242 | NY Now Show Results with Christy Asper, Paper Baristas
Did you listen to my conversation with Christy Asper of Paper Baristas back in episode 236? We discussed how preparing for NY Now was going for her as a pre-show interview!
Now she’s back for another conversation to share how the show went, what she learned, and what she’ll adjust for future shows. Listen in as she explains why she believes catalogs are still relevant, what it was like to exhibit as part of the Greeting Card Association Village, and what her sales and success looked like!
Paper Baristas is a paper goods company run by Christy and her husband Jon. They started their business to create ethically sourced products by beautiful people for a beautiful cause. They are on a mission to help fight modern-day slavery in the supply chain industry.
Today’s episode is brought to you by our free resources library, where you can find the tools to start, streamline, and scale your product business.
From determining if wholesale is right for you, to designing a tradeshow booth that won’t break the back, to deciding what to delegate in three simple steps, we have the resources for you!
Pre-Show Preparations for NY Now
While Christy had big plans in preparing for NY Now, the preparations definitely didn’t go as planned. She’d created beautifully designed mailers that were printed incorrectly, which meant reprinting and doubling her costs—she did end up placing a few upcoming shows on the reprint to help cut costs for later shows. Then due to time constraints, Christy ended up heading to the show without a catalog and relied upon her flier, impacting her overall sales.
Travel logistics also got in the way, so rather than flying to NY, her plans changed due to her license getting stolen—forcing her to drive through a major storm. While this was a big hurdle, it ended up being a blessing in disguise so that Christy could work a little more before leaving and push out all of her Valentine’s Day orders!
Before heading out to the show, Christy did end up scheduling and sending out a series of emails to her contacts informing them of the show, which immediately prompted $12,000 in sales from three customers.
Exhibiting at NY Now
The experience of exhibiting at NY Now was so surreal. Christy’s brand, Paper Baristas, exhibited within the Greeting Card Association Village, which is a more affordable way to exhibit at trade shows like this. It also eliminates the logistical nightmare of having to host your own booth and ship items to the show.
At the show, Christy wrote 12 orders at the show, totaling 22 orders from the show—as many retailers placed orders within the show time frame online.
In looking at her Faire analytics, Christy also noticed that there were even more orders that she’d attribute to this experience and the mailers as 70% of recent orders were direct.
Looking back, Christy attributes much of her success from NY Now to her pre-show marketing. Many of her new customers from NY Now were brands that she’d been dreaming of selling to and pursuing for years. Being at NY Now offered up legitimacy for some of those brands that they hadn’t been able to provide in the past.
Are Catalogs Still Relevant?
With the time constraints, Christy did end up forgoing a catalog and relied on a flier. This limited the number of items that customers ended up purchasing from her, simply because they didn’t see everything she had right there. There were so many big-name retailers that came through that only saw a sliver of what she had to offer, as most are only buying what they see at the moment.
Overall, Christy believes that this hurt her sales since the show was so fast-paced and retailers aren’t looking at the website in as much detail after the show. Her average price per order could have been even higher if they’d seen more of her products.
Christy does recommend taking catalogs to trade shows, but not ordering too many!
Post Show Follow Up
While Christy saw success in the show, she knew that post-show follow-up was important too! Unfortunately, it was a tougher experience as Christy had a funeral right after the event that she had to drive to, so she did take time away from work to be there.
To prepare, Christy hired a VA to set up, schedule, and automate some follow-up emails to go out and remind potential customers about the show and the sales they were offering for it—including the extended show special beyond the show dates.
This included:
an email immediately after the show,
another one week before the final special date,
and an email the day before the show special ended that also highlighted the upcoming show that they will be at
By doing this, they saw additional sales come through.
The Success of a Show
The success of a show doesn’t just happen on the show floor—it happens leading up to the show and the days after. The relationships you’re building, the marketing you’re doing, and brand recognition, are what contribute to the success of your show. Sometimes it does take slow growth, so don’t give up on that follow-up.
quick links:
Here is a recap of links shared in this episode:
236 | Lessons learned exhibiting at Atlanta Mart, Noted & NY Now with Christy Asper, Paper Baristas
055 | Where to skimp and splurge at her first tradeshow with Lisa Sarmento, Tiramisu Paperie
293 | Turn Trade Show Leads into New Customers with Katie Hunt
187 | How should I follow-up after a wholesale order with Katie Hunt
Today’s episode is brought to you by our free resources library, where you can find the tools to start, streamline, and scale your product business.
From determining if wholesale is right for you, to designing a tradeshow booth that won’t break the back, to deciding what to delegate in three simple steps, we have the resources for you!
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MEET CHRISTY AND JON:
Paper Baristas is run by a husband and wife team, Christy Asper and Jon Marc. They are an Ethically Sourced Brand whose mission is to create "beautiful products by beautiful people for a beautiful cause". Their focus is create high quality products that raise awareness and help fight modern day slavery in the supply chain. Paper Baristas started in August 2015 as a wedding invitation business that first swore off ever doing stationery products. Now, that is all they do and use their business as a platform to give back while doing what they love. Their desire to sustainably source has made a tremendous impact in what they create and how they create. Paper Baristas products are proudly made with fair trade practices, a love for details and value on the lives of the people creating their products.
CONNECT WITH CHRISTY
WEBSITE: www.paperbaristas.com | FACEBOOK: @paperbaristas
INSTAGRAM: @paperbaristas | TWITTER: PBaristas
Connect with Katie Hunt
Katie Hunt is a business strategist, podcaster, mentor and mama to four. She helps product based businesses build profitable, sustainable companies through her conferences, courses and coaching programs.
Website: prooftoproduct.com | Instagram: @prooftoproduct
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