Knitting For Profit

Posts Tagged ‘sell knitting’

Top 5 Tips For Selling Knitting At Craft Shows

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Craft Shows are a great way to get a lot of people to see you and your knitting business in a short space of time. Plus there is the potential to make a lot of money too! But competition at large craft show events can be intense, so you need to know how to maximise your time and exposure to make the best of your investment.

I have displayed at many large shows, and have paid a lot of attention to which stands get the most customers. This is a great way to learn what works, and get innovative ideas for your craft show booth.

Here are 5 ways you can ensure that you get the most for the time, effort and money you invest into a craft show booth…

Tip #1 – First Impressions Are Everything!

Even though it sounds like common sense, it’s worth remembering that many customers are going to decide whether or not to come and look at what you have to offer based on their first impression of the stand as a whole. If you can catch their eye with something interesting, you are going to be getting more traffic to your stall, and traffic means business!

There are some little inexpensive tricks you can use to make your booth stand out (and you can do this for small markets and fairs too).

• Choose a colour and theme for your booth that suits your knit or crochet products. For example, if you produce knitted baby items, decorate as you would a babies room. Add props like a crib if they will fit (a dolls pram or crib is small enough to fit on a table and will attract attention), and use colours like pink, baby blue, light purple and light green. If you’re niche is organic and natural yarns, then add props like a potted plant, cardboard trees and a green and brown theme.

• Props are great! They attract attention and are excellent conversation starters. I have used mannequins, stuffed toys, plants, cardboard cut-outs, a model house, and even a racing car game (some of these were not for a craft show obviously!)

• Your main display table should be covered in a clean and ironed cloth (don’t laugh, I have seen some surprisingly scruffy looking displays in my time), of a colour that compliments or highlights the colours of your products. If your knitted products are mostly white, don’t use a white table covering, or your products will be lost in a sea of white.

• If you have been to the craft show event before, think about what colours everyone else tends to use, and choose a different one so you stand out. Make sure you pay attention to these things when you are at a craft show. Try to get time to look around at everyone else’s displays and make notes!

• Place boxes underneath the table cloth to give your display height and texture.

• Remember to decorate the walls of your booth, drape them with cloth or examples of your work. This adds height and depth to your display.

• If you are offered overhead lights for the booth, use them! They will make your stand brighter and more noticible – good light is one of the things that really isn’t worth skimping out on.

Tip #2 – Make It Easy For People To See, Touch And Try On Your Knitted Products.

Again this may sound simple, but if people can’t easily see and feel things, they will be less inclined to buy. The following ideas are straight from retail research about the way people shop and buy. All the large retailers use little tricks to get us to buy (like putting sweets at the checkout counter, or placing items they want to boost sales of in the front right hand side of the store because that’s where people tend to go first…)

• If you have racks of knitwear, make sure people can get easy access to them without having to squeeze past tables or boxes. Admittedly it can be very difficult to achieve this when you only have a space that is 3 metres square, but you need to get a bit creative with how you lay things out so people can get to your products. Try placing tables in a U-shape inside your booth so they can come right in and reach everything. Corner booths are good for stalls that have racks, so people can wander through them more easily.

• If you are selling knitted or crocheted clothing of any kind (even scarves and beanies), make sure you have a mirror that people can see themselves in.

• Try not to make people bend over to reach your products – if you have shelves, only use the ones that are at about hip height and above. When people have to bend over, they bump into other people and make everyone uncomfortable.

• Remember, you don’t have to display everything all at once! Don’t make your stand too cluttered or it will become confusing. Select a range, and if someone wants a different colour or size, you can get it out for them.

Tip #3 – Invite People In.

If you make eye contact with people and invite them in to your display, you’ll get much more traffic than if you stand mute and just hope they’ll come your way. I was always completely exhausted after a show because I spent the whole time talking and interacting with people. But it meant that we made good sales, and introduced as many people as possible to our business.

Tip #4 – Run A Competition.

This was by far the best way I found to excite interest in my stall, as well as get the names and addresses of lots of people who were interested in my products.

You’ll need to check with the event organiser and possibly register for a competition licence (check if there are local government regulations, the licence is usually easy and cheap to get), but it’s well worth the effort!

I usually gave away $50 to $100 worth of my products in a lucky draw – which was a small price for the extra traffic and interest in my stall. It’s a great, easy way to invite people in by asking if they would like to go in the competition. And after the show I would follow up with an email to say hello and remind them of my website.

Tip #5 – Brochures and Knitting Business Cards.

