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glort
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 p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Wedding fairs as a vendor, thoughts, experience, advice? | |
nolaguy wrote:
With all respect, this theory has been tossed about for at least 20 years. If it were the case, all major retailers would be using the no-counter approach.
You are spot on Chuck.
That was what I was advised 20 years back with my first fair and the concept was a flop.
In all the years I have seen vendors do this, it always appeared to never work right UNLESS you are selling products that the clients can pick up and look at.
I believe open booths at trade shows go against some sort of natural comfort people feel and they avoid them. I did a show a few years ago which was basically a tourism show I helped a friend with. There were some big open booths there but people would not walk in and the staff were all positioned right at the front of the thing making the whole no counter idea rather a moot point.
In the linked thread above Francais said he tried it and had difficulty and ended up putting tables on the sides of his walk through booths and got a better result.
The buffer of the counter might be seen as a barrier but im not sure to what? I think from the clients POV it's a barrier to an invasion of their personal space which is a very good thing for them. No one wants people they don't know, especially people trying to sell them getting too close.
Counters work for me.
I put albums for them to look at, Entry forms for them to fill in , a plastic fish bowl of sweets and another full of business cards and of course my brochures. They are strewn everywhere and it looks like a dog breakfast. It also looks like I'm busy ( which I am!) and it looks like that 2 minutes after you tidy it all up which then makes people feel nervous about messing it up. A mish mash of entry forms, brochues and a few business card which the albums are sitting on works fine. The counter also gives me space underneath to hide assorted crap and supplies under which can't be seen and allows the rest of the booth to look perfect.
I think doing what works is more important than going with a theory and having a counter is something I have incorporated into my formula and has been a definite asset. I can talk to people very easily over that 60 cm of " barrier" and each person standing against the barrier is plenty close enough and you would probably stand further apart as personal space to talk if it wasn't there.
In the studio I don't sit opposite the clients, They sit on a lounge and I sit in a chair at one end so I am not opposing them. There is a coffee table in front of them which has albums etc. I leave space at the end of the counter at the bridal fairs so staff can enter and exit the booth and sometimes I stand in the gap at the end to give people a clearer view of the images but most of the time sit or stand at one end facing people. I'm not that big and wide they can see round me into a 3m booth.
It you are experienced at shows and have a formula for open, walk in booths then by all means go with that but for people that have never done them before, I would suggest getting some runs under the belt first with a conventional layout ( counter) booth before trying to get too creative and fancy. There is so much to learn in what pictures the clients respond best to, polishing your sales spiel, Learning little things like don't make the stuff on the counter all neat and tidy, a mess is more effective, and so it goes.
I really don't think having a counter is going to put anyone off booking you if you come across as a nice guy with good pictures in a price bracket they can afford but if they are put off talking to you in the first place because they don't want to come into an open booth, then you may never get the chance to engage them in the first place to build the all important rapport.
One other thing with counters...... I HAVE on so many occasions been able to talk to multiple people all at once. They stand there and someone asks a question and you can see others craning in listening and asking questions. Someone says they want to book and 3 other people will all say they do too. The idea of the no counter is so you get more one on one but this sort of sales environment is a numbers game. Yeah, if it's quiet, spend more time with them but if you have people 5 deep as is the case often on the big shows I have done, you need to engage as many as possible as quickly as possible with just enough info to get them to come back where you can crunch them properly.
I will guarantee if you are running a competition to get a mailing list and you want the people to walk into the booth, your mailing list will be a fraction of what it would be if you had a counter. If you just put an entry stand at the front of the booth and don't engage the people to sort out the brides from the bridesmaids, you will end up with 60% ( at least) of the database being for non brides.
For me, that would be OK because I use it to push secondary products and any lead is a good lead but for others only doing weddings, you probably aren't going to be able to do much with the already married friend and sister of the brides details other than waste your time.
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| Mar 05, 2016 at 07:09 PM |
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