Renegade Craft Fair Vendors Square Off

Last weekend I checked out the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago, a huge gathering of hundreds of vendors who make handcrafted items. I’ve been to Renegade about 10 times in Chicago and other cities, and this year was the very first time every vendor I visited took credit cards! Why? Because Renegade distributed Squares to every vendor.

This was awesome! When a vendor told me they’d all gotten Squares, I actually clapped I was so excited. But then he said, “Ugh I hate it.”

I asked him why, and his feelings were echoed by his other employees in the tent: “We have no idea how to use it! It keeps crashing! The swiper isn’t working!”

Man, what a great opportunity for Renegade to score awesome points with thousands of customers and vendors if they’d just taken a few more minutes to make the experience great. After talking to a few vendors, I got the impression Renegade had gone tent-to-tent tossing out Squares and saying, “Here, use these.”

What they should have done, what I would have done, and what you should do if you’re ever in this position, is instead to print out iPhone-sized stickers or laminated sheets with a few Square troubleshooting steps provided. Not swiping? Try holding the sensor together hard to make sure the card connects. Not connecting or authorizing? Remove the swiper and key in the card number instead.

That was pretty easy for me, so I wonder why no one at Renegade thought to take that extra step. Your support can be to just present something, or it can be exceptional by taking one extra step to show people how to use it.