Sunday 30 March 2014

NEARLY THERE

Hello everyone

Hard to believe this time next week we will have completed the first Godalming Independent Market of this year.  Still lots to do, and the butterflies are beginning to take up residence in my stomach.

As well has having over 30 fantastic stallholders at the event, there are lots of great things taking place on the day including face-painting by Artyfacial and balloon modelling by Mr Magic.  Some great news, the Mayor and Mayoress of Godalming will be visiting the event with their daughter at 11.30 am.  It will be so good to have them there and I am sure if will encourage lots of new visitors to join us.

Posters and flyers are still being distributed and this morning I put up the brand new colourful banner outside of the Godalming Borough Hall:



As the hall is immediately opposite Waitrose's car park which is also used by people going into the town centre,  the banner should create a lot of interest.

I have advertisement in Wednesday's edition of the Surrey Mirror and Friday's edition of the Surrey Advertiser.  Despite this being an online world, many people do not use the Internet and if they do they do not always use it looking for events to attend, so newspapers are a great place to let people know about the GIM events.

I was in Godalming during the week dropping off flyers to shops and was so pleased to meet Poppylocke who works in the Godalming Art shop.  Poppylocke was the first blog follower here and it was great to meet you and looking forward to seeing you next Saturday.

It's back to the grindstone now: floor plan to finalise, flyers to be posted, bookings to confirm for the remaining events this year, as well as a million and one other things that I have probably forgotten.

If you read this blog do come along to next Saturday's event, it is going to be a lot of fun and there will be so many fabulous things to buy.

Jill

Tuesday 25 March 2014

TUESDAY'S NEWS

Hello everyone

In addition to today's Stallholder Shout Out, I have some great news!  Councillor Tom and Mrs Jessica Martin, the Mayor and Mayoress of Godalming will be visiting our event on 5 April and will be with us at 11.30 am.  How wonderful is that?  Do you think we might tempt the Mayor to have his face painted by Jojo of Artyfacial?

Today's Stallholder Shout Out is all about:

Jackie Malcolm: Facebook: Brown Rabbit. Beautiful handmade felt pictures, unique designs. Animal and country pursuits theme to accompany Brown Rabbit jewellery

Andrea Killick: Little Nannies Soap Company Gorgeous handmade soap and body products: bath bombs, body butter, body wash, lip balm - lots of pampering things and candles too

Anne Owens: children's fairy items, backpacks, gifts and dog jackets

Splendid Occasions: gorgeous fresh cakes, tea and coffee - all served on vintage china

Sophie Denny Facebook: Kerfuffled Beautiful necklaces, pendants, earrings and bracelets as well as a small range of essential oil candles.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow to see who is next on the Stallholder Shout Out list.

Jill

Monday 24 March 2014

STALL HOLDERS SHOUT OUTS - TWELVE DAYS TO GO

Hello everyone

Mondays always seem to be pretty grim, but today the sun has been shining so it's a good time to showcase some more of the great stallholders taking part in the Godalming Independent Market on 5 April:

Tracy Adaway: Facebook.com/SimplyJustHandmade - Jewellery: Handmade 'pick-your-own' beads

Natasha Berthoud: Scrumptious handmade brownies


Anita Burrough: Neatly Does It Silver - Silver Birthday Candle Holders

Lorraine Castellari - Made by Lorraine: Handmade fabric and paper goodies

Wendy Cunningham: Facebook: LJS Handmade Jewellery - Handmade semi-precious necklaces, pendants, bracelets and earrings


Jill Hines: Felt & Fabric - Felt and fabric materials, haberdashery accessories and handcrafted items

David and Carole Hudson: Project Peru: Peruvian handmade crafts

Come back tomorrow to see who is next on the Shout Out blog post

Jill

Sunday 23 March 2014

THE WORD IS OUT

Hello everyone

Well hopefully all of the words are out - the words about the Godalming Independent Market that is.  Just over 2,000 flyers for the 5 April event have so far been distributed in and around Godalming.  Over the next week a further 2,000 will be popped through local letter boxes in Compton, Godalming, Normandy and Shackleford.  This is in addition to those stallholders who have had the flyers and posters emailed to them who will be printing them off and posting as I write.

