# Rushed! Makeshift "booth"



## lenarenee (Oct 2, 2018)

If I can register in time, I can get a "table" at a very low-key craft sale at the local Senior Center.  A friend is supplying black fabric and trays, I bought a small bright boquet flowers and a small sugar pumpking (which I can't wait to roast and eat later) to help decorate the table. I couldn't get a cheap, tall cake or display stand delivered from Amazon in time. I'd like to have something supply some height to display soap on. Any ideas on what I can do that doesn't mean spending much money or spending much time shopping? (the sale is tomorrow morning!)


----------



## shunt2011 (Oct 2, 2018)

If you have a Walmart or Michael's nearby pick up a crate or two.  You can leave them natural, drape them with cloth or paint them.  I use them and they work great.  Or, you can use boxes and cover them.


----------



## lenarenee (Oct 3, 2018)

Ok - I got in! I have everything packed up; nothing fancy. We'll see how it goes!


----------



## Relle (Oct 3, 2018)

Good luck Lenarenee, don't worry too much, it is, what it is - last minute. A cute piggy or two will get them to your table .


----------



## cmzaha (Oct 3, 2018)

Good Luck to you


----------



## Koric (Oct 3, 2018)

Good luck Lenarenee!


----------



## shunt2011 (Oct 3, 2018)

Good Luck!!! Hope you have a profitable day!


----------



## lsg (Oct 3, 2018)

Best wishes for many sales.


----------



## dibbles (Oct 3, 2018)

Good luck


----------



## dixiedragon (Oct 3, 2018)

Good luck!


----------



## Misschief (Oct 3, 2018)

Best wishes!! Looking forward to hearing all about it!


----------



## Loralei (Oct 3, 2018)

Good luck to you.. above all, I hope that you enjoy connecting with everyone! (Besides sales, that's my favourite part!)


----------



## Misschief (Oct 3, 2018)

Loralei said:


> Good luck to you.. above all, I hope that you enjoy connecting with everyone! (Besides sales, that's my favourite part!)


Agreed 100%. That's one comment I hear at the Sunday market all the time... "this is my day to socialize", "this is my day off", "this is my ME time".


----------



## jcandleattic (Oct 3, 2018)

How did it go @lenarenee ? I hope you did great!


----------



## lenarenee (Oct 4, 2018)

You all are so sweet! Thank you for all for the your support and well-wishes!

To be honest; even this small, very low key event was a little intimidating to my introverted self.  But what a great way to experience my first market. 

I made enough money to cover the tiny booth fee, pay for lunch, gas, and take us to an after school movie - with popcorn.  There were 13 tables in all, over half were first timers and very hobby-ish; hoping to sell enough items to pay for their hobby and make room in their garages so they can make more stuff. 

We lamented at the lack of foot traffic; this was at a senior center and very few of them even acknowledge we were there. Most people were the family members dropping/picking up their elders, a few staff, a few service people. No one came just for the craft fair.  (If you have any ideas on how to get more people to attend, please share them! The facility would really like this to become more of a community event. It's well advertised on their newsletter, but that only gets out to seniors. However the "hobby-ish" crafts themselves are a problem).

From now on, I will read all of your market descriptions with different eyes!!  I experienced some of your frustrations:  people who describe bar soap as "gross",  assume the soap is made "all natural" , some were picking at the shrink wrap to open it, wanted to pay way less (I already lowered by a dollar per bar), one person tried to short me a buck.   It was hard to not go "soap geek" on some of the comments. 

Here's what surprised me: 

1.   I enjoyed it! I wouldn't want to do this every week. 

2.  The seniors really had no interest in handmade soap. They stopped at the gift basket vendor (very generic, dollar store, and just poorly done), a beginner woodworker,  and talented crocheter tables. The woman with the nicely hand painted signs (welcome, nature, decorative types) didn't sell a single thing.

3.  An 8 foot table isn't as big as it sounds!  It was plenty big for me, but I only took 60 bars of soap, had no shelves. I filled the center with yellow mums, small sugar pumpkin and decorative fall placemat, then had cold process soap on one side, and salt bars on the other.

4.  Real men really do love lavender. 

A woman approached me and I could tell she had an agenda.  Said, "is this your first event"" - and I knew something was up.  Asked a few more pointed questions, handed me her card and said to email her some information. She has a small market twice a year and was looking for a soap maker as her current one is waffling. 

One of the senior center's staff pulled me aside after the show ended; she wanted buy some soap but didn't want to do so in front of the other people as she'd feel like she'd have to buy from them too. She bought 6 bars!

