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erinda01 New user South Florida 26 Posts |
So I think I posted this in the wrong forum so I am going to post again here...
I am going to be setting up a tent at a local festival the first weekend of March.. It is a 3 day event and gets 30,000 visitors. I am setting up a 10x10 tent and the vendor fee is $300. The area if very family and kid oriented. It also is a pretty wealthy area. I am brand new to this and have no experience but am going to give it a shot and see how the chips fall. My 5 year old son is very interested in magic and we are doing this together... I will also have help at the booth from wife and friends if needed. From my previous post most people said I am gonna crash and burn but I hope to prove them wrong. I am downloading Dons Dvd today. From some advice I received here is my gameplan. Any advice , criticism or help is greatly appreciated. Will set up with many items. Wand to flower, mummy mystery, Buddha papers, dice bomb, cartoon deck, invisible deck, fire wallet, tenyo money shock and fair play. Will do a pitch demo of d'lites then magic coloring book with vanishing crayons then Svengali deck. I do not have a pitch worked out for this but am working on it. Reason for multiple items is to create some draw to tent. As I am new at this I don't know how efficient I will be at drawing a crowd. So the items at booth my pull in walk by traffic. I have no idea of what kind of inventory is needed. I have no idea of what the conversion rates will be. I will sell individual or as a package.. Coloring book and crayons - buy $4. 00. Sell 15. Svengali. Buy 3. Sell 15. -- magic maker comes with online video Dlites. Buy 13. Sell. 20 Package. $40.00 Is this even a reasonable pitch. Are price points ok? My skill levels are of a hobbyist magician. Also thinking about adding in squirmles or swapping out something for it. Please any advice would be great and also thank you vendor in last forum for leading me in a better direction. |
erinda01 New user South Florida 26 Posts |
Also if anyone that does a lot of pitching is in a generous mood and wants to sit down and teach me a thing or two, or will let me see them in action I am willing to fly out to wherever your located. I know it's a shot in the dark but it's alway good to have a mentor.. Maybe somebody is feeling generous.
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vendor New user 10 Posts |
OUCH! Your prices are WAY too high! You will go broke working that way! When I advised you previously I had no idea how much Dlites were! Are you saying they are 13 dollars each? And you are selling them at $20? If I have this correct then my advice about selling them is wrong. I have never worked Dlites before and just assumed they were some slum pitch item. And forget what I said about the colouring book. I had no idea they were $4 each. Isn't there a smaller miniture one which you can buy for far less? And if you are paying $3 wholesale for Svengali decks you are paying too much. You will never get $40 in a million years.
Quite frankly I am getting worried. I hate to say this but I think if you have not yet paid the Vendors fee I would reconsider whether you should exhibit or not. The event is coming up too soon in my opinion for you to take a chance on it. Book it next year and don't be impatient. You need time to learn what is what. You are going to be advised on this section not to have a large range of goods. I think you should but as I stated earlier not demonstrate them. You need them there as "flash" and of course you will make occasional sales from them but your real profit will come from what is known as "bunce" items. In other words item with large profit margins. You should sell the Svengali deck for $10. You will never get $15 in a million years by selling them on their own at that price. Even Don Driver would find that tough going! But you do NOT buy the cards for $3. You buy them for a dollar or so. Do NOT use bicycle decks! Buy the cheap oriental ones. You should pay no more than 1.50 a deck and even that is a little high. Forget what I said about the Dlite and the Colouring Book. I had no idea they were that expensive to buy. You need pitch items like the mouse or the squirmle, the Dutch Looper, the Two Card monte, small plastic cups and balls. Slum magic with high profit margins. You have the other stuff only to draw the people over in the first place. Under no circumstances should you demonstrate them. Don Driver's video will indeed be useful to you but not if you have an event coming up within three weeks. I would not exhibit if I were you until you study this matter thoroughly. Or if you do exhibit know in advance that you are going to lose money but it will be a fantastic learning experience. I hate to be negative but I think you need more time. |
erinda01 New user South Florida 26 Posts |
Ok so dlites are out. I already bought 50 coloring books with the vanishing crayons so I have to try and use them. . I found Svengali decks for 1.50 a deck. So I'll go with those.
Any idea on how many decks I should order? And yes this may be a train wreck but it will be a great bonding with the family and an amazing learning opportunity. Trial by fire. |
vendor New user 10 Posts |
I have no idea what the crayons are with the colouring book. It must be some addition I am not aware of. You can still sell it as part of your non demo stuff as it doesn't take long to do although I have no idea about the crayon bit. Have you paid for the booth yet? I don't like my friends on the booth let alone my whole family when I am working. It is a terrific distraction and would lose me sales. I really don't like the sound of any of this but you have to make your own decisions. I just want my conscience to be clear in warning you of the pitfalls. $300 is a bit on the high side for a rookie. Plus gas, plus food, plus merchandise.
You should sell the decks for $10. With all your other expenses such as gas and the other merchandise you have invested in to break even I would say you would need to sell 40 decks or so over the festival. That will not be difficult. However to make a decent profit I would want to sell 100 decks a day to make the whole thing worth it. And that is an enormous number for even a good pitchman to get rid of. However, that is what I personally would buy in for this one event. You probably shouldn't. If you are very lucky you will probably get through about 100 decks altogether for the whole event. So order a gross in case you do more. |
erinda01 New user South Florida 26 Posts |
One more question. If I could get the as seen on tv phantom saucer for $1.00 would this work. It like a magic worm except it's a levitation of saucer
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DonDriver Inner circle 1790 Posts |
Quote: DITTO !!!!!!
