Navigating Trade Shows: Insights from Mennie Brand’s First Big Step

In this episode, the host welcomes Andrew from Mennie Brand to discuss the journey of participating in trade shows. Andrew shares the backstory of his art-inspired sock business, from hand-printing socks in his garage to growing his wholesale operation. The conversation dives into the strategic decisions behind attending the Life & Style trade show, budgeting, stand design, and the importance of pre- and post-show outreach. Andrew also provides detailed insights into the costs involved and the expectations for this significant business move. Tune in to hear about the preparation and anticipation of this major event, and stay tuned for part two to learn about the outcomes.

00:00 Introduction and Overview of the Podcast

00:28 Meet Andrew: The Journey of an Art-Inspired Sock Brand

01:45 Challenges and Growth in the Early Years

02:38 Transition to Wholesale and Outsourcing

04:20 Preparing for the First Trade Show

09:19 Costs and Logistics of Attending a Trade Show

15:40 Support and Relationships with Stockists

17:58 Navigating Product Range and Stand Design

18:39 Preparing for the Trade Show: Marketing Materials and Buyer Interaction

20:17 Effective Display Strategies for Trade Shows

23:28 Optimizing Marketing Materials for Trade Shows

26:38 Setting Up and Managing Expectations

32:18 Pre-Show Outreach and Follow-Up Strategies

  Hello and welcome to today's podcast. I'm super excited to have a guest here today, and this is gonna be part of a two part series where we are talking all about trade shows and as a brand, what it means to attend them, what it means. To, decide to go to a trade show, how do you actually even get to that process and what are some of the things that you might be stuck on or not sure about? And, you know, what are some of the things you just like complete unknowns when it comes to trade shows? Okay, so we have Andrew here and he is from Mennie and we're gonna talk about his brand, his journey, and yeah, let's get into it.

Andrew, welcome. Welcome along. Thanks Melissa stocked to be here. You mentioned to me when we had a chat about your business, you know, that journey of deciding to go to a trade show, and that's where you first came across me as well. When you're sort of like looking into trade shows and obviously building on your wholesale brand, tell me a little bit about what your brand is, first of all.

I guess my elevator pitch would be that it's an art inspired sock brand. . And what is your background? Do you have an artistic background? Yeah, I guess so. I've always been into art and painting and drawing, and then a bit of filmmaking and stuff.

So, yeah, when I started I just knew I wanted to do something of my own that kind of incorporates all the things that interest me I figured like a t-shirt company or whatever is just, there's so much of it i've always been a big sock lover as well. I've always been a skateboarder.

So, always really into that. And then I figured out you can put artwork onto socks. And yeah, I kind of taught myself how to do it. And that was nearly nine years ago. Yeah, so for the first.  four years. I was printing them all by hand in my garage.

Oh my gosh. And, yeah, it was a lot of work, but that, that was the only way, you know, I didn't have a budget or anything to like outsource production and then, so I just make them like all weekend and sell 'em at the markets here at the weekends. Which was cool because it was like a really unique way to get.

Like real feedback on different designs and stuff, and I didn't have to order hundreds of each design and realize something move. So really testing it out. Yeah. Yeah. So for the first kind of four years, like. I guess on the business side of things, nothing really advanced that much 'cause I was so busy like making and then selling and stuff.

But I learned a lot about the designs and everything. And then I finally had a bit of budget and the guts to outsource the manufacturing. Mm-hmm. And then I started that with the wholesale in 2020. I'd sourced the manufacturing, so then I had a bit more time to work on the business side of things and got into wholesaling and it's kind of growing since then.

Yeah, and that's the thing, like when you are the maker and there's lots of people who still are the makers in their business, but it does mean you've only got a certain amount of time to work on other aspects of the business. So yeah, for sure. Make it hard to grow and, but it obviously is the perfect, place to start as well.

