Congrats! You have started your own business. Now, you are looking for leads and to get your name out there. That's where a booth can come into play!

When working a booth, you may be thinking "Sales, Sales, Sales!" But in all honesty, booths are not about the sales. In some cases, yes, sales will be great. But the real reason we decide to invest in a booth is because we want to meet people.

Booths = Active Advertising

• Face to face introduction of our company
• Opportunity to sell ourselves as a consultant
• Leads, where we can follow up vs. waiting for them to call us
• Great recruiting ground
• Chance to book parties, and meet people who can help us move our business forward.

FINDING BOOTHS

Booths are EVERYWHERE! You can find them for FREE, and you can find them for a FEE.

FREE BOOTHS
Often these are non-selling events. You may get to set up a table at a conference or a reunion, or a health fair, for example. The key to get into these is to show what you can OFFER them. For example, free cooking tips, or quick ways to make yourself look more professional, or parenting tips.

PAID BOOTHS
These booth events require a fee. It may be per table or by booth space. These are usually selling events, and some even involve applying and having to be accepted.

PLACES TO START:

• County or state fairs
• Home Show/Home Design Expos
• Craft Fairs
• Shopping Expo
• Anything with EXPO in the name
• Bridal Fairs/Kids Fairs
• Fests or Festivals-- Fun Fest / Reading Fest / Family Fest
• City celebrations or Birthday Bashes
• Neighborhood parties
• Church events/ dinners like Pork Loin Feed, etc
• Park events
• Carnivals
• Bake Sales
• Fundraisers
• Women's events
• Conferences (any conference where you have a product that fits the theme, reading conference, health conference)
• Appreciation events
• Events at hospitals

Often times it's the same type of event, just different wording

WHERE TO LOOK

• www.craftlister.com / www.eventlister.com
• Chamber of Commerce
• Convention Center
• TV Community Calendars (our TV has a station dedicated to community stuff)
• TV station and newspaper community calendars, check their websites
• City websites
• Networking (ask other direct sales companies)
• The Shopper classifieds
• Craigslist
• Search: city name/key word used above like Chicago fest
• Read the paper, you learn a lot!
• Call places that may be involved. Example, bridal fair, call a bridal shop and ask if there are any in your area.
• Radio Stations
• American Legion / Firefighter Wives Associations / Hospital auxilary groups / Rotary Club (they often will have a fundraiser where they allow vendors)
• Each city usually has some type of annual event like Scarecrow Festival, Turte Races, Ice Cream Days, Art in the Park, etc. Do a little research
• Churches and schools, call to see if they do anything
• Mall (sometimes they do expos)
• Women's groups like Jr. Leagues/friends and neighbors
   

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PRICE

• Cheap is always good, but cheap isn't always better if no one comes
• See if you can negotiate! What can you offer them? Example: Story time, free products, a seminar... You'd be surpised!
• Bigger cities will have more expensive events.

WHAT TO LOOK AT:

• Cost , is it reasonable
• Is there another rep? (proper etiquette!)
• How many days (can you man it?)
• Foot traffic
• How established is the event
• Numbers! How many people came through last few years
• Demographics, who's attending
• What other hiddens are there, example door prizes, do they ask a % of profit (common for fundraisers)
• Can you sell?
• What do you get? Tables? Signage? Chairs?
• How far away is it. Does it make sense to do it. (Far away booths can be good for recruiting)
• Also review any company rules on obtaining booths

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GETTING READY & WHAT TO TAKE!

 BEFORE EVENT:

Now that you have it booked, now what?

 --Ask your sponsor to see pictures of differnt booth set-ups to get some ideas on how to set up.

--Are you working alone or do you need to bring in a team member? Bigger events are better with 2 people. You can also split it up into shifts. This is a great training ground for your team!

--I don't have a team, now what? Your choices are to work it yourself, or ask a friend to help and pay them in products! I've actually recruited friends this way. People who have helped me include: My mom,  my mother-in-law, a hostess (who then joined), a wonderful old time friend I hadn't talked to forever but lived locally to the booth, my brother-in-laws sister, my cousin, a close buddy.

--Predetermine if you'd like to offer any specials at the booth.

