Taste of Home Cooking Show: Boost Your Sales with These Tips and Tricks

[jenniferlynne]

Well, I just got back from having a booth at my second Taste of Home cooking show. I ended up with 11 definate yes's to having a cooking show or catalog show and 50 maybe's. I've got a lot of calls to make!

There was a rep there from Taste of Home Entertaining. She came to my booth and told me I needed to stop by her booth and check it out. Whatever! At first I thought she just singled me out since I'm with PC, but she was probably telling all the vendors that. I was so busy setting up that I didn't pay much attention to her.

If you all can find a Taste of Home cooking show in your area, I highly advise you have a booth there. I have more success as these booths than any other. These people wouldn't be there if they didn't like to cook! They usually only come around every other year, so you may have to keep checking their schedule to find one near you.

 

[Carissidy]

Thanks for the great advice Jennifer! I will definitely watch for that in my area.. it sounds like something I may try! And congrats on your results!

 

[pamperedpals]

Jennifer how would I find out about the cooking shows? Do they have a website?

 

[mpkegley]

Jennifer how would I find out about the cooking shows? Do they have a website?

I was wondering the same thing.

 

[erinyourpclady]

http://www.tasteofhomeschools.com/ShowScheduleCombined2.asp

Good Luck everyone!!!

 

[Kodeysmom]

okay i have one in my town Oct 9th. What all do i need to do. Just call the contact listed and talk to them? Any pointers?

 

[chefheidi2003]

LOL. I guess I am a little late for it. The one closest to me is this Tuesday. I am going to call and see if they already have a PC consultant and if not can I still get in. It is worth a try I guess.

 

[pamperedgirl3]

There's one coming to my city on November 6! Just after I have my baby & am ready to get back to shows! Who do we contact to find if they already have a PC person? The local contact at the bottom of the page?

Congrats on your good results!!

 

[vwpamperedchef]

None in NJ...I afraid the PA and NY ones are too far...

GOOD LUCK THOUGH to anyone who's going to it.

 

[pamperedgirl3]

Oh--how much are the booths?? What all did you set up?

 

[jenniferlynne]

There should be someone that is sponsoring it. In my town it is the local newspaper. I only talked to the people there about it. If your local paper isn't sponsoring it, I bet they know who is. Maybe you can call them.

The prices aren't the same everywhere. The newspaper here charges $50 for the booth, $90 for the ad they run (they print a special pull out section in the paper just for TOH) and I had to donate a $25 gift. I've heard some people say they paid over $400 to do it in some areas. What I do is give away an additional gift that they have to sign up for at my booth, so people will stop at my booth. The booths that didn't give anything away didn't get much traffic. Most of the time I had 15 to 20 people standing in line waiting to sign up for my give away. I will attach the drawing slip that I use too.

 

[JAE]

Did you give away something to everyone or was it just a drawing? What did you give away?

 

[chefheidi2003]

Thank you for posting that.

 

[pamperedgirl3]

Thanks, Jennifer. My local paper is the one who is sponsoring it--there's a contact name under the paper's name. I assume that's who on the paper is doing it. I'll call today! About how long did it last? It said it starts at 7 pm on a Tuesday, but that the doors open at 5 pm. Does that mean two hours to visit vendors??

What give-aways did you do--the $25 one & the one at your booth?

 

[jenniferlynne]

For the gift I had to give, I gave a $25 gift certificate (the ones we make that can only be used through us, not the PC ones). Then for the drawing at my booth, I gave an additional $25 gift certificate. I did that this time, because the people that won last time I never heard from again. I gave away a basket for the big gift and some bar boards and towels for the other gifts. At least now they have to contact me to use it. I put the certificate in an envelope and put PC stickers on it and attached it to a catalog.

On one table I had the grill pan, the family skillet, the SS saute pan and all the new stuff. I had a sign up that said the cookware was 60% off and I had a lot of people ask about it. A lot are interested (I will have to work fast). I had another table at the end of that one, (I made an L shape out of them) and my Mom worked at that one for me while I answered questions at the other. I had business cards, recipe cards (they loved those) drawing slips, the rectangle woven basket full of Hershey's candy and a basket full of Season's Best that I sold for $1. I sold 45 of them! (make sure you are careful with those. I had a sign on them, but some people still assumed they were free and tried to walk off with them).

I took all of my old catalogs (some from a year ago) as well as 100 new ones. I ran out about 30 minutes before the show started and still had people asking for them. The main thing is to get your name on everything. I stamped the inside of the Seasons Best and put stickers on the recipe cards and the catalogs with my name and number on them.

Getting your name out there is what is important. Every now and then I will still get a party from someone I met at the show two years ago! I have one next week as a matter of fact.

I have to get ready to leave, but I will check back tonight and see if you all have any more questions.

I will attach the gift certificate that I used. I got it from someone else on here.

 

[jenniferlynne]

Thanks, Jennifer. My local paper is the one who is sponsoring it--there's a contact name under the paper's name. I assume that's who on the paper is doing it. I'll call today! About how long did it last? It said it starts at 7 pm on a Tuesday, but that the doors open at 5 pm. Does that mean two hours to visit vendors??

