|
This past weekend The Greenwich Village Antiquarian Bookfair was held in NYC and among those set up to sell were Lee and Mike Temares of Long Island. Many people familiar with East Coast book fairs recognize the Temares' booth immediately, a cornucopia of children's series books.
Greenwich Village is a three-day show and Sunday afternoon had its lulls. During one my husband Danny kidded Lee by asking if she'd mind if he installed a flashing blue light to attract customers. She laughed and shared her favorite technique for enticing customers into her shop.
Lee has red dot sales, days when some of the books have a red dot added to their price sticker, indicating a percentage off the price. "It's become very popular," she told us and added that the idea had been reported in a couple of publications.
Customers who are on the fence about a book look forward to red-dot days, hoping that particular book will go down in price. Sometimes they'll wait, most times they begin to worry that the copy will disappear and buy it rather than lose it.
On special days Lee will post a sign in the window asking people to guess what book on display holds the red dot. It invites interaction, whets the appetite, and generally creates a fun atmosphere. Anyone knowing Lee or Mike will understand that fun is a large part of why they sell books-they like people.
Whether you have a brick and mortar store, specialize in book fairs, or work solely online or through catalogs, selling can hit a funk. A steady flow of sales can trickle down to a pace like molasses. And sometimes offering discounts isn't quite enough; sometimes you need to shine a spotlight on yourself.
Many years ago, in our first shop, I would hang balloons on the front door. Phil Reynolds swore the flag hanging outside his Old Porte Bookshop in Newburyport, MA was the best advertisement he had.
Enticing customers over the Internet is a bit harder. If you send out emails you're competing with the avalanche of ads promising male enhancement, mortgages, and golden opportunities to get rich quick in Nigeria.
Adding bookmarks, post card size information cards, etc. with sold books is the obvious way of encouraging repeat business, but these are people who already found you. Alibris has been adding coupons to their receipts in order to encourage repeat business in this way. The real challenge is getting newcomers.
We wondered what some of our readers have done to attract customer attention and I invite you to send in your suggestions. Perhaps we can all learn from them.
|
