No Cash and Carry at an Event Where They Encouraged It

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Discussion Overview

This thread discusses experiences and strategies related to participating in booths and events as Pampered Chef consultants, particularly focusing on cash and carry (C&C) options and promotional ideas for attracting customers.

Discussion Character

  • Anecdotal
  • Opinion-based
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • One participant, identifying as a consultant, expresses concern about financial challenges and the decision not to invest in C&C items for an upcoming booth.
  • Another participant shares their experience of offering shipping specials at booths to save time and costs for both themselves and customers.
  • Several users mention the idea of creating themed displays, such as Christmas decorations, to attract holiday shoppers.
  • One participant discusses the use of door prizes to encourage engagement and collect customer information for follow-up.
  • Another participant highlights the importance of having booking incentives and promotional materials available at booths.
  • Some participants suggest selling used or unwanted items at a discount as a way to generate cash and clear inventory.
  • One participant notes the potential for recruiting new consultants by advertising opportunities for extra income during the holiday season.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Views differ on the effectiveness of cash and carry items, with some participants advocating for it while others prefer focusing on bookings and orders instead. No clear consensus emerges on the best approach for booth strategies.

Contextual Notes

Participants share personal experiences and ideas for maximizing engagement and sales at booths, particularly during the holiday season, without implying any official guidance from Pampered Chef.

Who May Find This Useful

Consultants looking for creative ideas and personal experiences related to booth participation and customer engagement strategies may find this discussion beneficial.

babywings76
babywings76
Gold Member
Messages
7,266
Okay guys, I'm getting kind of down. I just don't know what to do. I am in the hole with my biz. I'm working on getting in the black, but it's going to take many shows to get there.

So, an opportunity to do a booth presented itself and I jumped on it. Problem is that they recommended I do C&C, it wasn't required though. I posted a thread about it and what I should order. Well, when it came down to it, ordering a few of these and a few of those, etc, all added up to me spending more money that I don't have. So I didn't submit it. I hemmed and hawed too long and now it would be too late to get things in time. I just figured, I don't need instant sales of small items, which if no one gets anything I'll be stuck with and owe even more money. I need bookings, people who want my newsletter, and people who might want to place orders.

Now, I'm trying to decide what to do for this booth next Saturday. I'm wondering what type of special I should be offering or how I should be marketing myself that day. At an event with people who are coming from local areas and out of state, I'm just wondering where my focus should be.

Do I have pictures and a sign up order sheet for the HWC items? Sign up for my newsletter? Place an order today and save 10% (for those people asking about particular items that they wished I had there as C&C or whatever)? Book a catalog or cooking show and get an extra $20 in free products at the close of your show, or some other prize? Are those even tempting offers?

Any help out there? I need any encouragement and advice you have.
 
i think all those ideas that you have mentioned sound good! i am doing a booth this coming friday and am offering likewise 'specia's for that day.
 
I usually offer a shipping special at booths, especially when people will be attending from a large geographic area. I charge them show shipping (4.25), then I cover the difference to have it direct shipped. It's cheaper than me re-shipping, and saves me so much time over making deliveries.
 
I do the same thing Ann does. I let people know it helps them get their products quicker. It's usually a pretty good incentive.
 
And a note on covering the shipping: when you enter payments for their order in P3, put in the amount that they paid, then put the rest (the part that you're covering) on their order with a payment type of "Consultant Gift." When you balance the show, you'll have a chance to pick the payment method to cover those gifts. But, and this is the important part, choosing cons. gift will put all those little amounts onto your income/expense report so that you have them documented for tax time (they're a legitimate business expense and as such are deductable).
 
Do a Christmas theme booth...display your products with pretty bows wrapped around them, etc...put up a small Christmas tree and decorate it...promote getting started with shopping by encouraging them to host a show, earn free products for their own kitchen or to give away as gifts. I am finding that everyone this time of year likes the idea of free anything so this may just work at your booth. I just got the new guide to gift and entertaining mini's and I am going to get those out into the public as much as I can. Good luck! and keep us posted :)
 
All great ideas....Maybe you can also have some Xmas wishlists printed up. Also, promote "homemade for the holidays" parties. And remember, it only takes 1 booking to turn it all around.
 
I have a bazaar coming up at work at the beginning of November. I plan to put together one of those Small Batter Bowl mixes for display, and maybe put candies in my prep bowls with little bows on them. I was also thinking of putting certain products together as gift baskets or sets for my display. Hopefully this will encourage holiday gift shopping.
 