Like I know when I started my, fashion brand with my sister, we would make and sew and, stitch everything and do the actual printing. Like it, you have to start out that way often. But yeah, it's a development, it's a work in progress and you've learned, so much along the way and didn't take probably huge risks at the start in terms of numbers and quantities.

So you weren't left with, things that you didn't need or weren't selling. Yeah. It's definitely, especially with the markets, I find them really helpful getting like that real feedback your friends will just tell you everything's great and they mean well, but it's not real.

Yeah. But yeah, it was good. And are you based in Byron, is that right? Yeah. Yeah. So it is a good testing ground for innovation and creativity and yeah, people, obviously new people coming to the markets and that sort of thing, as well as it's not the same people all the time. Yeah, yeah, for sure. It's great.

It's really like there's a lot of tourists here, but then it's kind of a creative community and it's very encouraging, I find. So yeah, your socks actually, if anyone can see, if we put this on YouTube at any stage, your socks in the background, like they actually look like skateboards hanging up there as well.

Yeah, true. So let's talk about where you're at now. So you're about to attend your first trade show. Tell me a little bit about, first of all, which show you're going to do and why that show and yeah, let's get into it from there. Yeah, so I've joined the Life and Style trade show in Melbourne at the end of next month.

And I've been looking at it for years, to be honest, but it's quite a big expense for me. So I looked into a couple of other ones as well. Like I looked at Reed and, friends of mine that have been to both trade shows. Advised me. With my brand that it would sit way better with life and style.

Mm-hmm. So yeah, I'm doing that and really excited now actually. I think if I had done it any earlier, I wouldn't have been ready for it. Like, yeah. Okay. Like budget as well as the confidence and kind of knowing what I'm talking about with regards to like wholesale properly. So yeah, I feel, I feel ready.

Maybe if I had a. Taking one of your courses a couple years ago would be a bit further ahead, but it's taken me solo this long. Yeah, well that does, you know, that is the thing that it, it can fast strike people because Yeah, it's getting all that information in one hit, but yeah. Anyway, regardless. That's okay.

Now with your wholesale. Just tell me how many stockists you have right now. So then sort of know what stage you've gone. Yeah. Okay. I feel like I'm a bit ready. I've got 31 stockists at the minute. Yep. Okay. And they see it's in the last couple years, like. I reckon 10 shops have closed on, but I seem to pick up a couple more.

Yeah. So it's definitely, it's been increasing, but yeah, unfortunately some shops have had to close, and that definitely, I would say right now it's more prevalent but it is always going to happen. Like there is gonna be a cycle and I think myself being in it a long time. I have seen it for a long time.

Like there's always shops, opening shops closing. Yeah. It just does feel like, yeah, there's a lot more right now closing because of, economic times. And also some people have been in it a long time and they're like, okay, I'm done. Like it is changing and evolving. Yeah. But with wholesale, I think, you are gonna always.

Have some drop off and new people come in, but hopefully, I think with the decision to do the trade show, you should pick up quite a bit at that one spot. Yeah. Hopefully that's the plan. Like that's the plan. I really like the wholesale side of things. Like I really, I love, like some of my stockists, I've been with for like eight years to be honest, I've never had a stockist that's ordered and then not. Ordered again. So like those relationships are cool and they help with my ordering and my designs and stuff as well. And like for me online sales are cool 'cause obviously the money's good, but to pack up a big order for a shop.

And then I always ask the shop to send me photos when they're in the shop and then I share them with my socials and stuff. And it's so cool to see like them in nice stores and yeah. That's a real buzz. You've been in some really cool stores too, that you are like, oh, I can't believe that they, you know, that my product sells in there.

And you love probably the brands that you connected with or associated with. Yeah, for sure.

Okay. So you deciding to go to life in style, that was your decision and then based on feedback and you know, other people's thoughts on where you should be. Have you actually even attended the show yourself?

No I haven't. The closest I've done is watch some YouTube videos and stuff. Yeah. Okay. That's interesting. It looks beautiful though. And it is a standout show in terms of, it's a boutique show. It definitely is highly curated and you have to apply to get in there and you have to be a certain criteria.

