure you secure your lockbox in a vehicle or have someone you trust (a spouse or companion) watch over it that isn’t going to steal it. While most people are honest, opportunity is the watchword of a thief, and while they may not understand the culture, a thief can easily fit into a convention with just a little research.
Finally, make sure you always give a receipt. This is useful for two reasons: first, it tells your customer that their product is paid for in full. Second, it makes accounting much easier. You can add the receipts at the end of the event and drop them into your Excel or Open Office book that lets you find out if you made a profit.
Always keep track of how much your calculated cost (including labour. You aren’t using Guilt MathTM right?) and never put your cost on your receipt. Only the amount they paid you for it.
If you follow these simple rules, you should have a successful retail event. There is a lot more that goes into actually selling your products, most of which can be learned through books on sales, available from your local bookstore, or by visiting www.amway.com/vallerand, registering if you are a first time customer, clicking Other Products; Partner Stores; Barnes and Noble.
One last word: if your first few events are a loss, don’t get discouraged. Most businesses take five years to turn a real profit. The key is never giving up, and working at getting your name and product out there. And always keep a positive attitude!
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