Do These 7 Things For A Successful Pop-Up Shop

Have you finagled your way into having a pop-up shop? Been given a short-term space to sell your products? That's AWESOME ~ Congrats!

Are you thinking, "What now?"

→Grab The FREE Checklist: What To Bring To A Pop-Up.

Don't worry, everyone is a pop-up shop newbie at some point, and with each subsequent pop-up, you'll learn what works and what doesn't work and make improvements.

But let's get off on the best foot possible right from the jump, shall we? Over the course 4 art-related pop-up shops within West Elm furniture/home decor stores, as well as numerous business conventions and bridal expos, I've done my fair share of logistics, prep, sales and follow up, and here are my 7 Best To Do's to ensure you're prepared.

1. Bring A Sign Up Sheet

No matter what you're selling (even if you're not selling it right then and there), you're going to want to collect those contact details! Name and email address at the very least (and if you're in the bridal industry, wedding date). Even if you don't have an official email list going yet, you're going to want to follow up with these people after the show to a. THANK them for stopping by, b. OFFER to answer any questions, c. GIVE an action item (i.e. ask them to reply with feedback, join your email list, go to your website, or read your blog post).

I've seen this be successful in different ways: Some people have success just leaving a mailing list sign up sheet out on the booth and having people sign up like that. This has been less successful in my art business, so I've taken to chatting with people and getting their contact info to follow up with them on specific topics. With this tactic, however, I CANNOT just add them to my email list unless I've specifically told them that's what I'm going to do and they've agreed.

2. Create An Interactive Experience

The first time I did a West Elm pop up shop, I had all of my art staged so that everything could be seen on full display. Well what happened was that people looked from afar and then glided by without getting close or speaking to me. I didn't have anything to draw people in. Products that lend themselves to touching and moving seem to do much better ~ textiles, jewelry, note cards. So what I've started doing is a. placing some strategic piles of paintings around so that people have to move one thing to see another and b. having a basket of prints and works on paper for flipping through.

This leads me to another point about display. DUH. How are you going to display your items? Laid out? Do you need easels? Baskets? Pedestals? Oh, if it were only so easy as to bring the items and have them be beautifully arranged! Days before my first West Elm pop up I had to express order easels, as well as clear display bags for my prints. Whoops!

3. Point Of Service On Point

Figure out what payment methods you want to accept and TEST them!!! The first time I tried to take a credit card payment at a pop-up, I assumed I'd be able to run it through my website, as if they were just purchasing something online. BUT I failed to consider the fact that a. shipping was automatically calculated (and they obviously didn't need shipping) and b. sales tax was computing improperly because it was basing it off of their mailing address, not the location where I was actually making the sale.

Some tips:

Be sure to know what your internet connection situation is going to be ahead of time. Are you going to need to bring a hot spot?

Figure out what sales tax rate you need to be collecting and how you are going to calculate it (manually or does your point of service system do it for you).

Are you going to accept cash? Better be ready to make change.

4. Hone Your Pitch

What's the hook that's going to get someone to start talking to you? In the bridal business or with a new company, "Have you heard of NAME OF BUSINESS?" seems to work pretty well. When they say "No" (or even better if they say "Yes"), you jump in with your elevator pitch (the 1-2 sentence synopsis of your business).

But for someone like me, I would feel so dumb being like, "Hey! Have you heard of ME and my artwork?" LOL Embarrassing.

I'm still working out that one phrase that will grab people's attention, but so far, I've been pretty successful with "Good morning." And then I add a personal touch ~ a genuine compliment, a question about their dog/child, asking where they got their shoes!

If they don't blow right by you and maybe take a beat in front of your booth, that's when I jump in with some "fun" facts about me, my paintings, or any promotions I'm having. So something like:

"Good morning! I love your necklace ~ it's so unique! [they pause] I'm the artist and all of these are original paintings by me. With any purchase today, I'm making a donation to the NRDC, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and you'll get some cute polar bear cookies. Let me know if you have any questions!"

5. Signage ~ Enough Is Enough Already

You are DEFINITELY going to want to have at least one large(ish) sign that says who you are/name of business and maybe location if that's important information. This should be displayed prominently and should grab people's attention!

