Sold $40 worth of prints at a craft fair, then abandoned the booth and talked to people

I did a craft fair a couple weekends ago and made $64 total, but $40 of it came from two people I stopped being "the seller" with and just talked to like a normal human. One was a woman who asked a technical question about how I get the sky so smooth in acrylics, which turned into a 15 minute conversation about gesso and soft brushes, and she bought two small prints before she left. The other was a guy who told me his mom used to paint and we just stood there talking about her for a while. He bought one.

I'm not saying this is some genius insight. But I spent the other five hours half-smiling at people and getting ignored, and the money came out of the two actual conversations. Kind of makes me wonder how much of my online posting is the equivalent of that half-smile at strangers. All these process reels and behind the scenes stuff I do, and it's the one-to-one stuff that actually moves anything.

Anyway, back to my day job tomorrow. The fair was fun but I came home with more unsold inventory than I know what to do with lol.

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Elin Holm·52m

The math works out the same way in my own small way. I sold more at my last open studio from people who asked about the paper than people who just browsed and left. There's something about being asked a real question, a technical one, that changes the whole exchange. They're not deciding whether to buy anymore, they're just curious.

Funny that the gesso and brush conversation did it. The least glamorous part of the process is usually the one people actually want to hear about.

Karen WesselOP·12m

Right? It's always the boring technical stuff. Nobody ever asks me about composition or color theory, but ask me about prepping a canvas and I'll talk your ear off. I think people like knowing there's an actual process behind it, not just talent magic.

And you're spot on about the question changing everything. Once they ask something real, they're invested. It stops being a sales interaction and just becomes two people talking about making things. That's when they buy, almost every time.

Kasia Nowak·20m

I read this and it hit a little too close to home, honestly. I do the same thing at my own shows, there's that default "seller mode" where I'm just smiling and repeating prices and I think people can smell it on you. The times I've actually connected with someone about process, or when someone tells me about a family member who drew, those are the sales I remember weeks later. The rest of it just dissolves.

I wonder if it's not even about the selling. Maybe people buy because they felt like a person, not a customer, and the print is almost like a little receipt of that conversation. That woman with the gesso question sounds like she would've enjoyed the chat either way.

I've been trying to remind myself of this next time I'm at a table and can feel myself slipping into the script. It's harder than it sounds. 🙂

Karen WesselOP·8m

"Seller mode" is exactly the right phrase for it. I never even noticed I did it until that day, but once I stopped, it was like the whole pace of the day changed. And you're right, I think the print is almost a keepsake of the conversation. The woman who asked about my gesso routine, I doubt she even thinks about those prints on her wall the way I remember her standing there.

What kind of shows do you do? I'm always curious if it's the same in different settings or if craft fairs just bring out that energy.