I had another chance to walk a craft fair recently. I was actively shopping at this one, or trying to. Once again, I was thwarted by my fellow craftspeople.
Here’s another tip from a crabby shopper:
Leave yourself room to conduct business.
Please… Give your customers room to write a check.
I watched a young woman with a very nice product make a sale to an eager customer. Her table was so full of product there was absolutely no room for the buyer to write a check. (And although the product was lovely, the display was not as appealing as it could have been.)
At one point, the craftsperson actually pointed to a towering display of boxes with product stacked on it and said, “Here, you can write there.” The customer tried to write a check above shoulder height, on the display. The tower wobbled slightly. I could hardly watch.
If your customer has to drop all her packages, including her purse, to write a check with her checkbook balanced on her thigh, then you have just made them jump through incredible hoops simply to buy something from you.
This phenomena isn’t just an issue of limited space. I’ve seen people with very large, complicated booths who still don’t leave twelve square inches of space for people to set down a purse and pull out their wallet.
At the very least, provide people with a clipboard to write a check or sign a credit card slip.
At best, leave a bit of space for you to wrap up that sale.
You may be thinking, “Hey, I made the sale. What do I care what happens after that?!”
Well, halfway through the show, they might think, “Hey… Those would make a great gift for Aunt Sue and Jolene! I should go back and grab a couple more….”
Do you want them to then think, “It would only take a few minutes, I already know what I want.”
Or for them to think, “Oh, geez, no, I can’t bear to go through THAT again!”
Make it easy for them to buy. And make it easy for them to come back and buy MORE.
Luann Udell 