I took part in the Play Kenya Craft Fair yesterday and was really pleased to discover that my next door stallholder neighbour was Jill Stobbart of the Gilded Raven one of the stallholders taking part in the first GIM event of this year.  Jill produces beautiful cards, jewellery and lovely decorated wooden items - have a look at her Facebook page.

Over the next two weeks I will be blogging regularly to showcase the other lovely stallholders taking part in the first GIM event of the year - not long to go now - and here are a few of them to whet your appetite:

Dawn Hart of Stonepit Crafts Dawn's knits are fabulous: lovely bangles and wellie toppers are among the most popular of her makes

Linda Banks of Orchid Stained Glass Linda creates the most beautiful pieces of stained glass that you can imagine, have a look at her stunning lampshades

Adrienne Card of the Beach Shack creates beautiful cushions, ponchos and lots of other lovely handmade items

Come back every day this week to find out who else is taking part in the first GIM event of the year.

Have fun everyone

Jill

Sunday 16 March 2014

WHERE ARE THE CLOWNS?

Hello everyone

I know it is an odd title and I haven't really been looking for clowns, but I have been looking for entertainers to take part in the April event.  Easy peasy you would think?  No, not at all - out of the six I have contacted so far, only three have replied.  I have to assume they are so busy they are not interested, or just can't be bothered?  Very disappointing really.  The good news is that one of the entertainers that did reply is the one I have booked - so not all disappointment really.

The Surrey Independent Markets website is now up and running and contains details of all of the stallholders taking part in the April event:

http://www.surreyindependentmarkets.co.uk/

Flyers and posters have been sent out to all stallholders who are helping with promotion.  Flyers and posters are currently being distributed/displayed in Chilworth and they have already been distributed in Mytchett.  Over the next two weeks more 'paper advertising' will take place in Compton, Farncombe, Binscombe, Shackleford, Godalming and Normandy.  I am in the process of preparing an advertisement for the Surrey Advertiser which will go out on the Friday prior to the event.   I will also be visiting shops in Godalming and Farncombe town centres asking them to display a poster in their windows and hand out flyers to their customers.  This, together with the flyers taken by helpful friends and the stallholders, means appx 5,000 flyers will have been distributed.  Wouldn't it be lovely if all recipients of the flyers came to the April event?  Okay, half of that number will be fine as 4,500 might be rather cramped in the Borough Hall.

Back to the website now as I am going to being adding photographs of the April event stallholder's work over the next week or so.  As all you website owners know, building your site is a long process - worth it in the end though.

Have a great week everyone - if you would like to be a guest blogger, please let me know.  If you live locally to the Godalming events and would be happy to help hand out some flyers for us, please get in touch.

Jill



Monday 10 March 2014

A BEAUTIFUL DAY

Hello everyone

What a lovely weekend.  I took part in a wedding fayre yesterday and the footfall was low compared to previous fayres at the venue.  Sunny, warm weather is rare at this time of year, so people were obviously making the most of it.  Everything in the garden is growing so fast at the moment and blossoming much earlier than usual, I think spring has definitely sprung.

Just under four weeks to the first event and the raffle prize list is growing nicely.  In addition to prizes donated by local Godalming businesses, there will be L'Occitane, Molten Brown and Yankee candle goodies as well as handmade items.  I love candles, so might just have to buy a raffle ticket myself.

Getting an 'On the day' sheet ready to send out to stallholders, producing the tea/coffee vouchers and even better, I have produced the Surrey Independent Markets website: I used the Wix free website package and purchased the domain name, but then found to  link the name to my website I had to pay for hosting.  It is a good deal and the after-sales support has been brilliant - I had a few problems soritng everything out as I seemed to have created several websites!  Er, not too sure how that happened.  The website address is:

http://www.surreyindependentmarkets.co.uk/

Do have a look - it is in the early stages now, but I plan to have details of all participating stallholders on there as soon as possible.

