Prepare, Like They Do at Faire!

Ruth Failer

The Renaissance Faire is just another trade show! As casual and spontaneous as it may look from the guest’s point of view, a lot goes into making sure all who enter have the best experience they possibly can that day. In order for that to happen, strict rules are placed on both the vendors and actors.

Weeks before The Renaissance Faire begins, the organizer presents three mandatory workshops for new vendors: Orientation, Costuming and Elizabethan Language.
All participants must:

·         wear acceptable clothing

·         know how to say what needs to be said

·         call people to their booth

·         display products in an inviting way

·         provide demonstrations of products or services

 Every day one hour before Faire opening, all royals, puritans, beggars, street jesters and all stage other actors are required to attend a brief meeting, preparing them for the theme of the show and special events of the day.

We can learn a lot about getting our staff educated from the policies of Faire:

Preparing (some in costume) a week before opening day

Exhibiting can be very expensive if your staff is not ready and able to accomplish your trade show goals.  Your sales representatives are bright and great at what they do, but they can’t read your mind or you theirs. Let your staff in on your expectations and give them the tools to perform. Most probably they won’t be speaking Elizabethan; they need to be conversing in a language to bring your customers closer to a sale. They won’t be a peasant, a royal, or a pirate, yet they ought to be dressed the part of representing your company brand with the proper attitude, focus and attire. 

Contact Tips of the Trade for workshops:

·         Boothmanship (booth etiquette)

·         At-show sales skills

·         Booth display

·         Pre-show marketing

• Retaining customers

Prepare your merchants to increase sales in and out of the booth.

A jousting fight to the death is optional!

Sell: Pause, Change it Up, Repeat

The other day, X Dental Company left me a voicemail to remind Kathryn of a dental appointment the following day. Since I do not know a Kathryn and I am not a patient of X Dental Company, I wondered if they had made a mistake with a patient. I called their office and the receptionist said, “We will remove your number from our records. Thank you for calling X Dental Company, we appreciate your business.”

Was she listening? 

Was she really talking to me?

Have we ever done this?

Situations like this happen all too frequently at trade shows and other selling venues. A seller begins spewing the moment a potential customer enters their booth. Sellers get into the routine of saying the same thing to every person, and by the end of day three, they sound like a robot.

Tip: 5 Ways to Customize Your “Pitch”

 Start with an important question

• Respond directly to their answer
• Mirror their speaking pattern
• Mention some of the same words they used
• Disengage by referring back to the conversation

Be sure that your potential customer knows that you are interested in them when they speak to you. The selling begins when a connection is made.

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The Jewelry Industry Loses A Rare Gem, A Legend, A Friend... Cindy Edelstein Passes Away At Age 51

Cindy Edelstein and I shared a love for Trade Shows and Jewelry Designers. She will be missed.
Below is a press release:       

 

January 24, 2016 (New York) -  Cindy Edelstein, entrepreneur, author, editor and long time consultant to the jewelry industry, died suddenly Sunday January 24. She was 51. The cause was heart failure.

 

Cindy began her career in the jewelry industry as an editor at JCK magazine where she was the fashion editor. This brought her in contact with jewelry designers and their work, and she soon came to realize that working with them would be her life's work. In 1991, wanting to support  the growth of this segment of the industry, she founded the Jeweler's Resource Bureau with her husband, Frank Stankus, with the idea of highlighting the designers and their work in multiple ways.

 

Over the years she worked in many roles to that end, including that of trade show consultant for the JCK show, the Couture show  and the AGTA show as well creating her own designer-centric show, globalDESIGN. She also was a prolific writer about jewelry design and her byline could be found in every jewelry trade publication as well as in industry online columns. With her husband, she co-wrote a book titled "Brilliance: Masterpieces from the American Jewelry Design Council." It sold out of it's first printing.

 

Her efforts to help designers of every level of achievement brought her some well-deserved recognition. She was awarded the prestigious Benne Award by the American Jewelry Design Council in 1995, and was the 1996 winner of the Contemporary Design Group's award as Best Designer Advocate. She was a long-serving member of the board of the Women's Jewelry Association, an international group to which she devoted many years of volunteer work. In 1990, she received that organization's Award for Editorial Excellence, and in 2001 she was recognized again by the same group for her Excellence in Marketing.

   

She is survived by her husband Frank, a daughter, Remy Sasha Stankus, a stepson, Byron David Stankus, and a brother, Philip Edelstein.

Cindy Edelstein