First Sale of the Show Contest

A couple of weeks ago, we sold our goods at the Chris Cringle Craft Show in Champaign, IL.  If you've ever been brave enough to sell anything at a craft show, you know that at times it feels like you're not selling very much.  When the show starts, it usually takes awhile to get your first sale.  People are slow coming in, and they want to look around before they start buying.

Here are a couple of pictures of our booth.  We tried to make it colorful and fun.

Basket of Coin Purses

h. Camille Booth

This is our third year to have a booth at the craft show.  We have noticed that some people come back every year and buy from us.  There are a couple of regulars who come back every year.  Let me tell you about one of them.  I don't remember her name.  The first year, she came alone.  She looked at our products when she first came in, but she didn't buy anything.  She came back a little later and bought a wristlet.  I'm not sure why, but I remembered her face.  Last year, she was our first customer.  And she brought 2 other women with her.  They all made a purchase from us.  They seemed to like fabric with animals.

Guess what!  They were our first customers again this year.  And they all 3 bought something.  One of them purchased this very cute dog coin purse.

One of the other ladies (the one who has bought from us for all 3 years) picked out a cool blue elephant tote.  Her sister saw her holding it and wanted it.  Big sister wouldn't budge.  She saw it first, but younger sister said "but it's blue and has an 'F' on it."  Big sister still wouldn't budge.  So, I stepped in and saved the day.  I said to little sister, "I can make you another one just like it."  She had to think about it for a minute, but then said "Ok,  if you can make one exactly like it, I'll take it."

I rushed home that night and ordered some more blue elephant fabric.  It really is fun Japanese fabric.  It arrived in the mail 3 days later and I made a second blue elephant tote.  It should be in her hands at this very moment.

This month, we're asking you to vote on the first item we each sold at the craft show.  We've learned that people always want animals on their totes or coin purses or wristlets.  Who knew!?  Which would you prefer?  Red dogs?  Blue elephants?

Vote now.  Remember, as always, we don't know who votes or who you vote for.  Just vote!!

Oh, one more thing.  The second person who has purchased from us came to our booth this year.  She picked up something to buy and wanted to use her credit card.  We accept credit cards using our Square on an ipad.  We had really bad wifi reception and had trouble staying connected.  When we tried to get the sale to go through with her credit card, it just didn't work.  We tried several times and then she asked us to hold the item and she would be back for it.  She never came back.  Boo hoo!!  We lost a sale.