Capturing Leads

Attending craft shows can be an excellent way to pick up sales, but more importantly - gathering leads. Your ultimate goal is of course to make sales in the end, but to have the name and address of your customer can prove to be more valuable than just one simple sale.

There's many ways to capture a lead or get the name of your customer at the very least. Two of the main ideas I spotted at the last craft show that were working the best were:

1. Drawings
This is almost a given, and we all know this is one of the best ways to pull in leads. Most tables has the options to check off boxes for more information on the products, earning free products, or more info on earning money.

2. "For Display Only" Products
Several tables I saw that were set up very nicely were for display only. There were no "cash and carry" products at all, only displays of popular products. Reps would talk to each person that walked by and encourage orders from the catalog. This way they were still making sales, but they also had information on the customer so they could contact them later.

At your next craft show, see if you can use one or both of these ideas to gather leads. Don't forget that your mailing list is gold, and will bring you the more sales than any other type of marketing!

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Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso, authors of Direct Sales Success, specialize in coaching direct sales representatives to reach their goal of becoming successful in their field. Visit http://www.DirectSalesHelpers.com for free weekly tips.