Vital for exposure and follow-up sales so make sure you have plenty on hand – and not just for customers, but for networking opportunities too! Craft fairs are a great place for meeting people who can help you and your knitting business. Retailers who want to stock your products, other crafters who you may want to work with, suppliers and wholesalers who can reduce your costs. So make sure you have professional business cards that clearly state your name, niche and contact details – see my post on Knitting Business Cards for more information.

I hope these tips will help you get the most out of your craft show investment, and also help if you have a stall at smaller craft fairs and local markets. If you have any other tips or ideas that you have found worked well at craft shows, please leave a comment for everyone below!

Tags: craft show booth, craft show event, craft shows, knitting business, sell knitting, selling knitting
Posted in Make Money Knitting | 2 Comments »

Three Essential Rules For Selling Your Knitting

Saturday, March 7th, 2009

If you want to make money from your knitting, having good sales skills will help you enormously. This article will show you how you can sell your knitting effectively, without being one of those ‘pushy’ salespeople.

Many people find the thought of being a salesperson quite foreign and uncomfortable, especially when the image that the word ‘salesman’ brings to mind is something like this!

But it’s a myth that you need to be confident, loud or pushy to be a great salesperson especially when it comes to selling knitted products. True, there are some salespeople who are like that, but it’s actually the quiet, caring listeners who are the most successful.

So don’t automatically assume that you will not be a great salesperson, even if you feel a bit uncomfortable with the idea at first. This article will show you how a true professional conducts themselves and have customers who trust and respect them.

This is great news for knitters who wish to sell their knitting face to face!

The art of selling is not about being a great talker, or pushing people into buying things. It is actually about listening to what the customer wants, and finding a solution to their needs or problems.

I have done a lot of face-to-face selling in my time, and I have found that there are three simple rules to live by. These rules can be used by all knitters who wish to sell their knitting face to face.

Rule #1: Selling is about building relationships, not just flogging product.

Everybody likes to deal with someone they trust and feel comfortable with. Your first goal in the sales process is to connect with your buyer. Find some common ground to share such as your love of knitting or crochet, yarns, wool, knitting patterns or knitting fashion, even your children or common experiences.

It doesn’t matter if this is a customer at a small craft fair or the buyer for a multi-million dollar knitting magazine or design house, they are still just people who want to deal with people they like and feel connected to. The more you build up relationships with your customers, the more they will want to keep coming back to enjoy your service and support your knitting business!

Rule #2: Selling is about asking questions and listening, not just talking facts.

Don’t get me wrong, your customer needs to know about the knitted products that you offer, but if you went into a yarn store looking for all natural yarn and the owner insisted on telling you about their entire range of synthetic knitting wool, you would get a bit frustrated and annoyed, wouldn’t you? You would feel that they are not listening to you, and you may never return for fear of wasting your time and money again.

Your customers feel exactly the same way when you try to tell them absolutely everything about yourself, your knitted products and your knitting business.

Your goal is to find out about your customer and what they are looking for. What do they really want or need? For example, if it is a knitted gift they are buying, who is it for? What is the occasion? What sort of things does the receiver like? How much are they looking to spend?

You are getting involved in their decision and helping to guide them towards a choice they will be really happy with. Remember, you are the knitting professional. You know your knitted product range and services better than they do. They are trusting you to listen to what they need, and then recommend the knitted products that best suit those needs. If you do this, you will have happy (and very grateful) customers!

Rule #3: Make it easy for your customer to buy.

If you have followed the first two rules, the customer should feel safe that the knitted product or service you have offered will suit their needs. But no matter how much advice and service you give, if they don’t actually buy then it is all for nothing. You need to make it easy for the customer to buy, so you must still ask for the sale.

Again this does not have to be pushy. It can be a simple question like “would you like me to gift wrap that for you?” or “shall we fill in the paperwork?” or “how would you like to pay?”

Most times, if you have created a connection, then listened and guided them well, a little nudge is all it takes for them to get out their wallet and say “Yes, please!” And that of course is the point at which you get paid for your knitting, which is the ultimate aim of knitting for profit!

Make sure you practise these skills at every chance you get. Whenever you do a craft show or a market, get yourself into “listening mode” and really get involved with your customers. It’s a great feeling when you have helped someone find what they really wanted, and you will have created a connection with another person who will be more likely to come back and buy again, and recommend their friends too.

I think one of the best things about Knitting For Profit is the network that you can form with your customers. As long as you sell with integrity and goodwill, you will have a network that continues to grow and grow!

Tags: how to sell, sales skills, sell knitting
Posted in Make Money Knitting | 3 Comments »