Episode #6: What To Do When You Don’t Achieve Your Toy Fair Goals
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After attending The New York Toy Fair (NYTF) as an exhibitor, you'll definitely need a few days to recover. Your back may ache, your feet may be swollen, and your ego may be bruised. While the wins at NYTF are easy to share with family and friends, and celebrate, the losses we tend to keep to ourselves and not confront. So in today's episode, we walk through how to handle 4 less than perfect scenarios you might have experienced at New York Toy Fair, and how to turn them positive.
This episode gives actionable advice and thoughtful motivation for less than perfect scenarios that you might encounter at ANY trade show.
Feeling dejected after a buyer's comments?
Learn how to get and use constructive criticism.
Didn't land a licensing deal? Last minute booth went unseen?
This episode is full of tips, suggestions, and strategies to help you find the silver lining when your trade show does not go as planned.
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This episode is brought to you by thetoycoach.com
New York Toy Fair Website - www.toyfairny.com
Women In Toys - www.womenintoys.com
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Azhelle (00:00): You are listening to Making It In The Toy Industry. Episode number six. Jingle + Intro (00:06): Welcome to making it in the toy industry podcast for inventors, entrepreneurs like you. And now your host Azhelle Wade. Azhelle (00:16): Hey there, toy people Azhelle Wade here and welcome back to another episode of making it in the toy industry. This is a weekly podcast brought to you by the toy coach.com. Now, I am losing my voice today after the craziness of New York toy fair and networking events. So let's hope I can make it through this episode without my voice completely going away. So if you attended New York toy fair this year, I hope you had as rich of an experience as I did from Thursday till this past Tuesday. The Javits was my second home. I met a lot of wonderful podcast listeners, inventors, store owners, and even a few celebrities. I don't want to name any names, but I may have had a picture with Blippy. So if you're an avid listener of mine, then you already know that I was also nominated for a wonder woman rising star corporate award this year. Azhelle (01:20): So on Sunday night of toy fair weekend, I attended the soy inkiest cocktail party at pier 60, where I got to take photos with wonder woman and meet and chat with Joshua de La Cruz from Blues Clues. And I even got to talk my boyfriend up to WWE star, Stephanie McMahon. And I was really lucky to reconnect with industry friends and fellow nominees like Diedre Cross, Sarah Farber and Katie Hosford. And I met some new inspiring women including the Blinger mom, Angie Cella herself, Madeline Hunter and Jesse Silbert. I got a ton of photos for the gram. Follow the toy coach on IGC. Don't miss those next time or when I repost them. So the reason I'm bringing up this event and my nomination is because I actually didn't win my award category now, although I didn't take home the golden Cape that night. Yes, that's what the women in toys, a wonder woman wins. Azhelle (02:27): It's a cool golden Cape. But I did certainly leave the event with stronger industry relationships, more excitement than ever to be part of women in toys. And the reassurance that this podcast is something that the industry is listening to and appreciates. So for today's episode, I thought it would be fitting to talk to you about what to do when things don't turn out exactly as you had hoped. As much as I hope your wildest dreams came true during toy fair in New York 2020 if they didn't, I want to help any of you who might be feeling like this toy fair weekend just didn't yield quite the results you were looking for. So we're gonna focus on for less than perfect scenarios that you may have encountered while presenting your product or your company during New York toy fair. So we'll cover what to do on the spot in the midst of a rejection and after the experience is over and you're entering your newly acquired email addresses into your contacts. Azhelle (03:40): So hopefully these tips will help you see the silver lining whenever you might hear the word no. So as I said, I've pulled out for less than perfect scenarios and let's start off with number one, what to do and how to feel when a