Artist Life - 3 Essentials to Help with Sales At An Art Show
Posted by Lisa Ramos on
This year marks 7 years of being in business for my company MONOLISA. I have had the pleasure of participating in over 180 art shows and festivals throughout California. My show experiences have taught me a tremendous amount about festival logistics, the sales process and how to create a more positive customer shopping experience. If only I had this insight at the beginning of my art career my business journey would of been much easier. One constant about arts shows and festivals, it is all about using reliable equipment. Work smarter not harder, right? If you use the proper equipment it makes working at festivals so much more enjoyable.
Today, there are a few essentials that continue helping me at art shows and deliver a more positive customer shopping experience I am sharing with the readers. In this blog article I am discussing the three tips that can help increase sales, maintain happy customers and make an artist's life a lot easier. So, let's do a quick review of what has helped me.
"Invest in quality equipment. The payoff will come."
__________________________________
This is my booth with the custom made awning white cover - it blends in perfectly with my booth design.
The Best 10ft Standard Pop-up Tent Awning To Use at Art Shows & Festivals
I can't begin to tell you the endless art shows I have done where the sun was beating on me and frustrated sweating customers. Doing outdoor art shows means encountering challenging hot weather days. The heat can be overwhelming during a show and instantly create a high level of agitation. Over the years I tried finding a reliable awning to keep the sun out of my booth with no success. The equipment choices ended up being either poorly made or didn't fit my popup tent properly. When I did my monthly searches I never could find a quality awning with a custom awning cover in a simple white material. The awning colors and cover materials in the market didn't match my expectations. I was so frustrated and bewildered why finding an awning was so difficult. I refused to give up. I continued my Google searches and asked around at festivals to see what was working for other artists. My persistent searching finally paid off and I found one!
These are the awning parts from CamelBack Displays.
My ongoing question of Where can I Buy a 10ft Standard Tent Awning Kit finally has an answer. Avoid the frustrating mistakes I made and checkout the company, CamelBack Displays. I purchased their 10ft Standard Tent Awning Kit and Custom Fabric Cover. The awning equipment is made of steel and the parts are easy to assemble. I have been using my CamelBack awning kit for over a year and I am thrilled to report it was one of the best additions I have made for my booth display setup.
The CamelBack awning cover attaches to the tent frame using hook-and-loop fasteners.
The kit comes with easy-to-use thumbscrew clamps that attach the awning frame to a standard tent frame. A bonus, it is really light-weight for traveling. I also ordered their custom made fabric awning cover in a simple white color. When I worked with the CamelBack Team I was thrilled to find out I could choose the awning fabric color. The CamelBack Team was so patient with all of my questions and concerns. The final awning setup kit and cover matched the style of my booth perfectly. The awning cover is constructed of 400 denier polyester with the option of having a personal artwork dye sublimated on the top of the awning. Here are just some of the reasons why I love using an awning at an art show.
The Benefits of Having an Awning for a Popup Tent at An Art Show and Festival:
- An awning keeps the sun out of your booth.
- An awning provides a cooler environment for customers and artist.
- An awning covering provides a quick shade area for people who are more likely to visit your booth.
- If you have a customer who is interested in your work and the sun isn't beating on them they are more likely to stay in your storefront.
- An awning blocks the harsh sun from getting on your products you worked so hard to make.
Behind the scenes video with Artist Lisa Ramos - taking down the CamelBack awning.
Reliable Portable Wi-Fi for Traveling Artists
I wish I would have invested in a reliable Portable Wi-Fi service when I first started my business back in 2017. I can't tell you how many times my phone carrier wi-fi was either slow or stopped working. It was so frustrating for me let alone my customers. Trying to trouble-shoot a bad wi-fi connection in the middle of a sale is a bad experience you don't want to repeat. A slow internet connection often results in the loss of sales, frustrated customers and stressed out artist. Finally, this year things shifted for me and I am a very happy artist with my new strong SOLIS wi-fi connection.
I learned about the SOLIS 5G hotspot and power bank from a local artist I met at the Novato Art & Wine Festival. After doing some research about portable wi-fi systems and my ongoing frustration with a slow internet I made a much needed change. I decided to invest in the SOLIS hardware and purchase a plan. What a difference it makes at shows having a reliable wi-fi service. SOLIS wi-fi works great and their service has been reliable at all of my shows. Although it was an investment it is well worth the money. I purchased the Solis Pay-Per-GB data, a bonus it does not expire. The USA data works across all 50 states and there is no contract or subscription requirement - which I certainly appreciate. Simply purchase the GBs, upload to an active Solis account and use as needed. Just don't forget to fully charge your batter before doing a show.
Although there was a slight learning curve with my new SOLIS portable wi-fi system I finally got it working in time for all of my art shows and festivals. Now I am a little more relaxed when it comes to processing those credit cards.
Taingwei Portable Fan.
The Best Portable Fans for Art Shows & Festivals
When I first started doing outdoor shows I was clueless about the heat challenges artists face working at festivals. I never really thought about how unbearable the heat can get in a popup tent. Sitting and standing in a booth during the summer can give you a heat stroke if you aren't prepared. Today, I am prepared for mother nature's hot summer days. I have my water for hydration and multiple durable portable fans. My go to medium size fan is the Battery Operated Fan, for DeWalt 20V Max Battery, Camping Fan Cordless, Option for Corded, with LED Lights, Variable Speed, Hook for Hanging. I purchased the fans and batteries on AMAZON. I also use smaller fans that are compatible with the Dewalt battery pack such as Taingwei Portable Clip on Fan for Dewalt 20v 60v Lithium-ion Battery, Battery Powered Stroller Fan with 3 Energy Efficient Speed Settings for Bedroom, Outdoor,Camping. I take three DeWalt 20V Max Batteries to art shows and they last throughout the day. The Dewalt portable fan has up to 4.5 Hours runtime on MAX airspeed. So I am all set!
Dewalt Portable Fan.
A portable fan with a rechargeable battery is a must for those hot summer days. You will love the cool breeze and so will your customers. Well, I better go so I can prepare for my upcoming festival this weekend. I hope the weather isn't too hot!
__________________________________
RELATED ARTICLES:
Artist Life - 20 Things I Do to Run My Business
The Art World - Getting Your Work into Art Shows
Lessons I learned Selling at Outdoor Art Shows & Festivals
Lessons From a Roadshow Artist - I wish I knew
The Funny Side of Business - Selling at Art Shows & Festivals
A Day In the Life of an Entrepreneur Part 1 - Doing Art Shows
Share this post
- 0 comment
- Tags: Art & Wine Shows, Art Craft Shows, art festivals, Art Show Tips, Artist Blog, Artist Life, California Art Festivals, California Events, Fine Art Shows, independent artist, local art festivals, Popup Art Shows, starting a business, women entrepreneurs