You have to be a certain standard and you have to be a fit the certain sort of model of what they're looking for. So it is a beautiful show as well, life in style. Yeah, I'm super excited. , And it's one of those things that, yeah, they. Really try hard to make sure that the buyer's experience is that they get new products in, they get the right fit products in that fit the type of buyers who are going.

So they really do work, on getting the right mix of brands in, but also the buyers attending other right type of buyers for, you know, what's there as well. Like when I applied they called me up and asked for a list of all my current stockists and all the links to websites and stuff. So they're pretty on it.

And I think it's, , that's important too, to know that Yeah. What you have to do. So did you just, yeah. So you just emailed, you just sort of made contact and sort of thought, now's the time. What happened when you first saw some of the pricing? Were you like, oh. Yeah, well, I've been looking at the pricing for years, to be honest.

Yeah, yeah, probably. Yeah. But yeah, I, I had to sit down and just work out, you know, the stand price is big enough, but then there's all of the logistics of getting there and, mm-hmm. Flights, accommodation, everything. So, yeah, yeah, I think it'll be worth it. Yeah, I'll let you know after I guess.

Yeah, we'll let you know in part two, but we'll, we'll get to that. But let's just talk about a little bit about the cost. So what do you think all up that it is co gonna cost you to do? And let's talk about what size stand you have as well. Okay, so I've got the smallest stand I could get, which is two by two.

Yeah. Upstairs. And the stand cost is 4,410. so the trade show stands really, I mean, depends on the size and depends on the location. There's lots of factors which contribute to that price, . But the lowest you're starting from is probably around two and a half thousand.

Up to, really depends on the stand. Sometimes 30,000 for a huge stand in the prime location. . The show price really depends on location, the dimensions, the actual show, what's included.

Sometimes you get lots more included than others, so it's all very variable. Mm-hmm. And then I can just run through all the costs if you want. Yeah. Yeah. So just go, because I think it's good for people to get a breakdown of what, what it is and so they can get a gist of Yeah, where they're, I would, I would've loved that, to be honest, to be able to hear.

So yeah, the stand cost is 4,410.   Then I'm getting my back wall painted, which is 359 plus pen is nine d, and then I'm getting some signage done. Luckily my best mate. Is a sign guy. So he's willing to trade for socks. But it would be roughly 400, I think.

And a table for the booth was way outta my budget, so I'm buying them from Kmart. That is often the case. Like the, I'll just touch on that because the higher companies that they, obviously give you, and the corporate sort of rates and stuff, they can be, they can be crazy. Like, you're like, what for just, one stall or one stand.

It's like, yeah. So it can be, and. Of the many, many trade shows I've done around the world, often I have just, you know, we've either just bought, I did one in New York where we bought a, piece of furniture that got sent there and then we flatpack and bought it back in bags to Australia. Oh, cool. It again and again.

New Zealand trade shows, just, gone into Bunnings or Kmart or, wherever you could there and just bought a option that you could use for the actual days of the show too. Yeah, whatever works, right? Yeah. So yeah, I'm buying those from Kmart and I just got them delivered to my friend's place in Melbourne.

  That was 207 bucks.   and I imagine I'm gonna be standing outside the trade show on the last day with them in marketplace, trying to sell them. , I bought one something that I have in my office now from one of the girls who, like at the end of the show, they sold it to me.

Or, you know, people do that as well. Yeah, it definitely is the case. You sell off the product again. Okay. Well, instead of paying 160 for an electrical point in the stand, I'm just bringing like a power bank. Mm-hmm. To charge my phone or whatever. And then flights from the Gold Coast are 290 return.

Car parking there is 115. My very budget hotel. Is 331 with a shared bathroom. And then is, is that close to the show? How far is it from the show? Yeah, it's like a 10 minute walk. Yeah, that's good. I think that's important because being close to the show, it does make a big difference when you're there every day and it's, yeah.