retailer doesn't like your product. When you had to toy fair, you know there is a chance that you will meet with a buyer who will not like your product. Now, depending on the buyer, they may tell you directly that the product is just not for them. Or they may let hope linger only for you to realize like 10 or 15 minutes into the conversation that they were never really open to it in the first place. Now regardless of what type of buyer you're dealing with, there are two ways to attack the scenario to yield a positive end result. Now I'm not saying that that positive result is going to be your rejected product magically being selected to be on their shelves, but you can gain knowledge and perfect your product development process from a buyer saying no. Azhelle (04:51): So let's talk about what to do on the spot when a buyer for a specific retailer doesn't like your product. So if a buyer of rejects your product on the spot, it's important that your reaction isn't too salesy. You don't want to be too pushy trying to convince them that their decision to reject your product is wrong. Instead, you want to ask questions. You want to find out what makes the product a poor fit for their store and really listen and take note of their response. You want to find out, is the product itself just a poor fit for the store? Is it a packaging size or a design issue? Is the product the wrong price point? Is it too high or too low or is it simply the shelf space that they have in their store? Now, you will not rapid fire these questions of the buyer. Azhelle (05:45): They will run away, but you can lead the conversation in such a way that these questions are answered. The best way to open that conversation is by saying something like, what change would make this product a success in your store? If they hesitate for a bit too long, you can gently lead the answer with a few words like, is it a better price design? Or maybe it's the whole concept and just see how the conversation unfolds from there. And like I said before, take notes. You do not want the buyer to feel like you're just asking questions to waste their time. You want them to feel like you're really learning from the experience and maybe that will result in you offering better product to them in the future. Now after the fact, after a buyer rejection, once you've packed up your table, you've gone home, but you still have their business card and email information, you may think that they will never want to hear from you again, but honestly, more often than not, that is not the case. Azhelle (06:49): As long as you made a positive impression and your personalities didn't intensely clash, they're likely to be okay receiving an email from you. So I'm going to tell you, you do not want to send them a followup email containing the same product that they rejected. Just thinking that maybe they need to have another look at it because they don't. They know what they like. They do this for a living and they know what they don't need in their store. However, if a buyer gave you constructive feedback, which you promise to implement and get back to them with changes, then you should definitely do that. You should send them an email that showcases the new concept. Ideally you include a sell sheets. It has all the information they need along with a really great beauty shot of the product, including your email and option for them to have you mail them a sample of the product cause usually having something on hand is going to make the chance of you getting an order much more likely and just a quick tip. Azhelle (07:50): Lifestyle shots do a great job at tugging on emotional heartstrings said, don't be afraid to share those in your email. Now, aside from contacting the buyer, you can utilize the information that you sussed out during that process of being rejected to understand your customers and their needs. So you should look over the rest of your customer list and take a look at your future plan development and try to apply what you've learned. Are your price points too high? Are your boxes too big? Are they too small? These are the type of insights that can help guarantee that your future products are developed more in line with what your buyers want and need. So with those two followup strategies, a rejection should never feel like some big failure. It's always an opportunity to learn more about your customer and do a better pitch the second time around.
