# Thoughts on doing Rhinestone Car Decals on the spot at a tradeshow?



## katruax (Sep 30, 2010)

Anyone every attempted to do Rhinestone Decals on the spot to order at a tradeshow?... My thought was to make up a bunch of templates and make them as they are ordered because invariably someone will ask for a special color that I wouldn't have premade... Do you think it's feasible to do them right on the spot?

I've never done a one yet but I have all the materials on their way and I would practice, practice, practice before the show.

I just wondered if anyone had tried it?

Kevin


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## Lin77 (Feb 17, 2011)

I personally wouldn't do it. And I don't think you really tell them they are premade if you made them. They may start looking elsewhere. Just say you only offer that style in that color. They will respect your honesty. As for the car decals, I make them literally by the hundreds and still occasionally screw one up. Not really something I would want a customer seeing. I am super anal about placement so I take awhile to line them up too. I always peel the backing off of mine once to make sure the stones stay in. Again, probably not great for a customer to see. Just make up a bunch and prepare for them to sell like hotcakes. If it's not custom, I don't see why you'd need to make it on the spot.


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## allhamps (Mar 15, 2007)

I agree with Lindy in one respect, decals are finiky and you don't want a customer staring at you while it's made. If you want to have some pre-made templates (nothing wrong with that) that you will offer in several colors, just let the customer know that it will take a couple of minutes to do the color change, and have a place away from the front of your booth/table where you can do the decal without feeling "rushed", so that you can heat it correctly, peel the paper and make sure everything is attached, and then present it to the customer. Once you start making decals, you will see what we mean by peeling the paper first to make sure all stones have stuck to the material

Making a bunch of designs and taking them as samples is another idea. Personally, I don't like this, as you are always guessing what a customer will want. My suggestion would be if you do it that way, take an order book, get an app for processing credit cards if you have a smart phone, and take orders & payments AT THE SHOW for things to be delivered later. Telling a customer "it ONLY comes in the color you have", is a sure turn off for me.


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## irish (Dec 13, 2008)

I would do a combination of the above suggestions. Make a bunch to sell on the spot and if someone wants a different color, take the order AND payment to be shipped later. That is what we do with our custom stuff.


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## CreativeInk (Sep 17, 2011)

i had this same question regarding shirts, bags and what not. I'm kinda scared to just make a bunch of shirts hoping that they'll appeal to the buyers. Or do I just take samples and take custom orders? I guess i'll lose some money from folks that don't want to wait. I haven't done any rhinestone decals yet only tshirts so far. Is the process very diferent?


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