So I think I, I had close as you can is, yeah. My friend had offered for me to stay with him, but it would've been like. A bit of a mission, and I feel like I'll be more settled if I'm close. And then the last thing is some marketing material. Just I'm getting some little postcards and

brochures and stuff printed. Probably about 150 for those. Yep. And then, so all up. At the minute before I get there, it's looking around 6,400 or so. And then you got food and you know, entertainment or whatever if you're there or, yeah. Did you say you car parking? Are you bringing a, having a, hiring a car, or?

Oh, just parking at the Gold Coast Hotel. Oh, okay. Got, or at the Gold Coast Airport. Sorry. I think that's about it. And then I guess I haven't budgeted into that, the samples that I planned to give away. But, so yeah, a bit more for that. And then I guess just like living costs when I'm there.

Yeah. I was aiming for 6,000 as my budget and I'm just a wee bit over it, well that's good, like, knowing that now and then after the show, it'll be really just good to chat about you know, like where that's at you've done my three day bootcamp, trade show, bootcamp now.

Yeah. But we'll touch on some of the things in there. But one of the things I definitely talk about and you know, you would've heard me probably say before, is that lifetime value of the show. So I do talk about like, and we'll get to your goals, but. Most people wanna cover their costs. Right. But if you were, do think about it, like you mentioned you've had some stockist for eight years.

So if you thought about one of those stockist, what would they spent with you over eight years?  Oh, maybe. Maybe 10,000. Yeah. Okay. So one store could be worth 10,000, right? Yeah. And ideally you're gonna get more of those and spend more of them. But let's say you get one store like so theoretically and this is not gonna be an instant cash flow thing, but you know, one store could be, it could be worth going for just getting one store.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Like, uh, yeah. And even just like, yeah, one store and another connection and someone to work with. Like, it's, yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, reasons you haven't done it before. Was it mainly budget? I would say budget and confidence. And that you were, that you were in the right place to be able to, grow or scale.

Yeah, and even just to answer questions. Mm-hmm. Like six years ago. A shop owner would ask me a question and I'd just be like, Googling it, you know, reading headlights, like, ah, lemme get up, you, so I feel like I, I know my numbers and Yeah. All that stuff, so, yeah. Yeah, it is a whole new, and, and you know, even in my wholesale program, I have a whole glossary of terms because there's all this information that people are like.

What does that actually mean when you say that acronym or that little thing there? Or you know, like there's a whole new language that Yeah, totally. Yeah. If you haven't been in it, it, you just don't necessarily know the terminology of what people use. Yeah. Okay. So you've talked about, the costs involved and then some of the logistics.

What about the, you've said here you had, , some office of help or current stockists, , willing to sort of do something for you as well. What's that? Yeah, well I guess my friend Billy with the signs mm-hmm. Is gonna be a big help. And then a friend that I know well from England, who lives in Melbourne, I'm gonna stay with him in the last night actually.

And he's taken the deliveries from Kmart and he's offered to help at the show as well. And then I've got a stockist, from a shop called Mitchell McCabe in Melbourne. He reached out to me a couple weeks ago and said he'd love to come and help. He's great. He's like, he knows how to sell things.

Yeah, I know. And then another stockist, the girl Karen, who's been with me for eight years, she's up in Brisbane with her shop. Sunny Jim. In Brisbane and, she offered to come down and help as well. And yeah, it's just really cool to me that you've built some strong relationships with your stores that you know that they're willing to do that as well.

Oh, totally. They're fully like family for me. Like honestly, I'll just call them randomly and see what's going on, and it's not always like trying to get a reorder or whatever, bounce ideas off them or whatever and it's really cool. It's so helpful, well, and that's it.

I think the importance, it just sort of shows that importance of the relationship with your stockists. Like they can, the buyers, they've got that insight information, they're getting feedback regularly. They're getting, you know, data of what people are commenting on or purchasing quickly and all thats of stuff.

