Week Long Fourth of July Booth....help!

[Pampered Patty]

Hi! I made a decision to have a booth at a Fourth of July celebration, that goes from Thursday (June 30 through July 4), and I'm looking for all the advice I can get. Twenty-five thousand people go through this event! And unfortunately I couldn't get another consultant to help out, so i'm alone. My husband and a friend will help out as they can...but otherwise....yikes!

Recipes: I've never done a booth and so need to know what recipes might be good to do several times a day. I have a microwave to take and will do a fudge demo, and am thinking of doing the fruit salsa (using graham crackers instead of bread for time's sake). Any other ideas?

Sales: How are sales handled? As individual sales? I have a few things to sell, but didn't want to stock up on anything so orders will be taken.

Drawings: i'm taking the advice i've seen here...and am so grateful for this Web site and the opportunity it presents for us to help each other....and am having drawings for free shows (several a day) and a grand prize drawing at week's end.

I have a handout, books, order blanks, gift certificates, consultant agreements, a tent, tables, chairs, microwave, and going to set up a table top display too.

What else? What is protocol for events of this length (dish washing, etc...)?

If you would like to discuss your advice by phone, please call me at 989-832-1948 (Michigan). Thanks much!

Patty

 

[PCALISON437613]

Booth in MichiganHi: I too live in Michigan, Harrison Twp. I have family that lives in Midland and Mount Pleasant and take the trip at least once a month. I would of loved to help you at your booth unfortunately my schedule is full those days. I just did a booth yesterday here and could give you some pointers please feel free to email me.
Alison
[email protected]

 

[pamperedbecky]

Most fairs and booths that I've been a part of don't allow food. That may be something you'll want to double check. I wouldn't demo an actual recipe, but if you're allowed to have food, have some carrots on hand to use the Food Chopper on. If you have the Ultimate Slice and Grate, that's a great one to demo with potatoes. What I do when I have tables or booths is I gather all the orders I take that day and hopefully it'll be enough to submit as a show. I would think that after a week there, you should have enough orders for it to count as a show. You can list yourself as the host, or pick a mystery host out of all the orders you get. You could do a minimum like, place a $50 order and be entered in a drawing to get the host benefits. Unless everyone will live close by you and you don't mind delivering orders, you would probably need to charge them the extra shipping to have it shipped directly to them. I think the free kitchen show drawing is a great idea. I've had a lot of luck with that!

Will it be in a location with air conditioning? That's always tough during the summer when I've done county fairs and stuff like that. Some of those buildings don't have air. Yuck! If you're anything like around Chicago today, the temps were 96-98 degrees! If it's hot and you do have samples (if they allow it) think about using the Chillzanne Server to serve something that may get musy or melt. Those Caramel Oatmeal Chews (I think that's what they're called) in the Celebrate Cookbook are good ones to use as samples, but they may melt and get mushy in the heat.

Good luck! It sounds like a great opportunity. Definitely have lots of recruiting stuff on hand. It's a great way to get practice talking about the opportunity. Let us know how it goes.

 

[pamperedbecky]

Oh and be sure to use OLD catalogs if you have any. You could go through TONS of catalogs by handing them out to people who won't necessarily do anything with them. I always use old catalogs then offer to send them a current one. This is a good way to get their address, number and email address and to know if they're really interested in seeing a catalog. Even thought you'd pay for postage to send it, at least you'll have their contact info. If they take catalogs from you, you have no way to follow up with them regarding ordering anything.

I've done quite a few fairs and booths and one thing to keep in mind is you never know when a lead is going to pay off! I've had leads I've gotten pay off a year later when they finally decide to host a show. That's why it's good to strike up as many conversations as possible and get names on your mailing list. I also write little comments after I've talked with them about what the person liked about PC, what products they have, so I can remember them.

 

[Pampered Patty]

Many thanksBecky and Alison,

Many heartfelt thanks for all your advice! I've been in a tizzy trying to find recipes that won't be affected too much by the outside weather. I'll be sure to take old catalogs. I have also created a "4 up" flyer that I'm getting copied that will work for other situations in case I don't hand out all the supply. Finished, it will be a postcard with two recipes and a cleaning tip on one side and a replica of my business card on the other.

One thing I have decided to do is make a luminary out of a watermelon. I found it in Showstoppers on the PC site. Since candles and tents don't normally mix, I bought a small flashlight to light it up with, and will try coating it with some flower drying stuff to preserve it for a couple days.

Please feel free to send me more advice. My email is [email protected].

Thanks SO much!

Patty

 

[cheftiffany]

I've done several fairs and i always learn somethign new at each one. I won't recommend having any food to hand out. Also when you use a tool to demo then it is dirty and people like to be able to touch it. Don't have any catalogs out and keep your door prize drawing on you. I will attach the one I made. the original idea I got from someone else but have made it my own since then. I recently had two fairs pretty close to each other. At the first fair I was working it with several other girls and we decided to not hand out catalogs because they could get mixed up. So then we had to mail them all. It got to be pretty expensive and I said that I won't do that again. So the next fair I just kept the catalogs under my table and asked them to fill out a DPDS to be able to receive a current catalog. They didn't know I had one there and would fill it out if they were really interested. SO then I would hand them one and we would both be happy. I also made it clear that I would be calling in the next few days to talk to them about hosting or ordering. It really worked out better and was quicker results since I didnt' have to wait for them to get the catalog in the mail.

OK my file size it too large email me and I will send it to you.