MERRION CENTRE TRADE FAIR
As a company, this is the most nervous we have felt. This trade fair extended beyond the safety blanket of school and really tested our skills as a group. We set up our trade stand and stall very early in the morning (too early ). Heavily laden with purple tinsel and silver stars we were ready to "drincup"! We had a special edition of Christmas mugs that we had personally gift wrapped and filled to add to the festive cheer and pull in those last minute shoppers...
We noticed that not many people were approaching our stall, or any of the others. We decided that we needed to put on a more welcoming front; so we all put on wider smiles and elected people to actively approach shoppers and introduce our products. With our previous trade fair, we found it very awkward walking up to and speaking to random people; but for the love of business, it had to be done!!!
So as brave as ever, we approached strangers (that no talking to strangers rule went down the drain), we asked open questions, beckoning them to our stall. We were rejected , many shoppers were in a hurry and some were not interested, but this has shaped us as a buisness as our confidence (individually and as a team) has improved, now we are more comfortable with initiating a conversation about our business.
At the end of a very very long day, we were told that we had won the 'Best trade stand award' and £50 worth of prize money!! It was rather surreal; sure we had been pretty successful at this event but we were still blown away!! It was a very rewarding experience but it has also made us want to work even harder, refine our buisness more and make our customers happier...
