How to succeed with a Mall Kiosk or other sales booth.

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“My customers are very pleased with what I offer them. You make the prices to a place where folks always want to come back for more. They return to me each year I visit with Africa Import products.  I am totally spoiled, now. When I go to festivals or local cultural stores.. I just shrug my shoulders and say "Ha.. I know where I can get this item."

There are three big things you can do to make your kiosk sell more. To see what makes these things work, think first about what happens at kiosks.

On an average weekend day in an average mall, 550 people will walk by the kiosk each hour. 20% of these people will notice the kiosk; and 15% of the people who notice will stop. Of the people who stop at your kiosk, 25% will buy something. This means that 16 people per hour will stop at your kiosk; and 4 people will buy something each hour ... if your kiosk is average.

You can get more people to make a purchase by getting more people to notice you; more people who notice to then stop at your kiosk; or by getting more people who stop to make a purchase.

3. The final way to get more customers, is to find ways to get more people to buy from you once they stop. When a customer is assisted by a friendly salesperson, a kiosks conversion rate goes way up. On the average a kiosk gets 4 times the number of sales as they would when no one pays attention.

The other side of this is that people do not stop if a salesperson approaches the customer too soon. More people stop if there is no direct eye contact from a sales person right away. If people see the back of a sales person on approaching the kiosk, they are much more likely to stop than if they see the front of the person.

This means that knowing when to greet the customer is especially important.

Once a customer has touched something in your kiosk, you should almost always greet them. If they are showing a high level of interest; or looking at you as if they might want help, this is another time to certainly greet them. You can almost never lose by greeting someone before they leave (or at least mentally leave) your booth. Personal contact with a friendly person is the key to getting the most sales possible from the people who stop at your booth.

There are a few other things to remember too.

Your location in the mall matters a lot. What are the other stores that are close to you? What kind of people go to these other stores? Kiosks close to Nordstrom's will have different products that sell better than a kiosk outside of Old Navy.

Having customers before you open your kiosk is one of the biggest advantages you can have. Be sure to tell everyone you know about your kiosk. Try to tell them more than once. When you have slow times at your kiosk, be writing postcards or letters to people you know about what you are doing; and about what you have. Maybe offer them a special that they can tell a friend about. Try to think of things that you would want to tell someone else about, and how you would react to getting the same note that you are writing. Spend these slower times thinking of people you know and have not seen for a long time. Then get these relationships started up again.

A kiosk or other vending booth is a great way to meet new customers.

Remember that most businesses are supported by repeat customers. So don't stop once someone has made a purchase. You can grow fastest if you keep track of and nurture the relationships that you get started with people who visit your kiosk.

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