Worth it?

Doula Janeya · 02-07-2009, 05:50 PM

So our yearly Welcome Wagon Baby Shower takes place in 2 weeks. We just found out about it yesterday and are trying to decided if it is worth it to get a booth. It costs $560 and is one afternoon. If all 6 of the new doulas in my "group" are on board it would still be almost $100 per person not to mention the cost of more pamphlets, some kinda candy we have to give to everyone and a door prize. There has only been one doula in town for the longest time and we keep hearing about how no one can find a doula. I just don't know if it will be worth the money. I don't really want to do this with all the people in the group but can't afford it otherwise. We wouldn't even be able to promote ourselves because not everyone has websites or cards or is even on the same page in what they are doing.

In general do you get clients from these shows or does it just increase your visbility? I don't feel like we would do a great job but there isn't another one till next year.

opinions?

Thanks
Janeya

medicinehatdoula · 02-07-2009, 06:12 PM

Why so much??? I've never spent more than $300 + GST on a Welcome Wagon show...usually you're charged $2.50 for the pregnant moms in attendance and then a $50 set-up fee to the hostess. I can't believe that Grande Prairie would register over 350 new moms/pregnant moms, when here we can barely break 100! Someone is blowing smoke up your butt about these fees...find out EXACTLY what the fees are, how many are confirmed attendees, etc BEFORE you make a decision. If booths are THAT expensive, they won' have a Baby Fair at all, people won't pay that in this economy!

I do the show to increase visibility...may get an average of 2-3 clients out of the show, not a heck of a lot but enough to pay for it and then some. Mostly though, unless you know how to talk to people and "sell" yourself, the people who come to these shows are just after the free stuff...

Doula Janeya · 02-07-2009, 06:22 PM

Well apparently there are 250 women registered already. This makes more sense though. I wasn't the one who talked to her but she had said it was 2.50 a mom and then we were trying to figure that out because we found out it was free amittance. Alothough at 2.50 a mom it would be like 625. I thought it was pretty steep, especially because it is just for one afternoon. I don't think she lying to us. We all go to the same church and my step-daughter, who she talked to, is the daughter-in-law of our pastor. i can't believe there are that mny pregnant women in this city, and we are having trouble finding clients!

medicinehatdoula · 02-07-2009, 08:53 PM

That's a HUGE amount of pregnant women for one of those shows...the cost is out there, but then if THAT many are attending, it might be worth scraping up the funds, even if you divide it between 2 or 3 of you. Again, though, you have to come up with something to give away in the bags and a door prize at your own expense as well...but you never know you may book the "mother load" at this...HUGE decision! I'll just scrape my mouth off the floor now that they've said they've registered 250 women...

b'earth angel · 02-07-2009, 09:09 PM

I've never set up a booth at a show that I had to pay a fee for.

New experience for me. But I think that spliting the fee between 5 or 6 of you would be a great idea. It's much easier to get discussion going when there's more than just one of you.
Let us know what you decide and if you do the show, be sure to post about it.

would be awesome! We just love pics around here.

Cherylkind · 02-08-2009, 12:34 AM

welll. maybe they have 250 attendees... but who knows if all of them are even pregnant....

bellymamadoula · 02-08-2009, 12:43 AM

man that is alot of money..but MAN you are the ONLY doulas in town and it's a once a year opportunity....this may be your grand kick off!

Think of it this way...wil you meet and "book" three births from this event? If so it's worth the cost all by yourself...

medicinehatdoula · 02-08-2009, 12:59 AM

A WW Baby Fair only charges the 2.50 for the pregnant woman, not for whomever goes along with her. You can and will get new moms too though and you'll have to pay the $2.50 for them. If you contact Jalana Grant, you can get the DONA board and all the paperwork that comes with it, as well. It's a little more professional and compliments any of your stuff. I usually bring my portable DVD player as well and play the video "Doulas Make a Difference." Lots of handouts, a birth ball, some of your toolkit (massagers, aromatherapy stuff) and something "sweet" (I get those little Hershey hugs & kisses) and you've got yourself a pretty decent booth. If I could ship up my partner I would...she's FANTASTIC at cornering people! Then she tag-teams me and I can sell icebergs to eskimos! ;-) In this business people make the mistake that others will come to them the minute they "hang out their sign"...word from a true business woman (I come from a long line of entrepreneurs and am involved in more than one business venture)...you need to spend money to make money and this in the end, just might be worth it. Also as another side...as long as you and whomever you bring in do this, your group and ONLY your group, will be the only ones in your category and have first dips at any other shows in the future. While that might be seen as competitive, I see it as good business practice.