Like, they're so valuable. Yeah, it's amazing. Like the girl Karen from the Sunny Jim shop, like she still finds it hilarious like telling the story about my socks. 'cause she used to ring me like when I was still making them myself and she used to ring me and be like, oh, can I order four of these and five of these and six of these?

And I'm like, oh, it's gonna take me like three days. I'll just go into the garage and get started now. And she would like laugh on the phone and be like, that's so funny. But that's all I knew at the time. So every time I'm in her shop or whatever, I hear her putting on an Irish accent and explaining this guy on the phone going into the garage to make socks.

 So where are you at now with that? What is your minimum order per style? Do you have one? No, but I've got a minimum order of 30 pairs. And it's best if people do like three of each or whatever. Yeah. 'cause you think they need to get an idea if, they move fast. I think you don't wanna have, one or two of things 'cause you don't really know what.

It's working. If you've only got that unit, you know that. Yeah. And I think they look better when there's a bigger range as well. And like I have in my order form in the terms and conditions, if certain styles aren't selling, we can swap them out for other ones or whatever. And um, you would've heard me say that on the bootcamp Yeah.

Yesterday. Well, yeah. I was like, already done that. That's so funny. All right. So yeah, even before the bootcamp, obviously there was, you came to me because you're like, I've got some questions. I really, you know, I just wanna make sure I'm doing this properly. 'cause it was your first show. Yeah. So what sort of questions did you have before?

You know, coming to me in terms of what do I do there or what are some of the things that you were unsure of or sort of worried about or trying to clarify.  I think I wanted a bit of input about my stand design Yep. And then the marketing materials as well. Definitely some guidance with regards of like how to talk to buyers a bit.

Because I find, I still sell the markets here every month, and so for years I've been at a market stall and for sure I'll always say hello and talk to people who come into my stall, but I get the impression it's very different where I get the impression buyers.  Are almost waiting to be sold to rather than just serving a customer.

So yeah, I was kind of wondering about that a lot. Good question. So it definitely is a different energy to a market because if you're at a market, people are there to buy one or two products or they're there to look at what you've got and, buyers who are actually coming up to the stand.

They are coming because they are keen, like there's been something to attract them there, there's been something that they've sort of caught their eye or they've walked past and sort of double, double take and gone, oh, what is that? Or, oh, this could be good. So they are probably going with the intention of, I'm looking for these type of products, not everyone, but they might be going, oh, I need, products for men, for example.

Or, they might be going, I've got a gap in this category. So, yeah. They're going with intention a lot of the time, but then also they're, they're also going just to see what does attract their eye. So I think, and that's why we did talk about that stand design is so important to stand out because you want them to, even if they weren't thinking about buying socks, to stop and double take and go, oh.

This could be good. So I was, I was thinking like normally at my market stand or whatever, I've just got all the socks and then I've got a lot of like lifestyle photos. Whereas with the trade show, I'm thinking  like, not a lot of lifestyle stuff, but maybe more information. Showing how they would look in store as opposed to just selling the product.

They wanna, I imagine they'd wanna see like an example of them sitting in a nice shop or hanging in a wall or whatever. So yeah, that's where I'm kind of thinking with the marketing material as well, that it's a bit different. It's not for a customer, it's for a store buyer.

I think it's gonna be a combination. So they, definitely need to see the lifestyle, to see, like what your product photography looks like, what your what your brand feel is and that sort of stuff. So I think that is important as well. And then, but yes, equally seeing how it looks in store can give them some great ideas too, because someone may come in with that objection of.

Well, I just dunno how to display them or I just dunno how they're gonna fit into my store. Whereas if you do have imagery or ideas on how other people display it or how it works for them and how it sells through faster when it is in this particular, display. Yeah. Then that's really good for them too, because.

Often you will get objections, you know, when to buying. Say like, oh, socks don't do well for me, or I just don't have anywhere to put them. So having ideas about what's worked for other people can be really beneficial as well. Yeah. Cool. I think a combination. So a combination of lifestyle as well as maybe on the stand or the, shelving.

