A Tale Of Two Exhibitors

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

In my last blog post I told you about some of the "interesting" things we saw while walking a recent trade show. During that trade show, I had the opportunity to stop and chat with a number of our clients and prospects. Don't worry, I only stopped to say hi if there was no one else at their booth. I would never interrupt an exhibitor talking to clients or prospects.

It was the best of times. We had a new customer directly across from a prospect. The new client had a brand new 10 x 20 lightbox.  You can find it here. They also had 2 custom counters with color coordinating LED lighting. 

The graphic was blue and white, the counters were white with the same color scheme. 

The counters had LED lights under the top and at the bottom. The carpet was white. Yes I said white. It was absolutely stunning. The glow from the blue counter lights on the flooring, the white furniture and table. Everything coordinated, the lightbox immediately drew your attention to their booth.

You can find the counter here on our website.

We can't take credit for it all. The client had a very clear vision in his head of how he wanted things to look, we just helped him execute it. 

The flooring is here on our website.

In talking with client they had the best show they had ever had. They had people waiting 8 deep in the aisles to talk to them. They are considering adding more shows to their trade show schedule and they were very excited about the leads they received.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.   DETAILS MATTER.

Now on to the other exhibitor, it was the worst of times. They had an older popup style 10 x 10, their graphic was very non-descript and had a lot of text on it, a table with a wrinkled table throw in the front, standard black carpet and the two staff members were sitting at the table on their chairs and phones. When we visited with them, they had a terrible show, very few stopped at their booth and they felt they didn't get very many leads. 

So many think that they can skimp on their trade show exhibit. Honestly, this may seem harsh, if you can't afford to look good, don't go.

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Lori Hanken has been in sales and marketing for over 30 years. She is passionate about service and providing value to her vendors, prospects and clients. Lori is currently co-owner of Total Displays with her husband David. They help people look great at events, trade shows, in retail, museums and develop long partnerships with customers and suppliers. If you would like to learn more, email her at lori@totaldisplays.com. She is an open networker, connect with her on LinkedIn here.

Read other Total Displays Blog posts at http://totaldisplays.blogspot.com/ or check out our website at www.totaldisplays.com