Episode Transcript
Nina Huchthausen (00:04.93)
All right, welcome everybody to the Makers Business Tribe podcast. My name is Nina and in this week's episode, I have the honor to talk to Hayley who is not just one of our Tribe strategists, but she also runs her own business, A Hayley, in which she supports product -based businesses and takes over wholesale, managing wholesale, nurturing and growing existing stockers and finding new stockers for them.
And so Hayley has been in the wholesale business for I think over a decade, right Hayley? Yeah, absolutely. That's why because of that. So a decade is a long time to spend in that space. And it's not just you, but there's a second generation, right? Your parents. Well, they're on the other side of the coin. So they've been
retail stockists for a lot of different categories and a lot of different businesses for a really long time. So I grew up seeing points of view from the buyers and now I see the point of view of the brands and the sellers. So I get to see the middle ground of both. Which is super cool. And that's why I wanted Hayley to be on the team for the Makers Business Drive to...
really dial up how we help our clients to nurture and grow existing stock is, but also I just love to tap into our brains and expertise on all things wholesale. And with that, we're here today. And the key topic that I really want to dissect is that maybe not everybody thinks about all the time, but still I think can be a very
not just look at it, but time effective way to get your product in front of buyers, in front of distributors, in front of stockists, in front of you name it. People want to buy your product in bulk and then get it to the end consumer. And that is drum roll. B2B shows, trade shows, out buyers hang out.
Nina Huchthausen (02:22.968)
So that's why, this is the topic of our choice today because in August, that was a big month for trade shows down in Melbourne and Hailey went to all of them. Some of our tribe members went as well. We had a bit of a mastermind on this with the reflection. by the way,
We have a link in the show notes for you to access that reflection session on the trade shows. But I think I want to just give everybody a better understanding why trade shows, what they're all about, how they work, when should I be getting ready for it? What's my timeline for getting ready? What's the budget that I need? And what do I need to be in for? Because this is not a walk in the
So that's what we're going to be talking about today. It's really exciting. And I know Haley is also going to throw in some stories because some cool stuff and some wonky stuff happened at these events and we want to hear about them. So yeah, Haley, welcome. Woohoo. Thank you. I'm very excited to be on back today on the podcast and very excited to dissect.
trade shows, what to do, what not to do, planning, after strategies and all of the things you got to be doing. Great. So first question, Hayley, trade shows, B2B events, what are they and what are they not? Cool. So trade shows are a large event that brands go and show off their brand. Each has a stall and
the stockists or stores that are looking for new brands or looking to buy stock, visit the trade show all at the one time and go from stand to stand. So essentially it's like a market, but placing wholesale orders just for bulk stock. You're not buying ones or twos. You're specifically there to buy for your store. And you're not buying off the stand.
Nina Huchthausen (04:41.55)
placing orders that will either be delivered in the next week, or maybe it's an indent order to be due in a couple of months. I don't bring much stock. no. It's basically just a big display of showcasing your brand and then having discussions with those potential stockists about why they should have your brand in their store and having discussions about how it would sit and placement -wise.
I guess people what it's not and people get a little bit confused with trade shows and not expos. So expos, there's definitely wholesale opportunity when showing it in an expo because obviously there's really great brand awareness and people coming to see the brand and getting it out there. But the difference with trade shows is that attendees to have to apply to attend. So it's just a form online that they would.
go through and register, but they have to have an ABN to register to attend. So all registered people who are going to the trade fair, they have a lanyard and they're only allowed in if they've got that lanyard and they can show that they've got a business. So they have a purpose to be there. Whereas in Expo, you've got retail and user customers merged in with potential larger opportunities.
But you could spend a lot of time at an expo talking to just a few end users. And it's more just a retail space rather than you can guarantee that a lot of your or most of your conversations, if not all of your conversations at a trade show, are to business people and their direct interest is finding out more about your brand and see it to where it would be placed into their business. Awesome. OK.