You've got the point of sale, sort of how it looks on point of sale, but the lifestyle might be on your back wall or the bigger photo on the side if you've got a side photo as well. Okay, cool. Yeah, and we talked about too that in the session we had where. The side view of your stand too, having not just, 'cause as I said to you, like looking at the back wall now on the behind photo of you, the socks look a bit like skateboards.

Obviously they're a smaller version, but you know, if from a distance it might look like, yeah, having the feet, so having the actual, what's it called? The sort of plastic mold, like mannequin foot. Mannequin, yeah, mannequin, yeah. Foot mold or whatever it is. But yeah, having those there just to. As well as your back display so that people instantly know they are socks.

Yeah, for sure. 'cause I don't know if I told you before, but I was doing the Bangalore markets up here and my neighbor next door. He'd been my like stall neighbour for like three years. Yeah. And he finally said to me, oh, these are socks. I thought they were ties. I was like, oh man. Okay, I need to make a little tweak here so people know what we're selling.

Yeah. But yeah, great point. I'll definitely get some of those foot mannequins. So, you're feeling a little bit more confident because you've, gone through that bootcamp, you've asked me questions and had a little session to talk about it.

What else were you sort of like even marketing materials. So what were you thinking prior to our session?  I was thinking, to be honest, I was thinking just business cards. And QR codes to lookbooks and stuff. But after speaking I'm gonna get the physical printed lookbook and little postcards and stuff.

Yeah. 'cause yeah, you're right. Like people want something physical and I, I would as well, or I would forget about it, you know? Yeah. It's the sort of thing like you don't wanna go and print, I wouldn't go and print 500 of something and spend $10 per, print or anything, but you can do it on a reasonable budget for, , all the different ones that exist.

. So, and just on numbers on that, like I suggested before, between 100 and 200 catalogs and then. At least 200 postcards. 'cause you can sort of always use them afterwards as well. Yeah, true. Yeah. Thinking about, you know, like even if you have more catalogs than what you need, then that's a perfect reason to send them out in the post to people after.

Yeah, yeah, that's what I was thinking. 'cause these are the ones I'm doing are specific for the trade show. With the range because. I add and take away from the range a couple of times a year with new designs. So, yeah, whatever I come back with, I'll just hopefully blast them out to some stores with samples or whatever.

Yeah, absolutely. So I don't think it's a waste. You know, and as I said, you don't wanna do 500 of them, but , I've had some people say they heard me talk about this, and they're like, they bought. A hundred to a show once and then they're like, they got rid of, they used 'em up in the first day.

Whereas another, someone else is like, well, I got a hundred and I only, you know, I still have 50 left. So it. That's where I sort of give that round number, like a hundred to 200. But if you have another item like the postcard that you can give to other people, if you don't use the catalog then that can be great too because, yeah, I know I did a show in New York once and we ended up having to bring them back, which has been annoying.

But I think as long as they're designed. For use again, that's like after the show then. Yeah. It's worthwhile having too many. So tell me about, you're gonna take some samples. What are gonna do with that? Yeah, I'm gonna bring a hundred samples and just give them as gifts to anyone who's interested.

I do that for shops already. If I usually call and then email all the info, and then if they're interested, I'll send 'em a sample. And I reckon nine times outta 10 if they accept the sample, they end up placing an order. I think that's your product. When I've received it, I was like, it's a beautiful product.

It's thick, it's, you know, thank you. Like it's a nice quality. So having that physical, tangible item does make a difference. Yeah, I actually paid for 10 kilos extra baggage on my flights just to bring the socks and then I'm hopefully not bringing them back, so, well that's good. Well, people will be coming to visit you now in the buyers who are listening, going, okay.

I need to go and check them out. Free socks upstairs. So. Expectations. So, we talked about beforehand, , the budget of around six, but maybe more with all your, food and drink and expenses, that are going on the event. Actually, before we get to that, how many days beforehand are you coming?

