Jamie's Blog

To Trade Show or To Not

July 23, 2012.

I have had no motivation to blog lately.  I have been overwhelmed with....well life.  I have been spending my summer swimming, playing, staying up late, going to camp, having sleep overs, playing xbox....oh wait, no that is what my kids have been doing.  I  have been entertaining them.  And, as I have mentioned multiple times I was not sure I had anything else left to blog about.  Then out of nowhere I got this email today:

Hi There,

I found your blog about Gift Shows and wanted to ask you a question. What are the good gift shows on the West Coast? I just moved from Oregon to Los Angeles and my business has really been taking off over the last couple of years. I'm now thinking about doing a gift show and would love to know what you think. Also, I'd love to visit the LA gift show (I want to "walk" a show to see what's what!)

Thanks for any thoughts you can share!

:) Sarah Jane

Life is Rosey

Trade Shows in General

In no way do I consider myself an expert in attending and exhibiting at Trade Shows.  However, I have been doing it (and by it I mean running a business) for ten....ya, ten years this November.  A little background for ya, I have walked shows in San Francisco, Surtex, NY Stationary Show,  Los Angeles, Atlanta, Long Beach & New York multiple times and multiple years.  I have had my products in Show Rooms in Los Angeles, Minneapolis & Texas.  I have exhibited at the ABC Kids Expo and the Atlanta Gift show multiple times.

If I was asked to do a word association about Trade Shows, I would blurt out....expensive.  And to then to answer your question about if there were any good Gift Shows,  I would yell out, "NOOOOOOOOOONNNE!"  just like the guy that yells "GOOOOAAAAALLLLL!" after a soccer player scores.  Harsh? Yes.  Do I speak from experience? Yes.  

I would love to sugar coat this post and say that Trade Shows are good, but I can't.  I loathe them. They are a total suck of money and they are unnecessary.  In this day of Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy, the Internet, Groupon, Plum District and Oprah - no one has to do a Trade Show.  The waste of money is one thing, but the waste of time is painful.  Sitting in a booth day after day for 10 hours a day, away from your family and writing itsy bitsy orders - the opposite of priceless, it sucks.

The Cost Can Be More Than Expected

You need cash to exhibit, and lots of it.  Think of just flights, hotels & food.  That does not even include the renting of the booth, the samples of your products, the employees that will help you man the booth, printing of catalogs, postcards, order forms, giveaways, the possible advertisements in Trade Rags and then the super fun (sarcasm here) hidden costs.  Shipping your products, unloading your products by union workers, boxing up your products....it is kind of like when some contractor says, "Wanna do a remodel?  Take your budget and then double it!"

When Jamie's Painting & Design exhibited at the ABC Kid's Expo years ago we spent $10,000.00.  The two shows I did in Atlanta cost, um a lot of money too.  For the record my average wholesale price of one of my products is $17.50 to $22.00.  Do the math on how many products I have to sell to make up a $10,000.00 bill.

 The Cost of Exhibiting at a Trade Show

The expression, "Do as I say, Not as I did" should be the actual title of this post.  If I knew then, what I knew now - I would not have exhibited.  Instead I will list what I found on the LA Gift Fair's website and these are the minimum costs if I were to go to the show:

 Los Angeles Trade Show

• Shipping or Unloading Products (changes with each venue, taxes, Union Workers) : N/A
• Displays : ( $500 to $5000 depending on sophistication of booth) : $500.00
• Booth 10 x 10 Booth $20.00/sq. ft. (this includes 1 trash can, 1 chair and black curtain & rod) : $2000.00
• Hotel (4 nights for show + 1 to set up booth)  $139.00 to $189.00 a night (tax $20.85 a night) : $799.25
• Hotel Parking $20.00 daily parking : $100.00
• Car Rental is $50.00 a day : $250.00
• Food $55.00 to $70.00 a day (cost of food is expensive at the show) : $275.00
• Flight on Alaskan Airlines : $160.00

Total Cost before I even ship my products, print brochures or write ONE order : $2,284.25

From what I have heard the Los Angeles Show is not what it used to be.  With the San Francisco Gift Show gone, it may attract more buyers - but talk on the street is not good.  When I was at the Gift Mart years ago I was not impressed, nor did I get many sales when I was in a show room there.  It could have been my product or the show room - but it was not very profitable for the cost I spent (you have to pay sales reps a % of your sales, plus you may pay a fee to have your products in their showroom).

