Securing a Booth at a Fair for Your Business - Insider Tips and Tricks

[momoffour]

How do you get a booth at a fair? I am looking into doing an Oktoberfest but I happen to know a lady who does southern livng at home and she is doing it. She knows about it because her mom works at a library and gave her a guys name.

Also... can you get individual orders from the booths or is it just to get bookings?

I still have to call about the Oktoberfest thing...I dont even know if there is room or if someone else already is doing a pampered chef booth.

Anyway, TIA!

Anne

 

[chefmary]

Anne:

Ask the woman from Southern Living who the organizer is and call...you have nothing to lose by asking! Check to see if there is space available and if a Pampered Chef consultant is working it.

A fair is usually a great place to get booking and recruiting leads. Occasionally I take individual orders (and use direct shipping, unless they are close enough to deliver to), but it's not my main focus.

Good luck and let us know if you get in!

Mary

 

[momoffour]

If I wanted to get a fair booth outside of this one, how do you find them? I just happened to know someone who was doing this one but for other fairs...who do I normally contact to get information.

I guess I"m having trouble wording my quetsion

Anne

 

[D_Patel]

I lookin our local paper in the calender section. Also we have a little newspaper flyer type that is in my mail box weekly and there are lot of church fairs and stuff listed in that. I have 3 lined up this fall , i usually do well. I usually get enough orders to submit a show out of it ! I really focus on bookings to me that is more important than orders ! It is a good time you hand out a ton of info to people !

 

[momoffour]

Thanks...to both of you for your help. Now lets just hope I get this Oktoberfest thing and start looking for more


ANne

 

[pamperedbecky]

Also, if you hear of different organizations holding fundraisers, this is a good place to check out as well. They sometimes do things over the summer/end of summer and may have booths, especially if it's a big family thing or outdoor fundraiser. If you see anything advertised in the paper, definitely give the organization a call. You could offer to make yours a fundraiser for the organization too, so they'd get a percentage of sales. I did one today and I didn't get any orders, but I got three booking leads and one recruit lead. I also did a raffle, so I'm going to offer everyone a free kitchen show as a runner up prize.

 

[ladybug]

Chamber of CommerceMany of the main festivals, fairs are put on by the Chamber of Commerce. You can do an internet search(yahoo, google) to find it for your area.. also your local Civic Center may have fairs as well.

 

[cheesehead]

I just got a booth for a large Family Fun Expo and it was by total luck - I had emailed a local paper (not the "big one" - just a small paper) to get a copy of the packet they send out to newly engaged couples. This packet included a "Bride's Guide" with all the local info on bride stuff...I wanted a copy so I could try and figure out where would be a good place around here to advertise about Bridal Showers. When I received the packet, not only did it have the guide, but a bunch of flyers from other businesses like hair salons, saps, CandleLite, Mary Kay, etc. I called the woman who sent the packet to see how much it would cost to get my own flyer sent out with these. During our conversation about the Bridal flyers she brought up the Family Fun Expo and offered me a booth...for $299. I explained how I would love to do it, but I am a brand new consultant and don't have the cash to invest for something like that. We continued to talk and by the end of the conversation she offered me a booth for $99 as long I bring my own table. I obviously couldn't pass that offer up!! There was over 3000 people in attendance last year and they expect much larger numbers this year due to the location of the event.

Basically, this opportunity fell into my lap and I got lucky. But maybe if you start calling smaller publications in your area you might get some leads on expos, bridal fairs, advertisment in park district booklets, etc. I looked up on the internet my county's Vistor's Bureau and it had a huge calendar of up coming events...I found another expo for the fall and am going to call today about a space there.

 

[Morvin]

fair or expo boothsI often find out about events through the chamber of commerce. I have also just randomly called local business, churchs, malls, bridal stores, and the local fair office. I usually ask for a calander of events or I just ask if they know of any fairs going on I usually get the best info from word of mouth.

I just did our county fair last month and had great success!! I held a drawing 1st prize was a gift certificate for $20 and if they booked a show it would double 2nd prize was a free deluex kitchen show(I pay for everything)and 3rd prize was a free express kitchen show (I pay for the ingredients) the fair was over on Sat. I started making my calls on Mon evening and as I called people I told them all that they we're the winner of the free express kitchen show!! And out of the first 15 calls I made I got 9 bookings!! It was great I loved it!!

good luck!!
Heather