Faire Report #27: How to do lead generation on Faire.
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What’s on my brain this week?
We told you we were going to talk more about lead generation this month.
Last week we talked about why we think lead generation matters so much on Faire. This week, let’s get a little more practical and talk about how we actually approach it.
Because good lead generation isn’t about finding the biggest possible list of retailers and throwing them into the top of your funnel.
It’s about finding the right retailers, consistently.
Our rule: quality first, consistency second, volume third. We would rather add a smaller number of genuinely relevant retailers every month than dump thousands of poor-quality leads into an account once and never do it again.
Start close to your fulfillment location
One of the simplest places to start is geography.
Look at where your orders are actually shipping from and work outwards in concentric circles.
If your warehouse is in Illinois, for example, start with retailers in Illinois and the surrounding states before expanding further across the country.
The faster and easier you can fulfill an order, the better the experience is for that retailer. You can always expand the radius once you’ve properly worked the opportunity closest to home.
Double down on what’s already working
You don’t need to reinvent your ideal customer every time you generate leads.
If you already make a killing in gift shops, great. Find more gift shops.
If museum stores consistently reorder from you, look for more museum stores. If children’s boutiques love the brand, go deeper there before deciding you suddenly need to target garden centers.
Your existing Faire data is already telling you where the product has the strongest fit. Use it.
And then stay consistent.
We’d rather see you add a manageable number of good leads every single month than upload 1,000 in month one, burn yourself out and add nothing for the next six months.
Pick a number you can actually sustain, then keep showing up.
Don’t buy lists
This is one shortcut we really don’t recommend.
Purchased lists are usually full of exactly what you don’t want: outdated businesses, generic inboxes, irrelevant retailers, dead email addresses and contacts who were never a good fit for your product in the first place.
At best, you waste your time. At worst, you damage your deliverability and start getting your marketing tools flagged.
Look for real businesses. Look at what they stock. Look at their price point. Look at the brands sitting next to where yours would sit.
Ask yourself one simple question: could I genuinely imagine this retailer stocking my product?
If the answer is no, it probably shouldn’t be a lead.
Our basic lead generation framework
Start local. Work outwards from fulfillment.
Follow the data. Find more retailers like the ones already buying.
Stay consistent. Add good leads every month.
Keep the quality bar high. No random lists.
Want to go deeper on Faire lead generation?
We’ve made a full video breaking down how we think about lead generation and why it matters for your Faire account.
Final thought
Good lead generation is not particularly glamorous.
It’s researching real retailers, finding the right fit and doing it again next month. And the month after that.
But that consistency compounds. You’re continually putting more relevant retailers into your ecosystem, creating more Faire Direct opportunities and helping strengthen the signals around who your brand is for.
More on lead generation next week.
See you on the marketplace,
Andy