That is a great idea Rikka! I did find one that is an on-line generator. It made this for the puppetsandstuff.com URL.

http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

And another one that lets you generate in color. http://www.qrstuff.com/

Ooh, thanks for those links Shawn. Don't you just love it when you find generators like that online?

I am way behind on reading posts.  In my experience, I do better having things in a booth ready to sell.  People say they will order, but they forget (or change their mind). People like to have things in hand to take with them.  Some come with a set amount of money to spend that day and are going to spend it somewhere.  It doesn't hurt to have a spot set up  to display items that can be ordered, especially if you can demo it (or have a presentation running to demo - people tend to flock to those). All the other things mentioned are important too.

That being said... I attended a .. hmmm not sure what to call it. Maybe a summit or forum.  It was a great idea, people involved in Children's Ministry gathered, were able to see lots of resources, they offered a few workshops from a couple of big names in C.M.
The entry cost was very minimal to attendees. I agreed to teach 2 demos in my booth to help promote my products.  However... I sold two puppets and a few other small things.  Not near enough to cover the cost of almost 2,000 mi round trip, hotel, food, booth cost, donation to the door prizes, prizes we gave away from our booth, etc. They also presented us (at tear down time) with a form saying we had to pay tax to that state (normally if you are from out of state you do not). They had not bothered to mention that in all the correspondence, contracts, etc., so no one had charged tax. 

No one made enough to cover expenses. It was a big disappointment to vendors. At tear down they  came around trying to get us to sign up for the next one. Needless to say all were hesitant.  Optimistically, we all hoped it would result in on line sales. The vendors I have talked to since then said it had not.

I said all that to say, some venues work and some do not. I don't really know how to tell which ones will or won't.  The ones that involve Children's Ministry have always worked for us, except that one.  We have done a couple of craft shows, street fairs, and will not do those again. They definitely do not work for us.

Glad you liked the idea! Great to have in in color, too!

Sorry to hear you had a bad time MsPuppet. I think for me, having a similar experience, it's taught me to only do markets where I can attend them beforehand and see if the place will work with the style of stuff I sell. It wouldn't hurt to not only just go and look around, but maybe take a single puppet as a sort of "mascot" and see if it generates interest - that way you could sort of busk, without necessarily signing up for a table. (Though I suppose it depends on the busking policies of the market organisers who might not appreciate that, or require permission/fees for busking)

At our recent puppet summit just last month, we had a "artist swap/meet"... which either never eventuated or consisted of a couple of books for sale provided by the organisers. The fact is that the summit attendance was so small and so many people were busy preparing for presenting their own workshops or whatever, that it never seemed to come to fruition. I can totally understand the frustration of going all that way only to have nothing come of it. -- I was fortunate in that I didn't come from far away. I live in the same town.

I have two questions for everyone, keen to know people's opinions on the following thoughts:

1. I went to a market on the weekend and it occured to me that you never see interactive stalls. I know puppets are rare (and there werent any here) but i think an interactive display would not only be eye catching but also unique. -- not talking about walking around with a puppet or having the puppets available for playing with, but rather a constantly moving or movable display that sits statically amongst the products. My second thought though is that while it might attract onlookers, it might not actually aid in sales. It might end up just being a distraction from the products, even if the display and the products match in content or theme.

Thoughts?

2. I am getting more introverted as time goes on and i never made for good retail staff in the first place. I dont want to/cant afford to outsource sales at a market stall. I am thinking that stRting with internet sales is of course the obvious way to go, but eventually i will need to sell face to face. i have done enough acting to know 'get out of your comfort zone' is not a mindset that will work on me. I also thought of window displays but that will only get me so far. It just now came to me a different idea of how to go about it. It is pretty crazy though.....

A while back i read of a bunch of people who set up a coin operated machine.... That dispenses art. The idea being that you could go at your convinence, ser what you like (of small artworks), put jn the dough, and pop! Out comes your purchase.

Is it a really really really crazy idea to do something similar at a stall? Have a display, then packaged items in some sort of automata box that is coin operated? Then all i would be doing is manning the stall, answering questions and working the display... (This is an idea for some products, not all of them)

To be clear, being out in public these days is pretty stressful, bordering on agoraphobia, and just being at a stall for a couple of hours will be quite anxiety filled. I am trying to look for ways to make it as easy on me as possible. But is the idea something that people would be discouraged by in terms of buying stuff?

I have only just thought of it so its a bit pie in the sky around the edges...

Bloody phone.... Too many spelling errors to bother correcting them.

I think a gimmick never hurts in selling your product and demonstration rather it be by you or automated can only help. I pretty much always had an ongoing project when I worked selling in booths to demo how I made things. I was not one to really hawk my wares and this was a very passive way I could do that. Sounds to me that you idea would be the same concept.

I like the "art" dispenser idea as long as the mechanics of it were smooth. I do agree you wouldn't want it for all your products though. 

Things I have discovered....

Has to be the right target market. When I first started out i would attend craft shows or fairs. The only products that would sell were small puppets under $25. Puppets designed for little kids. Worse part, i had to build those just for the show since they weren't part of my regular line. Realized this was not my target market, so no matter how cute everyone thought the puppets were they weren't going to spend the money. Could I have built all the puppets just for kids and had more sales? Probably yes, but since the laws on sales to children is mire strict and i'd have to make 6-8 small puppets for the same profit as one large as well as take the time to set up and sell I realized this was not the way to go.

At the right target market....you have to create a one of a kind attraction. As Shawn said, work on a project, create a display unlike others that is eye catching. Engage your potential custom with a greeting. I always say, "hi, feel free to pick up the puppets, try them out in our blacklight booth ( our gimmick). Once I see they are showing any interest, pausing for a moment to look at one specific item, I pick it up, hand it to them and direct them to the blacklight booth. The key is to care more about your customer's needs than to worry about sales. When they are enjoying themselves they will relax, then you can find out what they are interested in. I try to know what else others are selling, so if we don't have it we can send them to another booth. Customers will trust that you have their interest in mind and bring their business to you when they do have a desire for your product.

Sales is about customer relations which can be hard if you aren't out going. Believe it or not I am very uncomfortable in social settings, but what I have realized is, so is almost everyone else. I try to remember how much I appreciate it when someone cares about me and treat them the same. Sometimes I make a sale, sometimes I don't, but I do gain a loyal customer who returns to do business in the future.

Product they want....the bottom line. The best salesman in the world might be able to talk someone into buying something once, but we have to find out where there is a need an fill it not just keep telling everyone you need this and hope they believe it. Example...how many products come and go because they are sold by good salesman to impulse buyers. Sounds good, but this is only good for the large distributor that will move in to the next "big" thing. For us little guys I feel it's about product sustainability and customer loyalty. That doesn't mean we don't change to meet our customers needs.

Not sure if I answered your questions, but this is what i have learned. I agree about spelling...since i post mostly on my IPad typos are plenty. LOL

Julie