Just the one day before. Yeah I arrived the day before in the afternoon. Okay. And so you're just doing the setup. It's already been painted, and then you are just going to take your delivery of, pick up your delivery, take it to the show, and, set that up. Assemble that and put the signs on the back wall and that's kind of it.

Yeah. You don't probably have a huge setup. No. I've got until 9:00 PM I think as well that night to get it all finished. So I think I've got six hours. Which should be more than enough, but I'm sure you've had experiences when things crop up last minute, I've had many experience. Well, when you used to paint the.

Used to be able to paint it yourself. We painted it like at midnight one night, so that was not a good thing. They stopped that because of probably people like me paint, spilling paint on the floor. So, yeah. Okay. So let's go into your expectations and, we talked about like there's expenses so far being around six, but maybe seven with your food and drink and other things that you have to do while you are there.

What, are your. Like ideal would be great if you could just do this. Let's have like three different numbers. We talked about this in the bootcamp as well, like what are some numbers in terms of stores picked up, and also some, monetary, goals that you've got for going to the show.

I would love to get five new good stockists. Obviously I'd love to get way more, but that's sort of like, if you don't get that, you'll be disappointed type of thing. I think so. I think if I'm honest, I'd be a bit disappointed because it's not just the expense.

There's like, as you'll know, there's a lot of work that goes into, I've already been working on it for a couple of months. Even just like the exhibitor list and company profile on the website submissions of lookbooks and printed catalogs there's a lot of work, surprising amount of work it's about six weeks away and I feel like I'm nearly finished. Which is good 'cause I want it to be done early and then deal with anything else that crops up. For the amount of work and the expense, I would be a bit disappointed if I didn't get five new stockists.

Yep. And then hopefully I'll get 50. Yeah, exactly. And I think that's a good range, like five. Yes. Hopefully you could get that. I do believe that you, should easily pick that up. But then a good number would be 15 or 20, but 50 would be awesome.

Yeah, and I've done all my calculations and I can take 50 new ones. But yeah. We'll see. So your minimum order is, what did you say, your minimum order? 30 pairs. So they're like $375 orders. So four, 400 times five, that's 2000 That would be the lowest that you'd wanna sort of get.

Yeah. But yeah, ideally, um, you're walking away with what do you think? In saying that most stores order four times a year on average. So that's, I was looking at it that way. So, yeah. I'm not sure if it's gonna be taking orders and payment at the show, or if it's gonna be just giving some samples and getting some details and following up and then doing it.

I think it'll probably be like a couple of weeks after the show when I can really figure out. How it's gone. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's where I, , as we said, I'm gonna say it again, but the bootcamp, like we talked about that after the show follow up, how crucial that is and how long that sort of period can be too.

So, yeah, I think you can gauge a couple of weeks after where you're, or you can gauge, you know, after the show, straight away what's happened, what's your data? And then a couple of weeks later, and then really six months later, you know where you're at too, like what you actually got from the show.

Because I think it'll be a combination of all the things you mentioned. Like you'll get some stores, you'll get some leads, you'll get some of those leads will be quite warm, quite keen, but they haven't placed at the show. Then you'll get some who are keen, but they might take a few months, and then you get some who are like.

Yeah, good. I've seen the brand now of keep it, you know, the top of mind, but until you keep contacting them, it might not be in order for six, 12 months or more. I really liked your idea of kind of categorizing different interests into cold, warm and hot or whatever. And that would be a good way to prioritize who to follow up with first.

Mm-hmm. I think as well, like say timing wise for your product, it is, it is unisex product, but it is a good gift for Father's Day, which is the perfect, timing for this show. People do go there intending to have gift categories for say, father's Day or gift categories.

I want to get a delivery for November for, , Christmas and stuff like that. So I think that's, that is generally why, and I'll just touch on that. Why Melbourne? Trade show, the Life Instyle in particular, and Reed are biggest shows or bigger, volume of customers because of that buying period and the, , it's the peak selling period for them.

