- Strange combination of vendors booth sharing.
- Most vendors sharing booths spent much of the day chatting to each other and not their potential customers.
- A local hotel desperate to regain the confidence of the community - but no live person in the booth each time I walked past.
- A Minister standing in front of his booth who never smiled and ignored every person who walked past him. Still not sure if he was actually a real person or just a statue from Madame Tussauds!
- Vendors eating the snacks from the buffet table in full view of the show attendees.
- Displays were being packed away at least an hour before the show ended.
- Vendors walking around chatting to each other and leaving their booths unattended.
Disclaimer: Of course I know not all wedding professionals behave this way - but this was a great example of why I believe some wedding vendors do not get the most out of wedding shows.
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Were there actually any visitors though Julie? In my experience vendors do behave as you described, but only when the place is empty and they are bored out of their brains, dispirited with the total waste of money! If the place has a regular stream of visitors - even after a slow patch - vendors tend to be on the alert as the wait to grab the opportunity to capture a potential new client's attention. Using the time in between to network is not such a bad idea either...
ReplyDeleteThanks Elaine for your comment. This was a small show and was pretty well attended. The great thing about this particular show was that only one of two vendors in each category where there, meaning the brides will not be bombarded with spam from a thousand vendors. Great potential for some quality bookings with the correct follow-up.
ReplyDeleteI was able to walk around as there were several of us in our booth - and wanted to connect with the hotel to book a function for our school. This hotel was desperate to connect with the community after a sale and several management changes. After a few attempts I gave up trying to find them in their booth. This was such a shame as the property used to be a highly sought after wedding location.
My only thoughts on several of the vendors was that they must not have been the business owners and perhaps just representatives there to work the show. If this is correct they certainly were not doing these companies any justice.
I agree - networking with the other vendors is a great idea and a great use of time as long as potential customers are not being ignored as was the case last week.
Thanks again for all your great comments.
If there is only one vendor at a booth, when and where can the vendor eat and how does the vendor take a short break away from the table without feeling like he/she would lose potential clients/business?
ReplyDeleteHi Anastasia. We ALWAYS make sure there are at least 2 of us at each wedding show. We try to have 2 in our booth at all times, but when it's slow the 2nd person wonders around to network, eat and take a quick break. Usually I try to do all my vendor networking before the show starts or as it is ending as I don't like taking "selling" time away from other wedding vendors. If you can't have someone join you for the whole show - try to have a friend or relative come for an hour to give you time to eat. BUT - make sure you train them first. Booths are usually slower during the fashion show - this would be a great time to have someone cover your booth.
ReplyDeleteHope this helps:)
Julie