Why Stalls Are Awesome
I love doing stalls! In fact my first year or so in business they were really the only way I made any money at all if I am honest. Sure I would get the odd order from a friend who had seen something she liked on my Facebook page, but I wasn't paying the bills with the odd order for bath bombs!
I was terrified about doing stalls, what if people actually spoke to me? What on earth would I say? I was so terrified so I did what I do best when I am trying to cover for my nerves, I overprepared. I swear, although I love to procrastinate and leave everything to the last minute, I cram in so much prep that I think thats the only way I got through university!
I read lots of other people's experiences and looked at how they laid out their stalls. I also found a neat idea for getting people's details through doing a prize draw (this was before GDPR) and decided I would do that too. I bought one of those cardboard wedding post boxes, covered it in wrapping paper and made up a poster advertising my free draw. I made my own entry forms for the draw, I bought a cash box to hold my change I did everything I could think of to make sure I was well prepared.
Now, I definitely spent too much time, money and energy preparing for that first stall, especially given how few people turned up to the event, but I did what I had to do to feel comfortable with doing it and I have gotten way better at doing them.
I love stalls simply because you get to meet people who probably otherwise wouldn't be in your network, especially in my case because I don't have children. When would I meet busy mums? Well I meet them at the school summer fayre of course! Busy mums are looking for gifts, I sell gifts they are looking for things for their children, I sell toys too! Busy mums might just also be looking for a way to earn extra money in a way that doesn't interfere with their already busy lives.
I always take business cards and/or flyers and hand out as many as possible. I take samples of my Monat products too, but I only give them out to people who are willing to give me their contact details so I can follow up with them. It is difficult at first to be firm with things like that, but you need to if you want to run a successful business. It costs me £3 to sample someone, if I give those out to every Tom, Dick and Harry that walk past my table it will very quickly eat into my profits. Of course not everyone that samples from me goes on to buy products, heck some of them don't even reply to my messages but they have more chance of replying to a message than they do of reaching out to me themselves.
I try to take a good range of products so that I have something for everyone and I make up gift baskets so people will see them as a ready made gift for their friend who has a birthday next week. I also try to take things that people will want to pick up, that they will want to touch and smell. Why? well psychologically its about playing to as many of their senses as possible, but also its about getting them to stay as long as possible at my table so I can tell them more. I have also been known to make video slideshows and play them on my laptop showing some before and after pictures or products I don't have with me for whatever reason.
Stalls are awesome simply because you get the chance to sell some products at the time for some quick sales as well as the networking opportunities they present. I think the biggest reason I love Network Marketing is because I love meeting and chatting with new people, and there really isn't a much better environment for that than at a stall. Stalls are also great if you are like me and are not great at approaching people because they will come to you to check out your table. People think I am oh so confident but the very idea of walking up to someone and trying to start a conversation terrifies me. For some reason when they come up to me, the thought is not so terrifying.
I was terrified about doing stalls, what if people actually spoke to me? What on earth would I say? I was so terrified so I did what I do best when I am trying to cover for my nerves, I overprepared. I swear, although I love to procrastinate and leave everything to the last minute, I cram in so much prep that I think thats the only way I got through university!
I read lots of other people's experiences and looked at how they laid out their stalls. I also found a neat idea for getting people's details through doing a prize draw (this was before GDPR) and decided I would do that too. I bought one of those cardboard wedding post boxes, covered it in wrapping paper and made up a poster advertising my free draw. I made my own entry forms for the draw, I bought a cash box to hold my change I did everything I could think of to make sure I was well prepared.
Now, I definitely spent too much time, money and energy preparing for that first stall, especially given how few people turned up to the event, but I did what I had to do to feel comfortable with doing it and I have gotten way better at doing them.
I love stalls simply because you get to meet people who probably otherwise wouldn't be in your network, especially in my case because I don't have children. When would I meet busy mums? Well I meet them at the school summer fayre of course! Busy mums are looking for gifts, I sell gifts they are looking for things for their children, I sell toys too! Busy mums might just also be looking for a way to earn extra money in a way that doesn't interfere with their already busy lives.
I always take business cards and/or flyers and hand out as many as possible. I take samples of my Monat products too, but I only give them out to people who are willing to give me their contact details so I can follow up with them. It is difficult at first to be firm with things like that, but you need to if you want to run a successful business. It costs me £3 to sample someone, if I give those out to every Tom, Dick and Harry that walk past my table it will very quickly eat into my profits. Of course not everyone that samples from me goes on to buy products, heck some of them don't even reply to my messages but they have more chance of replying to a message than they do of reaching out to me themselves.
I try to take a good range of products so that I have something for everyone and I make up gift baskets so people will see them as a ready made gift for their friend who has a birthday next week. I also try to take things that people will want to pick up, that they will want to touch and smell. Why? well psychologically its about playing to as many of their senses as possible, but also its about getting them to stay as long as possible at my table so I can tell them more. I have also been known to make video slideshows and play them on my laptop showing some before and after pictures or products I don't have with me for whatever reason.
Stalls are awesome simply because you get the chance to sell some products at the time for some quick sales as well as the networking opportunities they present. I think the biggest reason I love Network Marketing is because I love meeting and chatting with new people, and there really isn't a much better environment for that than at a stall. Stalls are also great if you are like me and are not great at approaching people because they will come to you to check out your table. People think I am oh so confident but the very idea of walking up to someone and trying to start a conversation terrifies me. For some reason when they come up to me, the thought is not so terrifying.
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