Is Working a Booth at a Vendor Fair Worth It? My Experience and Advice

[Intrepid_Chef]

I was given an invite to work a booth at a vendor fair at a school. There is no table fee, but they do want 15 percent of our sales.

A few issues with this:

* I only make 20 percent ... that's 3/4 of my commission on any orders.

* It's on Dec. 16, after our Christmas ordering deadline.

And ... I would have to take off work in the middle of the week.

I've had bad luck at fairs recently and its been my exprience that if the table fee is low or non-existent, it's not advertised well.

But I HAVE been trying to crash the "mommy market" lately and getting your name out is a good thing.

Thoughts?

 

[nldavis321]

Personally, it doesn't sound like a winner to me. Great to get your name out though. What is your ultimate goal. Bookings? Sales? Recruits? If it is Bookings...go for it! Same with recruits! If sales is the ultimate goal, I would shy away from it for the simple reason you mentioned...Dec. 16! Do you have cash and carry? If so, then that is a different story.Hmmmm I am probably not helping too much.My final answer...I would not do that show.

 

[Becca_in_MD]

Who do they expect to attend during the workday? If the school has a large base of SAHMs then you could do OK. But you already cited many reasons not to do it. I say give it a pass or see if you can do a table and leave a small display with flyers with your contact info with a nice sign saying orders will arrive after Xmas unless they want expedited shipping.

 

[Sheila]

I just did 2 of those booths, but I'm in a bit of a different situation.

1. I'm a SAHM, and they were on the weekends. So I didn't have to worry about taking off work or paying a sitter so that I could work a booth.
2. I'm a team leader and my sales usually put me in the $3,000-$4,000 range so my commission is usually 28%-29% each month which makes it more worthwhile.
3. I usually get 2-3 bookings at my booths. And since my regular shows are usually at least $750 in sales, that's at least $200 in commission later X2 or X3.

So the lower commission at that ONE event is well worth the commissionable sales that I get out of the bookings and the $200-$600 or more that I get in commission later down the road.

You have to do what feels right to YOU. If you normally get bookings off a booth, then it might be worth it to you to look at the long-term gain from working this event. If you normally don't get bookings at your booths, then it's probably not worth it for you this time around.

Good luck in your decision!

 

[krackley]

And, you could always just go for bookings - if you don't sell much, you wouldn't have to pay much, and even though you were out of work for a day, if you get four or five shows out of it, you'll be in great shape for the new year. . .

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

Sales and bookings ... though I haven't gotten any REAL bookings from any of my fairs this year, despite a "free cooking show drawing" at every one.

I have tons of comp time and vacation days so it wouldn't cost me extra ... just disrupt the work week.

It's from 3 to 8 p.m. so I'm guessing they are counting on parents picking up their kids from school. My director advises me to go for it ... and says I can borrow her cash and carry.

I think I'm going to call and ask a bunch of questions ... like is it 20 percent of my sales or 20 percent of my PROFIT. Explain that if anyone wants things GUARANTEED by Christmas they will have to buy it from cash and carry, and if it is my director's then they will have to pay shipping b/c I will have to have it shipped to me ... and I will need the money to replace what I sold. Since they specifically mentioned Pampered Chef I'm wondering if they need a consultant?

 

[Becca_in_MD]

Now it sounds better: you have the time from work, you can borrow cash & carry, it goes into the evening. Hopefully you can get enough sales, both from cash & carry and orders that pay expedited shipping or don't care whether it comes before Xmas to make a show of it and can use the host rewards to replace the cash & carry and still make the 20% contribution of sales. A lot of working the numbers involved. Someone on my team just did a booth on Sat. and said people were very excited about the Jan. and Feb. host specials. This seems like a good opportunity for you. You're not paying a booth fee so it's just your time that's involved. Go for it!

 

[Ginger428]

I wouldn't worry so much about the cash & carry. You are not paying for the booth & they want 15% of your sales. If you get 1 or 2 (or more) bookings & sell nothing, then you were there for free....

 

[wadesgirl]

Go for it! I wouldn't worry about the cash and carry either, it doesn't help your sales or your pocket!

Sometimes even after the deadline they can still get it to you buy Christmas, it's just not guaranteed!

 

[Sheila]

Sales and bookings ... though I haven't gotten any REAL bookings from any of my fairs this year, despite a "free cooking show drawing" at every one.

I have tons of comp time and vacation days so it wouldn't cost me extra ... just disrupt the work week.

It's from 3 to 8 p.m. so I'm guessing they are counting on parents picking up their kids from school. My director advises me to go for it ... and says I can borrow her cash and carry.

