Home Show How To

Spring will be upon us shortly and that means home shows for those of us in the construction and home improvement industry. My company participates in at least two shows every year and 2010 will be no difference. I want to share some tips tricks and info that I have picked up the hard way at home shows the past 5 or so years. 

Lets start with the marketing whys of a home show. Why would anyone want to go thought the trouble and heartache of building a booth and giving up their weekend for a show? There are a number of reasons not to do a show, so lets get those out of the way. If your primary customer is not the homeowner, don't bother. Contractors do come to home shows but not in a number that will make it worth the cost. If your a drywaller whose primary customers are builders don't bother. But, if you sell and install a product that has a genuine, perceptible benefit to a homeowner, then a home show is for you. Home shows are great for building your company's brand equity by getting eyeballs on your brand and products. They are also fantastic for lead generation, but they are not closing events. It is very rare that you will actually sell anything at the show. Mostly you will either be getting information for a future closing event, or even more likely be planting the seed of a future sale. I regularly get calls from people who saw us a at a home show months or even years before, and are finally ready to start on whatever project is in front of them. 

These show are opportunities to make a great first impression on many potential prospects in an environment you can plan for. with this in mind, lets figure out how to make that impression. First off, lets think about how we want ourselves and our employees to be perceived. T shirts and jeans are a massive mistake, but I would not dress to flashy for the crowd. If your community is largely blue collar and the attendees will be a t-shirt and jeans crowd, don't wear a suit, You will only look like con man. Try slacks and a polo short, or nice jeans and a collared shirt. Try to dress a little better than your prospects to show professionalism and respect, but don't look like you think your above them. As for a team, if you have a dressier uniform wear them, if not at least go for the same color shirts. A prospect should never wonder who is working the booth. 

When it comes to product selection and layout, think about how a great buffet looks. There are the crab legs, and the prime rib. Attention getter's, that whet the appetite and make people decide to give it a try. These are the "WOW" products that get people in to your booth. Whether this is a product related to a hot new trend, a great special, or simply something so visually appealing it demands a closer look. This could be the actual product, a demo (always a great conversation starter) or an installed sample, it has to look great and be visible. But every buffet also has macaroni salad, and deviled eggs, the old standbys that everyone wants at least a little of. This would be the product with mass appeal that is likely to generate short or long term leads. For us this is often a flooring item, that is a great value, and that has mass appeal. This has to be in the booth to convert the wow to green spendable sales. That said some people will want the wow items, and that is great. Also remember to tailor the wow item to the crowd and the market. Don't show off the next great decking item if none of the houses in your markets have decks. 

Education is another great reason to participate in home shows. If you can host a seminar that will be promoted by the show presenters. Not only will you get an audience, but you will get mentioned in the marketing materials. Don't use this seminar as a big sales pitch, actually add value to the attendees entrance fee. Bring in a local expert on a subject that you might benefit from tangentially, and give people a reason to come by the booth later. 

Home shows a re a great marketing tool for the right business, but are not a minor commitment. Remember that after you start to participate in a regular show, your future absence can and will speak louder than your continued presence. So don't make that decision lightly. Invest in the show like the marketing tool it is, and remember the WOW factor that your booth should have. Being an " And Ran" is worse than staying home. At least at home you can watch the game.

What is your business really???

What is your business really???-

I have been thinking a lot about my business lately, trying to put my finger on why we are successful and what I can do to continue that. We are company that has been successful, but the world is changing, and I am not content to be tossed about on the waves of a changing world. I would much rather we make those waves and sail past those swamped by them. With this in mind, I have been examining what I remember from marketing classes as our USP, Unique Selling Proposition. Basically, why would someone a customer or perhaps a vendor willingly pay or even just tolerate another link in the supply chain and the markup that entails. Why are we valuable at a basic undeniable, and especially unbeatable level. We manufacture nothing, build nothing. So the question is, if we subcontracted for every other function, what would be left?

I know that we are not really a logistics company, though we do have warehouses, trucks and forklifts. This is a critical part of our services, but these could be contracted out, and some in our business do that already. In addition, it is something that is easily duplicated. Anyone can hire truckers, or even trucking brokers. Warehouses are for rent everywhere these days, and forklifts are easily leased. That makes it to easy to cut us out of an equation if a customer or vendor decided we weren't worth our markup, so we cannot be a logistics company.

Financially we are strong and as such we do provide a service by financing purchases on a  short term basis, and carrying inventory on a long term basis. Banks do a much better job at financing business and consumer purchases and can do it far more profitably than we do. our customers could easily pay cash and we wouldn't operate significantly different than we do now. As for inventory, manufacturers are already carrying that inventory, so what is a few more months of carrying closer to a point of use. if our customers and vendors changed what they wanted from us tomorrow in terms of financing, they would have many, better choices than those we offer, so this of little durable value to our customers and vendor partners. 

Many people in the media space have been talking about journalism as curation rather than creation. By becoming curators journalists ultimately will serve the purpose of applying experience and training to the vast sea of content that is out there and sift out that which is valuable to those unwilling to dig for themselves. I see this as a part of what we do as retailers and distributors. We bring our experience in the trade, and with our current and past customers to bare on the vast monolith of products and decide which hold value. We bring value by helping our customers make better decisions and by freeing their time to provide value to their customers in the way they are best suited. This is something that only we can do, since ultimately experience can not be contracted out or bought.

Consulting is another service that we provide. By bringing our experience to our customers service we add value to our relationship. Many of our customers are very good at there respective trades, but may lack the right business skills to grow there businesses as quickly as they might like. We can and do offer those skills in the form of informal advice. Maybe by expanding and i some way formalizing this service, we could add an additional value tour our USP. In many ways this blog is a part of that effort, an effort to add value to the industry and ultimately to our clients. 

Many web 2.0 businesses have realized what it is that they really do. Google doesn't really provide search results, email clients, and document software. It provides marketers with data and with an audience. Google has realized this and will invest in any asset or venture that furthers it. In many ways my business is the same. Ultimately our business is the relationship with the builder, subcontractor or whatever customer we are serving. This relationship is funded by the sales of materials, but we will invest in a manner that increases those sales. 

So, consider what you really do, and what your value is. Are you doing something that is unreplicable, or something that is easy to steal and maybe do better? What can you eliminate without eliminating value, and what can you do to add value to your clients and partners? Ultimately what makes you worth your clients time, money and effort? The answer to that question is what you really do. Don't ever forget it, and frame every business decision in that light. Then you can be successful at what your business really is.   

Pre IBS 2010

Sorry for taking so long to post again. No excuse, just didn't do it.

I am getting ready to head to Las Vegas for the 2010 International Builders Show. This will be my second time going to IBS, and I am psyched!!! I am going with our Contractor Sales Manager and our other Outside Sales Rep, and we are planning on working to find the next big thing that will grow our business. I am also going to try and bring product news to you on Trowel and Hammer. In addition, this is the single largest gathering of builders in the world, and I am looking to get as many opinions and ideas from the construction community as possible. Expect product info posts this week, and at least one post based on Fridays keynote speaker, Dan Heath, coauthor of Made to Stick. This book is one of the best examinations of how and why some ideas gain acceptance and others die regardless of their merit.

Please follow me at @JustinEllisNM for regular tweets from IBS, and if anyone is planning on being there, pleas DM me or email me and we should try to meet up.

Justin