Well over a week ago I asked the staff where the best place for posting this question would be, and they stated right here in this section. I went back and read through all the old posts to see if this question had been asked and literally got wrapped up in ALL the useful information, so much so, that it took me THIS long to finally post.

I REALLY wish I had read the stuff here a long time ago rather than passing it by just because it looked boring to me; BOY was I wrong!!!!!!!!!

OK now the question: I am a new dealer to the convention scene. I carry only escapology related products so my seller field is limited. I did one covo last year and was plagued by numerous annoyances - people could not find my table/ did not know who I was etc.

I recently bought Steve Bender's So You Want To Be a Dealer and I learned a lot of the ins and outs of dealer tables and took a lot of it to heart to apply this year. Logo shirts, ad cloths etc.

Does anyone have any tips that they have learned over the years that they might be willing to share with a newbie?

The one thing I did last year, which got MANY positive comments, is that I made up a brief description of each item (like you'd see in a catalog or web site) people thought it was a great idea as they often walk past not knowing what they are looking at and just walk on because the dealer is busy with another customer or they don't want a demo just want to know what they are looking at.

Others commented that by stopping to read, there was another item that they saw out of the corner of their eye that they wanted and may have over looked if it were not for the fact that they stopped to read. I laminated each description and set it next to the item.

Anyone else have ideas that might help?

Thanks much,
Shawn

Shawn,

I have been involved with the planning and operation of a convention for more than 25 years and the one thing I have always noticed is that dealers who demonstrate their items regularly get the largest crowds.

When Al Cohen, of Al's Magic, was a dealer, you could always tell where his booth was. It was the one with the biggest crowd. Why? Because he was the consumate demonstrator. Not only did he demonstrate constantly, but his routines were great. (There must be thousands of "Dagger Dimes" out there. Al sold this trick inexpensively and it looked like a miracle in his hands. I've yet to meet someone who can perform it like he did!)

If you have an item that isn't easily demonstrated in a dealer's booth, then video tape it before hand and run a video demonstration regularly.

Finally, if you can put together a lecture that uses some of your items, that helps a lot too. Good lecturers always sell a bunch of stuff. (Just try to avoid making it exclusively a "dealer lecture." In other words, teach people things they can do without buying stuff from a dealer, too.)

Hopefully, this helps a little.

Michael

I have been involved in trade shows and such for quite a while, and the most important thing I can tell you is to be sure EVERYTHING looks as professional as you can.
This includes everything in the total setup, i.e. table covers and skirts, back drops, signs, even your clothes.
Set it up before hand and have family and friends critique it.
Resist the urge to use "magicmarker" signs, etc. In today's computer age there is no excuse not to have a good looking booth.
If you have an item you want to feature don't forget about special lighting, but be careful about glare. I keep a can of Tester's Dullcote in my case at all times.
But the MOST Important thing I can tell you is WEAR CONFORTABLE SHOES !!! You will be on your feet on concrete or other hard surface for hours and hours, and it is hard to be upbeat when your feet hurt.

Shawn:

Congrats on your new business endeavor. I hope I might be able to help you and give you some valauble advice to get you on the road of people knowing who you are and increasing your business revenue through marketing.

Marketing is where it is at. You must let people know about you and your services and build relationship with the people in your intended market place. Get them to see the value in you and your services and they will keep coming back to you time and again.

The problem is how do you do this? How do you get people to know who you are when your first starting out and everything seems so overwhelming? I will try and shed some light on this for you and give you some advice, tips and suggestions that have worked for me.

- First off you need to have a good quality brand identity and materials. you must not skimp out here. In many cases, the first impression anyone will make of you and your product is from your promotional materials that you hand and send out to them.

If you must, hire a graphic designer or get a design student to help you design a custom logo for your business. This logo can then be used on business cards, letterheads and any ads or brochures you use. It should be of high quality design and be used consistently in order to send out a consistent message each time.

Try not to do this yourself or run off business cards on your own printer at home. This just screams "cheap" and implies the wrong message.

- Have a website designed for you by a professional who knows web design and programming. A good designed website is one that does without all the flare and is easy to navigate. A well designed site will be an open store front for your prospects and customers and will be open 24/7.

Use your marketing materials and perhaps postcards to direct people to your website. Give them an incentive to use your site by offering a online discount. this acts as a call to action for you.

- Place an ad in the place where most of your market goes. This might be Magic Magizine or any other magic publication.

- Attend some conventions and get your name out there. Do dealer demos to get people to your table and to keep them there.

At these conventions, have a raffle box set up to win some free merchandise. The information they supply to you can be used to enter into a customer or prospect database that you need to start. This database can be filled with the information you get from the cards they fill out for your raffle.

use this information to develop a mailing list and ae-mail mailing list.