Even if you are super convinced to do a Trade Show, you have to do a reality check first and ask yourself a number of questions:

• How much money can you afford to lose? 
• What is your budget?
• How many other vendors with similar (or the exact) product will be at the show?
• Does your product appeal to a large demographics across the country? 
• Can you find out who exhibited last year?  
• Have you done research on blogs to see if the show was worth it?  
• Do you enjoy "selling" your product and yourself?

You Still Want to Do A Trade Show

If you are thinking of exhibiting a Trade Show I highly recommend walking the show first, heck even consider walking it with the idea of finding sales.  I once made an appointment with 4 different stores in the New Jersey/New York area and met up with them (accidentally) in front of a competitor's booth.  If she was not such a nasty person, I would not mention this - because again, it was by accident.  

Walking a show (you can do this free if you talk your way in and tell them you are a buyer) can be lonely and even boring.  It is hard to get people to talk when they are there to sell.   Be brave, be friendly and talk yourself up something special.  Also, travel with a friend, it makes you braver and gives you someone to laugh with when things do not work out as expected.   Trade Show attendance and exhibition has been going down for years, especially since that super fun Recession of 2008.  

What to Do Instead

There are other ways to get your product to market without spending a ton of money on a Trade Show.  Search out stores, catalogs and websites on line.  Sending emails is the best form these days, but back in the day I would send a catalog via snail mail.  If you cannot find the contact information from an average Google search, try Linked In.  

Another thing to consider doing a smaller more intimate show locally instead of a large Trade Show. An Art & Wine festival, a mini-boutique at a school or a Holiday Boutique or Craft Fair are exellent "starter" shows for you.   The difference is you need inventory for these, vs. just take orders at a Trade Show.  You will find out real quick if you enjoy sitting in a booth and talking to potential customers. Plan on going in with a very, very thick skin, because people will may some cruel things about your products.  

Be patient and persistent, it takes a long time to get established.  Take every small and large accomplishment with strides.  It took me years to get into hundreds of stores, websites and catalogs and sadly with the Recession only a few months for tons of them to go bankrupt. Whatever you do don't give up, keep trying and searching for accounts.  A quote I heard at a funeral earlier this seems fitting way to just to end this post, "Just keep keeping on". 

Places to Research Trade Shows

Las Vegas Market

ABC Kids Expo

Atlanta Gift Show

New York Gift Show

Surtex

New York Stationary Show

LA Gift Show

Posts Where I go On & On About Trade Shows

The Atlanta Gift Show

Preparing to Walk the Atlanta Gift Show

What Not to Do at Trade Show

Craft Boutique Ettiquette

First Trade Show - ABC Kids Expo

Surtex & Stationary Show in New York

Post #2 About Surtex & Stationary Show New York

What other Companies said about the ABC Kids Expo 2008

1st Time Exhibiting in Atlanta 2007

Another 2007 Atlanta Post

Setting up Booth for Trade Show

Trade Show Lingo

Summer 2007 Atlanta Gift Show

Last Days of the Last time I will EVER exhibit at a Trade Show

Regrets from Atlanta Gift Show 

Advertising in print for a Trade Show

Preparing for a Trade Show

 

February um....Where Did You Go? And can You find March?

March 20, 2012.

