Setting up your Bazaar Business - Chapter 4 - HOW ? (Repost from Facebook)

First published : 13 March 2014 at 20:31

Chapter 4 – HOW?

A quick recap…

In chapter 1, you would have asked yourself WHY you would want to participate in a bazaar or flea market.

In chapter 2, you would have asked yourself WHO you want to sell your things to.

In chapter 3, you asked yourself WHAT do you want to sell?

In chapter 4, we will touch on HOW you would sell it.

All of us take on the role of shoppers when we walk or search around to buy things. Sometimes we buy an with objective, sometimes we buy on impulse, sometimes we just think it makes sense a complementary item to what you’ve just picked out.

How many times have you ended up buying things you don’t really need, and realized the only reason you went into the shop was because it was attractive?  What about those extra dozen pairs of socks the sales assistant convinced you to buy when you buy that pair of shoes?

That’s right, you’ve just discovered some of the tactics used to sell, and you fell for them unwittingly!

So here are some suggestions on HOW you can sell your wares. There are many ways but we will suggest 3.

First impression is important – the moment the shopper walks past your booth, it is inevitable that he or she will form an impression of your booth.  What this means to you:

 1. Your booth has to be attractive:

• Merchandise neatly and nicely displayed. It makes lot of sense for you use portable display racks, shelves, stands or mannequins, no clutter, no messy display
• You may source for battery operated LED lights or Christmas lights at Sim Lim Square or Tower (if your organizer is able to provide power points, then you might consider getting spot lights from IKEA. 
• Also consider using a black velvet cloth to overlay the table, and shine a spotlight on it (can be yellow or warm white) – it will enhance the classiness of your products.
• If you have a power point, do consider playing some music, that will help attract

2. Friendly body language:

• No one appreciates a long and sullen looking face – it sends a negative signal that you are in a bad mood and do not welcome the shoppers’ presence.  We have a recent experience where we visited a flea market and the shopkeeper was wearing this frown.  She had a good range of t-shirts with wonderful designs, but unfortunately her body language had turned potential customers away.  She probably didn’t realize it herself, but it already did damage.
• Thus it is imperative to have a friendly body language when you are convincing people why they should spend their money with you.  Start by wearing a smile, and you can follow up by dressing attractively (some Facebook pages of flea market organisers are filled with eye candy for both male and female followers.
• Make your customers feel you are engaging them instead of attending to their queries. Chat with them to find out more about them – you might get some useful clues, such as they could be shopping for a gift, for themselves, what their purchasing power is like. Suggest complementary products: for example if you are selling necklaces, you might want to suggest matching bracelets to go along. If you happen to run of stock but you KNOW have stock of the items they want but they’re in your storeroom somewhere, get hold of their contact numbers or email address to follow up.
• Also remember never to lose your cool. The customer may not always be right but they are the ones who are going to put pocket in your money. So no matter how irritating they can seem to be, never ever lose your cool with them
• Dress well

 3. Personal brand

• What is your personal brand?  Simply put, it is how you project your identity to those around you. You could be known as the class joker, or the class philosopher back in school… etc. Why not extend your personal  brand into your business? Brand your business with a catchy name that reflects your personality – e.g. ‘The Clown’s Den’ or ‘Cynical Creations’ or maybe ‘The Perfectionist’.
• This would allow you to be better known by your customers, suppliers and fellow entrepreneurs

The above are some proven and tested ways that some of our most successful vendors have used. We hope that you can invest some time and efforts to develop your own unique style of selling.

In Chapter 5, we will share some thoughts on WHERE you want to do it, and chapter 6, SO WHAT?

An original article by TGIF Bazaars