BrianMaruska 12 Posted January 31, 2014 There is a large regional 3 day car show coming up in Rapid City in early March. I have never set up at a car show nor much more than a "Heritage Days" table. I have two cars that I have wrapped to include in my booth as well as shirts, jackets, banners, etc. to display a lot of things that I do to benefit both car companies that will be at the show as well as the projected 12,000 people in attendance. I have two 8 ft sections of grid wall to set up with hooks a junk for shirts, hats, etc. I plan to try and sell a few things as well as offer some "show deals" on banners and even rough estimate car wraps. I will have my iPad with card reader available for any sales/deposits. Has anyone else ever set up at something similar to this? Just looking for some type of direction of things I may be missing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HDN 95 Posted January 31, 2014 I have a weekly email list I send out called First Dibs. So when ever I do a show or a booth I always make sure I have a way to gather email address. I found plain cards work best. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slice&dice 2,450 Posted January 31, 2014 Featuring half-naked models seems to be a popular tactic. Oooops, wrong photo ---- Also, to get people to give you their cards, maybe offer a promotional give-away sweepstakes prize(s). Put out a fishbowl for them to drop in their cards for a chance at winning. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jfought 120 Posted January 31, 2014 now that's funny right there!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FrznFire07 217 Posted January 31, 2014 Sounds like a great place to sell overpriced decals! People tend to pay way to much for decals, shirts etc... at events like these! Sounds like a great opportunity for you, good luck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bikemike 711 Posted January 31, 2014 At something that big make sure you are not selling or displaying ford, chev or any other copy write stuff. Not that anyone from here would do that. Just sayin. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OWJones 1,981 Posted February 1, 2014 Make sure you have business cards and/or flyers to give away to people. Lots of them. I've had mixed luck with the Free Drawing fishbowls... You end up with a bunch of slips of paper who stopped by your booth, but you're not sure which of these people are actually interested in your product line, and who just signed up to win. I also don't cold call clients to drum up work, that's just not my style. If you're just doing it to get people to stop by your booth, then it can work to your advantage. As bikemike said above, avoid anything copyrighted unless you're specifically licensed to sell it - the bigger the show, the greater the probability that the IP Cops are out looking for violators. They can still show up for tiny events, so there is never really a safe time... There have been shows I was at where I wished they would show up because of people selling obviously non-licensed goods and then customers get shocked when I won't break the law like the idiots at the next booth are... :-( Anything you can do to promote your own products - wear one of your shirts - wear one of your hats - etc. and let people see the items being used. Many years ago when I got suckered into signing up to be an Amway distributor, one of the few useful things I learned (other than don't signup to be an Amway distributor) is to let people see that you use the products you sell so they know that you trust the product. Of course that lesson was followed by "you should fill every room in your home with Amway merchandise to show how you believe in Amway (and to let those commissions work their way up the pyramid so we can afford a 3rd Land Rover)"... If you can make lanyards or ID badges, do so - wear one - make sure people see your name and it's yet another product example you can point to. If the show is outdoors, make sure everything is securely attached and well weighted. At our ZombieFest last October, it was an incredibly windy day and I saw vendor displays collapse or flip over because they weren't used to doing outdoor shows and having to deal with the elements. If you're going to actually sell items, bring a butt-load of change and get a lockable change drawer. I bought P.O.S. cash drawer that can be attached to a computer to make a cash register. I cut the wire off of it and just use the key to open and close it. I think I paid around $35 with S&H off of ebay and it makes you look more professional that pulling a wad of cash out of your pocket. It also makes that satisfying "Ding!" sounds when you open the drawer - another sale made! Bring pens to take notes and/or let people write notes on your business cards/flyers. You can buy bags of cheap pens for $1/dozen at Dollar Tree. If you're going to be outside and uncovered, bring suntan lotion and keep it handy for people who didn't bring any. I travel around doing shows with my brother and his wife. We have a plastic tote we take with us that is stocked with suntan lotion, aloe gel for sunburn relief, those pocket packs of Kleenex tissues, large bottles of generic Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen, insect repellent, etc. We offer to let people use the items if we see they're in need. Offering a free tissue to a kid with a runny nose goes along way towards convincing a parent that you're "good people" and will go a long way in building future customer relations. We got the idea at one of the first shows we ever did - it had rained all night and was gray and dreary in the morning, by noon when things started picking up, the sun had come out and it was a blistering hot, humid Iowa Summer Day and for some reason I had a bottle of suntan lotion in my truck and I left it visible in the booth and several people stopped and asked if we had any for sale - "No, but here, help yourself to some!" and then they stuck around and shopped our booths. Same thing with the insect repellent at a July 4th show in a heavily wooded park - I could have made a small fortune selling repellent if I had planned ahead... Keep a notepad for your own purposes and write down things that you need to add to your checklist prior to the next big show. We make notes of what else we need to add to "the tub" as we call our tote of various sundries. Bring chairs - it amazes me the number of people I see show up for shows like this and they end up standing all day because they didn't bring chairs. It looks more professional to stand, sure, but when no one is around, it feels great to take a load off... