Did I Do the Right Thing? - A Tale of Craft Fair Woes

[stacypc05]

Did I do the right thing, or did I kick myself in the butt??

On Saturday I did a Holiday craft, I paid $25. for the spot. Mind you I was in contact with the person in charge for the week before.

So on Saturday morning I begin pulling my stuff out of the van, and from a distance I see stripes. My heart is pounding, I was angry. I put my stuff down and head to the in charge lady to find out where I am setting up. She shows me. I am across the patio from another consultant. I show her that we are in a predictament. Do I leave, stay, what choice do I have? So I decide to stay but go to a different spot. It was not a large fair so all day we each heard, "you realize that their is another one on the other side?" Yes we do.

Well before the fair official opened I was big enough to go introduce myself. I am not evil and did not want to cry. I was doing this to get some parties booked. Very slow here.

Has this ever happened to you??

Did I do the right thing??

What could I have done different??

We both had a bad day. At least thats what she told me.

And I already have a call into the fair coordinator.

Thank you for your support,
Stacy Hughes

 

[DebbieJ]

Wow, the fair coordinator did not do her job right if she booked TWO PC consultants! Yikes!

How demoralizing for both of you.

Sounds like you did the right thing by staying and moving and not making a big deal out of it all. I don't know if I would have done the same. I would definitely ask for my $25 back, though!

 

[pamperedbecky]

That's terrible! That's either very poor coordination on the part of the organizer or she blatantly did you a disservice (maybe just to get the $$?). Obviously it ended up affecting BOTH of your businesses that day. I would be upset too and I think it was nice of you to introduce yourself to the other consultant. I would wait and hear from the person who organized it...maybe there was some huge mistake. But, I would be tempted to ask for part or all of that $25 back. I think the fair thing for them to do would be to refund at least half of BOTH of your money. Obviously we all do fairs that don't go well and it's not like we're entitled to any of the fees back, but this is a different situation.

Let us know what happens. Good luck!

 

[monica_sweetconsultant]

the same thing happened to me this weekend. every month we have what is called a flea market but its really a craft fair. its a huge even...2 buildings. anyways this was my second month doing this. well i decided to take a break and walk around a little and let my hubby watch my booth. i walked to the next building and see a big sign that says pampered chef. at first i was really angry and then i went and talked to the girl. she had just moved to the area and she lives about 2 hours away from me. so i kind of felt sorry for herbut was angry because she said that the coordinator told her they didnt have any pampered chef booths. keep in mind these booths run almost $70 every month. my day was somewhat successful. i walked away with 121.00 worth of sales, no bookings, but one possible recruit. i am not going to get my hopes up about her because last month i had one and she gave me a phony number...sooo we'll see when i try and call tonight!!

If it was me in your situation i would ask for half of my money back and IF you decided to do it again make sure you are the only consultant ahead of time. i dont think you did anything wrong.

 

[luvs2sellit]

I would definetely ask for some kind of refund. The coordinator should never have booked 2.

 

[chefloriray]

When I am doing a fair of some sort I ALWAYS ask if there is any other PC Consultants going to be there. Some have responded with "you are the first one to ask so there wont be any others" and some have said "I cant turn anyone down so there still may be." I have never ran into the situation before, but maybe if I am already there another consultant will say "I would rather not since there will already be a consultant at the event". I am sorry about this happening to you as I dont know how I would have handled that. I definatley would have said something to the coordinator of the event.

 

[pampered1224]

Brava!!!You did the right thing! Just so you know that. If you had done anything else, you simply would have looked bad.
Business was bad not becasue of two of you being there either. It would have been bad either way. You know if people want something they would either go to you or her. Odviously she has no reason to lie to you about how she did. At least we should hope not as that makes no sense.
So you must deduce that the crowd was not interested.
But you handled yourself with dignity and grace and that is PERFECTION!
Now you get down and dirty and get at least half your money back if you can!
Your only beef is with that chairperson. (Who by the way, needs a good swift kick!)

 

[its_me_susan]

Did I do the right thing, or did I kick myself in the butt??

On Saturday I did a Holiday craft, I paid $25. for the spot. Mind you I was in contact with the person in charge for the week before.

So on Saturday morning I begin pulling my stuff out of the van, and from a distance I see stripes. My heart is pounding, I was angry. I put my stuff down and head to the in charge lady to find out where I am setting up. She shows me. I am across the patio from another consultant. I show her that we are in a predictament. Do I leave, stay, what choice do I have? So I decide to stay but go to a different spot. It was not a large fair so all day we each heard, "you realize that their is another one on the other side?" Yes we do.

Well before the fair official opened I was big enough to go introduce myself. I am not evil and did not want to cry. I was doing this to get some parties booked. Very slow here.

Thank you for your support,
Stacy Hughes

(((( Stacy how upsetting ))))!!!! I do hope you at least get a sincere apology. I have learned something from your post (to always ask if there is another PC rep).

I just wanted to tell you my director has told me (and I now believe her) that these kinds of fairs are never big sales events for us, especially around the holidays when people want to buy and TAKE gifts with them. But they are good places to meet potential hosts & recruits (I just signed one I met at my last boutique). Make a framed "Win a $15 gift certificate" drawing.... Tell them they don't have to be there to win, and you are also giving away the opportunity to win a FREE kitchen show. Be sure to offer your winner the change to double the gift certificate if they book a kitchen show, and then call EVERYONE else and tell them they've won the FREE kitchen show (where you pay for the ingredients). Good luck at your next one.