I think I'm going to call and ask a bunch of questions ... like is it 20 percent of my sales or 20 percent of my PROFIT. Explain that if anyone wants things GUARANTEED by Christmas they will have to buy it from cash and carry, and if it is my director's then they will have to pay shipping b/c I will have to have it shipped to me ... and I will need the money to replace what I sold. Since they specifically mentioned Pampered Chef I'm wondering if they need a consultant?

In the original post you said 15%, not 20%. But I assure you, it's a percentage of the sales, not your profit. I've worked several booths like this.

If you borrow your director's cash & carry here's how you want to do it: Make an inventory list of EVERYTHING that she handed to you. If you have an open show that will be closing in the next 7 days, you can accept cash, checks & credit cards. If not, then you need to restrict the payment method to cash & checks ONLY! Write receipts to every guest and "cash & carry" across the front of their receipt. Charge the appropriate tax rate, but NOT shipping! If you have an open show & are accepting credit cards, then make sure you fill out the appropriate section and get their signature to charge their card. When you get home, compare the receipts to the inventory list & make sure it matches up. Return the left over items to your director.

If you have over $150 in sales, you can make it your own "show", otherwise you can add it to a current host's show. If you are making your own show, enter yourself as the consultant acting as host on a catalog show. Then enter yourself as a guest who's buying EVERY item that you sold at the booth, mark "ship to consultant acting as host" - this way you only pay ONE shipping charge of $4.25 for the ENTIRE ORDER. Do not enter a payment for this order. Then enter the first person who paid, their amount of payment & method of payment - even though there are no items purchased! You'll get a warning message, but not a "red dot" error message. Then enter the next "guest" and their method of payment. etc. Continue until all of the buying guests have been entered with their method of payment. When you are done, you should have all the appropriate payments that add up to what you collected at the booth. You are out $4.25 for shipping, but you have commissionable sales for the month AND you qualify for the host benefits!

If you sold less than $150, you add it to your next host's show using the same concept above - but the host gets any additional benefits if your sales helped them to reach a new level.

Simple enough?

I don't do door prize drawings at ANY of my booths anymore. Here's a recent thread where I detailed what works for me: http://www.chefsuccess.com/f52/lost-booth-57911/

Good luck!

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

That's pretty much how my director handles her cash and carry. She wants it replaced with our next show but has no specific timeframes. My cash and carry is mostly retired stuff. I usually replace it with items I need, or items I think will sell.This fair wants cash and carry for everything. If anyone wants to order, i will warn them that their order may or may not arrive by Christmas. The area is home to a large Jewish population so it's likely that some customers won't even care as Hanukkah is pretty much over for them by then.She offered to let me pay 10 percent on my director's cash and carry and and 15 percent on mine, but I don't think I will worry so much. They are trying to raise money for books for the school library. I figure that even if I sell $150 worth, then $22.50 is cheap for a booth!(The organizer is a consultant for a cash and carry jewelry company.)

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

Oh, and I LOVE your ideas ... I do have a question, however. How much can you promote the specials when you're not sure the orders will be turned in as a December show? I was planning to turn them in for early January if nobody orders anything they want right away.

 

[Sheila]

I normally do $200-$215 at a booth by offering "specials" so it's not a huge issue for me. But if for some reason I didn't have enough orders, I would just tack it on to an open show and give that host the credit. I have enough shows per month to make that work.I just did a booth at a holiday event last weekend. I let my recruit get orders until she left & then I only took 2 totaling to $45 after she left. I was going to add it to a host's show, but have had enough regular customers call me to place orders since Saturday that I'm up to $157.70 in outside orders. So I'm making my own catalog show to get a host special.

 

[Sheila]

Another thing, I advertise to my customers that I have a "show" constantly built into my web page with my name. If anybody wants to help out another host, they can place their order there & I'll add it to the next show closing. Some still just do an outside order to get it faster, but many want to "help" someone else (because they know when they host, I'll try to help them out too!) ... once I use the orders there, I close the show & start a new one. That way, I don't accidentally pull the already placed orders into a 2nd host's show. By keeping a constant show open, that option is always there. So far, it's worked fairly well.

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

Well, I am about to turn in my second show for December and do not anticipate turning in another one in December. Any cash and carry I sell will be replaced in an early January show, unless I get a lot of orders from people who insist on having them in December. I think what I'm going to do is simply do a billboard with the benefits of having a show and another board with upcoming host specials. I'll either do the booking coupons posted on there or a similar message posted on "dots" printed on orange and yellow paper. I am NOT visually creative so we'll see how this goes!

 

[Sheila]

If you are not going to replace the cash & carry items until Jan, then make sure you only take cash & checks at the event for the cash & carry items that you are selling. Otherwise, you may have buyers complaining to Pampered Chef about the delay in their credit card charges.