Although I don't have a lot of vending/exhibiting experience under my belt, I was amazed when a "seasoned" exhibitor stopped at my booth at the recent Great Lakes Lighthouse Festival and lamated that he wasn't selling anything and people just seemed to pass by his booth. He couldn't figure out what was wrong. I told him I would have to get back to him on that one as I needed some time to gather my thoughts. Actually, I didn't want to hurt his feelings or make him angry with my response so I was just buying time.
Before I give the response I gave him, let me supplement it by saying that I am an extremely observational person and can watch people interaction at events, art fairs, craft fairs, shows, etc. During my perusals of various booths, exhibitors and/or vendors I would watch how they interacted with people, what those who were successful did, other than having top-notch wares to offer, and what they did not do.
That being said, I finally responded to the questioning exhibitor and told him what I had noticed and how that might be a reason for "no" sales. 1) he was either reading a book, 2) texting, 3) watching his small portable TV, 4) not at his booth at all and 5) did not interact with people any any form. I gently told him that people like to be noticed. Even if they don't stop at your booth, at least say hello, hope you're enjoying the show/event, or, if you have a basket filled with treats, "I have chocolate to give you energy to see the rest of the show." Reading, texting, watching TV, not being at your booth, or have someone relieving you so you can go eat, use the facilities, etc., or not interacting with the public gives them the impression you really don't care whether or not you sell anything. He was surprised at my information and informed me that unless people are going to "buy" he's not going to waste his time. My response was that if you don't get them to "stop," even if it's just to acknowledge your hello, you won't know if they're going to buy or not. Granted not everyone who stops at a booth is going to buy, but if you can get them to stop and look, not pressure them into a sale, ask how they are enjoying the show, etc. you may just get a sale out of it.
I acknowledged everyone that went by and even looked my way and managed to sell either my photography or my book to 4 out of 10 that came by. Now that's not record breaking by any means, but I did get sales and ended up having a very good show result. For me, taking an interest in the people seemed to make them feel important, and they seemed to appreciate the hospitality. If they didn't buy anything and just looked and chatted with me a while, I would thank them for stopping by and direct them to a booth that I thought might have what they were looking for.
The gentleman didn't agree with me, which is fine, and proceeded to keep doing what he was doing, and that was ignoring potential customers. Unless someone picked up an item, he would not even acknowledge their presence at his booth. He did very poorly at the show this year, I am sorry to say. Other vendors that I have become friends with over the years have told me that the energy and positive attitude I project is catchy and they have tried some different approaches this year and have done well.
Just had to proffer my two cents on the "why aren't I selling" question that I see pop up from time to time. You can have the perfect location, fantastic wares and perfect weather, but if you don't acknowledge/interact with potential customers, you could end up with an extremely poor result for all your hard work.
