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With EXHIBITOR 2012 just days away I’m been reaching out to many of my industry supplier friends to schedule some time to say hi and catch up. They tell me that yes they will be there and I say, “if we don’t meet up before, I’ll see you in the exhibit hall…I’ll stop by your booth.” It’s at that point that some of these folks tell me they are going but they are not exhibiting.
WTF?
I am told that their company does not want to spend the money on booth space and shipping and all that goes along with having a booth on the show floor. They are going to just teach a couple classes and attend the sessions and events and connect with people that way.
WTF?
I’m not talking about little mom and pop businesses or solo-preneurs either. The last couple people I spoke to were with exhibit houses or exhibit suppliers. Others, while not actual exhibit makers, were suppliers who made the majority of their income in the trade show industry through companies who exhibit at trade shows.
So, if you are attending EXHIBITOR 2012 and are an exhibit manager or brand manager looking for new products or services, please take note. These suppliers who do not think trade shows and face-to-face marketing are worth spending their money on, are happy to make a hefty profit on “dumb saps like you” who think it is a good spend. Not my words…I don’t think you are dumb…but isn’t that really what they are saying by not exhibiting at the industry’s largest event of its kind in the US?
Take note in who IS exhibiting. These are the suppliers who really believe in exhibit marketing. These are the people who understand the industry and can best help you.
When you bump into suppliers in the hallways or in sessions ask them for their booth number. When they don’t have one ask them why? Ask them why they think you should spend your company’s money with a vendor who doesn’t even believe in trade shows or expo halls?
What do you think? Especially at this particular show–do you think it’s okay not to exhibit if you are a supplier? I’m I just ranting again?
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Great insight as usual, Traci! With the demise of TS2 last year (despite show management’s comments about reviving that show in 2012), EXHIBITOR is the only game in town.
I know that many companies complain that their exhibits do not offer enough ROI to make it feasible to exhibit at shows. My argument is that most exhibiting companies fail to have a cohesive plan to market themselves at shows and train their staff how to work a booth. I would go so far to say that in the meetings and exhibitions world, we are even worse at it than most.
BRAVO!
Any event industry vendor that asks for my business and doesn’t exhibit at Expo Expo gets shown the door without any further discussion. If your company doesn’t walk the walk why would I give you my money?
Thanks for commenting Rick and great to see you here. Yes, it’s been bugging me for quite a while. Not exhibiting is bad enough but actually saying that it’s not worth the money is on a completely different level.
Thanks for commenting Greg, I totally agree with you (as usual) I would also be willing to bet everything I own that those saying their exhibits do not offer enough ROI couldn’t even tell you what that formula looks like let alone how to actually measure it.
Outstanding article Traci! Highly recommend that the organizers of the Exhibitor Show publishes this and use as room drops.
Suit casing is simply wrong no other way to say it.
Traci,
Great comments! That is like going to the biggest car show of the year and leaving the actual car back at the company because you “don’t want to spend the money to transport it to the convention center!”
Why on earth would I buy from a supplier that doesn’t bring their best to the show? Absurd!?!
Trade shows in all industries need a shot in the arm and a hefty dose of creativity along with much better follow through. I would hope those of us in the industries of trade show supplies/promos etc. should be the leaders, trend setters, and educators. Even at the ASI shows we have been disappointed in the number of vendors who have a clear strategy and follow up with more then just a catalog delivery. I hope your article is seen and that many will take it to heart and soul and make the changes needed!
Thanks Scott…and Exhibitor…you have my permission to use as room drops and publish…as a matter of fact any show can use this.
Suzanne, thanks! agree…absurd is a great word
Lisa, follow-up is my next post…oy vey
Spot On! By the way… we are in booth 1645.
Great article! We’re walking the walk – see you at the show – we’re in booth 970!
Thanks for sharing Traci. I’ll echo what others have said . . . there are far too many companies in the trade show industry who don’t participate in trade shows. Why? Because they don’t understand trade show marketing. They don’t conduct pre-show marketing, they don’t train their staff when they do participate, and they don’t attend the social functions. Duh! I wonder why they are disappointed in the results.
For those of you attending EXHIBITOR, we invite you to spend time with Marlys Arnold and Tim Patterson, two industry gurus on trade show marketing. They’ll be in our booth (#1645) to share their advice from 11:30 to 12:30 on Monday and Tuesday.
To see three EXHIBITOR “teaser? videos, please go to http://www.classicexhibits.com/tradeshow-blog/
See you there!
Hello Traci,
Thanks for calling out the suitcasers! We actually list as two of our EXHIBITOR show goals is to demonstrate expertise by exhibiting ourselves, and to experience for ourselves what it’s like to be in our clients’s shoes. Because even though we help thousands of exhibitors a year, we still learn a lot by being the exhibitor ourselves.
In principle I agree, but it’s not an all black or white situation. Consider these three actual examples.
#1: One company that had exhibited in the show since its inception, chose not to exhibit this year. The reason was they were not getting leads from the show in territories where they have representation. Therefore they were not getting as good a lead-to-sales conversion rate – ROI – as they were from shows that generate leads in regions where they do have reps. That is neither the show’s fault, nor theirs. However, it is a good reason for them not to exhibit and to find a better marketing spend.