Yes, all your ideas are very good. That is a great idea about the HWC signup sheet.

We just did a booth and there were several of us splitting the hours. Our Director offered a "Door Prize" (which required them filling out their info on a door prize slip to be entered). This year she offered the Rotary Grater. So, if you have a new item that you don't want, using it as a door prize might be a nice idea. (Use a newer item - last year we used the Food Chopper and many didn't fill out the slips 'since they a;ready had one'.)

I set out all my old Cattys and mini-cattys. I only gave new minis/cattys to people who seemed actually interested. (I didn't want to spend too much on the new cattys).

In addition to the Booth Door Prize, I personally offered 2 things:
1. Book a show with me at the booth that day and they will get the Med Bamboo Bowl free. We had it there on display. $20 Free product is a good idea too.
2. Booking coupon that got attached to all my recipe cards and cattys (old & new). If they hold a show by Dec 14th, I give them something free.

I have attached the docs. The Bamboo Bowl one, I just printed in color once and displayed and could point at it.
The booking coupon, I will use as an incentive to all those that I will be calling from the door prize slips. I have attached this year's and last year's.

Good luck.

Oh, one thing I learned at my very first booth:
People are filling out the drawing slips and you start talking to them. And they want you to give them a call, interested, etc. Then what happens is they stick their filled out slip into the drawing pile and I have no idea who they are! So, as people are filling them out, have them hand them to you so you can make notes on the slips so you know who to make sure to call.

So, if someone comes by and is all excited about the Snowman plates, and can't commit to a show, I make a note about Snowman plates in their slip so when I call them, I can mention December's special and how much they adored the Snowman plates...
 

Attachments

Last edited:
Thanks Kathleen!! I have a booth in November where I will be focusing on booking show's and recruiting. I will have a few items that are cash and carry and I will be taking orders.
 
How do you handle the shipment of order's when you have booth's. Do you deliver to the customer's or do you charge the extra for shipping to the customer's??? In the past I have delivered myself.
 
Shell Northway said:
How do you handle the shipment of order's when you have booth's. Do you deliver to the customer's or do you charge the extra for shipping to the customer's??? In the past I have delivered myself.
Click to expand...

See post #5 for an idea. :)
 
Don't forget to advertise that "we're hiring" though you can't really use that phrase since we're not employed by PC. Lots of people are looking for ways to make extra $$$, esp. for the holidays and might not be thinking of PC. Maybe an "earn extra income" sign.
 
I also do the show s/h and then do consultant gift for the rest of the direct shipping. I call it a free upgrade to direct shipping. People are very happy about that and it save my sanity. I don't make as much off of those, but that's fine. I may have a new customer. IF they are VERY local and can come to me (or it's really easy for me to get to them), I'll do that instead.

As for cash n carry...do you have any products that you don't want anymore? Do you have anything that you've never used? You can sell those if you want and just replace what you want to. People love to leave with something and it's shocking how they don't care if it's been used.
 
I have only offered C&C at one booth and all I did was take new and used items I didn't want any more. I marked all new items 20% off and all used 50% off. That is how I sold and I did make some money off of it. Otherwise I would never buy stuff just to resell.
 
Becca_in_MD said:
Don't forget to advertise that "we're hiring" though you can't really use that phrase since we're not employed by PC. Lots of people are looking for ways to make extra $$$, esp. for the holidays and might not be thinking of PC. Maybe an "earn extra income" sign.
Click to expand...

A great thing to put on a bigger sign is this:
"What would you and your family do with an extra $400 a month?" Make it happy and eye catching. That gets them thinking and opens the door to biz op questions.
 
I just did a week long booth at a local fair with cash and carry and I was surprised. None of the bigger stuff sold! I had tons of stones and they were marked 10% off! The biggest thing I sold was a batter bowl and a couple mini bar pans. I sold a few little utensils, cookbooks and spices.

I handed out several replacement parts order forms, lots of business cards, the mini catalogs, some regular catalogs, and a few packets to people who booked shows and that is about it! I also took a lot of my product for people to see, they like to touch it and talk about it.

I made a lot of contacts as I had a drawing for a free Food Chopper. But my main goal was to get my name out so the lack of sales was a trade off for the contacts I guess :)

I only had one person who wanted to place an order the whole fair and I offered 10% off any book orders!

I know every fair is different and everyones goals are different for their stage of their business, but I hope this helps. :)

I also forgot to mention that I offered a free mini bar pan to anyone who booked a show during the week to be received AT their party.
 
