The BEST Craft Show Strategy - How To Sell Your Woodworking Projects!

Craft shows can be a great way to make some money and showcase your work. In this video, we'll show you how to sell your items and make some profits! By following our strategy, you'll be able to get your items in front of the right people and make some extra cash!
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[@Pacific.North.Workshop]

I'm not extremely well-versed in craft shows, but my wife and I have done some. Engaging with the customers is so important, I was always engaging and just like you said - you look around, and other people are just sitting there. One girl next to us was on her phone so much she had to bust out the rechargeable battery pack. Makes a huge difference.

[@John-xo3cv]

I love that your channel does both deep technical videos on producing individual products but also has great tips on running a successful business.

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Thanks so much! I try to keep it balanced

[@GokouZWAR]

11:49 is your best tip. My wife and I do this at our flea markets and people don’t understand how we can sell $600 a week when they can’t even sell $200 worth of their stuff. Why? Because my wife greets EVERYONE, even if they walk by 3 or 4 times during the show, she says hello, good morning, good afternoon, how are you doing today? Every person without discrimination she will say something, they could be looking away, but she says hello, they turn and look at her to see who said hello and the next thing they do is look at her table to see what’s there, at least 50% of those people will stop and at least look for a second so capture their eyes, then something has to click on the table, and that converts to a sale.

[@Vintauri]

Booth presentation and engaging customers with a friendly smile and hello go a long way in pulling them in to take a look.

[@brentkelley9560]

Maybe you could have a I-Pad or a tablet on a stand made from your CNC at the next event you do with a slide show of pro shots of all your goods. Just a thought. Great video!

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

We're looking into this for the next one 👍

[@lukaspotgieter7363]

I started making simple wood carvings on my CNC router.People love it.Did not sell a lot but the fact that I meet new people all the time is great.I talk to everybody.Even if they do not buy anything.I went to 3 old tractor shows last year.Will try and get into more events this year.Ilike your stuff and your attitude.I winder if I can cut those lanterns with a real small engraving bit.I tried Christmas lantern last year.No interrest.I do not celebrate halloween so do not make anything for them.I do make some Christmas stuff mostly as gifts to friends.Keep it up.

[@PCBWay]

You just did a terrific job, as usual, Andy!👍 We are much honored to partner with you now & super excited to see more ideas brought by us together!

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Thank you so much!

[@PCBWay]

@@AndyBirdBuilds 🥂

[@ifiwooddesigns]

Great point! I HATE when sellers don’t even bother looking at you and are even talking to others or distracted in some other way. Unless it’s an absolute must have, I’ll just walk in by. A suggestion I would have is to play a video looped with all your products so people can see an edited video and it staged and as intended like your videos on YT.

[@YuaASMR]

This was a great watch. Good job!

[@kiranshashiny]

Nice presentation and I love your shows, Good insights into your strategy and planning. I am a newbie to doing crafts using CNCs, and have subscribed to your channel. Looking forward to seeing more of the content you post. Good luck and thanks so much for sharing your knowledge ( on CNC and related soft skills ) here.

[@TriPhatspots]

You are a great person for sharing the true experience and reviewing the results.

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Wow, thank you! Glad you enjoyed

[@makethepart]

Great work Andy 🙂 I really like the high-value Anchor product being a visual magnet. Drawing them in and then hitting them with beautiful products at 1/10 the cost is brilliant!.

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

It's one of my favorites too! Thanks for watching😎

[@AdamRapier]

I sell honey at farmers market and haven’t done a craft show yet. But I know yesterday I was the top seller at the market because I was engaging with the customers and I have those anchor products like you said, I didn’t know I was doing that I thought it as a conversation starter. One lady beside me got the clue and towards the end she started making sales when she put her phone down. The on the other stayed under their blankets played on their phones and if someone came into their booth they just spouted off prices. Not even a simple sales pitch and they did have some nice stuff. Maybe they didn’t need the sales but the way I see it if you’re going to commit your time to a market you might as well do the best you can to make the sales happen

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Very true. Thanks for sharing!

[@et1871]

Great Video, loved how you broke down every detail of the day thank you

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Great to hear 👍

[@curbshooter]

Great video. Thanks for your honesty and information

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Glad to hear you enjoyed!

[@TedH71]

Nice to know you live in Kentucky. I've been considering moving there. Just have to figure out where. The weird thing is I've yet to visit there! My brother and his wife lived there for several years before selling out and moving back to Texas. I have some FB friends who live in that state and they're good people. All of that has me interested in the state.

[@patrickhouchins9074]

You got to get a vacuum for that C&C. Get a 3D printer and make a shroud.

[@TedH71]

As a former cnc router machinist myself, I was thinking that dust needs vacuuming asap or else it can be extremely flammable.

[@melvyn99]

Thank you for making this video. We are prepping for local fall events, nice to see some honest feedback on how yours went.

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

For sure! We are preparing for our next ones as well 😀

[@5280Woodworking]

Well done! Smart move on credit card too. I NEVER have cash even if I go to a place like this. I just don’t like carrying cash.

[@JohnMarkClark]

I love all the business stats that you collected on the event and evaluated products.

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Awesome, thanks for watching!

[@jackwelch480]

I enjoyed watching this. Interesting stuff.

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Awesome. Thanks for watching!

[@f1pitpass]

thanks!

