UK Craft Fayres Do's and Don'ts

Hi Crafters

The last in the series of Craft Fayres for Hobby Crafters

You are ready to try out a craft fayre or at the very least a table top sale. You have decided on your venue and secured a space, all that is left is to make the absolute most of the day.

5 Must Do's for setting up

1. Find a Theme: Your table needs to tell the customer immediately what you are selling, it needs to catch the eye and be tidy. You only  have a short time as potential customers walk past.
2. Display items so they are easy to see and pick up: Whilst baskets and drawers may look attractive if the item inside is not easy to see, the customer will be past your stall without knowing what you have on the table. Make the items on different levels with the higher displays at the back and as colourful and attractive as possible.
3. Always do a trial run before you get to the venue: You should know the size of table you have for the fayre so mark it up on the floor at home with ribbon or string and set your items up. If possible take a video or pictures of the set up once you are happy with it and you can then reproduce it once you arrive at the venue.  Not only will a trial run help make the best possible display, it will tell you what props and display items you need, you can list them and tick them off when packing up your wares to go to the show. If you can add lighting even better but as this is for the Hobby Crafters do not go to a big expense at this stage. 
4. Always Price your items: Think of your stall as a shop front, how do you feel when you see items in a window but no prices. For me that is a definite No! No!, and I walk past. Unless you are selling the hottest items and the best price anywhere you cannot afford to make any potential customers reluctant to engage with you.
5. Use attractive packaging and display for your contact details . Home made tags can be very effective with a short note on the item, and your message to the customer. Always have business cards flyers or some sort of contact details displayed. There are some good ideas on YouTube and Pinterest. I use a little hand made carton to hold a card that gives my email and website details. I also send these out to all ebay customers.

As you can see they make a colourful  display and are inviting to passersby The smaller items is made using a 4 x 4 piece of craft paper whilst the bigger one is using 6 x 6 double sided craft card 
The smaller pack would be perfect to package small charms, earrings etc or I have made them to pop individual sweets in that I can put on the table for customers 

You will always do better when you engage with people attending the fayre, whether that is customers or other stall holders. If you can take a friend to help that would be good but not essential for local fayres when you are starting out as they usually last for a few hours rather than the more professional fayres that go on all day. Ideally if you do not have anyone going with you try to talk a friend or fellow crafter you know into attending the fayre, you will have someone to call on if you need a comfort break or to want to get a drink. 

With that in mind here are 3 things to do to increase your sales

1. Engage with vistors: It is really important to talk to people and engage in some way. This is not always easy and a few rebuffs may put you off, but you must try to attract and get people viewing your items even if they do not result in a sale you will learn more about the art of craft fayres. You can do this by asking a question, make it pertinent to your goods, and listen to the customers responses. So if you make toiletries you could ask if they would like to smell the soap. If you make scarves "would you like to feel the softness of this wool" you get the idea!
2. If possible offer handouts, freebies or tasters. This is not always possible, but once a customer is engaged it is much more likely to end in  a sale. I had some Christmas pencil sets that I gave to children visiting last years Christmas Fayre and that worked well. This year I am going to try some little brag books, they take one piece of 12 x 12 paper, I enjoy making them and they will showcase the type of paper-crafts I make.
3. Never sit behind your stall reading a book,or talking on your phone. Nothing puts people off more. You may think it is inoffensive, but unless you are taking an order for 100 £5 greeting cards, trust me you are losing sales. People attending craft fayres like hand crafted items, they like the idea of them and they buy them, they also like to know what they are buying and the message about your particular product can only be told to them by you engaging. So hopefully  by now you get how important the part about engaging is. 

If this sounds a little like a lecture, then I will take a break and remind you this is a hobby and you want to enjoy it. Having a stall should be part of that enjoyment as successful selling validates your craft makes, and brings you together with like-minded people. So I hope once you get over the initial reticence you will talk happily to visitors and have a good day. 

I will finish this with a few words on information you can collate and use from the days work. 
Always keep a note of sales. If a customer makes a comment you think will be helpful in  any way write it down. If you take orders, make sure the order forms are ready to hand and that you inform people of the choices you offer, and the timescale for delivery, this should be on the order form.   
When you get home and put your feet up, try to make sense of your sales and notes and make notes for the next sale. What went well, what did not sell and if there were areas you could improve. 
If you take a look at Lyriclover on Youtube she does a breakdown video on her Christmas Craft Fayre and literally goes through the items on her table talking about how well they did. Your outcome may will be different but the principles are the same when gathering information on customers and the market place. 

If this all sounds a bit daunting, it does not have to be. This is a hobby and should be enjoyed, but if you want to keep on making lots of lovely craft items without overfilling the craft room, and like me you cannot bear the idea of throwing away previous makes, then selling at Craft Fayres are a good way to go. The alternative (making less) is not really an option for me.   

Happy Crafting
Dee