The People you meet: Various Vendors

Over the past few years, we've been to festivals, cons, art shows and pure craft shows.  The audience has ranged from 100 - 100,000.  Throughout it all we have learned a lot about our process and practices.  We have taken what we learned and used it to make tweaks to our set up, products and patter.  We've observed how people interact with our displays and then experimented to see if we can improve their experience. It has been an amazing experience.  This series is an attempt to share what we've learned.  

The vendors around us have ranged from first time wet behind the ears to been there done that made more than you experts.  Upon reflecting about our various booth neighbors I realize we have developed a sort of short hand to communicate the various styles and a set of responses to them.  I've already addressed the polite professional.  You can read about that in this blog post.  Here are a few of the others. 

The Attentive Newbie. This is a first time vendor.  They are excited about their products.  They have high expectations for the day.  They make mistakes.  It is OK.  It can be fun to be next to a newbie.  Engage with them.  Show them the ropes. Let them know what they are doing right and then you can politely let them know what they are doing wrong.  For example, "I like your 7 foot tall shelf full of fragile things however it is in the aisle and you don't want customers bumping in to it and knocking it over.  Perhaps you should put it in the back corner where they can see it but won't break it." Engage with them and help them learn the ropes.  It can be a fun day and you can help some one become a better booth neighbor.


The Poacher.  There is an unwritten rule that customers passing in front of your booth are your customers.  This can be extended a wee bit if a customer on the edge of your space is looking directly at you.  You are free to address customers in your zone.  You can politely acknowledge customers on the edge who are making eye contact.  Once the customer passes outside of your zone, they are no longer your customer.  Retreating backs are NOT customers.  The poacher either stands in the aisle or in the front of their both.  They engage with customers outside of their zone.  They distract a customer who is looking at another booth.  Some poachers justify their practice because they are offering deals, raffles or prizes. They tend to be gimmicks and do not tend to appeal to customers looking for handmade even when it is a handmade seller.  An extreme poacher will follow customers into a neighboring booth.  While poachers think that this is a good marketing strategy it usually isn't.  Most of the time poaching reeks of desperation and customers can smell it. It frequently causes approaching customers to turn and walk the other way and can completely scare customers away from all of the surrounding booths.

Chasers.  While I described chasers under poaching, they deserve a special mention.  Chasing down customers and following them into other booths is bad form.  Don't do it.  A good show host will not allow chasers to continue.

Aisle Blockers.  There are several categories of blockers.

Space Blockers.   Each show has a set booth space.  You are expected to stay inside the boundaries set for you by the show host.  If you have a 10x10 space EVERYTHING needed to run your booth must fit within that 10x10 boundary.  Even if the aisle is 20 feet wide.  You need to keep your stuff inside your space.  Moving a rack or sign or wall into the aisle can be a violation of fire codes.  It is usually a pure safety hazard.  Don't do it.  With regards to your neighbors it is just plain rude.  It blocks the view of their booth from the aisle.  It interferes with airflow on hot days.  It causes traffic to move wide around the blockage and can cause customers to overlook small products in neighboring booths.

Some shows do have exceptions.  Sometimes there is a small aisle behind the booth between the rows.  Politely discuss use of this space with your backdoor neighbor.  It can be a very friendly spot to be in as long as you share fairly and play nicely.  Some shows also have a wee bit of wiggle room.  They may mark an11x11 spot for a 10x10 space.  That means that if you put your tent to the back of your spot you can slide out ONE foot in front of it.  Don't be a camel.  Stay behind the blue tape or the red line.  Keep it LOW.

Customer blockers.  Some booths are popular.  They have lots of customers and are very busy.  Customers line up to get in.  Customers watch from across the aisle.  A busy booth vendor can't do a lot about that.  They are usually too busy to notice what is going on outside the tent.  Good ones, however, encourage people to step in, do what they can to politely suggest they don't block the aisle and bring in more helpers to speed things up.  While it may be annoying to be next to the popular booth you should look on it as an opportunity.  There are a lot of people coming down your aisle and there are a lot of people in your zone while they wait to get into the booth next door.  Engage with them.  Offer shade, water for their pet, a bag to hold all their loose objects(a bag that has your contact information).  Ask what brings them to event, where they are from, what they are looking for.  Invite them in to look around while they wait.  That few seconds of engagement is an opportunity to attract their attention and get a second look.  Take advantage of it.

The other thing to do is to observe.  Are they selling something unique?  If they are selling the same things as everyone else, what are they doing to stand out?  What does their booth look like?  Watch how they engage with the customers.  You can learn a lot from them!

The one thing to never do is publicly grouse about it.  No one wants to hear you bad mouth another vendor and customers who like the busy booth are not going to jump in and buy from you because you gossip about their favorite.

Chatty Cathy Blockers.  These are the vendors who have 35 members of their family in and around their booth all day.  There are at least 5 people who don't fit in their space and who spill out to stand in front of the neighboring booths.  This is rude.  Don't allow it to happen. It is great to have support.  It is great to bring people to the show.  Do not allow them to block the aisles or other booths.  Move them in or move them out.  The end.

If you are next to the family reunion, it may take you a while to realize that they are probably not customers.  Once you do you will likely start to notice that they are smoking, drinking and allowing their children to run wild with sticky fingers all over your products.... take a deep breath is usually isn't that bad.  Now, you can politely ask them to move.  You can politely ask the vendor to ask them to move.  You can move in front of your booth to 'rearrange or straighten products" and say excuse me a lot.  Usually they will get the message and move for a bit.  Wash. Rinse.  Repeat.

If you are the recipient of familial love, please be aware of where they are.  Ask them to stay within your zone.  Encourage them to visit the rest of the show.  Tell them about the amazing artist in the next booth with the incredible art that they should buy for Great Aunt Esther.  If they don't get the hint tell them to go home and come back when you need help cleaning up!