[@awlthatwoodcrafts8911]

This is a lot of great information. I'm going to do a pop-up market near me in a couple of weeks and I'm looking for as much advice as I can get. One thing that stood out is the big flower and the idea behind it. I'm going to be selling Christmas items, i.e. lanterns, candle holders, etc, and I have this 4 ft Christmas tree I made, as a test, out of cedar fence pickets. I plan on bringing it to the market but I never thought of it as that one thing that would bring people to the booth. I can dress it up with some garland and I'm sure it will attract a number of people. I have prepared myself for how to take payments. I've got all the big money apps, plus Apple Pay and I have a Square swiper on the way. As a way of not missing a potential sale, I bought a 2-part carbonless order pad in case I sell out of something and a customer wants to order it. $10 on Amazon. And since it's just a generic order form, I bought a stamp (another $10 on Amazon) with my brand name, email and phone number that I can put on each order form as I fill them out. I also plan to put together a notebook with pictures of the items I make. Another opportunity to sell in case something sells out. And then there's the business cards. Can't let someone walk away without a way of remembering me. I made $900 in September making jack o' lanterns. That was my first attempt at trying to sell something I've made. That has inspired me to make the Christmas items. I did not have any luck on FB Marketplace or OfferUp and only a handful of customers from NextDoor (one of those probably accounted for 1/4 or 1/3 of my sales). I thought this pop-up market would be a better bet, especially the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

[@greenhornadventure]

Just a random thought on the lanterns; have some sort of box or crate painted black inside to provide a dark space to better show off the LED lights.

[@LG-ro5le]

Love the new machine & wallpaper setup

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Thanks so much!

[@robertkrueger3902]

congrats on your success that is awesome..

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Thank you. I hope the video was helpful!

[@HamiltonDilbeck]

Great video and information!

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@jakerazmataz852]

Great video. I'm really close to going the laser CNC route. You gave some great advice. I think just askin, "Are you looking for any special today?" or something innocuous like that, would help initiate a sale without being aggressive, and could lead to them buying something you don't have with you.

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Yes, exactly

[@larryschmitt2513]

Vert good news Andy!

[@douglassmith2055]

How about a idea board showing things you could make and let the customers mark top 1 2 3 with colored pens hash mark vote

[@billpuller4364]

Thanks for showing all the behind-the-scene info! Is that large sunflower file going to make it into your store? 😉

[@michaelsherman1031]

What sort of lighting was used for the lanterns and where did you purchase them?

[@blackwolftdm812]

I just got a laser and I absolutely love it! But now I'm wondering if I should of started with a cnc. I'm excited to try some craft shows in the fall if I have enough time to put it all together. My question is do you have a video on how you make the lanterns? I purchased a few files for them but they aren't very descriptive on what's the best way to set them up.. like example the light source? Lol hopefully I'll figure it out

[@gunracksonline]

We just stared doing crafts shows and also noticed about everyone one was sitting while customers stopped took a quick look and moved on. When they came by mine and doing the walk and look, if i greeted them they would stop and look closer at what I was sailing. If i didn't say anything they would keep walking. We had a pretty good sale this past weekend. Do you offer the Lateran cut fills for sale?

[@markjohns4651]

Engaging with customers is the key anywhere. I loved the look of your booth, it was simple and clean. I love your videos because while I enjoy them I also learn things. I love your lanterns but I didn't see plans or files on your website, do you have plans for them? I did a job fair for my work as our location is on an island so it is a little more difficult for staffing and there was not a great turn out but I talked to the people there for other companies and it was great to get to know other people that work in my area and realize that we are all facing the same challenges but at the end of the day I had 2 people apply to my company that were working the job fair.

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Great to hear you're enjoying the content. We don't offer the lantern files for sale at this time.

[@TomLigman]

What's the DIY halloween house kit?

[@elpollocolorado]

What was your cost on that avid cnc machine? How long do you think it will take for you to recoup your cost?

[@reddsmorris7053]

I like your channel it helps me understand my CNC a little better but a lot of your sold items are laser projects

[@Azurko]

I'm curious where in KY you're at? I'm down in the South towards London / Corbin.

[@jabutch11]

Do you have to have a licensed business to attend these craft shows and also to use the credit card app that allows people to pay that way? I’ve thought about doing craft shows but don’t want to go through the hassle of starting a small business if it turns out I’m gonna scrap it if it fails.

[@jaredpullis2430]

Found your channel today and you gained a new subscriber! I love the wooden lanterns. Quick question though... I assume you use a small battery operated led string light kit. How are you attaching the the lights to the top to they hang down?

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Welcome! We use hot glue

[@jaredpullis2430]

@@AndyBirdBuilds Appreciate it. Are you selling the cut file for the leaf design anywhere?

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

@@jaredpullis2430 We currently don't sell this cut file.

[@jaredpullis2430]

@@AndyBirdBuilds you have any tips/tricks on how to create a cut file like that? Trying to make something similar for the wife. I’m a rookie when it comes to creating/editing files

[@dgoddard]

Do you do any pre-show "advertising", such as posting that you'll be at the event on Facebook Yard Sale groups or community pages? I think that could possibly help turnout at the shows you go to plus you might even get some sales on the pages if you post your items alongside it.

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

No we don't do any but not a bad idea

[@dshe8637]

If you're just programming an industrial machine to cut automatically, how is that crafted?

[@chadroby7972]

Are your lanterns illuminated by leds or a candle?

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Leds

[@chadroby7972]

@@AndyBirdBuilds figured that but didn't want to assume. Everything looks great. Awesome info across the board. Pun intended.

[@kimsochan9636]

not everyone has a 10k cnc to cut their products, or the same for a laser…we still just try and cut by hand

[@davidbertera1882]

Nice job Sir. Hit home with me

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Great!

[@bestyoutubernonegraternumber1]

I may have missed it or you may cover it later, but how did you do credit cards? Are you using square or something else? Thanks Andy, it's a great and inspirational video!

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Square

[@kathyusa-iowa5137]

Great sales and marketing tips for anyone new to booth-ing. 👍👏

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Hey Kathy! Glad you liked it. I haven't seen a comment from you in a while, glad to have you back!