So it's a show where people mean business, right? Absolutely. But how? And this won't be a silly question, but who makes sure that their quality buyers coming through the door? So essentially, the trade shows are run over part weekend, part during the week. So what happens is if you're a serious business person and a serious buyer,
Nina Huchthausen (07:03.509)
You're obviously not spending a lot of your downtime, if you like, going to these trade fairs. If you're not out there looking for new brands and looking to make orders, there is no place for you or no reason for you to be at these trade fairs. Yes, you're going to get your sticky beak people having a look, but you're not getting the general public coming in just to walk around. And a lot of the general public, these trade fairs are only sort of advertised
I mean, they advertise on social media, but they're not advertised as a fill in your Saturday and come to the trade show. They're targeted towards business owners. So a lot of the open public wouldn't really know that they're on because they're marketing and they're not targeted to the general public. And if the general public were to go, they wouldn't really get a lot out of it other than just seeing a lot of pretty brands because
Even if you approach the stores, no one's selling off the stand, first of all. So even if you walk up and you wanted to buy whatever product was there and love the brand and wanted to, they're not allowed to sell off the stand, the store holders. And they're not really the questions or the discussions they're going to start having with you. You're going to be like, well, I don't have a business. I don't, it's, it's a bit of a strange thing.
feel a bit like a fish out of water if you're a general public walking it. Because people are there with a purpose. So but the different event organizers, right? Because it's still being organized by someone who has an interest in making money, connecting business owners, stockists, distributors, whoever, with makers, with brands, right? Absolutely.
What do I need to be cautious of when I just sign up to a trade show? I would say the overall context of the trade show. there's different categories, if you like, for different trade shows. And then they attract a certain clientele.
Nina Huchthausen (09:26.785)
you're definitely going to have to have a look into where is an appropriate trade show for you to be shown at. You're not going to be attending an all food trade show if you're a candle maker. They probably wouldn't let you in, would Yeah, I think there's definitely an application. And as much as they're looking to fill out their trade show,
There's definitely a level of them if they don't feel that it's appropriate, you're there, there's that discussion. So there is an application process of it. There is a level of also if they feel like they've got too many of the same types of products, there may be a level of maybe not this year for you guys, we've already got X amount. So then the whole fair isn't or the whole show isn't filled with one type of product.
because then that's not beneficial to anybody. You know. Still, I think worth something checking because I think it was a couple of our tripe members in, I think it was Canberra, okay? Yeah. But they counted 22 candle makers. It a BBC event. Yeah. But they still should have checked that. So just a word of warning, doubly check. Yeah. And have these discussions with the trade show.
holders, you know, or if you've got the time to do it. These trade shows are very happen every year at the same time. Go to them to see, you know, be a bit of a sticky beaker one year and walk the trade show. And if you're back and forth about the results of one of those trade shows, nothing stops you from reaching out to some of the other brands that have been there and gone.
How did you feel about that trade show went for you? I'm looking to do it next year. What did you find? And do a bit of a networking call out and get some opinions that were there. Yeah. And that's probably a really good tip to just get some stories, right? Yeah. Yeah. Can you give us some because you've been, which events did you go to? So the three that are in Melbourne in August every single year, you've got Life in Style.
Nina Huchthausen (11:51.627)
You've got Reid and you've got AGHA. So I like to sort of class the three of them as if you picture a bit of a family. So AGHA has been around the longest. So they're sort of the grandparents of the trade shows in Melbourne in August. And then you've got Reid, who has been around a while, but is a little bit trendier than AGHA and has a little bit more of a current feel about it.
So I would say that they're the parent. And then you've got life and style is the trendy teenager that's got a bit of edge. It's very boutique. It's very modern in there. each of them has their place depending on what brand you have and where you, what kind of stockists you're after because they each have their specific clientele.
For instance, what I found at AGHA, two things I found was that a lot of post offices, a lot of pharmacies, a lot of what I call a lot of news agencies, I guess your utility sort of category where they have a service as well as stock and selling went to AGHA. The other thing I found that
AGHA was very light on in terms of brands. They had also quite a large section of international manufacturers who were just trying to pick up people who wanted branded versions of lots of different products. So it wasn't as targeted as, say, your read or life and style. That's a shift I've seen just in the last year. So I don't know whether that's something that they would carry on.
next time. But that's sort of more your utility market. There was definitely others that walked through, but the foot traffic was more that sort of style. Then you had Reid who had a lot of big players and a lot of players, stockists were going there to place their regular large orders with the big players that they usually order. Like who's like a big player?
