If you think you've had a bad craft fair...

then you need to read this!

In January I attended a small event which cost me £15.

I was expecting great things, but financially, all I sold that day was a £12 notebook and so I went home -£3.

But, I did give away a lot of workshop flyers.

And I got 4 email sign ups. And overall had some very nice conversations.

Moving onto March, and I was running a public handbag workshop at Merrymeade Tearooms. I didn’t know until the day, that two of the participants had booked because I gave them a flyer at that event back in January. Two tickets = £90.

And then, because they came to the workshop, they came along to an event I was attending that weekend. It was great to see them again, and they bought a notebook from me at that market. =£14.

By May, I had been invited to take part at another craft fair - I’d never heard of it before but they had picked up my business card at that event in January. The stall cost me £30 - and it was a very hot day, so sales weren’t great (but much better than January). I took £90.

In June, the venue where I took £90, invited me to run two workshops for them! £300.

And in July, I was asked to fill in for a speaker for a group presentation - again after a lady had picked up my flyer at that January event. =£150.

In total, that event in January brought in £656 (minus fees = £611) as well as a lot of new contacts.

So, it really wasn’t that bad after all was it?

I wanted to share this with you because although it is not always as clear and obvious as this example has been, it just goes to show what MORE can come from an event than just sales.

I already knew that at £15 it probably wasn’t going to be a profitable event. So I took a different approach and had a different mindset, which meant I didn’t get disappointed easily.

Rather than set myself a financial goal, my aim was to hand out as many flyers as I could, and encourage email sign ups, and speak to anyone who I thought was my ideal customer.

It worked!

Not only did I find myself more engaged with visitors, I wasn’t worrying about sales, I was just interested to talk to people and ask questions. And this also meant the time went very quickly. (Always a bonus!)

And let this also be a reminder to ask your customers how they heard about you. Without asking I would never have known all of this success came from that January event. So don’t be shy, ask!

I’d love to know if next time you are attending a craft fair if you will consider giving this a try?