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Attitude - Staying Positive When Negativity is Around By Michelle Sholund - a CraftLister.com Craft Expert about page personal website  based on 96 ratings Viewed 1365 times Printed 3 times
I can't count how many times I have been to different types of art and crafts shows and negativity looms over several booths... "I haven't even made my booth yet, this is such a horrible show", "You know I am thinking of getting out of the business, my items just aren't selling like they used to," and "Buy/sell is just ruining it for everyone. How can anyone compete with buy/sell?" are some of the most common things I hear when simply browsing at crafts shows as well as selling at them. Thinking out loud and discussing these gripes with other nearby crafters is not the way to create a positive buying and selling environment.
Customers and the people selling arts and crafts do best in a positive environment. Once someone starts griping about the simplest thing your facial expressions change from a smile to a frown, your body posture slouches and folded/crossed arms take place and your tone of voice changes too. These subtle changes creates a negative selling environment.
What happens in a positive selling environment? Customers will feel at ease and chances are they want to browse longer then just a passing glance. The attitude of the vendor dictates the mood of your booth and if it is happy, it is like a magnet for people. Think of the last time you were at a store or restaurant and had incredible customer service. Perhaps the sales person or waiter was jolly and friendly and maybe cracked some jokes. Their body language wasn't intense but relaxed and their tone of voice - soothing and just sounded genuinely pleasing and caring, right? Or perhaps these people bent over backwards to try and help and a simple thank you made their day as well. These traits, some or all, helped in creating a positive selling environment.
What happens in a negative selling environment? Pretty much the opposite of what was listed above. Arms crossed, gruff voice and stern facial expressions, or perhaps the attitude of the person was angry, bored, or distant. These are traits that some may not realize as negative but believe me they are. When someone gives you an attitude you think "Well, what got up their butt?" or "All I asked was if this came in xyz color!" thus creating a bigger dark cloud that carries to the customer and fuels even more negative energy.
How to make a negative environment positive... The best thing to do is isolate yourself from those who are negative and be able to notice when you or someone is being negative. You need to take a step back from a situation and ask yourself, could I have done something differently to get a better result? And learn from it.
The biggest problem that creates negativity is when one crafter complains to another. Customers see this and HEAR IT too. If a fellow crafter approaches you with a negative comment about a show or how things are going that day - simply say, "I am going to have to disagree with you, anything can happen during a show and the show isn't over yet, now if you don't mind I have some tidying up to do" and start tidying up not making any more eye contact. Most chances are the unhappy crafter will get the message and realize that they are creating a negative atmosphere and move onto someone who is willing to be miserable with them. When a customer hears the complaining, they move on to the next booth because they want to seek out a place that is happy and cheerful. The more happy a place is the more people will actually spend money - happiness begets happiness AND negativity begets negativity. When you see a booth that has a lot of action and people and those people are forking over money (no matter what the item is being sold) I suggest to you to then look at an empty booth notice what is going on. Observe what type of dynamics are going on there and do your best to mimmick the positive energy going on at that one booth.
Another thing that creates bad energy is when you have a sour customer who just doesn't want to be pleased. You have to say, "You know, I really am sorry I can not please you today, but I wish you the very best in seeking what you are looking to find" and with a smile and deep breath go onto the next person "I see you found... I have that in another color, you gotta see this..." and just let that negativity roll right off your back. People pick up on you and how you react to different situations. If you think of selling at shows in your booth like a stage and you are the main actor/actress - even if you aren't happy, ACT happy. No one will know the difference and each person is a new person who hasn't seen "your play" you are able to start over.
Sometimes people aren't successful at shows because of their people skills. I see many talented and skilled artists and crafters at shows, but their talent doesn't match their people skills. Before you anyone starts blaming a show, the promoter or poor sales on someone or something other than yourself, take a good look at yourself and your booth and ask Am I doing the best I can to create a POSITIVE selling experience for all who enter my booth?
Michelle (Grammy) Sholund
(Crafter, promoter and consultant)
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