I swear I have no idea even where February went, and now March is more than half over.  I feel like Rip Van Winkle and I just woke up from a long winters nap.    I mean, I know what I have been doing and spending all my waking hours on, but it is like Spring already!  How can that possibly be when I am pretty sure that I missed Winter, you know while I was sleeping and all.  But in all seriousness this is a list of sorts of what I have been doing:

Traveling The Globe....actually just the State

I swear I have never traveled this much in such a short time in my life.  I feel like I have been living out of my suit case since around October, with trips back and forth to the Bay Area to trips around the state.  I am not complaining, I just keep singing the OneRepublic song Good Life:

To my friends in New York, I say hello 
My friends in L.A. they don't know 
Where I've been for the past few years or so 
Paris to China to Col-or-ado 

It has not been all fun and exciting jaunts around the country, many trips have been soccer tournaments and a business trip (oh wait...that WAS all fun!).  I have found just packing alone takes a lot of time, and some of it has been time away from my family.  So, with that...blogging took quite a back seat.

Lots of Research & Little Remodeling

We have lived in our  home for a little over seven months, long enough for me to know what I like, what I don't like and what I "OH MY GAWD I can't live with for one more day!".  I won't bore you with the laundry list of remodeling projects, but it has turned into an overwhelmingly long list.  The hiring takes time, the purchasing takes time and more time is invested in convincing my husband to PLEASE help takes even more time.  

But most of my time has been doing research on what, when who and how we will do all these projects.  Not shocking to anyone, but the getting bids alone takes a small village to coordinate with schedules.  I am not one that enjoys that much research.  I kind of, no wait I KNOW what I like and that is all there is.  I am enjoying poking around Pinterest for ideas, but really the site is just a plain time suck until I decide to make a cupcake tower made to look like a Disney Princess.

The other problem I have is I am....wait for it...very impatient.  Everything takes twice as long as expected.  Everything. I have a soft spot for little Ms. Verruca Salt in Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factor, "I want a pony NOW Daddy!"  No, seriously the worst part is waiting and then waiting some more.  I am trying not to get too impatient though....that would be the old me, the one who just started tearing down parts of my house without a plan or a prayer (true story).  

Licensing Art.....Best Part of Being Busy

Most of my time has been spent on this larger than life....well not that big, but still big project.  I mentioned earlier that I met a wonderful woman in Atlanta and came to find out we could collaborate on a project together.  A five minute conversation on the bus to the Atlanta Convention Center has resulted in her signing me to create a large number of product lines for her company.

I designed a line of products for her company, frames, mirrors, wall art, clocks - all new and all very very tough for someone who has beeen working on 6 x8 tiles for the last 9 years.  I think in terms of "Jane's Room" and how can I wrap my designs around the tile.  It took a leap of faith for the company to take a chance on me, but I am super excited too see the final results.  Samples are being made in Shanghai as we speak and I am soon starting another line of products.

Of course with licensing (like I know what I am talking about) these won't be available till 2013, so as excited as I am I need to just sit back and wait and see what happens.  I am optimisitc, but more realistic.  I have listed or blogged more than once things that never came to fruition and almost amazing opportunities.  I have a really good feeling about this opportunity, which means either I am getting less pessamistic or I am too old to worry about it. 

Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere. 

                                                                                                                                                        ~Glenn Turner

Big Bedding Companies Should Take Advice from the Little Guys

I don't enjoy failing or falling on my face.  First off it hurts my pride, second of all it hurts my darn face.  I hate to have people to know I have failed -I like to succeed.  I don't know what the big deal is - everyone fails, it makes us who are....blah, blah I get the positive spin on it.  I don't  know who says it but I do believe that as awful as failure is, it is part of growing , changing and learning from my mistakes.  That being said, even though I failed....I turned this failure into an opposite of failure?  A success after a failed attempt?  Oh hell, I made lemonade out of lemons.  Read on;

Submitted Products to Pottery Barn Kids

In January of 2010 I took the advice of a dear friend and I sent 4 product samples to Pottery Barn Kids.  I spent an entire weekend on 6 or 8 designs, painting, researching and looking at trends.  I spent a great deal of time on their site, trying to figure out what their designers wanted, comparing my ideas to their bedding and pretty much immersing my self in Pottery Barn Kids 101.  I wanted to design Nursery & Kid's Room Decor products that complimented their products.  I really felt I had one chance to make a good impression and I wanted to make a great one.