Nina Huchthausen (14:16.301)
Sorry, you would have had, they've got rusty furniture, I think they're called Rust. They do a lot of garden furniture and sort of they sell to nurseries, but they also have an inside ornamental brand. So their stall is quite large, but they're not very
categorized down to one section, they're trying to please a lot of people. They're trying to tick a lot of boxes. So people who like a one -stop shop were going there to place their regular order with them. And I think we discussed this in the the mastermind with Amy, who is a member of the tribe, and she showed at Reid, and she does candles. She felt that she, as a smaller,
boutique brand was somewhat overlooked a little bit because they'd placed a lot of people had placed their orders with their usual big players and weren't really looking for the smaller guy within read. And then when they came across her, they had already spent their budget. Which was an interesting thing that she found. Even though she had a fairly, fairly big stand present. Yeah. But I guess that also could show that
probably these big brands targeted a bunch of their buyers to just come and place an order there. Absolutely. And they tend to put all of the big stands in one section and then it sort of goes to middle sized stands and then to smaller. the bigger players aren't sort of shuffled within the fair so that people go all to one end and then trickle down.
So you can almost see where all of their budget is going that end and then moving through, which is in it. I would have felt that that's how they would do it. But I also found it really interesting on Amy's reflection, because she had a stockist have this exact discussion with her because she wanted to buy more, but she'd spent most of her budget. Yeah. At another place.
Nina Huchthausen (16:36.417)
that there was that story. I think it like I really hope that and sorry, this is I think a really important point for anyone who's listened to it, who hasn't been to a trade show, because I think Amy got really lucky. It was her first trade show. Her brand is Wild Roma and she got upgraded. So she had a much bigger store than she actually paid for.
And by the way, negotiate your price like a mad person because I think she started off with almost 10 grand and she got it down to half. Absolutely. Get quotes from all of the trade shares that are on at that time and competing and play those price comparisons off towards each other because they will compete. And I think sometimes that you
you'll definitely lose out if you don't use that to your advantage because there would have been a lot of people there that didn't debate on it and they would have paid a lot more. But I also wonder if you can negotiate your spot and say I want to be amongst the big players. What do have to do? 100 % I was looking to do a collaborative stand with some of my brands and just played it out and I had a really good chat to
Jade who runs Life in Style and Read. And she was giving me the floor plan and gave me a choice of where I wanted if I was to do it. And I looked at things like what areas, what other brands were going to be surrounding. Was I closer to a sitting area? Was I closer to an entrance? I mean, you can look at all of these sort of points and really go, OK, well, I'm going to be here because
A sitting area might seem really good because people are sitting, looking at your brand and it's time, but it also might be a drawback because they're sitting down because they're a little bit overwhelmed with everything and they're just not taking in your stock and then they're beelining in a different direction. It all just depends, which is great to why it's great to go to these trade fairs and watch what's happening because you can take that in. Because the thing is people go there with
Nina Huchthausen (19:00.909)
purpose and an agenda and fairly in and out, right? Like it's probably... People have a bit of a to -do list. Exactly. And it's not in, I'm just going to spend my whole day and take the family and have a bunch of fun seeing. And I think that when it comes to the question, well, what do I need to be aware of if I wanted to go to a trade show is to really suss that out and strategically...
position yourself where you think you got the highest chance to slot in front of the person that has sort of a of a tunnel view and just is on their highway of doing the things that they were planning out to do. Because I think of those trade shows, that's even stronger. Yeah. I think if you're debating doing a trade show, the biggest asset that you can
add to your experience is market research into the trade fair that you're looking at. visiting it, talking to people who were there last year, just really deep diving into that and looking at knowing you look at the floor plan. And so when you're visiting, you can watch certain aspects, even circle a stand of go, okay, this would be somewhat one that I would look at doing.
and go stand in that position and watch what's happening. Watch what's happening at the person who's got that stand this year. And what that looks like. Because regardless of what you do, you're still paying like a good what, four or five grand? Absolutely. And I think that's the other point that you made with Amy from Wild Aroma was that she paid for a smaller stand, but she was upgraded to a larger stand.
which was better off for her for that show because I know that there's lots of smaller packages that the trade shows try and play off to first in trade show. So first in style or first in read or first in AGHA, it's your first time there. It's a smaller package, but your stand is tiny and it's in a section that they call first in show, but people tend to.
Nina Huchthausen (21:25.063)
not go down that because they want more experienced brands. So you can look at your budget and go, OK, well, it's not worth doing that first in, even if it's your first trade show, it's worth saving that little bit extra or bargaining for that little bit extra to get a proper stand and not be labelled as first in show. You can be at your first trade show, but not labelled as first in show.