On Feb 12, 2015, vendor wrote: |
DonDriver Inner circle 1790 Posts |
Quote:
On Feb 12, 2015, vendor wrote: DITTO DITTO !!!!!!! |
vendor New user 10 Posts |
Actually it probably WOULD be a good idea to get on a plane and visit either Don Driver or me, (or both!) hang around for a while and watch us work and learn what you can. If you were willing to pay us for our time (after all, it would be quite time consuming for either of us) it would probably be worth it in the long run. Sure, do the show in March since there is no better training that actually doing it and learning from your mistakes. If you only break even or make a tiny profit just consider it to be the cost of getting experience.
I did respond to your previous private message but I don't think you have seen it yet. Oh, and I have no idea what the flying saucer is! Never heard of it! However, it sounds like a variation of the Flying Card which I have no experience of but seems to be a popular pitch item nowadays. It has sold in Vegas for incredible prices but now I see it retailing in toy shops for $5. I am not overkeen on it since you have to tie thread to your ear and that kind of thing would drive me nuts. You should not have more than one item using thread on the joint Either the mouse, the squirmle or the Flying Card. The mouse is good as part of a package but I think the worm should be sold separately. There really isn't time for you to learn all this. I still think you should curb your enthusiasm and wait until next year but then I suppose the old wisdom of "if you never start you never make progress" may also have merit. I suppose if you delay things you will lose the momentum. Anyway best of luck whatever you decide to do. |
Bill Thompson Elite user Mississippi 422 Posts |
Wow! I'm taking notes! erinda01 if you are able to go learn from these men and have the dough to spend doing it I think you ought to make arraignments.
"To let understanding stop at what cannot be understood is a high attainment.
Those who cannot do it will be destroyed on the lathe of heaven." - Chuang Tse |
Crownhart New user 51 Posts |
You will learn much even from failure. Pitch selling is an art form and uses a certain personality. It however can be created even in a shy person as an alternate personality. I have several personalities, the doctor says it can be a good thing.
SinCIRCUSly,
Michael C. Crownhart |
DonDriver Inner circle 1790 Posts |
Vender,I talked to Ed today on the phone.He gets it now and I think he'll make a few bucks in March.Since I'm retired and sit on my kister all day I don't think Ed would learn too much visiting me....but he is welcome.I would be glade to lie to him all day telling him how much fun it was being on the road for 30 years.(for a price of course)
The best way to learn pitching anything is get out and DO IT ! Don |
Bill Beach Veteran user Nashville, TN 304 Posts |
"The best way to learn pitching anything is get out and DO IT !"
DITTO DITTO !!! |
vendor New user 10 Posts |
Quote:
On Feb 12, 2015, Crownhart wrote: Actually, I have seen all sorts of personalities take good money with the Svengali deck. Loud personalities, quiet personalities, introverts, extroverts, male, female etc;. Oddly enough I have seen some very good magicians fail at it. They are in show mode rather than sales mode and that is not good. Magicians get fed up with the grind faster than sales minded laymen who just know this one trick. I have seen people who know nothing about magic take in good money with the deck. They fumble like hell to try and work the deck but their personality does the job instead. Stamina and work ethic are FAR more important than magical expertise. And sales ability of course. With regard to travelling to either Don or myself to learn this stuff that would be an expensive option. I, personally would want a grand to take the time to do it and that doesn't include the travelling expenses such as air fare and hotel bill. I don't see anyone rushing to the airport to see either of us but one thing is for sure. If they did that would mean they are serious and would actually deserve to succeed. I have been a pitchman for around 50 years and at times have sold other products not magic related such as eye glass cleaners, knives, flower holders etc; but my main product has always been magic related such as the Svengali deck, mouse etc; Like Don I am largely retired but I still do a couple of days a week on a regular basis at a very quiet venue which is quite conducive to teaching purposes. If ANYONE (and not just the gentleman from Florida) wishes to take the trip (which I doubt) I would take the time to teach them EVERYTHING I know and include in the price all the books and DVDs I have produced on pitching matters. Of course these products can be purchased from me anyway even if you don't get on a plane but I know perfectly well that not one person in a hundred is going to act on the information anyway even if they do study the stuff. However, if they actually take a trip here then I will KNOW they are going to make an attempt! One caveat though. I don't want anyone wasting their time or money if I deem them unsuitable for this work. If after discussing their aims if I deem them to not be right for a pitch environment it will not be fair for me to train them and I will have to regretfully turn them down. I don't want anyone chasing dreams that are going to be beyond their ability. And to be frank it would be a drain on my time. It would take a good few days at least to convey all that needs to be conveyed. Anyway, I can be contacted by private message on the magic Café or at cardmaster@bell.net |
Matthew W Inner circle New York 2456 Posts |
Forget D'Lites. If you are working a night event, contact Carl at Nowstalgic about Bright Bugs. MUCH better price points.
-Matt
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erinda01 New user South Florida 26 Posts |
Yea I noticed them after I already ordered the d'lites but will definitely switch for the next event. Are the Bright Bugs a thumb tip ?
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