Azhelle (08:49): And just keep in mind that if you get feedback from a major retailer like let's say Walmart, you can take that feedback and try to apply it to their competitors as well. So you don't necessarily need to gain feedback from every single customer in order to successfully apply what you've learned to your entire line. Now our second less than perfect scenario that we're going to dive into is number two, what to do when you don't land a licensing deal. Now on the spot with a licensing deal, and I'm talking licensing your game idea or your patented product, not licensing yourself if you're a media personality. Now on the spot, if you don't get a licensing deal or they don't seem to be interested in your product at all, I believe it's really important that you identify that you already knew that the item might be a bit of a stretch for the brand that you're pitching to, even if you didn't really initially believe it was. Azhelle (09:53): Now, why is that? Why do I say that? Well, toy companies that might be interested in licensing your game idea or toy product like to believe that the inventors that they agree to meet with and work with really take the time to understand their company's brand identity and target market. Now, the quickest way for you to get flagged as a do not open email address or a do not answer phone number is to be the type of inventor who carelessly pitches the same products company to company ignoring the brand identity or target market of the company that they're talking to. So if you get rejected for a licensing deal, I really believe it's up to you to explain why you brought the concept to this specific toy company over others. Your reasoning might be to keep up with competition or based on a recent social media buzz you saw or even some industry insight that you're aware of. Azhelle (10:56): It's extremely important that when you have the opportunity to pitch directly to a toy company, that you show that you've taken the time and done the homework and that you really understand their products market and price points. Now let's talk about what to do after the fact. Now, if you fail to get a licensing deal, it is no biggie. It happens every day. Many more people fail then get signed. So if you were so lucky to obtain the contact information for the person who rejected your toy or your game idea, I would take that opportunity to send them an email about a week after toy fair, reminding them of your meeting and expressing how you've taken the time to focus on their target market and have something new and perfect for their ideal customer. When you write this email and when you actually build this product or product board that you're going to share with them, I'm going to suggest that you take time beforehand to check the language that this company uses on their product boxes or even their social media posts. Azhelle (12:06):If they're active on social media, you want to see how they communicate with their customers and make sure that this new game or toy pitch idea that you're going to give them emulates that same language and vibe. You're really trying to prove here that you've learned from your mistakes, that you are the type of inventor that can come up with product, that their specific ideal customers will love. So at this point you can draft an email, maybe one attach a product board or a beauty shot. It really depends on your level of comfortability with this company. You may need to get an NDA before you feel comfortable emailing them this information or you can send them a website with a login key, so you're going to want to make sure that whatever means that you use to share this idea that your idea quickly and effectively explains the concept with an exciting drawing, a three D rendering or a photo of a sample you could utilize again, lifestyle images, meaning it's an image that features a kid or parent playing with your product because those are always better at selling your idea. Azhelle (13:21): Let's move on to our next less than perfect scenario number three, what to do when you've waited until the last minute to plan your table. Now, the reason I'm focusing on a table rather than a full toy fair booth is because we're going to go really last minute here and talk about people that may be, didn't even know they were going to have a table for a week or two up until the show. So now in the moment, toy fair craziness can definitely get the best of all of us. You might find yourself in a position of super procrastination with just a few weeks before the show and no real plan or you might find yourself having the opportunity to get a table where none was available before and you may only have two weeks to plan how you're going to present your product and how you're going to market it. You can always in the moment hit up Craigslist or Facebook marketplace to find a really good deal on how to shelve your products fast or you may just end up at Walmart and target looking for some shelving concepts. Azhelle (14:26):Well, I'm sure you can quickly put together a nice display of your products. Your biggest struggle is going to be getting eyes on it. The marketing. Now, most toy companies, even the small ones come to these events with buyer meetings pre-booked so they can be busy selling their products almost all day long. And if you're in the launch pad area, you not yet have those connections and you may find traffic in your area is rather light. So what you're going to need to do, having booked your table last minute and waited to the last second to plan is do some serious fast gorilla marketing. So there are actually three things I'm going to break down that you could do. Um, three guerrilla marketing techniques that I think you can implement really quickly and effectively, um, to help get traffic to your table. The first thing I'm going