Because then it kind of feels like that's a person who they might not have enough stock, they might not have figured out their order process. Yeah. customer service is terrible. You know, do they even have any reviews? They can not trust you from get go and it's without any reasoning other than you're small. Exactly. And like the larger the stores get, the more they just like they're having internal procurement process, right?
And probably a big tick box of things that the brand kind of like superficially needs to portray. And for you to even be considered, like I think it's important to make yourself as big as you can. Yeah, you need to showcase your brand and tell the brand story with your stand, not just, I've got this, this is the small setup that they're giving me. Here's a cookie cutter stand that 10 other brands have first in trade show.
get your small pillar, you get this, that. You want just the stand and then you showcase your brand as a story rather than this is my poster that's behind me. I mean, the first in styles didn't even get a chair. They were just standing behind little pillars, which makes it a little bit, I feel a lot of them felt awkward. Yeah. Which is hard to approach as a stockist. Yeah. Not nice. Not nice. No. So.
First thing, just to learn from this, any show, and we haven't even talked about the third one of what that one is. But whatever you do, you want to make yourself big. So here's a person's story, because we had a guest on this. And was she doing beautiful cards? Yeah, she does gray led or led drawings.
Nina Huchthausen (23:49.513)
And they're very detailed, gifting cards and greeting cards, but they're plantable. So in them they have seeds. So her target market being nurseries and news agencies, but a little bit more boutique. And she was first in style. Yeah. And she was saying, like, I didn't even know where to stand inside my booth. So I was just standing opposite to give people a way to look inside to see what I had to show.
Of course, you didn't make many sales and that's horrible. It's so hard. And then there is no return on investment. You have to look at this stuff and see how can I get maximum return on investment out of this? And maximum exposure to these brands. Because just because you are standing in some corner of such a big event doesn't mean that you get exposure to them. So you have to plaster yourself.
Be there. Can be listening. Because you yourself will be associated obviously with your brand and part of your brand story and if you're awkward and not really you look like a frog out of water you just that will be associated with your brand and it may not be your fault it's just there was no space if I stand here you can't see my stock so if I stand over there now I'm not at my stand if I'm you know
Yeah. Where there is, you have your own space that tells your own brand story, you're, you're at home essentially. And you're inviting people into that story to showcase it rather than going, it okay that I am here? I feel a little bit like I'm not meant to be and I don't know what I'm doing. And I don't like really unsure and nervous the whole time. Yeah. You know, it then takes away from your confidence to sell your brand. Exactly.
That's stupid. We do not want to do that because it crushes your confidence. It drains your bank account. And if you don't get at least that money back, then what was it for? Because it takes a long time to prep for it. You don't just lock up and put your stock there. There's a fair bit to it, which we're getting to in a second. But can you just touch upon, what was the third one? Life in
Nina Huchthausen (26:17.705)
Life and style. So it is your trendy teenager of the three trade fairs and it is very boutique and it is all about sort of brands that are starting out, they're sort of small to medium but they've got a solid brand story, they've got a purpose, their branding is on point, they've got a
a great display, they've got a true target market, they know what they're about, they have a bit of edge to them, and they're really boutique. So that also speaks to the people attending the trade fair to buy those brands, is those lifestyle, trendy boutiques are looking for something different apart from the others. Whereas the people going to read are after the one stop shop, where can I buy my outdoor furniture, my plants, and also my
homewares, all at one store, I can then showcase that in my store. The life and style attendees are looking to create, curate their own collection with these brands that they feel a part of. I guess another point more specialised now? Yeah, a lot more specialised and a lot more, I guess,
backing one certain product and they they're the masters in that product and they have that story rather than trying to please everyone. This is the problem that they solve or this is the product that they have and this is very very small range yeah yeah absolutely and the points of difference if there's say two candle brands there the difference between them is they have different aesthetics.
So therefore their stockists would be different because their look of their store would be different. You may have your boho coastal look and then you might have your minimal Melbourne city chic look. Two candle brands, completely different stockists. Or premium. Yeah, Whereas Reed is premium to...
Nina Huchthausen (28:35.497)
Medium mood, what's that? Yeah, I would say premium to medium with more of a one -stop -shop medium feel, I would say. Yeah, and with the stores or the brands that I spoke to who were showing at Reed, there was a few that I spoke to who were sort of questioning whether they'd made the right decision from Reed to Life in Style. Like there was a couple brands that they were quite boutique.
