Trade Show Booths

On Jul 16, 2009, at 4:30 AM, johnF wrote:

When referencing trade shows in you book, is it your suggestion that we,
as independent importers, purchase space/booth and exhibit our own
product?

Or do the Independent Sales Reps exhibit portions of their lines of
product at the trade shows?

***The problem with start-up company maintaining a trade show booth is four- fold:

1. Trade show space is allocated by seniority, you pay top dollar, but get terrible location at the show.

2. Bad customers know who we are but we do not know who they are - no defense against bad customers ripping us off.

3. it is extremely unlikely we will amortize the cost of the booth against the sales generated. With a booth, we have sunk costs, as opposed to fixed persent costs with the reps. Further, the reps keep going, after shows, with store visits, and greet customers in the rep's permanent showrooms.

4. Professionalism... reps know what they are doing, and provide a professional front to you business to the customers in general. they communicate back to you what really matters to the customers. they know how to speak, they know how to listen in the language of your industry.

Best to start with reps, after you have enough customers you developed as I lay out in the book, HOW SMALL BUSINESS TRADES WORLDWIDE.

John

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