So You've never had a Stall Before - Tues, Wed, Thursday

Oh Dear.

Been having problems with my modem over the last few days, so havn't been nearly as organised as I would have liked. So here's the three tips from Tuesday to today, all in one hit!

Tuesday's Hint:
Stand Up and Smile.
This is standard knowledge amoungst the market regulars, but unless someone had told me, I would still have no idea. Standing up for as long as you can, instead of sitting in a chair behind your stall, as well as looking happy to be there and NOT letting on you've sold two things all day is one of the MOST effective way to increase sales. We're not 100% sure of why, but we KNOW it works. So show those pearly whites and wear comfy shoes folks.

Wednesday's Hint:
How Much?
Imagine you've got a shy, unassuming customer at your stall, who LOVES handmade but simply can't bring yourself to ask a seller how much that beautiful notebook is. Sure, if she REALLY wants it, she'll ask, but if she's maybe tossing that up with something also pretty cool, and she can't compare prices easily, she'll just go with the one that the other seller priced clearly. So make sure prices are large and easy visible, or each item is tagged individually so that if they pick it up, they know how much that item is. You'll also not have the challenge of having to know the prices of each one of your one-off, seperately priced handmade bags. Which has to be a good thing, right?

Thursday's Hint:
Love Yourself.
Have you ever gone into a phone shop and been thinking about what phone you're going to get, and the assistant comes up and recommends you a phone, and assures you that its the best one, and that she uses it all the time, its her favourite phone to date? Only to see her later on her lunchbreak chatting to her boyfriend on a completely different phone? Sure its great to talk about your items to buyers in a positive way, but if it's not the truth, people can smell insincerity from a mile off. And I for one would not want to buy handmade from someone who I don't believe or who doesn't believe in what they've made. I want to buy from someone who wears their work everywhere if they're a jewellery-maker, or who has her couches smothered in her custom-made cushions whenever I go over their house. So love what you do, and wear/use/show it, not just as advertising, but because you want to!

p.s. this hint was inspired by Sarah G (oddgirlout/MOTLteam member), who is always sporting her black polyclay earrings whenever I see her, and forgets she even has them on :)

Stay tuned for tomorrow's hint, the second last one for this series. Let us know if you have a request for something we should write about net, or even if you have an article you wrote and want to share.