And they were like, maybe we were more suited over at Life in Style because then people are looking at that boutique range. I guess the other point to make is, so I was on stands at all three and I did find Life in Style to be a lot of meaningful discussions that then in the follow up have resulted in orders and thought. Whereas Read,
were more quick sales and turnaround, like people were going there with their budget, they were doing this, they were doing that, they were serious about it there on the spot because their job for the day was to do their buying there on the day. So I guess it's just the difference between the two, life and style, there's a lot of thought there because they are very, very budget conscious.
Whereas Read, feel like it's not that they're not budget conscious. It's more that they are more serious about spending it there on the spot. Interesting. Yeah. And I found that in the follow -up. So the Read follow -up, so I help brands do their follow -up from trade shows and I've found more opportunities being open and more feedback being given with the life and style follow -ups than the Read. was...
Did I place an order when I was with you where we were speaking about one? No, then no, I'm not interested. I'll come to the fair next year and maybe I'll see you there. okay. Which is interesting. So, yeah, I think that's really good to know, right? Because different mental preparation for when I'm there and I'm like, I got a sale here today versus, okay, the sale is going to be made after. Yeah, you definitely have to still do your follow up because there has been one or two.
Nina Huchthausen (30:59.329)
But the discussion, brands have where the thought was there for life in style, people are still in the motion of thinking about that. read, people are still overwhelmed and can't think about it anymore. Awesome. Cool. So definitely I'll put the links to all three into the show notes. Now.
I know you had a bit of a verdict which ones are worth going to and which one you would kind of say look into it. Yeah. Yeah. What was that? Yeah. So I guess the one that I was hesitant on more so this year because I have attended this fair for I guess the last five years, five, six years now. And it's the first year that I had this consensus and feeling for it, which is unfortunate with AGHA.
So the grandparent, if you like, of the family, I found that they were, obviously what had happened is that they had a certain area that they needed to fill with brands. They had not filled that area with brands. They weren't able to get enough store holders. So they must have done some sort of really good deal for international manufacturers.
or international brands, if you like. And so what ended up happening was there was a lot of international manufacturers that were selling cheap copies, if you like, or cheaper versions, or showing off that they could make copy versions of specific brands and trying to bring people on to manufacture with them.
rather than to just buy from Australian brands. So it meant as much as people were still going, there was a certain level of people going up and talking to these people. The quality, there was definitely a miscommunication of quality of stand because a lot of people had these manufacturers didn't have any branding. White walls, no posters, no nothing. They just had sort of blanks of each product on the shelving with
Nina Huchthausen (33:19.115)
very little communication of any branding, any marketing, nothing. It was just kind of like a showroom that was very unstyled. And they kind of just sat around not trying to sell. was kind of like we just attended because we got a deal on the stand and now we're here. There was also a stand that the people didn't, a really large stand to be honest, like
It was a good four by four meters by I would say three and a half. So quite deep and long. And they had obviously miscommunicated the brief of what was expected because they sent TVs and a USB along and they just had a slideshow of their products. Which I could probably recite it to you because the stand I was standing on was opposite it for the three days that I was there. So I did watch the lovely slideshow for a long time.
And so there was that level. So it meant the foot traffic, obviously going to a trade fair, walking through, you could imagine yourself if you have, you're on a mission to do something and you're walking through these stands that contextually aren't for you and you're not interested, your pace of walking through that trade fair is a lot faster than if things are catching your brain, your mind and your
your vision you know so there was definitely people still having discussions but there was definitely a pace of foot traffic so in terms of so the brand that I was working there for they do maple wood stationery so gift tags and bookmarks and notebooks instead of waiting to see people come and have interest I was having to step out with one of their bookmarks and as people sort of walked
cast me even saying maybe would bookmark and they would turn around if they were interested and come back like I'd caught them by surprise like they didn't expect to be drawn in like that because they were just walking with a pace through so if you weren't proactive in that way people would just essentially you were just a sideline to this walking race that people were doing yeah you know
Nina Huchthausen (35:45.005)
Which was really unfortunate because it also meant that the people that was their first trade show were watching this. And if I was them, it would have put me off a trade show, not understanding what was going on. Is this the expectation? Have I made a mistake? Like my brand doesn't sit with 60 to 80 % of what this trade fair is. I misunderstood what this is? You know? So it made...
me feel a little bit like it was a shame that to fill out the fare they'd gone that way. Yeah. I will be very interested to see if that happens next year, given that I know that there was a few brands that we're going to give this feedback to them. Probably good to know, right? Because it costs so much money. Which is also why it's to go see them yourself. Yeah. But the other one's worth going? Yeah. One sentence verdict? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely. They obviously both have their place. They're also both run by the same people. So the people that are running Reed also run Life in Style, same company. So they have really good insights on where you should sit yourself. So you can take that into consideration. But yeah, overall, the other two I found, they obviously had their eps and flows on different days, but definitely worth being there.