What give-aways did you do--the $25 one & the one at your booth?

I almost forgot to answer your question. At the one I did, the doors opened at 4:30 and the show started at 7. That gave everyone 2 1/2 hours to visit the booths. I was running late and didn't get there until almost 4 to set up. There were already people lined up down the sidewalk waiting to get in! A couple of minutes before 7, someone from the paper came around and told us to start tearing down our booths. We were able to go and watch the show for free (I just went home), but we had to have all of our stuff packed in our cars first because there was no one to watch it.

 

[pamperedgirl3]

Thanks for the ideas, Jennifer! I am definitely going to give my city's contact person a call today. I'm hoping they are still open!! I could use a way to get my name out there to some new people.

 

[chefheidi2003]

I am also going to call mine. I like the idea of doing your own gift certificate so that people have to call you instead of being able to use it with anyone.

 

[janetupnorth]

Good luck guys! By me, TOH contacts the DS companies and they get the vendors based on HO leads. The director in our area always seems to get this one.

 

[PaulaP]

I am going to do one this November in my town. I did one the last time they were here but I hadn't been doing PC very long and really had no idea how to present everything. I am hoping for some GREAT results this time!!

 

[Jennie4PC]

This will be my 3rd yr doing TOH I have also gotten great results from it. My booth is $225 it keeps going up every yr. I called about 2 weeks before the 1st time I did it and they were so happy that I called thier other PC consultant wasnt doing it any more so now I get first dibs on TOH every yr.

 

[newchefmommy]

Do they have more than 1 rep from a direct selling company??

 

[Donna Althoff]

I am doing one in Oct with 4 other consultants, our booth space is $500. Plus door prizes. We each do about 200 recipe cards and they are put in the goodie bag hand out. We do a door prize slip and split them between every one, if we talked to a certain person, then we put our name on the slip and we get that one. This will be my 3rd one. I contacted the newspaper to find out the info. Taste of Home does not line up the vendors. Now they contact me for most local events.

 

[pamperedgirl3]

I'm still waiting on my contact person to call me back. I left a message yesterday around 11 am. If she doesn't call back on Monday, I'm trying again Tuesday morning. Or maybe Monday afternoon! I'm hoping it's not too much! I don't want to do it with anyone else (sounds bad but I did that at another fair & would rather do it myself this time).

 

[PCGINA]

Thanks Jennifer for the great tips and info.

 

[missmarie41]

Donna,
I love your signature, I may have to borrow that for my shows!!!

 

[PamperedTammy]

I was wondering a couple of things about the TOH shows. I have to opportunity to do this in November and I have already signed up and this is what is included in the package that I chose: 10 (30 second commercials), 1/8 of a page of newspaper advertisement, and a 8 x 8 booth) Now to my questions.
1) How does HO allow you to use the logo like in the newspaper and on commercials?
I would appreciate any help on this. I have not done this before and I don't want to mess this great opportunity up. Thanks for your help!

 

[pamperedgirl3]

I didn't think we were allowed to do commercials????

 

[pamperedgirl3]

Well, I finally heard back from the person in charge of the vendor spaces for my local event. Unfortunately he has already heard from several directors who are thinking of getting a couple of booths & having several consultants share the time. The good news is that none of them have booked a space.

My city does it every other year & last time they did have attendance of 1150--he said they actually didn't have enough vendors for the people last time. The cost is $185 for a 10 x 10 space inside the auditorium where the show is held (& I'd have to stay through the entire thing before I can tear down & leave), or $135 for an 8 x 8 space in the hall of the auditorium. I forgot to ask if that included any advertising or anything. He didn't mention if I would need to supply a prize or anything (obviously I'd have some kind of drawing at my booth).

I really want to get into some new groups now & this is after I have my baby, so I'll have more time to devote to my business & follow up with people. I'm thinking that this type of event is probably one of the best to get into because you know everyone there likes cooking stuff! I've done a bridal event & Babies R Us but never got much out of them. But with this event I could promote the wedding registry, becoming a consultant & booking a show along with our products.

I'm going to give my contact a call back after the kids go down for a nap. I want to double check that I'll be the only PC person, if the booth space includes a table, tablecloth, etc. & just some other odds & ends.

 

[pamperedgirl3]

Well, I'm in! I just signed up for one of the premium spots at my city's event in November. It's inside the auditorium where the cooking school takes place. It was $185 & includes a 10 x 10 space with an 8 ft table that is skirted.

I asked him if any other PC cons. would be allowed if I signed up & he did say that he wasn't sure how we worked. But that he would let anyone else who called know that a PC person was already signed up. Hopefully that will keep others away. I'm not too happy about that, but with 1150+ people expected, it should be ok if I'm not the only one (I hope). I did explain to him that we are all independent cons. & don't know each other, so we wouldn't know if someone else signed up. I also told him that we do all sell the same products. It's probably to their benefit to have other vendors there anyway.