Comfy · 02-08-2009, 10:44 AM

We do the Welcome Wagon show here. Three of us split the costs. The show, the handouts, the sitz bath sachets, and the door prize basket, works out to be about $100 each. I have never gotten a client, but we feel that we are making ourselves known and educationg people. It's is surprising to me that most of the pregnant Moms, have no idea what a doula is. We ask people who come by our booth to sign up for a seperate event that we run about a month later called "What's a Father to do? Getting Dad ready for Labour, Birth and Post Partum" From there we sometimes gain clients. We do get newspaper exposure.......it's all about spreading the word!

Doula Janeya · 02-08-2009, 11:18 AM

The two things really holding me back are the cost and the lack of prep time. Right now only three of us are saying we would do it and one of them does't have a job so I am a litle worried about the money. Loree are you saying that if more pregnant moms show up we could end up owing more money?

We aren't the only doulas in town. There is one who is very experienced and very busy and pregnant so she isn't really taking any more clients. She also isn't doing much to help us even though she was the one who asked a trainer to come up so she could get some more doulas.
I think it would really increase our visibility but dont know if the money is worth I when I don't feel we have enough time to do up a really good booth. I still have a two more girls to hear from so maybe I will hold off deciding till then.

medicinehatdoula · 02-08-2009, 02:08 PM

If not this show, ask when their Fall fair is...usually they do 2 fairs a year. Prep time is essential and two weeks is pushing it a bit but it's not like you can't get it together if you get on it. Here's what happens in my neck of the woods...show comes up usually with a 4 week lead time, I pay $100 for deposit and $50 for the hostess fee. Do the show and then within 4 weeks get the remaining balance from Welcome Wagon. Last show I did was Nov. 30/08 and I JUST paid the balance at the end of January for $171.40. So you shouldn't be paying everything in one go as they do not know final totals. You only pay for those who register and SHOW UP! At least that's what the lady does here. Your deposit may be slightly larger as they figure on more ladies attending, but that gets applied to the balance in the end so if less show, the less you owe. I'm hoping this makes sense! I charge $500/birth so in essence I need ONE client to break even, but I've educated and spread the word "doula" to 100 women. Usually I get a minimum of 3 clients out of it. The first show you may not get many clientelle, or you you may get flooded...it all depends on how well your experienced doula approached the community beforehand. The CHEAPEST gift for the gift bags are epsom salts - get the little 2 X 3" craft, clear plastic baggies from Wal-Mart and add some epsom salts to it then slap on a sticker with your info. I do 100 of these and the cost sits around $25.00, for the bags, stickers and epsom salts. The "Grand Prize" door prize can just be a gift certificate for services from the doula of the client's choice...(no cost, just someone's time and effort). PM me or FB me and I can have you pick my brain if you want to do this show...I'll help you get it together in about 48 hours.

Doula Janeya · 02-08-2009, 03:16 PM

Thanks Loree,
I am going to talk to the organizer myself and get some of this more clear. You have me thinking this is something we could do. Even just a few of us. I'll definitely contact you if we decided it is a go.

doula Michele · 02-08-2009, 03:52 PM

I usually end up paying about 300 or 350 here in Lloydminster. They usually do 2 show a year. But I think this year it is down to one.
I usually get at least one client from it. But we hand out tons of info, and the website gets lots of hits for about a week after.

Hypnomomma · 02-11-2009, 04:58 PM

Wow that is a high booth fee!

A few years ago I did a booth at tyhe Yeah Bay Expo at Cal Expo in Sacramento Ca. THere was over 20,000 in attendance for two day event and our booth fee was only $800

I joined together with serveral other doulas and CBES as well as asked for donations from fellow hypnoBirthing pract.to cover the cost. It want effective to get clients but we did as a awareness raising event for HB.

Doula Janeya · 02-12-2009, 11:38 AM

Well my step daughter and I are going to do it, especially with all the help we are getting from Loree! We personally know the organizer so she said we could just put down a $300. deposit and said it won't be quite as much because they are allowing women with babies under 6 weeks of age but we don't have to pay for them. We hope to increase our visibity if nothing else. The downside has been havin to tell two of the other doulas in our group that it wan't fair to let them participate without contributing monetarily, when others weren't because of money. I'm sure they just wnt to help but we feel that as w are putting out the money we shuld benefit most directly, especailly since no one else has even given money for the pamphlets we made.
Because we will be doing a lot on "what is a doula" I feel everyone will benefit in the long run. Are we being fair? Also does anyone else have tips or ideas?

Thanks
Janeya