So, now you'll need:

BASICS

• Cash! (I take 20 $1s, 5 $5s, 4 $10s and 4 $20s, plus a roll of quarters/nickels/dimes and pennies)
• Cash bag or cash box (use what works for you)
• Pens
• Order forms
• Calculator
• Catalogs (but keep them under the table to hand out if the opportunity presents)
• Flyers to hand out like candy
• Business cards
• Recruiting packs
• Hostess packs
• Your calendar
• Stickers or something fun to entice people
• Lead/drawing forms (don't bring a box or basket for them, more later)
• Tape (both scotch and the duck variety)
• Dry Erase board to post specials
• Cardstock paper
• Markers to make things if needed
• Scissors (sometimes they just come in handy)
• Stapler or paperclips
• Stamp with your info
• Labels with your info
• String (I've found it comes in handy)
• Hooks to hang things
• Large clip board for orders
• Small clip board for lead slips
• Price stickers, for items unmarked
• Bags for your customers
• Name tag

DISPLAY

• Products samples
• Products for sale
• Display items, may be: Book or clothing racks, jewelry stands, crates, shelves boxes, etc.
• Tablecloth (make it a cloth tablecloth, logo is good, but not necessary)
• Banners to hang up in the back.
• If no banners available, print out your company logo on Card stock
• Premade hostess special/recruiting special, etc signs
• Tables if not provided or want extra space
• Carpet or rug to stand on, protect products if dropped (good for longer booth events)
• Fabrics, used to cover boxes or decorate your booth. You can also cover large Totes, and create another place to put product!
• Plastic tableclothes (great for covering your display at night)
• Chair if not provided (good idea to have on in case)
• Dolly or cart so you don't have to carry everything (Life Saver!!!)

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 LEAD SLIPS

Lead slips, or drawing slips are the soul of your booth. This is your future business.

Some companies or leaders will have templates you can print out. The essential information is on a mock up one below. Customize it to your business!
 

Lead Example: 
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           DRAWING SLIP FOR XYZ             Date:

Name:

Phone:                                                      Best time to call:

Address/City/State/Zip:

Email

Question with easy answer to give you info you can use, like kids, birthday, how would you rate your cooking, etc.

                                             # # #
I am interested in earning Free Products by hosting a party    _______ yes  ______ maybe

I would like more information on earning an income w/XYZ    _______ yes  ______ maybe

I am interested in learning about sales and specials             _______ yes  ______ maybe

Other:

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USING LEADS

Using leads is essential to having a good booth, and ensuring good follow-up.

• Place the lead slips on your front table, and by your check out. You can use small clipboards to hold them in place. 
• Have a small tent sign in front "Register to win a free ____"
• When talking to customers, share with them "Oh, by the way, I'm having a drawing if you'd like to enter to win a XYZ." Then reach on the table to one of your clipboards and casually hand it to her.
• Do not hold the clipboard to your chest, this makes you look aggressive. A "By The Way" approach works very well for me.
• If you didn't have a chance, when checking them out, hand them a clipboard "While I'm writing this up, would you like to enter the drawing
• Do not have a basket or place for them on the table. You want them to hand the slip directly to you. This allows you to make a connection and develop a relationship. Quickly glance it and if they marked something, now you can mention it. "I see you are interested in information on making some money. Great! Why are you interested in doing something like this?" Or, "Wonderful! I see you said maybe to a party. They are so much fun. You invite some friends, I bring the widgets, and you shop for free! I'm currently booking this month. Our special is." Then pause and let them lead the way.
• On back, write notes to help you remember when they follow up.
• Even if they put NO! next to one, don't let it discourage you. I've had recruits who wrote no.
• Remember, ask questions, but dont' keep them long. Understand they weren't looking for a business or a party when they came. Respect their time
• Watch their body language, and respect their companions.

LEAD FOLLOW-UP

Now you have the leads, what do you do with them?

• When you get home, enter all email addresses into a database to add to your email loop. You should be doing a newsletter to keep your customers up-to-date on specials and new products
• Make sure you mark what event you met them at on the top of the slip
• Sort them out by interest
• Put those who marked nothing aside. These are for your dry spells. They stopped by, they must like something about what you offer. 1 in 10ish of these will turn into something! Never throw a lead away. :-)
• Seperate the remaining slips into subpiles of "best time to call"
• Paperclip 5 - 10 together so you have a grouping to call at a time. Start with high priority, you bet, recruiting leads.

THE CALL

• When you call, "Hi! This is Debbie with XYZ. Is Customer there? Hi! Do you have a quick minute to be on the phone?" This way you are respecting their time. Try talking to someone who is in the middle of stir-fry, changing a diaper, or running late to pick up their kids. (Yes, we all know we shouldn't answer the phone, yet we do!)
• As you remember, we met at the booth! I loved meeting you and something you remember about them that you wrote down.
• Was that your first time seeing our products?
• What did you think?
• How is that item you purchased
• Awesome! Well, the reason I am calling is because I see that you are interested in making some money, or getting some free products, etc.
• Remember, ask questions. :-)

YOUR QUESTIONS: