Make money away from home - how to sell more jewelry at your booth
You have found a great show with the right customers for your jewelry, creatively
stocked your shelves with attractive product, and worked on your inner mindset so that
you already envision a successful show.
As the main doors open to the public, you glance at a couple of your neighboring booths.
Each person nods back at you and offers a “good luck” smile. The first day in begins.
Mixed Emotions
Your internal roller coaster would seem a bit strange to someone who has never faced
sales. On one hand, you hope that people will begin mulling around your booth. In fact,
you have candy on the table and music playing to entice them.
On the other hand, you.re offering silent prayers that people just walk by!
The fear of selling is common. Actually, more than half of the people standing behind
the other booths feel exactly as you do. They would rather be ANYWHERE than where
they are.
Watch out the sabotaging behaviors and excuses are on their way:
1. You suddenly feel the need to go to the washroom.
2. You need to step into the lobby and make a couple of very important phone calls.
3. You forgot something in the car (which is parked a couple blocks away)
4. You don't feel well – you need air.
5. You are not feeling good under the lighting
6. You need a cigarette (and you don't even smoke)
7. HELP…what else is their to help me escape from the facing the people heading
to my booth?
So, know that it is common to want to make sales, be successful, have people love your
art and still want to have nothing to do with the process of selling.
Rethink the Term
The major block in our thinking comes from a misinterpretation of the term “selling.”
Here is what you don’t need to do:
1. You don't need to convince
2. You don't need to coerce
3. You don't need to deceive
4. You don't need to steal
5. You don't need to pressure
6. You don't need to lie
7. You don't need to force
8. You don't need to talk fast
9. You don't need to outsmart
10. You don't need to be a fake.
So what is required for you to be successful and make sales at your show?
Begin the process weeks ahead of time. Like an athlete, the outcome of your day is not
based on luck alone, and certainly not on the weather. Your sales will be a direct result
(except in rare instances) of your preparation and presentation.
Let’s look first at your Preparation:
1. Have you spent time “seeing” yourself successfully selling at the booth, when
you were still at home changing kitty litter?
2. Have you envisioned yourself driving home with your trunk empty of product and
your pockets stuffed with cash?
3. Have you “seen” yourself walking in the front door beaming from ear to ear and
telling your family, “We are going out for dinner tonight to celebrate”?
4. Did you make sure you were attending a show where people who like to buy
your product attend?
5. Did you insure that you were not competing with scores of jewelry designers who
make the exact type of jewelry that you make?
6. Did you test your product on others and choose products that you know will
create enough interest for people to pay you for your product?
7. Did you bring enough variety for people to feel they have a choice both in
product and price range?
8. Have you displayed your product so that it is aesthetically pleasing and
emotionally enticing?
9. Are you smiling at people you don't know?
10. Are you prepared to serve?
Now, let’s focus on your Presentation:
How you present your product one on one is what is referred to as “sales” in this context.
If you are desperate to sell, it shows. In fact, it reeks. And as you well know from
running into those salespeople in different venues, people run as quickly as they can
from desperation. It smacks of deceit and fear.
Even if you have used your line of credit to pay the materials to make the jewelry, the
rental car to get you to the show and the ads in the trade show catalog, you must not
internalize the sense of debt or urgency. You won.t sell even close to your potential if
you do.
What sells product or anything else for that matter is:
. PRODUCT
. TRUST
. KNOWLEDGE
. SERVICE
This may sound very simple, and it is SIMPLE. When people buy from people, they are
looking for someone who carries the product or service they require. Then they need to
feel they can trust the person. They want to feel at ease, knowing that their money is
safe from harm (meaning they feel they are safe).
Once this basis is covered, the buyer needs to know that the seller has some knowledge
about the product and can assist them in making a GOOD BUYING DECISION. (Not a
decision that is best for the seller, but one that is best for the buyer..)
The final selling feature is the kind of service the buyer is receiving now from the seller,
and what is promised to the buyer after the sale.
The art of selling is nothing more than a refined art of serving.
If your potential customer standing in front of you at the booth had no interest in jewelry
for themselves or for someone they know, they would not be in front of you.
You are not forcing or cajoling them to do something they don't want to do, if you offer
them the opportunity to look at and feel your work, ask questions, require information
about the stones, match the piece they chose with a coordinate piece, and avail
themselves of promotions that could save them money.
If you see yourself as their kind guide to a successful transaction, you will sell
successfully.
People will always want to wear accessories; yours or the next artist. Why not yours?
Buyers want gifts. You have great ideas and offer gift-wrapping and shipping. How
convenient for buyers with a busy lifestyle!
Jewelry is a feel good purchase. When women walk away with a new necklace and pair
of earrings, they like, and were handcrafted; they “feel” special, pretty and “taken care
of.”
The bottom line is this: when you take the focus off of yourself and your quota and your
inventory and your pride, and allow yourself to be “all about” the customer and their
happiness, you cannot help but sell product.
Word travels fast at a show. If you treat people like a million bucks, they tell people; at
lunch, in the hallways, at a workshop, or in the parking lot. Your booth will stay busy.
Coincidently, if you treat people as if you need their money, they slowly disappear and
you will be standing idle in even more desperation.
Jewelry Booth Ebook has lots of very helpful information on practical applications that
increase booth sales.
What a gift you have to offer! People buy your art, not to hide in a museum, or bury in a
safety deposit box to protect from thieves, but to wear and to share with the world. They
are ready and waiting for you. The time to begin is NOW.
The best outcome for both parties is win-win; both the buyer and seller are winners and both
parties have their needs and wants met, either directly or through honest compromise.