But then comes allllll the other kinds of signage:

• Pricing

• Business cards

• About You statements/Artist statements/Bios

• Other marketing material

• Kinds of payment accepted

I've had all of these things, and I've found it's a balancing act. Have #allthethings and no one will have to ask you any questions, thereby forgoing an opportunity to interact! Also if you have a lot of pretty marketing materials that have overlapping info, people will inevitably take one of everythingggggg ~ what a waste of paper.

I've tried having business cards and NOT having business cards. This was a fun experiment. Honestly, I've NEVER had anyone just take a business card and then follow up unless we've also had a little chat. So I tried skipping the cards, forcing myself to chat with people, and then when they said "Do you have a card?" I instead asked them to give me their contact info to follow up. I would say half the people did so, and half of those people responded to my follow up email. Of the people that didn't give me their contact info, they took a picture of my sign for future reference.

I think next time I will have business cards but not on display so that people have to ask and we can have a chat. No more sidling up, grabbing a card and running away. Also I think I'm going to create a semi-large sign with my Instagram handle on it so that people can look me up and follow along right then and there.

You'll have to think about what feels right to you, but here's where I'm currently shaking out on my Must-Have Signage:

• Business Name & IG handle ~ large

• Forms of payment accepted ~ small placard

• Price tags on individual artwork, no general signage

• Business cards (on my person, not on display)

• Email list sign up form (on my person, not on display)

• Artist bio/statement if I'm at an art fair/expo, not a general pop-up shop

6. Strategic Pricing

Another tricky balancing act. Maybe you sell products that all fall in the same price range: great! This point might not be important to your biz. For me, I sell some things for $20 and some things for $500!! So should I bring all of it?

With pop-up shops, people aren't necessarily there to see YOU (sad but true). You are probably a random vendor within a larger store, and so people aren't expecting to buy your goods on that day. 

What I've found is that people who will purchase something, tend to skew towards the less expensive items. If I bring paintings that are $20-$350, people will buy the $20 items. If I bring paintings that are $100-$500, people will buy the $100 items. 

BUT! If I'm selling $20 items, I'm probably selling 5 of them, whereas if I'm selling $100 items, I'm only selling 1 of them.

Again, you'll have to figure out your sweet spot in terms of your goals: do you need to get rid of a bunch of lower priced products (also it probably looks good to have a bustling booth with lots of sales to draw others in), or are you okay not selling a lot if you could just sell 1 higher priced item?

7. Solo Vs. Group Pop-Ups

I've done both group pop-ups and individual ones where I was the only outside vendor on a given day. I would say that being part of a group of vendors was so much more fun than being solo. There's an air of excitement among both the vendors and the customers.

While being the only vendor of the day feels special, with multiple vendors, customers start to realize, "Hey! There are all these cool local artists and makers here! I'm going to pay attention."

When you're by yourself, it takes a minute for customers to realize that you aren't part of the larger store, you can't bring them a pillow in another color, or ring them up....but you probably CAN point them to the bathroom!

Okay this blog is getting really long, but one BONUS idea (which is really quite central to the whole thing): HOW MUCH STUFF SHOULD I BRING?!?!

For a pop-up, bring enough product to back-fill as you sell out of things. Think about what typically sells the best (or is the cheapest) and bring more of that.

For an art show/expo, sometimes it's better to have some empty gaps to show people where things used to be that have already been sold. It might make them feel like you have something really cool that other people are totally into and they should be into too!

PS. Think about what happens if someone buys something!! Are you gift wrapping it? Be sure to bring all the checkout items you may need!

Oh, and don't forget water and snacks for yourself!!!!!! 

→Grab The FREE Checklist: What To Bring To A Pop-Up.

Curious about West Elm pop-ups specifically? That blog post is coming, so get reminded by signing up for the HLC VIP list! 

I've Been Called Out!

This is embarrassing to admit to: but recently a friend said she thought I wasn't being upfront enough. That I was keeping something unsaid. And after thinking about it more, I guess that was true.

