Perception is a funny thing

Yesterday we did a one-day show in Bellair Bluffs at Antique Alley. We've done it before, but not with any regularity; it's been difficult to get on the list of regular vendors for this popular show. It was a glorious Florida day. Cool and clear in the morning for set up, and no wind or humidity for the day. There was a steady stream of customers for most of the day, although, true to form, most of the commerce had been completed by early afternoon. (This is the only pattern that I have been able to detect amongst the different outdoor shows that we do during the season.)

Just about all of the dealers were grumbling about how traffic seemed to be "off" or down, and how sales were down along with that traffic. Bob and I jumped in with the rest of them, as our gleaming tables of goodies went seemingly untouched by a breeze, let alone any human hands other than our own. We packed up at the end of the day and trudged on home.

Where I finally whipped out the calculator and discovered that we'd just finished the best show we'd done at that location. Lower in sales volume but higher in sales total. So what on earth had we been complaining about? Making MORE money with FEWER sales? Wait a minute - isn't that the whole idea here?

Yup.

I think what had happened was that we - or more to the point, *I* - was listening too much to the wailing and moaning going on around us, instead of actually looking at my sales records. Yes, we are in a very poor economic state, and the outlook is grim. But Time Travelers is holding our own. If anything, we are getting a bit better at what we're doing in seeing our average sale climb when you'd expect to be seeing it go lower. We've cut back - believe it or not - on our purchases. We've revamped how we do some of the merchandising, and I'm thinking that it's paying off. Having the inventory well stored and accessible makes it easier to select items to take to a given show - a big stress reliever.

So there you go. We spent all day thinking we were doing stinko and it wasn't until we got home that we had to read the facts to set us straight. Now I know there is a lesson in there for me. Just who am I listening to?