Effective Booth Design

Setting up

Less than 10 percent of exhibitors at shows use lighting that achieves the maximum effect. Improve your lighting and you will improve your sales.

Floor covering is not only aesthetic; choose one that provides the most comfort possible. Customers hang around a lot longer when the floor covering is comfortable to their feet and legs.

Make the most out of your in booth storage spaces. Areas in and under pedestals or your displays can hold remarkable amounts of inventory if designed to do so.

Eight feet is the recommended booth height. This enables your booth to be the same height as the ones around you. Eight feet will not intimidate tall people when they enter your space. Also, eight feet allows room to hang lighting fixtures with plenty of overhead clearance.

A TCR subscriber, who happens to be an old friend of mine, sent in this tip. She suggested that everyone make a diagram of their booth with detailed directions on how to set it up. In case of an emergency, someone else can do a show for you.

Keep your booth opening as big as possible. Your booth’s primary job is to draw people off the aisle and into your space. You only sell to people in your booth, not in the aisle; narrow booth openings limit the number of people who will come close enough to buy.

Displays

Use multiple levels to display your work in your booth. Levels and risers on tables or shelves help to achieve this effect. Staggering your shelves creates interest in a display and draws people into your booth.

Use display heights properly — the area between your customers’ belt buckles to the tops of their heads is the most valuable real estate in your booth. Make sure your displays are concentrated in these areas.

A picture says a thousand words, even in your booth. A “romance shot” will tell your story but not take up much display area.

Do not choose materials for your booth that have negative connotations. Materials such as pegboard conjure up the 50s. Another example is burlap, which conjures up feedbags and is scratchy and itchy and stinks when it gets damp.

If you use plants in your booth, which I strongly recommend, use plants that are healthy and don’t look like they have been tortured. Good, green, healthy plants create a nice environment. Dry, straggly, sick or leggy plants don’t put your work in the best atmosphere.

If you use flowers in your display, they are great ways to entice people into your space. If they smell good it is an even bigger plus.

Choose arty florals or plant materials that support or enhance the feel of your work. Frequently, I see displays of really beautiful vases filled with the most obvious flowers like carnations or daisies, when a great lily, or a piece of exotic bamboo or a dried twig would be a more artistic choice. If you are going to use flowers, fill the entire vase, don’t just plop a few droopy flowers in a beautiful vessel.

Sales

You are in a position of power when standing in your booth. Standing in the aisle outside your booth can make you appear uncomfortable in your environment and with the job of selling.

Use openhanded gestures during your sales presentation. Do not put them behind your back or in your pockets. Openhanded gestures send a message of pride. This will probably not feel comfortable initially, but do it until it is second nature.

Be sure to treat all the individuals in a shopping group equally. Eventually, before the sale is closed, the buyer will turn to their shopping companion for their opinion. If you have treated them equally they are more likely to approve the sale.

Nod your head when you are talking to your customers. Whenever this gesture seems appropriate let it fly. It puts a positive spin on everything and it will help you close the sale.

Never say “thank you” when customers give you compliments. If you say thank you have accepted non-monetary payment, and the customer is free to leave. Rather, say something like: “I’m so glad you like it!” Then sell, sell, sell it.

Don’t be afraid to close sales. Recently, someone wrote me and told me of their surprise when they told a customer to “get it” and the customer said “OK.” Closing a sale often feels pushy to the salesperson but if it is done right the customer is often relieved.

Seize every opportunity in your booth to talk to someone. Get the information about your work out there in full volume for all to hear. If you don’t do it, who will?

Have help in your booth when you need it. If there are a couple of times in an hour when people are waiting to buy something, you are losing sales and you need help! Get help and your sales will increase by far more than the amount you have to pay them.

However, when you are not both busy, one of you needs to go away. Two or more people standing in your booth can create too much pressure for people to enter and get into a mind frame to buy. Small walkie-talkies help to monitor this situation.

Dress appropriately for your craft. Our culture has gotten so casual when it comes to dress that sometimes we forget that when we look professional and appropriate for what we are selling, it helps us to sell. If you are selling fine jewelry for example, you will find sales easier if you dress up a bit.

A final tip

Be a leader in the field, not a follower, in booth design, sales and merchandising. In a field where creativity and imagination abound, many craft artist are like lemmings when it comes to booth design, merchandising and sales.

As result, I see mistakes repeated over and over again. Break the mold, do something different and everyone will emulate you. It is always better to be a leader than a follower in business.