Booking shows

[mcwier]

It's not about booking shows, it's about booking the "right" shows.

Your hardest work should not be making your product, loading up, set up, or tear down. If your hardest work is not booking the "right" shows, your future is bleak, and chances of success are very limited.

We all do looser shows. On average, with a successful show route , we will still have to replace 30% of our shows every year, If you are not, you are throwing away money. If you don't replace losers, shows on the down turn, shows who change promoters, or shows in areas that are on a economic down slope, in 3 years you will wounder if this business is for you, or find your self starting over every 3 years.

I use 3 years because it takes (on average) about that long to set up a half way successful route. One of your best success tools is free long distance calling. If you believe any info in show lists, you haven,t been vending very long and are about to have a rude awakening. Remember one fact of life on the road, remember this, show promoters gauge the success of their show by how much they put in the bank not you. It's nothing personal or doesn't make them all bad people, it's just business sense.

I had a show promoter friend of mine once try to get me to go partners with him, his sales pitch to me was exactly this, these words are burned in my brain,"Mike I can book the same show in the same town with 200 vendors for 7 straight years, and never have the same vendor twice".

When a promoter set up a show, there are certain parameters, regulations and requirements he must follow, these are the key to the real expected attendance #of the show.

Almost every town in America has its own web site. These web sites are full of info, important to you depending on what you are vending.

Many products are regional, and food is even more regional. Hand carved tractors can make you well in Iowa, but you will be sucking wind in Chicago or New York city . Funnel cakes are a staple in Nebraska and south, but in Michigan the Elephant ear guy will have you talking to your self, oh and when selling french fries in Michigan
if you forgot the catsup, no biggie, but if you don,t have vinegar and Mayo, look for a long lonely day.

DO THE HOME WORK!
mcw "fair and Festival Vending 101" [e-mail]

[suktexas]

i do agree the hardest part is finding the right show with the right promoter that fit your products. the promoter choose you and you choose him too? he want to pocket enough money into his pocket, you want to make as much profit as possible for one show. we are all in business.

if the promoter does not care about your life and death, i sell jewelry and they put 7 jewelry people and there is only 2 producers in a farmer market, there are something wrong with this promoter. you have to go to find another one show.

online search are free. i do my home work in google, yahoo, bing, different search engine and read the free forum and have my home work study. 1 million people go to the show does not mean anything to me unless they are more woman age 35 and up with little girls. there are 10000 - 20000 people pass by my booth in flea market but only a few buy because they are looking for garage sell bargain items not much handcrafted jewelry.

Oct 6, 2010 15:14:16 GMT -5 mcwier said:

It's not about booking shows, it's about booking the "right" shows.

Your hardest work should not be making your product, loading up, set up, or tear down. If your hardest work is not booking the "right" shows, your future is bleak, and chances of success are very limited.

We all do looser shows. On average, with a successful show route , we will still have to replace 30% of our shows every year, If you are not, you are throwing away money. If you don't replace losers, shows on the down turn, shows who change promoters, or shows in areas that are on a economic down slope, in 3 years you will wounder if this business is for you, or find your self starting over every 3 years.

I use 3 years because it takes (on average) about that long to set up a half way successful route. One of your best success tools is free long distance calling. If you believe any info in show lists, you haven,t been vending very long and are about to have a rude awakening. Remember one fact of life on the road, remember this, show promoters gauge the success of their show by how much they put in the bank not you. It's nothing personal or doesn't make them all bad people, it's just business sense.

I had a show promoter friend of mine once try to get me to go partners with him, his sales pitch to me was exactly this, these words are burned in my brain,"Mike I can book the same show in the same town with 200 vendors for 7 straight years, and never have the same vendor twice".

When a promoter set up a show, there are certain parameters, regulations and requirements he must follow, these are the key to the real expected attendance #of the show.

Almost every town in America has its own web site. These web sites are full of info, important to you depending on what you are vending.

Many products are regional, and food is even more regional. Hand carved tractors can make you well in Iowa, but you will be sucking wind in Chicago or New York city . Funnel cakes are a staple in Nebraska and south, but in Michigan the Elephant ear guy will have you talking to your self, oh and when selling french fries in Michigan
if you forgot the catsup, no biggie, but if you don,t have vinegar and Mayo, look for a long lonely day.

DO THE HOME WORK!
mcw "fair and Festival Vending 101" [e-mail]

[davejs]

Sometimes beggars can't be too choosey. Quite often out of desparation, you have to do a show that you know is not too good. Many of us have to do some kind of event each and every weekend and we like to do them as close to 'home' as possible to avoid motel costs and of course, using a lot of gas to get to places. For instance, this past weekend there were three shows of interest to me. I've done Morro Bay in the past, but when you add in the booth fees, travel costs and motel charges you really have to take into consideration the state of the economy and I nixed that one. Been to Manteca and there is little cash being spread amongst hundreds of vendors. Decided upon Sunnyvale's Octoberfest because this is a more affluent area and the show was promoted by Jeff and Jerry (Festival Productions) and you really didn't expect that one to be a 'doozie' but it turned out to be. Few people and not many sales for all vendors. They have another event (Art & Wine Festival) here earlier in the year and it's great for the vendors. So, quite often you are faced with a number of potential 'doozies' to choose from and you have to try to analyze each show as it comes.

Quite often I am sitting at a show and between snoozes I begin to wonder if it's just my products that are not selling. These shows do a number on your mind and ego. You do tend to get depressed when you go hours without a sale, which is what is happening to a lot of us at these events. Trying to remain 'upbeat' can be quite difficult at times.

There have been a number of times that I have had conversations with 'snotty' vendors and I mention to them that I do certain shows that I know are bad and they sarcastically reply that 'If you know that a show is so bad, then why do you do it?' My answer to that question is another question, 'how much money are you going to make sitting at home?' You know, you don't expect to go into any show and come out losing money, but it happens. We all take chances at times and if you stay at home, you feel as though you are actually losing money. That is the nature of the beast.

I am certain that all of us have what we refer to as 'filler shows,' which are ones that could have potential dooziedom written all over it. But what really hurts are the shows that you have done great in over the years and you are suddenly face with 50-70 percent decline in sales because of the economy or the promoter's stuck you in a lousy spot.