to recommend is that you go to networking events. Azhelle (15:27): Now, whatever day it is, if it's a week before toy fair, if it's a day before toy fair, if it is the day of toy fair, you need to look at the calendar of events that are going to be happening, all toy fair weekend, and make a plan to have at least one person on your team attend every single networking event. And as many talks as possible that the show has to offer, this person has to bring with them either a fun sticker or a die cut business card with a catchy phrase like this is the best game that will have you laughing until you cry only at booth seven Oh three and this person's job is going to be to seriously network and pass out these catchy stickers or die cut cards at every event. Now it's really going to be important in seat. You're meeting people for the first time that you make a real connection with them. Azhelle (16:27): So if you can try to go to events. Let's say if you're a woman in the toy industry, go to a woman in the toy industry event. If you're interested in art or illustration, maybe go to a talk that an is putting on. The goal should be to get to know people at these events. Get to know them individually, talk about what they do, talk about what you do and then find out if they might be interested in taking a look at your product. Now you might meet press, you might meet buyers, their assistants, you might meet interns or you might just meet social media influencers. At this point, you want to start a conversation with almost anyone about your product. The goal of these conversations will beat it. Encourage them to come to your booth and when they do, you want to take pictures and videos of them playing with your product and with their permission. Azhelle (17:22): Upload the video to your social media. Ask them to upload it to theirs. You want to tag each other and you want to tag the toy fair Instagram account and you want to tag the networking event where you met. All of these things are going to help get eyes on your table, on your product and help people know where they can come and find you. Make sure that every post references your booth and every post has some sort of sales pitch like the best game that will have you laughing until you cry. Now the second thing that I'm going to suggest you do is dedicate someone to run your social media and potentially run some ads. You're really going to need someone focused on just social media. If you haven't made any kind of media plan by the day of the fair, now you can easily research online and find out a lot of information that can really help you gain eyeballs on your product and eyeballs of people that are going to be at the show. Azhelle (18:21): You can research who is leading networking events and talks at the show. You can start conversations with them online, on LinkedIn or Instagram or whatever social media platform your brand has the most presence on. You should invite them to come to your booth and maybe even arrange a free giveaway. You might also want to consider running location specific and event specific Facebook and LinkedIn ads to drive traffic directly to your table. The overall goal here is to get people to start talking about your product, sharing it online and tagging it with toy fair hashtags. You never know how many degrees of separation you may be from a buyer. It may only be a few. Now your social media person should be sharing the experiences that your colleague attending, the networking events and the talks has and they should be tagging and thanking specific people that made an impact on their time at the event. Azhelle (19:25): Allow the conversations to grow organically and constantly mention your booth number, your product name and your tagline and even give landmarks like other brand names to help people easily find you. The third method I'm going to suggest is that you can actually dress up and give something away. You'll see when you go to New York toy fair, that in the main hall, like the main entrance area, there'll be a couple of people standing around and, and sometimes suits, but sometimes like monster outfits and they don't have the best locations often, but they're usually handing out flyers or pamphlets or um, give away stickers. So if you have a special T shirt with your brand name or a funny costume that relates to your brand, assign a team member to get dressed up and head out to the Javits entrance hall, armed them with free mini versions of your game or toy. Azhelle (20:21):But if that's too much of an investment, arm them with postcards, business cards, or even just free pens. People always need pens at toy fair. Now I do have to say, I'm sure that there is some fee to work out when you have a character located in this space, handing out freebies to passers by. So you're definitely gonna want to contact the organizers of the New York toy fair and just make sure that you pay the fee that you need to pay or fill out the paperwork you need to fill out to guarantee that your employee can be there without a problem. But keep in mind, you can be giving away here a pen or a sticker with your tagline for your product and your booth number right on it. Okay, now let's talk about what to do after the fact of that. Less than perfect scenario of having a last minute table at New York toy fair. Azhelle (21:17): So after the fact, I want you to immediately make a plan for next year. Find the date that enrollment starts for New York toy fair the following year, and set a date that you want to have your booth design and another date that you want to have your booth marketing plan completed by and then work backwards until you build yourself a full calendar so that this never happens to you again. You're going to find yourself a sales director who will work off commission and set up meetings for you with