Show Vending - Customer Perspective

[Prognathodon]

My husband and I went to our local show on Saturday (and came home with two new snakes), and afterwards I was thinking about the good, the bad, and the ugly of herp show vendors. I've only been a customer at herp shows, but I have we have been selling leather goods at historical reenactment events, SF/F, anime, and steampunk conventions for over 20 years, from the time our merchandise fit into a couple copier-paper boxes on one baby banquet table, until now when we pretty much need a 10' x 20' booth and three people in it.

So, my thoughts on how to impress potential customers:

Tablecloths! Hide those ugly venue tables. Go to the fabric store and get a couple yards of light- to medium-weight woven (not stretchy) cotton fabric and, get somebody with a sewing machine to zig-zag or hem the edges. For bonus points, get enough to skirt the front of the table so people don't see what you've got shoved underneath. If you know somebody in the hotel industry, white fabric shower curtains are great.

Displaying your animals individually: Those locking clear acrylic tiered displays do look nice, but there's nothing wrong with simple deli cups. Please don't be that guy who has a grungy old fish tank with a bunch of animals of different ages/sizes/sexes jumbled up together.

Height variation in your display will help people see everything easier, catch their attention, and doesn't have to be expensive - a piece of plywood with feet to hold it up at an angle, cleats on the front to support deli cups, painted or stained. Or make stair-steps out of boards and bricks (under a tablecloth), or whatever. I'd probably do something with gridwall, but I've got Stoopid Amounts of gridwall.

Label your animals: at least sex and morph. I prefer to see prices when I'm shopping, but that's your call.

Single-sided business cards are cheap. Get some, even if they just have your name and phone number. You want people to be able to identify you and find you again.

Smile, be friendly. You can't always tell the tire-kickers from the potential buyers.

Know something about your animals. Be able to tell us when they last were fed, and what they ate. Are they mellow, or kind of flighty? This one is about to shed, so his colors will be even brighter after that.

You aren't tied to your table permanently, but make sure you either won't be gone long, or the person watching your table has a way to call you back.

A sign, that you can hang on the front of your table. My first one was 2' x 4', vinyl. I still have it, and have added an updated fabric version, a 2' x 2' version, and a little 1' x 2' one with just our business name (Digital printing, not just for paper any more!).

In my business, I don't have to worry about my merchandise coming home with diseases, so I can have a showpiece or two out for sale or just display. Only you can decide if you want to risk your really special morph that's for sale or NFS breeder. If you don't want to risk it, how about bringing pictures, especially when you have youngsters of species whose color improves as they age - hard copy or electronic, on your phone is ok, a tablet is even better, because its bigger. Show me how pretty the parents are.

Cash box/envelope, receipts, pens, CC reader, blah blah blah office-supply stuff. And no matter how many shows you've done, you're going to forget to bring something sooner or later. Like the cash box. Several hours from home.

My several cents worth. I've bought happily from people with fancy displays, and from people with deli cups neatly arranged on the table, but in all cases the animals looked good, there was information on them, and the people were pleasant to deal with - in short, professional presentation.




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