Preparing for a Trade Show in Style on EMomNowTV Live

Instead of your usual old tip, I thought sharing this with you would be fun!  Last Tuesday, I spend an hour with the ladies of Entrepreneur Mom Now sharing and discussing how to prepare for a craft or trade show in style!

Here's the video:

Major takeaways?

• Have a goal in mind and share it with your team
• Four keys to trade show success:
• Draw attention
• Brand!
• Collect Information
• Act! (Follow up)
• The majority of people look 45 degrees to the right when entering, this is a good spot for a booth.
• The butt brush effect - keep aisles and space open, allowing people to move freely
• Invite people in and avoid blocking off your booth
• Create a clean and inviting booth, consider using props, and be sure it reflects you and your brand!

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Tip of the Week

Take the plastic off.  Customers really need to get their hands on a product in order to make their buying decision, so get at least one of each item out of its package and into their hands.

Elegant Expressions Table by Flourish

Engaging the customer’s senses is really important to making a sale, so appealing to sight and touch by allowing them to see the item up close and feel its texture will more often than not increase sales.

While many retailers prefer to keep items packaged in order to avoid damage, it can hinder sales.  Selling one item at a discount (which isn’t always necessary) is better than hanging on to product because it just won’t sell. 

The most important thing overall, is to remove barriers, physical or perceived, between the product and your customers.

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Happy Selling!

Tip of the Week

When communicating to your customers through signage, try to ensure that the wording is positive rather than negative.  Focus on the behaviour you want.

For example; instead of “Do not touch” you could have a sign that says “Please ask for assistance” or an even more fun “For your safety, we are happy to help you investigate this item further.”

Nobody likes being told what they can and can’t do and I can’t think of anyone that likes hearing the word NO.  So, you really should avoid using it with your customers. 

Happy selling!

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Tip of the Week

Take the plastic off!  Customers like to see, feel, and touch and plastic packaging or film impedes their instincts.

Have you ever watched someone browse a store, with their hands on everything?  Have you ever listened to a mom constantly try to remind their kids to "look with your eyes, not with your hands" to no avail?  That's because, instinctively, we need to feel an item before we buy it and that's not just limited to textiles!

The biggest objection I hear to removing packaging is damage.  Removing the plastic from an item can result in a lightly soiled or damaged item, but you are likely to sell far more of it and the items around it.  Selling your display model at a discount is a small price to pay.

Happy selling!

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Tip of the Week

Pay attention to how customers shop for certain items.  Do they request items by colour, end use, theme, or purpose?  Merchandise those items accordingly.

For example, most customers would search for a greeting card first based on purpose (such as birthday, anniversary, wedding, etc.) and all other types of merchandising would be secondary.  If you merchandise greeting cards by purpose, you may notice a lift in sales.

Candles, however, are often purchased by colour before anything else.  By merchandising your candles in colour groups, you may see an uplift in sales.

Observe how your customers request items; "Do you have any birthday cards?" or "What do you have in the way of red candles?"  Watch how they peruse and browse.  The idea is to make their shopping experience as easy and barrier free as possible; your help should be a bonus, not a requirement.

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Have you got questions for Melissa? Check us out on facebook, twitter,Pinterest, the flourish website, or send Melissa an email.

Tip of the Week

Shopping is all about perceived value.  The way you display and merchandise your product can have a large impact on how valuable the customer perceives it to be.  Does your store make your merchandise look valuable?

I'm sure you've heard the term perceived value a few times; it refers to the value a customer assigns to a product or service in their head.  How much do they deem that product to be worth?  When their perceived value is compared to the actual asking price, it can make or break their buying decision.

When items are merchandised or displayed in a way that makes them appear valuable or expensive, the price on the sticker can be less scary to look at and possibly even a relief. If the customer perceives the item of their desire to be a great value, they'll most often buy!


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Have you got questions for Melissa? Check us out on facebook, twitter,Pinterest, the flourish website, or send Melissa an email.

Tip of the Week

Avoid scattering key items around the store as they can lose their impact and clutter the space.  Grouping merchandise makes it stronger.

I know, it can be so tempting... and sometimes you worry that if you don't have something in a few places, your customers will miss it!  The truth is if you have one here, one over there, one in the back of the store, and one at the front, customers are even more likely to miss it.

Creating a strong presentation with emphasis on key items ensures that they will be visible to customers as they are passing by. 

I hear a lot of people say that it works in their store; that their customers are different.  If that's you, just try grouping a key item and making it the focal point of a display for a few weeks.  You may find that it works even better for you.


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 Have you got questions for Melissa? Check us out on facebook, twitter, Pinterest, the flourish website, or send Melissa an email.

Tip of the Week

Keep your displays moving and changing.  It’s change that keeps your customers interested.

I think it's true, what they say...  Change is the spice of life!

It's also said that 80% of your profit comes from 20% of your customers and I bet you know who those customers are!  You need to invest your time and energy in keeping regular customers interested and frequent change is the way to do that. 

Every time you change your displays, it feels as though there is new product in the store, gives customers new ideas, and generates interest.  It is worth your time.

Have you got questions for Melissa? Check us out on facebook, twitter, Pinterest, the flourish website, or send Melissa an email.

Tip of the Week

When displaying furniture for sale, be sure to leave your customer enough room to try it out.  Often times, people need to see things as they would use them at home.

This could mean allowing room to sit on a chair or sofa or space to see the finish on a table top.  It could also mean leaving room for customers to move in between pieces.

When considering sales per square foot, it can be tempting to fill every inch of available space, but that could actually impede sales both furniture and products alike.

Tip of the Week

One of the biggest mistakes a retailer can make is thinking they’re on an island where the general rules of shopper behaviour and other common human needs don’t apply.

Unless they have free wifi at the zoo, all of us reading this are human and that is a fact.  Humans have certain behaviours, certain ways we view a space, and certain ways we interact with that space.  This is due to our instincts and the way our brains work. 

While I'm always open to new points of view and new information, many retailers claim that "customers simply don't operate that way in my store."  Consider what could happen if you gave shoppers an opportunity to follow their instincs and natural methods of shopping...  Would your sales increase?  Are you willing to take a chance on that?

Consider how your store is set up and what you can do to help humans in it behave the way they like to behave, and hopefully purchase lots of merchandise!

Happy selling!

Have you got questions for Melissa? Check us out on facebook, twitter, Pinterest, the flourish website, or send Melissa an email.