Awesome. And go. So for those who are like, OK, cool. Yeah, that sounds interesting. Bunch of buyers could come in and pick up my product if I do it well. But like in summary, like what are your key reasons, like three reasons why you would say look is why I would say go to a show? Essentially, the main aim, if any, I would launch my if I was to be a new brand launching into wholesale.
I would be launching at a trade show. Make sure you obviously do your marketing and stuff beforehand, but I would launch my product into wholesale at a trade show because the people who are going are there to look at new brands and give that section of their business some attention. When a lot of the other times when you're trying to outreach to people and gain new leads and talk to them about that, they're busy doing something else.
Nina Huchthausen (38:13.623)
So you've caught them at a time that they're putting attention to that side of their business. And a lot of them also have budget to spend. you're talking to, especially the ones in Melbourne in August, fantastic timing. Because a lot of people are doing their Christmas spending at that moment. And they're looking at their budget. two prime moments that you want to catch people in is
when they're looking for new brands and open to new opportunities and when they have budget to spend. So you can almost guarantee that at least one of those boxes are to be ticked or at least one of those boxes are the reason they're there. Because if neither of those boxes are the reason that they're there, they're wasting their own time.
So I think word of warning though because I think there's also some trade shows in Sydney. Yeah. And they're kind of being run in February. so Read and Life in Style both do in Feb. And AGHA used to run in Feb, but I need to double check whether they are. Usually the three run at the same time in Sydney and in Melbourne. Yeah. So, but just to consider.
August is the time when financial year has just ended. Companies have done new budgets. New budget is being released and they are ready to spend. Absolutely. We don't know what this what these companies look like in February because yes, they had big Christmas spends, but January is normally jub sales are down. Absolutely. The consensus generally I get from those that are attended Sydney is that Melbourne
is the better fares for them. And so I don't know if this is still the case, but it used to be the case that the trade fares to keep their Sydney fares happening. know AGHA had this clause in for a long time. You can only show at Melbourne if you're showing at Sydney. But I don't think it's the same for Life in Style and Read anymore.
Nina Huchthausen (40:32.481)
So you want to really consider that and what buying cycle are the companies that you're looking to attract in? Absolutely. And that's the other thing with AGHA, end of financial year, a lot of bigger corporations and boards and even government projects, all of their budgets are reconsidered at the end of financial year.
So a lot of those bigger opportunities are walking those trade fairs and looking for new brands and looking for something fresh. No one's walking a trade show going, have 5 % of my budget left, so I'll come to a trade fair. Exactly. That's why I think August is such a sweet spot to consider apart from what you are doing.
Awesome. So key why you can put yourself in one location three days in front of hundreds of potential buyers that you can connect with that you can collect contact details off that you somehow can shake your hand and then leave a lasting memory. Right. And number two, think you can also really test the market for feedback for connection for what people like what they don't like and see who else is there. Yep.
to then use that as a way of following up and also potentially giving you direction of where to, which, because if you're launching your product there, you can also judge fairly easily who's showing real interest. Could that be a stock is category that I should just be pursuing? That's exactly right, because they might be approaching you and you never thought of their category to reach out to. And it might spring in from inspiration to you going, I never thought of that.
but I've had a lot of people from that category interested and they're paying that picture for their store. Maybe it is an avenue that I didn't think about. And without that feedback and that interest, it's a whole category that you would have not tried. Exactly. However, and I think because we just had a conversation with one of our tribe members about it, you have to be aware
Nina Huchthausen (42:52.311)
that at these trade shows, you have to make yourself seen. You have to be up for being out there and wanting to talk to people. And your pitch has to be on point. Your collateral has to be on points, meaning your catalog, your offering, and everything that you present there has to be good. So your branding on point. Your whole store has to be amazing. Not what my office looks like.
