The Show Must Go On....

Today I'm going to write about wedding fairs, as I've been thinking a lot about my own stand at a wedding show later this month. I've been trying to work out what to put on my stall which is reflective of my brand, and make it work. Visiting other wedding fairs over the last six months has given me an insight to see what I think does and doesn't work and to see it from a potential bride's perspective.

From experience, for me what makes a good wedding show or a good wedding fair is a mix of things. I like them to be well lit. Some shows or fairs don't always have enough extra lighting, and it can make some of the stalls feel a bit dull, like a dark corner that I don't want to venture into. I like plenty of space as well, if a fair gets busy, then I need space to get round other visitors. Its very easy to feel claustrophobic if the aisles aren't wide enough, especially when you add a few buggies into the mix. Good sign posting is absolutely vital. There are some where I've had to ask directions once I've entered a hotel or building - to me, that's not good. It immediately makes me wonder whether to go ahead with visiting, or whether to go and get a coffee instead.

However, most importantly, a lot of how I feel afterwards is a result of the suppliers and how they behave. At some fairs I've been to, I've come away really having enjoyed meeting the vendors and suppliers. I've felt relaxed and open, made some great contacts and chatted and told them who I am and why I'm there - I don't pretend to be a bride, I'm quite open that I'm a wedding photographer. They don't mind me having a look, they chat to me, and it's been a really good experience. However, that's not always the case and my heart goes out to any bride who's felt uncomfortable at wedding fairs.

I remember one fair I went to and as I walked round, I started to find I had leaflets thrust at me. I'm not talking about actually pausing at a stall -  I was walking down the aisles between the stalls and I actually sped up to get away. I moved constantly, going round corners not out of curiosity, but purely to keep moving and escape. I felt like a real-life incarnation of Pacman. It was horrible. I stopped, for a second, at a crossing, because I had my purse in one hand, a plastic carrier in the other, a hand full of leaflets, and wanted to put my purse away into my handbag and my leaflets into my carrier. I thought it was a safe spot to stop. While I stood there for those few seconds organising myself, another three suppliers lunged forward from the corner stalls and thrust more leaflets at me. There was no actual verbal contact beyond "have a leaflet". Thrusting leaflets into my hand when I'm trying to put my purse into my handbag is invasive of my personal space and rude.

Unfortunately when people start pushing leaflets at me, I find myself being abrupt, with swift "no thanks" responses. It reminds me of how I felt when I was standing in the queue to go up the Eiffel Tower, and there were hawkers circling the queue, looking for the smallest eye-contact as an excuse to try and sell one of the metal Eiffel Tower miniatures.

Had I been a bride, I honestly wouldn't have hired any of them on the back of that.  I would assume any flyer in my bag that I didn't recognise would have come from one of those pushy vendors.

At some wedding fairs, I've been asked about who I am - so I find vendors opening with questions such as "are you the bride to be?", or "have you set a date yet?".  This is actually something quite useful - you're asking an open question, that invites visitors to talk back to you. The answer can be as short as "yes I am the bride" or "no date yet", but it can also be a bit more indepth, it allows people to give more indepth responses if they want to.

At some wedding fairs, meanwhile, I've been asked "have you got a band yet?" "have you got a photographer?", and I don't respond well to that. Those are very simple closed questions - yes or no answers. "Yes I have". End of story. They don't elicit additional information; they don't "invite" visitors to talk to you. 

Asking "Have you got a band?", makes no sense to me, if I've decided to have a DJ, or I don't know whether you're a band that covers pop, rock, or you are a ceilidh band, or even if you're prepared to travel to my venue or are available on my particular date.

This has given me a lot to think about in terms of my own approach. Often its the negative experiences that teach me as much as the positive about what I want to avoid. I think what strikes me is the insistence of suppliers to give me a leaflet, without so much as a discussion. Everyone likes to talk about themselves (as I am currently proving) - I always think it's better to get potential clients to talk about themselves and their plans first; it's flattering. Who am I? Where am I getting married? Am I getting married? Have I set a date? The little things that actually, as suppliers, we can learn from and listen to.

I've had stalls at wedding fairs before. I'm not a big fan of talking myself up, so tend to take a more softly-softly approach. I have a rule of waiting and giving them space to browse my albums, before I move in and talk to them. If they look at a couple of pages, then I strike up conversation. My aim is to let potential clients get to know me a bit; if they feel they enjoyed chatting with me, then they might be more interested in booking me. That's what I use it for - it's face to face contact, and that's something I can't get through magazines, adverts or online listings. I'll be honest, my softly-softly doesn't always work. That's ok though because I know I'm being true to myself and what I represent.

I'm not saying I know it all, I really don't. I'm learning. I'm learning as a self-employed photographer not just about sales, but also marketing, advertising, administration, book keeping, website maintenance... a whole load of roles. In terms of sales, part of what it is about, is finding out what people need, before you offer a solution. It's about communicating, finding out who they are, then where you can fit in their lives.

At the moment, I'm viewing my own forthcoming wedding fair as an opportunity for learning. It's a new wedding show I've not yet worked with, so it is in part an experiment, and I'm really looking forward to it. It will help me to get my name out there. It will make me a little more familiar, it will give me an opportunity to talk to people, and to meet people I don't otherwise have the chance to meet on a day to day basis. It will be a good experience to learn from. I may well learn what doesn't work as much as what does work. The money I spend on my stall I could easily spend on going to a course to find this out, I just see it as a real life lesson. It will never be a failure if I learn something new from it.

To use the quote which is often attributed to Thomas Edison:
"I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work."

My attitude towards my forthcoming wedding show is that it is a means to find out what to eliminate  or what works for me.

I think its important to understand the purpose of the fair or show isn't about us wedding suppliers, or making sure we break-even on the overhead costs we've put into it. The people who put these fairs on are trying to get brides to come along to see lots of suppliers in one place, and I think it's a duty of suppliers to make sure that we don't end up putting them off. To me, wedding fairs are a bit like a mini shopping arcade aimed solely at the wedding market. At some fairs, suppliers have been very positive - they are there because they clearly love what they do, they enjoy it and they genuinely take pride in their products and services. Their enthusiasm doesn't feel like a sales pitch - it's more than about making money, it's about offering something of value to the customer in exchange.

I'd love to hear from you what your experiences are of wedding fairs and wedding shows. Have you ever felt like you were being pounced or preyed on by suppliers? Do you have any tried and tested techniques that work for you as a supplier?  Have you learned anything interesting from shows or fairs you've enjoyed? How do brides and grooms feel about going to wedding fairs and wedding shows? I look forward to reading any comments you have on this.