Sales Aids

Included in sales aids would be price tags, romance tags, business cards, leaflets, practical demonstrations, and photo books showing the creating of the items from start to finish.

As we said before, all items must be clearly marked with the price and tax information if sales tax is to be collected. Customers do not want to ask a price and they especially do not want to be embarrassed when they find a price too high. We are surprised at the large number of vendors who do not mark the goods with a price or tax information.

Cards and leaflets should include the name of the business, artist name or both. Other information could be an address, telephone number and a website address. These should be placed where visitors to your booth can pick them up and that includes more than just customers. Show promoters routinely pick up cards to add to their mailing list.

A good card can be made with heavy weight stock on your computer using a graphic or drawing program or even Microsoft Word. It seems like most folks use inkjet printers, for what ever reason, but an inkjet may not be the best choice. The ink used in the printers tends to be water soluble and will run if it gets wet. Try to find a friend or acquaintance who has a laserjet printer.

Or buy a laserjet printer. Laserjet printers use toner, which is a dry powder instead of ink so the copies are waterproof. Laserjet printers are much less expensive to operate than an inkjet. People may balk at a toner cartridge that costs $75.00 and up but the cost to print a laserjet page might be 2 to 4 cents while an inkjet page might be 5 to 8 times as much.

There are many sites on the internet that compare the prices but our experience has shown that we get a better product for less with the laserjet. Also if you buy a used or factory refurbished machine you will save more.

Leaflets and small catalogs are handy for customers when they want to place an order after the show. Your wares should carry some type of identification and contact information if at all possible. If not then attach a tag or put a card or leaflet in the bag or box or attach it to the sold item. Add your website address to all sales aids so people easily find and contact you. Tags may be small but a website can contain a whole lot more information.

Some artists make up picture books detailing the progression of the art from conception to the finished product. This helps to reassure customers that your goods are indeed hand crafted and helps to build an appreciation for the amount of work that goes ito the product.

It's always a surprise to us when we are asked if we create our own stock. Once a woman doubted our claim stating that the products were too perfect for us to have made by hand. On another occasion a woman adamantly insisted our stoneware wind chimes were made from bread dough. Thinking back, I am not sure even a picture book would have convinced either of these people.

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