She said that with my Summer 2017 Collection, 'Nature, Muted' I never really said specifically what was bothering me. Although I reiterated that I was concerned over environmental issues, I never claimed what those issues were in detail.

Okay, fair enough. 

What I will say is that much of it is a general uneasiness and feeling of helplessness when I see the continuing news reports about congressmen and government leaders refuting scientific claims and denying climate change. Like I want to do something more in some way, but I'm not necessarily sure what that is. 

Likewise, I'm getting a sense that people in general don't really want to hear about it or don't believe there's anything wrong with carving up/cutting down/fracking/and generally not trying to preserve nature for future generations. 

But why haven't I gotten more specific? To be honest, I think there's a bit of fear of alienating some people or offending someone with my opinions. It's a bit safer to stay on the surface of something right?

So here are two very specific things that occurred while I was in the process of creating this collection that had a direct effect on my mindset and work:

1. The March for Science ~ On Earth Day (April 22), there was a major march on Washington (and elsewhere around the globe) in support of science, scientists and scientific evidence. With proposed budget cuts looming, the non-partisan rally was intended to show lawmakers that scientific facts should play a key role in policy making. As my mom said: "Who would've ever thought we'd see the day where we have to speak up to defend scientists?" Right? Scientific method is how the laws of nature and the world are discovered; it's hard to wrap your head around the fact that someone wouldn't agree. Read More about the March

2. Strawberries - Okay, this one is super scary, especially as a pregnant person. There is a chemical, chlorpyrifos, which has been shown to "inhibit kids' brain development" (especially through exposure in utero). It has been banned in use in household products since 2000 but has still be used as a pesticide in farming (particularly on nuts and strawberries....two things I've been eating a ton of recently :/ ). In 2015, the EPA finally said that the risks were too high to continue using this chemical in farming, but they never went so far as to ban it. Recently, the courts said that the EPA had to make a decision. That decision was made in March 2017, when the EPA announced that they would not be banning the chemical and that it was fine to use. Well. The EPA cited disagreement with the methodology used in the studies that found that chlorpyrifos was too harmful. EPA Press Release and Other Commentary. There's gotta be a better way; this gets me really anxious.

Hopefully I haven't offended anyone too badly. I'm obviously not an expert in these matters, but my gut reactions are of fear and anger and wanting to do more. And that's basically it, in an organic nutshell.

xo

Arts Letters & Numbers ~ Wrapping It All Up

As I look back at my time at Arts Letters & Numbers, I needed this week away from normal life to expand my horizons both literally and figuratively. Feeling a bit cooped up in NYC, but being totally unaware of the fact, it was lovely to get into the space of Upstate New York countryside and meet new people and discuss new ideas.

Look how beautiful these organic eggs are ~ I've never seen naturally green, blue and pink ones before!

While it took me a while to find a groove with the outcomes of my paintings, the Arts Letters & Numbers residency allowed me the room to follow my circling trains of thought, explore painting processes and stretch my expectations for myself.

I've come away a bit calmer and assured that if I follow my instinct, it doesn't really matter what the outcome is because the larger connection between seemingly dissonant ideas is me.

On Sunday, I revealed my paintings for my fellow residents for their feedback and critique. And here's what I learned:

1. It's scary to put yourself out there to be judged. I was shaky trying to express my thoughts.

2. What people see in my work is how it makes them feel first and my messaging second. This was good news because it's what I'm going for!

3. They helped me to crystalize the words to say that this collection is about my emotions as they relate to the changing world as modeled through landscape. They are introspective, but not serene.

4. I've finalized the idea that this collection is "Nature, Muted" not the other way around. Because it's more than just neutral abstract landscapes. These paintings encapsulate my anxiety around not being able to fully see the landscape as societal trends are indifferent to its destruction. In this way, nature is itself muted, in that we can't hear it; and some don't want to hear it and are't interested in its preservation.

But while all of that seems heavy, the paintings themselves can be seen as sending that emotional message, or they can be something benign to behold. As always, I invite others' interpretations and emotions to surface about my work.

"Nature, Muted" paintings will be for sale on Wednesday June 14th (Flag Day!)