Customer convenience

I am not sure if the customer is always right but I do know customers deserve to be treated with respect. There seems to be a chain of respect and it starts with the vendor respecting the customer for without customers we would have no business. After that the promoter should respect the vendor because without quality vendors there would be no show, or not a good one at any rate.

Customers may want a bag to carry the purchase in. If the merchandise is small enough then "T-shirt" bags will work. These are the type of bags that are used by grocery stores. I guess they call them T-shirt bags because they look like a T-shirts. They are sold by the 1000s at the wholesale club or business supply.

But why pay for them when so many are thrown in the trash. We save and recycle grocery bags and we also ask others to save them for us. We use a dispenser that is a sausage shaped fabric pouch with one end open and the other with a elastic hole. The bags are packed into the top and we can pull them out the bottom one at a time. Works great! Just make sure the bags are clean. No meat juice.

For larger items we use trash can liners and there are many sizes and types available. Some of them are even scented. Check around and find out which ones fit your wares. The top of the bags can be gathered in and tied to make a handle.

Holding items.

Often, customers will hesitate on a purchase because they do not want to carry a bulky items around with them all day. On the other hand you know that when they say, "we'll stop back" they often don't. Then there is the case where they are hedging because they are afraid you will sell out of an particular color or style.

The solution, if the customer is hesitant, would be to allow the customer to buy the item and then hold it for them until they are ready to leave. We always offer for them to pay first. If we pulled the stock aside, with out payment, they could easily forget or just not stop back, in which case we may have lost the opportunity to sell to another customer.

We always bag the item and most important, we have them write their name and phone number on the box. If they forget to pick the item up we can call them and arrange delivery. We carried a bird feeders with us for more than 2 years after a woman left it in the booth. We had her name but no phone number. We tried to contact her to no avail. Eventually we donated the item for a door prize raffle.

Shipping.

Offering shipping can be a big help for customers who are vacationing or just visiting with no extra room for impulse purchases. Since we already ship around the world we have a rough idea of shipping methods and costs. An easy way to figure shipping costs on small items is by using USPS flat rate boxes. This way your item will ship for one cost anywhere in the US. Otherwise you may need to get some rough ideas on shipping costs based on the weight and size and destinations. Figure the shipping cost for the most remote US destination and everything in between will be covered.

Referrals.

Some customers may be looking for an item but your offering is not quite what they are looking for. Forget trying to convince them to buy from you. Instead direct them to someone who may have more what they want. Good will goes a long way and you may still make a sale. It pays to make friends with other crafters, even if they are in the same category as you. Remember this works both ways and someone might send a customer to you too.

Next >> Packing up and synopsis