Of the 8 designs I created, I felt that four of them were good, no not good - really good.  I got feedback from friend's in the industry, I made the tiles and shipped them off.  I spent the next two weeks checking my email and voicemail almost every 5 minutes to see if they loved my stuff....I knew they would love it.  After no response I sucked it up and I called them.  The Head Buyer lady said they would review Jamie's Painting & Design at their next Design meeting, and I would hear from them.  I never heard from them. 

Rejection.....Sucks

I waited for weeks that soon turned into a month and I did not "hear from them".  After countless phone calls and emails I finally got the Buyer on the phone.  When I re-introduced myself and asked if they had made a decision on my products  her reply was, "We are not interested."  Ouch!  She did not let me down easily, she did not sugar-coat it.  Pottery Barn Kids did not give a reason and they did not apologize for their (her) short and to the point answer.  I was so shocked I did not even rebuke her or ask what they did not like my products.  I am usually pretty good about asking the right questions and where do we go from here...this time, not so much.

I spent the next few days, okay weeks feeling very bad.  I could not believe I had it so wrong - I always got it right.  Well, not right, but the chances of 1 our of 4 of my designs being what they wanted, or liked - I had done my damn research!  Most times after tons of research I got the design factor down.  I felt I was like Austin Powers and I had just lost my mojo (is that even how you spell it?).  I know it was not the end of the world, but I just felt crummy about the designs and my ability to make good products.

Making it Work

By summer I decided fu.........um, I mean screw it they were still my designs.  I really liked, dare I say loved the four designs that would forever be known as PBK rejects in my mind.  I dusted them off sucked in my pride and I added them to my 2010 line of new products.  I figured they did not own me, they did not own my designs....I did.  I did not hold up much hope of them being best sellers, but I thought maybe somebody somewhere would like them.

Within 24 hours of the Butterfly & Flower Birth Announcement going live on numerous websites we sold 3.  This may not seem like such a huge deal, but it takes awhile for Google to crawl sites, it takes customers a while to purchase new designs.....this was odd.  The Zoo Animals Birth Announcement has also had the same success, we sold 10 and it has only been out there for a short time.  The Butterfly Garden Name Plaque & The Space Name Plaque  sold for the first time last week a few times for both.  A few of my other designs have had limited success, but right the gate these four, the PBK Four as I have re-named them seem to have some legs.  Week after week these four designs are selling.

With new designs and even with old designs sometimes we don't sell a design till it has been on the market for 6 months to a year.  It may take a good customer review, press or just word of mouth.  We have been ahead of the game on designs and then when a bedding design has come out our product has sold like crazy.  We have been known to go week after week selling one design over and over, for months sometimes years and then see the sales stop all together. 

Am I Gloating?  Why, Yes....Yes I Am

So, even though I am disappointed that Pottery Barn Kids did not select my products I sort of feel vintigated with my artistic talent.  I am Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.  The scene where she walks back into the exclusive Beverly Hills Boutique that refused to sell her clothes with bags and bags of clothes and she is dressed up in her new fancy shmancy outfit and she asks the woman if she remembers her, tells her what a big mistake she made.  Ya that is me.

[Jamie, smartly dressed and carrying many tiles, stops into Pottery Barn Kids Corporate Office.]
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100405/Jamie: Do you remember me?
Pottery Barn Kids Buyer: No, I'm sorry.
Jamie: I sent you plaques and birth announcement designs. You didn't like them?
Pottery Barn Kids Buyer: Oh.
Jamie: You work on commission, right?
Pottery Barn Kids Buyer: Ah, yes.
Jamie: Big mistake. Big. Huge! [turns away] I have to go make tiles now!