I have heard that the door prize stuff makes the best cash-n-carry... don't you think people would love to pick up a quikut or 2 without paying for s/h? Someone suggested making little gift bags with a twixit clip, a quikut and a scraper, plus a S/B... and pricing at like $5 for grab-n-go. You could also include a coupon for $$ or % off a future order... and give away the bag to anyone that books on the spot.
 
babywings76 said:
Any help out there? I need any encouragement and advice you have.
Click to expand...

I was actually thinking I might put two flyers up showing the DCB Set and the Single/College Student Set and have the actual items there to see and touch but they have to order them. Advertise them as great gift ideas and maybe give a $15 discount when they purchase 2 sets. Since you can combine all your sales and put them in as a catalog show (or several shows) and use that $15 dollars show credit so you really aren't paying for anything out of pocket.

Just a thought...
 
To keep from going in the red I keep some c & c items like small spatulas and ice cream scoops and a few other things. When someone buys something, I reorder it with my next show.
 
Kathleen,

Thanks for the flyers. I have something coming up later this month and think they are a great idea.

Thanks for sharing.

Brenda

kam said:
Yes, all your ideas are very good. That is a great idea about the HWC signup sheet.

We just did a booth and there were several of us splitting the hours. Our Director offered a "Door Prize" (which required them filling out their info on a door prize slip to be entered). This year she offered the Rotary Grater. So, if you have a new item that you don't want, using it as a door prize might be a nice idea. (Use a newer item - last year we used the Food Chopper and many didn't fill out the slips 'since they a;ready had one'.)

I set out all my old Cattys and mini-cattys. I only gave new minis/cattys to people who seemed actually interested. (I didn't want to spend too much on the new cattys).

In addition to the Booth Door Prize, I personally offered 2 things:
1. Book a show with me at the booth that day and they will get the Med Bamboo Bowl free. We had it there on display. $20 Free product is a good idea too.
2. Booking coupon that got attached to all my recipe cards and cattys (old 7 new). If they hold a show by Dec 14th, I give them something free.

I have attached the docs. The Bamboo Bowl one, I just printed in color once and displayed and could point at it.
The booking coupon, I will use as an incentive to all those that I will be calling from the door prize slips. I have attached this year's and last year's.

Good luck.

Oh, one thing I learned at my very first booth:
People are filling out the drawing slips and you start talking to them. And they want you to give them a call, interested, etc. Then what happens is they stick their filled out slip into the drawing pile and I have no idea who they are! So, as people are filling them out, have them hand them to you so you can make notes on the slips so you know who to make sure to call.

So, if someone comes by and is all excited about the Snowman plates, and can't commit to a show, I make a note about Snowman plates in their slip so when I call them, I can mention December's special and how much they adored the Snowman plates...
Click to expand...
 
jessicanashville said:
I just did a week long booth at a local fair with cash and carry and I was surprised. None of the bigger stuff sold! I had tons of stones and they were marked 10% off! The biggest thing I sold was a batter bowl and a couple mini bar pans. I sold a few little utensils, cookbooks and spices.
Click to expand...

That's another reason I only offer small items. People don't want to haul around big heavy things at events. They want small stuff that they can stash in their tote bag or purse.
 
I bring C&C but people never seem to want the stuff I have. I'm considering not doing it anymore.
 
SeeMe4PC said:
I was actually thinking I might put two flyers up showing the DCB Set and the Single/College Student Set and have the actual items there to see and touch but they have to order them. Advertise them as great gift ideas and maybe give a $15 discount when they purchase 2 sets. Since you can combine all your sales and put them in as a catalog show (or several shows) and use that $15 dollars show credit so you really aren't paying for anything out of pocket.

Just a thought...
Click to expand...

Good evening,

I am new to this site and am very happy I found it. I am curious as to what the Single/College Set and DCB Set include.