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BrianMaruska 12 Posted February 1, 2014 I have a weekly email list I send out called First Dibs. So when ever I do a show or a booth I always make sure I have a way to gather email address. I found plain cards work best. I just signed up with a "MailChimp" like service for exactly this purpose. Great suggestion to start growing that list! Thanks! Featuring half-naked models seems to be a popular tactic. Oooops, wrong photo ---- Also, to get people to give you their cards, maybe offer a promotional give-away sweepstakes prize(s). Put out a fishbowl for them to drop in their cards for a chance at winning. I thought about this - similar to the above suggestion. I'm not sure what to giveaway though. Unless I can maybe tie in another business that I do a lot of work with and give something nice away. And I can definitely pull off that same look if I bought a nice Subaru to give away Sounds like a great place to sell overpriced decals!People tend to pay way to much for decals, shirts etc... at events like these! Sounds like a great opportunity for you, good luck! Considering making a large decal example board for something like this but I am wanting to maybe push more of my wraps, shirts and banners.. Does someone charge somewhere in the range of $5 per small decal? But I feel as if then I get into the issues of having different colors of each decal. Any further thoughts? At something that big make sure you are not selling or displaying ford, chev or any other copy write stuff.Not that anyone from here would do that. Just sayin. I see that a lot with other type of vendors - metal workers, painters, etc. Drives me nuts. Make sure you have business cards and/or flyers to give away to people. Lots of them. I've had mixed luck with the Free Drawing fishbowls... You end up with a bunch of slips of paper who stopped by your booth, but you're not sure which of these people are actually interested in your product line, and who just signed up to win. I also don't cold call clients to drum up work, that's just not my style. If you're just doing it to get people to stop by your booth, then it can work to your advantage. As bikemike said above, avoid anything copyrighted unless you're specifically licensed to sell it - the bigger the show, the greater the probability that the IP Cops are out looking for violators. They can still show up for tiny events, so there is never really a safe time... There have been shows I was at where I wished they would show up because of people selling obviously non-licensed goods and then customers get shocked when I won't break the law like the idiots at the next booth are... :-( Anything you can do to promote your own products - wear one of your shirts - wear one of your hats - etc. and let people see the items being used. Many years ago when I got suckered into signing up to be an Amway distributor, one of the few useful things I learned (other than don't signup to be an Amway distributor) is to let people see that you use the products you sell so they know that you trust the product. Of course that lesson was followed by "you should fill every room in your home with Amway merchandise to show how you believe in Amway (and to let those commissions work their way up the pyramid so we can afford a 3rd Land Rover)"... If you can make lanyards or ID badges, do so - wear one - make sure people see your name and it's yet another product example you can point to. If the show is outdoors, make sure everything is securely attached and well weighted. At our ZombieFest last October, it was an incredibly windy day and I saw vendor displays collapse or flip over because they weren't used to doing outdoor shows and having to deal with the elements. If you're going to actually sell items, bring a butt-load of change and get a lockable change drawer. I bought P.O.S. cash drawer that can be attached to a computer to make a cash register. I cut the wire off of it and just use the key to open and close it. I think I paid around $35 with S&H off of ebay and it makes you look more professional that pulling a wad of cash out of your pocket. It also makes that satisfying "Ding!" sounds when you open the drawer - another sale made! Bring pens to take notes and/or let people write notes on your business cards/flyers. You can buy bags of cheap pens for $1/dozen at Dollar Tree. If you're going to be outside and uncovered, bring suntan lotion and keep it handy for people who didn't bring any. I travel around doing shows with my brother and his wife. We have a plastic tote we take with us that is stocked with suntan lotion, aloe gel for sunburn relief, those pocket packs of Kleenex tissues, large bottles of generic Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen, insect repellent, etc. We offer to let people use the items if we see they're in need. Offering a free tissue to a kid with a runny nose goes along way towards convincing a parent that you're "good people" and will go a long way in building future customer relations. We got the idea at one of the first shows we ever did - it had rained all night and was gray and dreary in the morning, by noon when things started picking up, the sun had come out and it was a blistering hot, humid Iowa Summer Day and for some reason I had a bottle of suntan lotion in my truck and I left it visible in the booth and several people stopped and asked if we had any for sale - "No, but here, help yourself to some!" and then they stuck around and shopped our booths. Same thing with the insect repellent at a July 4th show in a heavily wooded park - I could have made a small fortune selling repellent if I had planned ahead... Keep a notepad for your own purposes and write down things that you need to add to your checklist prior to the next big show. We make notes of what else we need to add to "the tub" as we call our tote of various sundries. Bring chairs - it amazes me the number of people I see show up for shows like this and they end up standing all day because they didn't bring chairs. It looks more professional to stand, sure, but when no one is around, it feels great to take a load off... A lot of good advice here! THANKFULLY this event is 100% all indoor. I work "full-time" for a local radio group selling advertising so I happen to do A LOT of cold calling for that and it sometimes drifts into my side business stuff as well on appointments so that helps. I do have two garage stools that I printed up with my logo on them that I will put on my list. They kinda fit the bill for the event AND would make a good example of something else I can offer. Want to bring on my printed rugs as well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blackpaws 18 Posted February 5, 2014 That's a lot of space! If you do plan to sell stuff at the show, start working on inventory now, is all I got to say. Nothing like getting ready for a show the week before, which turns into the night before, which turns into not sleeping the night before Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