#2: Another past exhibitor that has serviced the industry with quality products and services for 25 years realized their actual customers are the exhibit houses, modular and portable dealers throughout the U.S., and not the end users exhibit and event managers. They have known who all those exhibit groups are, the decision makers and influencers for years, and would not get more than a few new leads by exhibiting. Again, it’s neither the show’s fault or theirs. However, it is a good reason not to exhibit and spend their marketing dollars developing another market.
#3: A third company has a great product with a relatively low price point (avg: $2,500). Considering their total costs for booth space, exhibit, fresh graphics, shipping, show services, personnel time, hotel and travel expenses add up to just shy of $18K for a 10×10 – they need $180K in sales from the show (a 10 to 1 ROI) to justify the investment. That’s 72 sales. Given on average only 15% to 20 % of all trade show leads are “A” leads, and according to Sales & Marketing Management Magazine the national close ratio is 28%; this exhibitor would have to generate approximately 1,285 leads at the show. Based on my experience with thousands of exhibitors over the past 35 years, most of them don’t generate more than a few hundred leads at any show. Again, in this instance it is neither the show’s fault, nor the exhibitor’s. It’s just the inherent characteristics of the (exhibitor’s) product and what the marketplace (exhibit managers) will pay for it.
As you can probably tell by the descriptions above, all of these exhibitors have a pretty good handle on their marketing strategies, budget, metrics and ROI. So don’t be too quick to judge a company for not exhibiting. Ask them questions. Maybe some of their experiences and strategies can actually help you generate greater ROI out of your shows, and overall marketing spend too.
Thanks for commenting Mike H. without know more about these companies I could not really comment. Maybe these companies didn’t have a very solid exhibit program. Maybe they didn’t really know what they were doing and are the kind of company who treats the show floor like it were a big flea market. Maybe they are small companies who are not ready for this marketing step yet. The companies I’m talking about in this post are suitcasing. They see value in reaching the shows attendee base but want to save a few bucks by not renting space. It’s not that they are not spending that money while they are hear…they’re just reallocating it. These are companies who think they’re really smart by scamming the system and are actually proud of have crafty they are.
I agree with you that not everyone should be at every trade show or expo. I’ve advised potential exhibitors NOT to exhibit at my expo because they could not possibly show a decent ROI on the investment based on their product or service price. I wouldn’t kick these people out if they attended to better understand the needs of their target customer. If they used my event to see what their customer base was interested in. What I have a problem with would be them walking around my show floor selling their products out of a backpack or setting up shop in the cafeteria giving their product pitch to everyone who wandered past.
I’m not exhibiting and I still do some consulting work for exhibitors…but it’s about 2 percent of my business income. I don’t look for clients they generally find me and I only work with them if I think what they do is really interesting and they seem like they’d be fun to work with. I would never recommend someone spend 90 percent of their marketing budget on 2 percent of their business.
Mike T. Love this, “experience for ourselves what it’s like to be in our clients’ shoes” I think this is a great key point and I cannot think of anything to add…
Hi Tracy,
We are probably the only industry that looks so harshly at suit-casing. In fact I remember a marketing seminar I attended a few years ago and when it came to the portion related to face-to-face and trade show marketing, the speaker suggested a number of guerrilla tactics and even suit-casing as a way to get out there. However, I do agree with you if a vendor is selling into the event industry, not exhibiting only shows the true character of the company!
It may sound funny but we attend industry events not to sell but to build relationships and be in the elements to learn about our own industry. The ROI is not really there for us as our avg selling price is on the lower side compared to our competitors. We sell mobile event apps directly to event planners and yet 90% of our sales is done online via GoToMeeting! How much exhibiting helps speed up that cycle I don’t really know!
Yet, we will be exhibiting at over 5 major industry shows this year and attend another 4. But I challenge trade show managers to better understand the needs of exhibitors. Maybe we need to change the trade show model a bit to get suitcasing’s economics upside down! IMEX hosted-buyer was a good example, offering product demo sessions by exhibitors at MTE-NY was another. Maybe even a pay-per-use demo station to non-exhibitors.
In the middle of every problem lies opportunity. If we can’t get rid of suitcasing let’s create other options that they would pay for and can justify the ROI! Easier said than done, I know
Bob, I do agree with you. We need to be coming up with other options for people to participate. Small companies that supply the market but would have to make 3000 sales to just break even at the event need other options than a booth. Startups need the exposure but not the expense of the booth. It all comes back to the need to change this pipe and drape model that’s been around for…well…ever. Maybe test out a genius bar concept where people go to a hub to find solutions to their problem and meet there with different vendors who would be a part of that solution. Let those smaller, start-up or low price point companies participate as test subjects at a price that works for them.
Time are certainly changing and it’s getting easier for people to find people to meet with…just take a look at Michelle Bruno’s recent post “Is the SXSWi Badgeless Movement A Sign of Things to Come in the Event Industry?”
Those are all great reasons not to exhibit Mike. None of them give a company any excuse to suitcase.
Rick, you’re absolutely right of course. For what it is worth, I was not suggesting suitcasing was justified. Indeed, in those instances I was only commenting that another marketing channel actually works better for them (not suitcasing).
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