Some people might see right now. It has to be banger for it to really pop out in this bright light and you yourself, right? If you are not a good salesperson, you're like, look, I'm a maker. I'm good at creating this, but I'm not really good at selling it. Then either find someone who can do this for you well, if you want to spend the money or get some type of support.
to help you get to that level. Absolutely. Absolutely. need to be, you essentially as the owner or the representative there need to be the brand. So it needs to want to stay on. But I, but how I see it, you want to be seen on stage and you want to own that stage that you create because there is so many brands that people can.
can spend their time with or pay attention to, but it's all about when they walk past, they feel that energetic connection with you. When they look at you, you look at them and it comes in a way that people feel like, want to stop here. And you've also got to have that proactive nature about you or attitude towards it because it's great to be able to sell it there on the day and be your brand and
be really getting in people's faces or getting that in front of people. But if you don't have your follow -up strategy or you're getting too in the moment and not having a strategy to follow that up or remember things, you're going to leave a lot of money on the table after because you're going to have all these discussions and you're going to be all hyped up for the three or four days, but you're not going to have very much follow through. Cool. So that brings us to the first, like most important thing, like
Nina Huchthausen (45:17.505)
You yourself, make sure you either work on your pitch and your conversations yourself and dial that up, dial that in, or work with someone who can. And number three, get someone to do it if you want to spend the money, if you're like this, not me. Number two, your branding and everything you set up there, make it on point and take the time to get that professionally designed because it makes such a difference than if you just rock up and put some products on the table.
Right. But also number three, what Haley just mentioned is you got to have a plan for capture all this information, the conversations, the notes, as well as the contact details and a plan as to how are you effectively going to follow up and follow through on those conversations, right, to close the deal? Because, yes, some and maybe a bunch might be closed on the day, but not all. So.
And we've seen this too, because you're all hyped up. Three days, you give it your all, and then you crash and burn. You got nothing. And then you don't work for five, seven days. And then you've forgotten, because you haven't noted down who you spoke with. Maybe you just have a bunch of business cards in some pocket. But because you don't know who is who anymore, you don't know what you've discussed. It'll be.
like a cold conversation all over again when you actually pick up the phone and talk to them, which might hold you back from doing it in the first place. And ultimately, you're believing potentially a lot of orders on the table because the whole point is starting relationships there. So because it's the start, we need to have a way to remember and then follow through. Yeah.
Talk to that new... There's going to be a number on your list, but you don't want your follow through conversation to be so clumsy that they feel like you're making this generic call to everyone that was on your list. You want detail in there and you want the conversation to be like you've just picked it up like you had the conversation yesterday. Exactly. So like the way you...
Nina Huchthausen (47:36.077)
capture that information, whether that's a constant voice recording or some other tech way to just constantly being able to feed that information to a system is important, but also having thought out what is my follow -up going to look like in terms of outreach, email follow -up, the documentation I'm going to send. Am I planning to?
catch up with people for coffee that are local in the area. What is my plan? Number one, really detailed plan and follow on offer that might even expire in a seven to 10 days after. So you have the time to follow on on that. But then also making sure you have created the capacity for yourself. a lot of people, if you just like.
You work so hard to get to the show, you go there and then you come back and you're like, my gosh, I have all these orders and all of this other stuff now to do to catch up on. And you have an appointment in your calendar. Because if you haven't created that space of another three days or so, five days even, for all of those follow ups and follow ups to occur, it's very easy to just put that aside. If it's just a note on your to do list that says,
make follow -up calls, it needs to be better than that because that point on your to -do list is falling to the end every day of the week. So make it an appointment that you're sitting there doing it. Yeah. And that's, think, really, really important because if I invest 5k, right, I don't just want to hear from anyone, I made 5k. What the heck was that? Yeah.
Like unless, you there's so much you build, you build a huge email database or some other big opportunity, but we want to aim for higher, you know, if you know that your, average order value say is a thousand dollars, well, then we need to aim for 10 buyers if we want them at least make double. And then then you can, you can count backwards and see, okay, how many conversations would have potentially have to have how many follow -ons in order to get 10.