My most fun sale?  Another staff member just hurrying through the room stopped, read my sign, asked for the men's fragrances.  Smelled them all, wasn't happy. I handed him a purple/green swirled bar and he smelled,  said "Mmmmm….Bingo!"   The scent?   Double Lavender!!


----------



## dixiedragon (Oct 4, 2018)

Thanks for updating! That is interesting! 

My thoughts on drawing more traffic:
- Create a Facebook page for the event. When the date rolls around, you and other vendors click the "like" (which will share it with your friends) and also invite people. They can also use local Facebook pages - for example, community facebook pages, to spread the word. 
- Have something else there to draw people - but NOT kid stuff! From watching my mom, I've quickly learned that the families with little kids are going to get food, go the free bouncy house, get their faces painted and go home. 

If I were you, I'd drop off samples a few weeks before. Let everybody try your soap, then they might want to buy!


----------



## Lin19687 (Oct 4, 2018)

So glad you had a great time !!!!
Senior centers don't have much traffic.  Around here THEY are the ones that are selling the crafts 

Pick the cheaper smaller shows till you get the hang of it.  Took me a couple months to stop being so shy.  But I still don't engage people unless they come in and start to look.


----------



## cmzaha (Oct 4, 2018)

Glad you at least enjoyed your first market. I did not want to discourage and be a nay-say Nellie, and mention before you did the craft fair that Senior Centers are usually not good along with schools, even for Holiday Fairs. But it was a good way to introduce yourself to markets and selling. Also, seniors are not the best target market, the forties to fifties are the biggest spenders, at least for me. I do have a few  70'ish customers, but many times they are purchasing for gifts.


----------



## shunt2011 (Oct 4, 2018)

So glad you had a good time. I too tried a senior center last year for a friend and if it wasn’t for the workers it would have been a total bust.  You’ll get more comfortable the more you do it. You got your feet wet. Congratulations!


----------



## lsg (Oct 4, 2018)

I am glad to hear that it went well.


----------



## lenarenee (Oct 4, 2018)

Relle said:


> Good luck Lenarenee, don't worry too much, it is, what it is - last minute. A cute piggy or two will get them to your table .



And don't think that I wasn't tempted to try it!!



cmzaha said:


> Glad you at least enjoyed your first market. I did not want to discourage and be a nay-say Nellie, and mention before you did the craft fair that Senior Centers are usually not good along with schools, even for Holiday Fairs. But it was a good way to introduce yourself to markets and selling. Also, seniors are not the best target market, the forties to fifties are the biggest spenders, at least for me. I do have a few  70'ish customers, but many times they are purchasing for gifts.



No worries there - I didn't really expect much, I wasn't prepared (still have handwritten labels, still no official company name, no proper displays, etc.) and I knew that those facts weren't too much of a problem there.


----------



## cmzaha (Oct 4, 2018)

You were very correct.


----------



## dibbles (Oct 4, 2018)

Glad you had fun and at least covered your costs. Congrats!


----------



## lenarenee (Oct 5, 2018)

cmzaha said:


> Glad you at least enjoyed your first market. I did not want to discourage and be a nay-say Nellie, and mention before you did the craft fair that Senior Centers are usually not good along with schools, even for Holiday Fairs. But it was a good way to introduce yourself to markets and selling. Also, seniors are not the best target market, the forties to fifties are the biggest spenders, at least for me. I do have a few  70'ish customers, but many times they are purchasing for gifts.



I'm wondering if I should target millennials more. (not trying to sound like I'm a real business owner here) From my very limited experience I find they are the most open and eager when they hear I make soap, they want to hear all about it and want to try it. The middle aged women want soap to give as gifts, or pick a soap to match their bathroom.  I'm not a marketer though, and have no idea which group ultimately would buy my soap.


----------



## cmzaha (Oct 5, 2018)

Problem with millennials many have young families and not a lot of disposable income today. For me the forties group are the largest buyers. Fifties buy but 60 up it slows down

If you do get to selling in markets if you happen to have a male that would go with you you could target men. I find men by from men and are a very faithful clientele. Problem is they will not buy as well from women unless they are a regular. I have finally built up a nice men clientele at the market I do now. At my former Friday night market we sold 2:1 men to women and they would almost always buy multiples.


----------



## shunt2011 (Oct 5, 2018)

I too find that 40+ are my best customers for the most part.   I have quite a few men that are regulars and look for me.  They by their years worth of soap/scrubs at one time.  I sell more scrubs/lip balm and bath bombs to the younger crowd.


----------

