How to start selling?

Gloomtastic!

Thanks Jurga78. I went on the Friday but I had 5 kids in tow so got to see damn all. I saw you could borrow wheelbarrows and leave your purchases in special holding areas to collect later - obviously to address concerns like yours.

Next time, before you book a show, study the floorplan and see who you will be next to. Or tell the sales person where you want to be and where do they recommend. If it's not right you may have some comeback. But you've now learned why all exhibition stands are fully paid-for before you can set up.

You've a great product that should have a huge market - to test it at least, so I wish you good luck!

jimmii

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

I saw you could borrow wheelbarrows and leave your purchases in special holding areas to collect later

I didn't see that at all! Sounds like a good idea considering the majority of the products there were way too big to be carrying around!

PeteF

I was at a talk a couple of months back by Gary Brown from Target McConnells. A fellow in the audience asked how he could promote his potting mix. He had tried a number of the garden centres and they were used to dealing with their usual suppliers and weren't interested. This fellow was convinced his product couldn't be jazzed up to make it grab attention.

What Gary advised was interesting. He recommended getting the potting mix, sending it as a kit, with a few seeds and other bits and pieces to the owners of the garden centers with a letter explaining how good their product is, and to find enclosed something for their kids to play with. It would stand out a bit more than a regular old letter, and make your company appear approachable.

You could do something similar, create a grass head type character, and a little container of your product. Send two of them to potential customers inviting them to get their kids to test it out. Use your product on one grass head and nothing (or your competitors product) on the other grass head.

It would be something to cheer them up.

Jurga78

That's brilliant idea, PeteF, thank's a million, we might try that at the show in Mallow.
Our product is a kind of mix, it's organic natural fertiliser with ton of benefits. But it's new to Ireland, so lots of persuasion needed to get people to try that out.

As for the storing, we had a couple of options in Bloom - we offered to store it ourselves, or to carry it to their car. But... People were walking around carrying trees! So if they want to buy it, they will.

Anyway for the first show, what I've learned - get into smaller show first. You'll learn what works / doesn't work , will get advise from other exhibitors, and it'll be cheaper. We're goin to Mallow on 20-22 of June, the croud of 30K.

lucky john

Mark it down as market research, experience and part of your education.

Its much easier to sell plants and trees at bloom because customers see them in the show gardens and can imagine them in their little corner easily. The fact they look good because they were grown in quality compost doesn't cross their minds. Compost just isn't that sexy.

Maybe you do it all ready but if you had some colourful plants or flowers on your stand growing in your compost it might help.

I have never had a stand in mallow but plenty of people from that end of the country have told be how good it is.

Thanks for coming back with you experience of bloom.

Jurga78

Thank's for all advise John, I am considering Bloom as a pricey seminar. We were having some flowers for comparison. We'll have more in Mallow - that works , when you have more to point your finger at. Since our product is made by earthworms (basically is a worm poo), we'll have some edible gummy-worms too.
It gets easier when the experience comes, when you find out what people are goin for, the hard part is the Gardening centres or distributors. They don't know the product, they don't know how well it will sell and they don't care how good it is.

lucky john

I like the edible worm idea.

I spent ages at a pet farm one time watching ants at work. The farm had a narrow glass box that was basically a cross section of an ant hill. You could see all the little tunnels and the ants working away. Would a narrow box with perspex sides with your worms beavering away inside work? Some waste, the worms, your compost and the colourful flowers growing. That would be the whole process for people to see.

Jurga78

yeah, we're trying to figure out the best way to do that. We had something like a narrow aquarium with a compost and worms, didn't look nice ... but the flowers on the top would change the picture, thank's again

jimmii

That really would look great and make your stand stick out from the rest. I hope to see it at an event sometime soon!

daviecronin

Was very interested in forum how is it going might I ask?