Shows are better than retail stores. At least the folks at a show paid admission to get in. Store owners deal all day with folks wandering in and gasping at $35 or $40 pocket knives. "Wow. Who would spend that much for a pocket knife when you can get one just like it at the gas station for $3.99!?!"
I always give sellers at knife shows several pieces of advice (and remember, I almost always stand on the buyer's side of the table, so what I'm offering you here is from the buyer's perspective which is what you need.)
1) How you treat your knives telegraphs to me what you think they're worth, and, therefore, what I should think they're worth. If you just throw a pile of knives on the table, I'm not going to think much of them. But if you put down a nice table cloth and carefully put the knives on pads or stands or at least neatly arrange them, then I'm likely to think more of them... and you.
2) How you dress yourself telegraphs to me what you think about your knives and yourself and, therefore, how I should think about your knives and you. I don't need to see you in a three-piece Brooks Brothers suit, but would a clean sport shirt kill you?
3) Stand up. I'm necessarily standing up and it's socially ackward and uncomfortable for me to talk down to you. I know, you have to stand there all day and your feet are killing you. What do you think I do on the other side of the table? Wear good shoes. If it helps, bring a pad to stand on. If you just can't stand, then bring a TALL stool to sit on so that we'll be more or less eye-to-eye.
4) Do not eat at your table... unless you brought enough for everyone else in the room. You learned this in kindergarten and it's still true today. Furthermore, slobbering special sauce all over them telegraphs to me how you think about your knives.
5) Do not watch movies on your laptop, play video games, talk endlessly on your cellphone or chat endlessly with the other sellers. This tells me that you're really not here to sell knives. If, in a room full of knives, you're playing Donkey Kong on your cellphone, then I know instantly that you're not a knife person.
6) Take off the earphones... and the cellular headset too. These things tell me that you're not really interested in having a conversation with me.
7) Smile. Just do it.
8) Give me a bit of the "back story." Where are you from? Why/how did you get into knife making/selling? What interests you in knives? Why do you think your knives are different or are the knife I should buy today?" I know, you've given this speil 150 times today already and it's not even lunch yet. But I haven't heard it.
9) Be kind to others, especially children. You may know very well that this seven-year-old kid isn't going to buy your $2500 custom knife. But don't shoo him away dismissively. Take a minute or two (that's probably the extent of his attention span anyway) and say, "See this handle here? That ebony. It's a rare wood. See how black it is? That's not painted; it's that way naturally. Isn't that pretty engraving? See how shinney the blade is. I polished that for hours." He's still not going to buy your $2500 custom knife, but I'm standing behind him and I was impressed that you took the time to be kind to him and educate him a bit and I just might buy your $2500 knife.
10) Learn. You're in a room with hundreds of knife enthusiasts. Chance are that one of them knows something you don't. So, when people come to your table, engage them in conversation and see what you can learn. They may not leave any money at your table, but if they leave a bit of wisdom or an obscure factoid, well that's something of value for you too... assuming you are interested in knives.
11) Finally, treat everyone as if they're a potential buyer because you never know. People dress very casually at knife shows. Several years ago at a knife show, I was looking at some very nice custom knives on one maker's table, five-figure knives, when another customer got the maker's attention and asked, "Will you take fifty for these three knives together?"
"F.F.F.Fifty... th. th. th..thousand?"
"Yes. Cash, of course."
"Ahh... sure!"
The man reached into his bag and proceeded to count out five hundred c-notes. They buyer turned out to be some Arab sheik but he was dressed like he just stepped out of a K-Mart ad.
You just never know.
Several years ago at Blade Show I asked a seller if I could see a knife that he had in his display case. His response was, "That's a butterfly knife. I don't let anyone play with that." And so I walked off. As I left, I heard the seller next to him say to him, "Do you know who that was?"
"No."
"He's one of the largest collectors of butterfly knives in the world."
A few moments later, the first seller pulled on my shirt and held out the knife and begged me to look at it. My response was, "That a butterfly knife. YOU don't let anyone play with that." And I turned away.
:jerkit:
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