buyers for your upcoming year. So with those strategies, I'm pretty confident that you can gain a little bit more visibility for your brand when you've done a last minute toy fair set up and you definitely will be more equipped next year if you make sure that you start making your toy fair plan a year in advance. And finally our last less than perfect scenario number four, what to do when you don't win an award. Azhelle (22:22): Now winning an award is a great feeling, but having people believe in you is really what makes the nomination for an award so powerful. So if you go up for an award and for some reason you aren't the winner, don't worry if you want a bad enough, and if you'll continue the journey toward that goal, it will be yours one day. But until that time, there is more for you to learn and to give back to the world of toys. So here's my advice for what to do on the spot when you find out you didn't win an award. Take stock in all that you've achieved and really, really be proud of the fact that your achievements have you in ranks with some of the best in the industry. If you're going up for a team award, congratulate your team for all of their hard work. Azhelle (23:17): If you were going up for an independent award, congratulate your fellow nominees on their nomination. Congratulate the winners and give out compliments to all of the work that they've done after the fact. Be gracious and lead with honesty. Share with the winners what you loved about their work and let them live in their moment. Help them celebrate and know that they would do the exact same for you. Now I want to share a short story here about what happened after I found out I did not win my category, so I felt tired from working toy for all day and sad from not winning the award and I just really wanted to go home. But my lovely boyfriend suggested that we get just one more drink and on our way to the bar, we actually never made it to the bar. We crossed paths with Angie CELA and he encouraged me to say hi to her, knowing how much I admired her and I ended up talking to Angie for about 20 minutes. Azhelle (24:20): We laughed and that conversation led me to meeting other wonder women winners and other nominees. I was surrounded by women that I aspire to be like and they were all extremely welcoming and so lovely that it really lifted my spirits. So if I hadn't taken that moment, I would have never connected with all of the women that honestly I aspire to be like and would love to call a part of my network. As I mentioned in my previous episode, toy fair is what you make of it. The same thinking can and should be applied to the successes or lack thereof from your toy fair experience as well. I know it's such a sales focused trade show and you should focus on selling if that's your goal, but don't let that focus prevent you from seeing other potential business opportunities happening all around you. Showing up is half the battle and you've already shown up. Azhelle (25:24): Maybe you didn't sell that product to that buyer that came across your booth, but you've just made a new connection and if you're smart, you'll keep in touch with them. Also, here's a little insider tip that you may not know if you're new to the industry. The buyers of major retailers switch categories all the time and may even change companies. I have friends that were product developers and moved into buying, so you never know. The people that just came to look around your booth this year may be the decision makers of next year. Maybe you didn't land a licensing deal, but these deals are heavily reliant on timing. Perhaps your ideal will be more applicable in a few months or maybe next year. Maybe you just have to wait for the trend wave to come your way, but you've made that connection so you can keep in touch and hopefully something more promising can arise. Azhelle (26:20): Maybe you felt rushed in your preparation for toy fair because you swiped up a last minute table. But whatever items you purchase or the ideas you developed for toy fair can always be used and made better for future trade shows. I mean there's another one coming up in April. Nothing is done for nothing. It will always be useful for something. Trust me. And finally, maybe you didn't win that award that you were so eagerly hoping to win that you thought would help launch your career or company forward. But you'd be remiss if you didn't acknowledge how your nomination has already done that. Being present at the awards show or the cocktail party and having that nomination is not only great for your resume, but it's great for your self confidence. I hope the examples and techniques I gave you will help guide you through any less than perfect experiences you may have at this trade show or any others in the future. Azhelle (27:30): And finally, I have to give a huge thank you to my podcast listeners. You made this one of the most fun toy fairs I've had in a while. It was fantastic getting to meet some of you, and I really just appreciate how much you appreciate me doing this podcast. So if I could ask one favor, if you could please leave a review for this podcast wherever you're listening to it, leaving a review makes a huge difference in the visibility of this podcast, and it'll help other people find the information that they really need. Please share this podcast with your friends and family and fellow inventors, and thank you so much for joining me for another episode. I know there are tons of podcasts out there, but you chose to listen to this one and that means the world to me. So until next week, I'll see you later Toy People. Jingle + Outtro (28:28): Thanks for listening to Making It In The Toy Industry, podcast with Azhelle Wade. Head over to the toy coach.com for more information, tips, and advice.
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