Nina Huchthausen (49:51.981)
10 purchases and that's how we want to approach it. Absolutely. And then looking at that as a goal as 10 purchases, but then also looking at that as a long term goal of, how am I going to nurture those so that in a long term, they're stockists that I've picked up in the long term and there's multiple orders from them from that very beginning. know? I mean, that's a whole other conversation on.
how to continuously nurture and grow your relationships, which we will talk about another time. I think in summary, hopefully a lot of people have gotten a lot out of it on what those trade fairs are, why you should consider them, what you need to consider when you actually decide, I'm gonna go for it.
Right? And including what we mentioned earlier, negotiate the heck out of it and really research to make sure you get the right spot apart from the branding and your sales conversations. But my last question for you, Haley, is like, when should I be start thinking about going to a trade show? At what stage of business? I, yeah, I would look at
I mean, every person's different in terms of what they can afford when launching and doing a brand. I would start thinking about it. Give yourself a year before if you're looking to do say the August trade shows. Don't run it, rush into it, go and decide in May that I'm going to do that trade show and make it there. If you're really sort of unsure and give yourself time to look at that market research and go to it.
one year, talk to the other brands that were there that year, and really budget yourself, give yourself a payment plan. Because it's not a, we're not talking about a first in style or a first in trade show stand that you're wanting, you're wanting a larger space. So the longer you give yourself to make those negotiations with the trade show hosts, the better off you're going to be. Right? So I would
Nina Huchthausen (52:19.725)
put it into your budget. Potentially, I would say within, if you've got 10 stockists, I would say potentially start looking at doing a trade fair because then you've got people to invite to your stand who already stock your products. So then you can use it not just to find new leads, you can use it to nurture the current ones. You can then show, even if they're not attending the trade show,
it then shows them that you're serious brand because you're attending a trade fair. So having you still want to have a small amount, but use it, have a secondary use for that trade fair. You know? Yeah. And I guess if you, let's say, if you're thinking about it of going next year, it gives you plenty of time to talk to people who have attended.
that are kind of similar categories so you get a better understanding, which is I think the first thing that I would do. The event organizers will tell you everything that you want to hear, how great it is. And you want to talk to people who were on the floor, right? And you're not competing with these people, they'd be happy to give you the real life.
value of what they found. Exactly. They're not losing anything. you call your direct competitor, that'll be weird. Yeah, be smart about it. Exactly. Call the ones and you can see on their website who attended and they'll, you know, so you can do that. Then I would ask them what they've paid so you can get an understanding of what you can negotiate for. The negotiate for
for the stand and the spot and make sure you are in a good location in between the big brands. But then what it really comes down to is plan out your setup and all the marketing that you might need early. So you can work with really good designers who know their stuff for what it needs to look like at trade shows. You can work with good printers that print the elements that you need in a way that they look good and bright light.
Nina Huchthausen (54:29.473)
and don't swallow the light, right? And you can really create a show within a show. Yeah. Exactly. Versus really rushing it. Because I think when we are rushing these things too much, it's our energy that suffers at the end of the day. And then we might not get as much out of it. Because it's a condensed.
them versions that we have to. At the end of the day, your outcome and your success is only as good as the effort and thought that you've put in behind and work you've put in behind it. You know, it's not this magical place that stock has come to hand over their money to you. Yeah, like without any care. Without anything. Because the thing is, even though you're paying a lot of money,
It still means a lot of work beforehand, a lot of work doing and a lot of work after. And I guess looking at what your decision making is, when to do a trade share show and is it the right thing for you to do? Taking all of that into consideration and looking at your own time and your own timeline and circumstances needs to come into that decision. because you need to have
that the time and attention and energy for it, but also the spirit. You need to be the type of person. Be the type of person because otherwise you get swallowed by the noise. Exactly right. Because we heard from someone weeks ago that they prefer to just stand back and for people to come to them. Yeah. There is a time and a place where that might be a good tactic. I haven't seen it.
work at a trade show. No, it's not that place. No, it's not that place. You're there for a reason. And so are the people there. Exactly. So with that, my friends, we love you and leave you with it. We hope we got a lot out of considering trade shows because they can make you a lot of money. They can give you a lot of exposure if you've done it right. And I will put the link to our mastermind in the show notes because you think that was really good. And that's where we deal
Nina Huchthausen (56:54.806)
more delved deeper into the three trade shows that Hayley went to, but also our kind Amy had a lot to say about the experience, which I think is really cool to watch. you're serious about it, will give you lot of insights. So yeah, thank you so much for your time, Hayley. No worries. Thank you. awesome rest of your week. No worries. I'll see you next time.