Yeah. With the lead up to like Christmas and stuff as well, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. So people are going with the intention of mapping out their buy-in for that next six months. Yeah. Cool. Yeah, so that's excited. Fingers crossed. Okay, so we've got your cost that it took you know, what it looked like, the logistics and stuff, and what your expectations are.

So I think now we, , pause there and they go, come back for part two and see what actually happened and see what, , where the, where the show ended up. What. If it was what you thought it was gonna be or what, what was different to what you, had in mind and go from there. Yeah. Wish me luck.

Oh, pre-show outreach or post-show follow-up? Oh, yeah, that was it. Yeah. The pre-show outreach.

Oh, just quickly. Yeah. I was planning to do a little bit of preshow outreach. Mm-hmm. Find some people who've attended life InStyle before, some shops in particular, and I'll maybe a week before send a quick email or make a phone call and be like, oh, I saw that you were at Life InStyle before.

Mm-hmm. Just letting you know that I'll be there and, yeah, just trying to maximize awareness, yeah. And I think that is crucial because, , you hear the marketing stats that say, you've gotta see something 7, 8, 9, 10, 20 times now. Yeah. And so more brand awareness is good.

So you might have made that contact, , they might have heard you speaking on here. Even then, they're like, oh yeah, what's that brand again? You know, like, I've seen that, it's familiar. So having that or that guy from Melissa's show that I couldn't understand.  So, yeah, I think brand awareness post pre-show outreach is really important.

And you know, the buyers get a lot of information, they get a lot of people contacting them. So it's okay not to hear from people. And it's okay not to get a response because that's not Yeah, don't take upload that. Yeah, for sure. But yeah, I figure like, even if. I send an email and they glance at the logo in the bottom corner, maybe they'll spot it in the corner of their eye at the show

yeah, who knows? And even we talked about, doing the. You know that pre-show buildup that you just talked about, like part of Instagram and social media and content these days is storytelling is behind the scenes. So this is all relevant too, that you're talking about. You know, like you're getting ready.

What color should you pick for your stand? This is what the designs look like. Like help me figure things out. Or all of that is. Great to tag the shows that you're gonna be at. Tag,, like we're on the show here today, prepping and talking about it. So that's all brand awareness too. And me more and more people might, , life and style might share that or something.

So yeah, all of that stuff is, is really important as well.

So really, I. It's not just about showing up on the day and thinking that all the bars will just come to you, because I mean, it is why you go to a show. It, it is what you expect. You do want people just to come to you. But I think just doing a little bit of prep work, doing a little bit of, outreach beforehand is really important as well.

Yeah. And then the follow ups, I reckon just. Follow up as quickly as possible after the show and yeah. Being a one man band, I guess I have no excuse for not following up straight away. I don't have to like pass it on to the team or anything. Yeah. But you'll be busy probably packing lots of socks too, so.

Yeah. Hopefully. Yeah, hopefully. All right, so stay tuned for more. We're gonna share, a part two after the show and let everyone know what some numbers or data or you know, what response you got tracking wise, I spoke to someone from Lifestyle yesterday and they're talking about, the show's got.

More stands than it has previously. There's lots of new people there, so I think, ideally we get lots of new buyers and lots of people, I still hear all the time people talking about they've just bought a retail store or they've just sold their store, there's always a transfer of, buyers and new stores opening as well as those stores closing.

There's definitely people still doing well in retail, so I think that's a we just need to wait and see how the show goes and, show up and be there and get in front of people. Yeah. Cool. Yeah, thanks Melissa. I hope this is useful for someone who's maybe considering their first show or Yep.

Yeah. Yeah. Figure it all out. It's just at many brand. Yep. M-E-N-N-I-E brand. And your website www.menniebrand.com. Perfect. All right. Thank you for that. People, I'll share that in the show notes as well. Cool. Thank you. Great. So. Alright, we'll, look forward to seeing you at the show and we'll catch up afterwards. Yeah, cool. I'll see you next month. Thanks Andrew. Bye. Thank you. Bye-bye. 

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