I have been trying to recruit a candle-maker/seller, face-painter and a musician for the first Godalming event.  Despite putting out requests on Facebook, Twitter and Streetlife I have not had any replies at all - I can only assume they are either so busy they are not interested or don't use social medial.   Such a shame as I think it would be so lovely to have them on board.

A quick post this week as still lots to do for the first event.  Don't forget to leave a comment and also your website link if you are a stall holder - all helps you get picked up in the rankings.

'See' you next week.

Jill

Saturday 1 March 2014

FIVE WEEKS AND (ALMOST) COUNTING DOWN

Hello everyone

How can it already be 1 March?  Two months of this year have disappeared who knows where.

The first Godalming Independent Market is getting nearer and nearer.  Lots of lovely stallholders have signed up already and spaces are filling up very quickly.  If you have sent in your Expression of Interest form and received a Booking Confirmation, don't forget to return it as soon as possible (with payment) to ensure you have  a space at the events you want to take part in.  I know it is tempting to leave it until the last moment, but there really is no guarantee there will be a space available for you.

Over the last few weeks I have had questions along the lines of ‘this will be my first event, what do I need to know/do/have ready?’.  There are lots of forums on the Internet that provide advice for this, but I thought it might help if I add mine here as it is from my point of view and based on my experience:

Be welcoming and chat to your customers, even if only to comment on that good old English activity 'the weather', but don't overwhelm them (you know how annoying it can be when you walk into a shop and an assistant immediately pounces on you asking if you need help?).  If your items can be picked up by customers, tell them.  If you do not want customers to pick up your work, please tell them - politely.  Offer to hold the item for them to have a look at.  Remember to smile.

At one or two events I have taken part in, I have seen stallholders sitting reading books,
magazines, etc - it doesn't look good and gives the impression you are bored, not interested in or proud what you are making/selling.  I know you don't necessarily want to be bobbing up and down all day, but it is polite to stand and greet your customers.  Or, how about taking a high stool with you if space in your car/van permits?  You can remain seated but still be at or near to eye level with your customers.

It is a good idea to have items with a range of prices, for example some lower priced ones will attract customers to view/buy what you are selling and they may then decide to buy something of a higher price too.  You may have some things that are not selling well - can you reduce the price and make a special display of them?

Have different levels of displays on your table to attract interest.  It is much more interesting to a customer than having everything either on one level or flat on the table.

I have what I call my kit box in which I have scissors, string, Blu-Tak, drawing pins, paper clips, paper, pens, blank price tags, etc - the things you always need when you haven't got them with you.

Remember to price all of your items or have labels near to them - the majority of customers hate to ask the price and sadly will walk away from your stall rather than do so.

Have bags to put your sales in and either a stock record so you can tick off your sales or some other way to record them.

Have plenty of change in your float and make sure it can be secured.  Often you will have customers arriving with a £20 note for a purchase of say £2 and if you don't have change as much as they promise to return, they often don't, or if you do have change and you give it to the customer, you spend the rest of the event trying to get some.

You will need a cloth that reaches the floor so that your table looks neat and tidy and you can store boxes, etc underneath the table without them being seen.

It's a good idea to bring refreshments with you.  There will be tea and coffee and cakes for sale at the event, and the Borough Hall is opposite a Waitrose Supermarket, but lots of stallholders don't like the additional costs of buying refreshments as it adds to their day's expenses. 

Don't forget to bring publicity material with you - business cards or something that contains contact details and information about what you do.  If you take orders for your work, make sure customers know this.  It's also a good idea to have details to hand out of other events you are taking part in.

The way to approach an event is put yourself in the position of the customer - what would you like to see, experience, find out, buy, what do you expect of sales people?  Most important is to enjoy yourself – this is not just a selling day, but a promotional event for future sales.  It is also a great way to network with your fellow stallholders who will have details about events that you may not be aware of.

This blog is getting lots of visitors and a new follower this week - a big welcome to you. 

Have a great week everyone - 'see' you all next week.

Jill