- Use this databse and mailing list to send out a one page newsletter each month. This gets your name out and builds interest in you. reference your website in each issue and highlight new tricks and effects for sale. Give a discount if anyone mentions the newsletter on their next purchase. This builds an incentive to want to purchase soemthing.

- Lastly, go to http://www.thedean.net. This is simply one of the best web sites for those who are serious about marketing their magic and building up their magic business. You will gain a ton of knowledge there.

I would be happy to help you and give you more advice and ideas should you want them. Simply send me an e-mail at magic4u02@aol.com.

I can also send you samples of my design work should you like to see those as well.

Good luck and go and get em.

Kyle

Hi Shawn,

First I want to say Michael, Robert (The Shadow), and Kyle have given you some great advice.

Secondly I want to commend you on being smart enough to ask the right questions. Find out what your customers want. Ask them.

In closing I will tell you one of the best kind of marketing strategies, it is called "Permission Marketing"

Go to: http://www.sethgodin.com/permission/

You will get four chapters of Seth Godin's book for free.

Since you are using your Website to market yourself and your market is such a small niche market within magic and entertainment, this type of strategy will work. Believe me I use it myself within all my marketing.

Steve Hart
Cape Canaveral, FL USA

Steve:

Thanks for that great link and valuable information. I signed up and can't wait to read and learn from it. Much thanks for posting it for us all.

Kyle

WoW guys thanks for the advice! It is all great. I seem to have a hard time getting a table at conventions based on my products; I will not list any but conventions tell me they don't have a place for an "escapology" only table

As of right now I only do the Indy EA convention and I love it. MANY in my art know me and it is such a high to talk with them and demo face to face. Since I'm crossing over into the magic market with my latest manuscript, a single comedy routine with an escape, I thought I'd be able to cross over convention wise as well.

I will look into the info you guys provided and PM/ email some of you when I can.

Since I have such a small market with a STRONG follwing I thought it might be fun to have a new market corner and let the customers at the convo have a say in whether we sell a new item or not (since I'm picky about products ie well made, useable, unique). I've been pretty good at selling the right stuff so far, but I thought it would be nice to let others have a say to "feel like a part of the "company."

Someone mentioned having a lot of product sitting out... I found that interesting as MOST have told me not to do that. In my mind with people milling around I'd think a better chance that something MIGHT get stolen (as small as that chance would be but the EA convo is open to the public) as well stuff will go askew and it will start to look like a flea market table which I KNOW is a turn off for most, so I was hoping that maybe you could elaborate on why for me. I'd really appreciate it.

Again, so much thanks guys.

Take Care,

Shawn

I say “pile it high and sell it cheap”. Lol

I agree, it shouldn’t look like a pile of junk. But, there are ways of displaying product in a neat way that makes your table look full. People will walk past a small display without stopping unless they see something that catches their eye. Why would people crowd around an empty table? It’s got to have that full look if you want people to stop. This can be signs, products or whatever, but unless you give them something to look at, they will move on. Where’s the large crowds? At the large displays.

Next time you're in the supermarket, go to the produce dept and notice how the fruits and vegetable displays look massive. Notice closer and you will see it’s dummied up with empty boxes to give it that full look. It’s not nearly as much on the displays as you think; it only looks that way. Why? Because they want you to think THIS is what everyone is buying.

Having stuff stolen is a part of doing business. Control it the best you can but don’t let it worry you. Don’t let the fear of loss out weigh the desire for gain.

Good luck with your new business.

Tom

Hi Tom, thanks for the help, I have had/ do have a full table (actually 2) but setting out like say 10 Hot Rod, 20 Cardtoons, 15 TTs does not appeal to most people does it? Though I know little about Fung Shui (er, whatever) I'm an obsessive nut when it comes to sight appeal the table needs to have a flow to it!

Plus my two mannequin heads on the table usually are a good attention getter Why are there Mannequin heads on your table? Oh, look at that there is a key I've been looking for!

I am not worried about theft HOWEVER I think it would be more of a temptation if I had more than one or two of each product out.

No not Fung Shui, it’s just simple merchandising for maximum sales. It’s the eye appeal and attention getters that stops them to look. Then it’s the having the product to sell that makes the sale. If you have shelves behind the tables, out of reach, then have them full. Let em know you came to do business. Don’t let em think you’re there to sell your two items and then you will be on your way. Stop, Shop, Sell.

Good luck, Hope you sell a truck load.
Tom

Well let us not forget that the best looking table in the world with the best props will not do you any good at all if the people do not know who you are, what you're selling and why your stuff is better then anyone else's. You must market yourself and market yourself well.

Kyle

.....but on the other hand magicians like to think they have the only one every made. So in some cases it may pay to hide the product.. Lol


Tom