We were recently visited by one of our manufacturer’s reps who stopped by to demo a new product. As is the case with all new products, we immediately begin analyzing the practicality of the product to you, our client base.
After thinking and talking through of all the ways it could benefit our clients, we ended up tipping the scale in favor of our showroom needing to have it as well (assist goes to the manufacturers rep).
Purchasing a new display or exhibit is a big decision, so you might be wondering if we were hasty in making this decision. Well, because we know the questions to ask before the decision is made, our decision was anything but hasty. Unlike our clients who make this decision once every 1-5 years, we work with clients to make this decision multiple times a day, every day.
To help prepare you next time the purchase comes up, I’ll give you some insight on some of the things we worked through before our purchase.
1. Does this exhibit have potential to breakthrough to a majority of our target audience?
There are literally thousands upon thousands of products we could sell. We have somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 in our showroom.
Anything we bring in needs mass appeal to get through to the many different types of industries, companies and clients we service. We thought that this product would be worth showcasing to our clients, as it would be relevant to many of their trade show goals. Make sure when purchasing a new exhibit that it will be something that can gain attention and intrigue from your key prospects and clients.
2. Will it stand the test of time?
For most companies, an exhibit is a big purchase. When evaluating our new exhibit, we realized it had a number of features that could keep it fresh down the road.
It has the ability to adapt to different booth sizes, change shapes, showcase or store products, easily change graphics and include technology.
Since your budget may not allow for a new exhibit every year, consider one that is easily updated and upgraded.
3. What situations will it be used in?
Though this new exhibit will spend 90+% of its time on our showroom floor, there will be occasions that we will use it to exhibit ourselves. We exhibit in everything from hotel hallways to trade show floors, so having something that can be utilized in all situations became a major selling point. Knowing that our clients like renting from our showroom, and also encounter similar changing booth situations was certainly a large consideration as well.
Think about where and how often this exhibit will be used.
PS. If the answer is we’re trying out this size booth for the first time, or we only exhibit a couple of times a year, RENT.
4. Is it in the budget?
This is always a consideration of ours, as well as our clients. Be upfront with your budget, people like myself can always come up with cool ideas with a blank check. Help us help you with a realistic number to hit. Then prioritize the importance of your goals and the questions discussed above, and pick the most accommodating option presented.
5. Don’t go it alone.
We made this decision as a team with a lot of discussion and input.
Take the options that excite you the most to others who will be involved, and even those who aren’t. If most people are as excited as you, chances are, you have a winner. If nothing else, you’ll get more input than you ever wanted, and will be able to ask questions you hadn’t thought of.
Like I said before, the options are seemingly unlimited. Go through these things yourself, with your team and with your exhibit provider.
The result will lead to an exhibit you and your coworkers can stand behind..
literally.
Stop by the show room in a few weeks to see the exhibit I’ve based this post around. We would love to know your thoughts.
Author: Chase Howells
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