The Last Show of 2010

Image by michaelallroy via Flickr

We have our last Christmas show this Friday - which is a big relief as they are such hard work. You have the day before sorting out the stock, signs etc, and then the show itself, followed by another day putting the stock away, adjusting the stock, and doing the banking. Also the day job still needs tackling - so after a month with no time off, the thought of a show free weekend seems very luxurious.
I do feel that we have had a more successful show season this year than last year. Obviously we were only just setting up last year, but monetary wise we have done better this year, although emerging from the recession may be a large part in this.  I am pleased to say that we did learn from the mistakes we made a year ago. Finding the right environment to sell your product in is critical - a big clue last year was the number of times customers said, "we are surprised to see you here?". Often it was a very local craft fair and our not so crafty luxury items stood out a mile.
Snobby as it sounds, when selling table linen for fine dining,if the visitors to the fair are donning tracksuits, and want free samples, you know you are onto a loser before you start.
The other big difference is our mix has evolved - whereas a year ago we sold just the textiles, this time our wider range of pick up gifts have been the solution to a lot of customers present buying dilemma's.
Hearing customers say - this is the nicest stand here - (that was at the NEC!), was also a huge boost, as you feel you must be getting something right.
So we now are looking forward to 2010 - and revisiting our marketing plan. What worked, didn't work, which shows shall we do again, and which were frankly a waste of time. It is at times like this, I wish I had a crystal ball - knowing which ads will work, and which are a con, which shows will have a good footfall of the RIGHT type of customers. But as I said at the beginning, I am pleased that we have learnt from our mistakes, we are evolving, and feel that we are in an even stronger position to tackle 2010. Bring it on!