Thanks!
 
kam said:
Yes, all your ideas are very good. That is a great idea about the HWC signup sheet.We just did a booth and there were several of us splitting the hours. Our Director offered a "Door Prize" (which required them filling out their info on a door prize slip to be entered). This year she offered the Rotary Grater. So, if you have a new item that you don't want, using it as a door prize might be a nice idea. (Use a newer item - last year we used the Food Chopper and many didn't fill out the slips 'since they a;ready had one'.)I set out all my old Cattys and mini-cattys. I only gave new minis/cattys to people who seemed actually interested. (I didn't want to spend too much on the new cattys).In addition to the Booth Door Prize, I personally offered 2 things:
1. Book a show with me at the booth that day and they will get the Med Bamboo Bowl free. We had it there on display. $20 Free product is a good idea too.
2. Booking coupon that got attached to all my recipe cards and cattys (old & new). If they hold a show by Dec 14th, I give them something free. I have attached the docs. The Bamboo Bowl one, I just printed in color once and displayed and could point at it.
The booking coupon, I will use as an incentive to all those that I will be calling from the door prize slips. I have attached this year's and last year's.Good luck.
Click to expand...
Kathleen....how did this all turn out for you as far as the "Book at the booth" incentive? Did you get any takers?When I've done C&C, it's been my door prize items and Season's Best. I sell very little- not worth the extra $$ spent for me. When I do a booth, it's for leads, not really for sales. I usually get 1 or 2, but usually from other vendors nearby. :D
 
  • Thread starter
  • #26
Well, this event got rained out and rescheduled for next Saturday. Bad news is that I can't work it. I e-mailed my clustermates and director to see if anyone else wants the spot. One other thing I found out is this was advertised as a "Shopping Emporium". To me, that sounds like people would be expecting products there to buy. I probably wouldn't have been too successful with not having stuff for sale. Although, I like the idea to put a spin on it by saying that this way it's in their name for guarantee purposes, but best of all it'll get shipped to their home and they won't have to lug it around all day.So we'll see if anyone else takes the spot and if I do it next year.
 
Do you typically find that christmas fairs give you enough orders/sales to make it worth your while? I have 3 fairs coming up in November, and I'm really hoping to actually get some sales from them, not just contacts/bookings.
I have one fair where they have had over 1000 people in the past, and the registration fee was rather steep ($100), so I'm hoping to earn at least some of that back...
I'll try some of the ideas mentioned here to encourage sales in addition to bookings, and hope that works.
 
I just did a two-day Apple Festival here in my town. I had $177 in sales at the booth (others who worked have a little over $100 between them) plus 9 people interested in booking for November! :) I also got 3 recruit leads. We offered free shipping if they purchased at the booth. If they were out of area, I gave them $4.25 credit on the direct ship (only one of those). I also had a Christian school next to me that I gave fundraising info for their athletic teams and met a lady who owns a Wedding Chapel and a bridal shop so I am hoping that will pay off with Wedding Registry referrals! :) I had NO cash n carry unless they wanted something out of my "goodie basket". I sold one Mini Whipper from it and 1 SB so C&C would have been an expensive waste for me. The "free shipping" helps people buy little items at the booth. You never know who will turn into your "Christmas buyer" that loves the idea of you selling them that Mini Serving Spatula with no shipping that was PC for Christmas! I'm excited about the 20% off the Simple Additions for November!
 
Do you put all the little orders together and then not give them receipts then? Otherwise isn't that expensive for you to pay $4.25 for all of those little orders?
 
sunnygirl in nd said:
Do you put all the little orders together and then not give them receipts then? Otherwise isn't that expensive for you to pay $4.25 for all of those little orders?
Click to expand...
That would be my question as well.
At the first booth I did in the summer I offered free shipping as my door prize, and then I submitted the orders separately. There were only 2 orders, but still, I definitely lost money on that fair...
Perhaps if we hand-write out the receipts and give them those, but submit them as one order on the computer???
 

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "No Cash and Carry" mean in the context of a Pampered Chef event?

"No Cash and Carry" means that attendees are not allowed to purchase products on the spot for immediate take-home. Instead, they can place orders for products that will be shipped to them later.

Why would an event encourage cash and carry but then implement a "No Cash and Carry" policy?

There may be several reasons for this change, including inventory management, ensuring that all orders are processed through the official ordering system, or compliance with company policies that prioritize pre-orders over immediate sales.

How can I still participate in the event if there is no cash and carry?

You can participate by browsing the products on display and placing an order for any items you wish to purchase. The consultant will provide you with information on how to place your order, including payment options and delivery details.

What should I do if I was expecting to buy products on-site?

If you were expecting to buy products on-site, it’s best to speak with the event host or Pampered Chef consultant. They can clarify the situation and help you understand how to place an order for the items you wanted.

Are there any benefits to placing an order instead of buying cash and carry?

Yes, placing an order can often provide you with access to exclusive items, special discounts, or promotions that may not be available for immediate purchase. Additionally, it ensures that you receive the exact products you want, even if they are not available at the event.

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