Why Trade Show Exhibit Companies LOVE the "Freeman's" Of Our Industry

If you get the opportunity to visit with us face to face sometime to talk trade shows, you may notice something if "Freeman" comes up in conversations. 

You may say things such as:

- We use Freeman labor to set up our exhibit

- Oh, we are just renting an exhibit from Freeman

- Oh, we are renting furniture from Freeman

We may visibly grimace. We may even gasp or groan.

Today I am going to share some stories that may make your eyes cross or your hair stand on end. If you are in the trade show exhibit producer industry you will understand 100% and I am sure have your own love stories.

This week, for us was just more than I could bear without saying something.

This is in random order.

1. Our freight carrier showed up in Orlando to pick up from 3 clients. Freeman would not release the freight to them because the material handling agreement had our old address on it. So, let's talk about this for a moment. Freeman will do WHATEVER they can to hijack freight that is already booked on another carrier. Why, you may ask? More $$$$$$.  

2. We spoke with a prospect that wanted to understand our installation & dismantle (I & D) services all over the country.  They hired Freeman to set up their exhibit. Freeman NEVER SHOWED UP. That left this exhibitor scrambling to get their staff to set up their island exhibit.

3. A 5 crate exhibit was coming back to us from Infocomm.  All of our crates are clearly marked DO NOT STACK. Not only did they stack crates? They ripped the hasps off a brand new crate and then...

Drum roll please....

They used the forks of the forklift to rip of the skids from the bottom of the crate so that they could stack the crates together. The top crate probably weighs 1000 pounds and now has no skids for a fork lift to pick it up and move it. It is on top of another crate. This was a BRAND NEW CRATE that they destroyed intentionally. Our driver saw them do it and then load both crates into the truck.

I love the photo of the crate stacked directly on top of the crate that clearly says:

DO NOT STACK

Broken hasps happen.  We get it.  But a brand new crate?

Here you can see where the skid used to be.  They ripped it right off.

So much room here to get forklift tines to lift that crate off the top of the second crate.  Sarcasm intended.

Here are two smaller crates they also chose to stack. At least they left the skids on this one so we can get it down.

So please forgive us for openly sharing our love of Freeman when you mention using them for anything except those things that are absolutely necessary. We love you and don't want you to be hurt.

What are your Freeman love stories?

CRM Current Reps vs. Former Reps

You may remember a blog post that I wrote about a former rep that used CRM data cleaning as an excuse for poor performance. You can read about that HERE.  Accurate data is important, especially making sure critical data is accurate and spelled correctly. But spending the time to remove 'www' in the website field (even though it worked just fine having it there) or adding a period behind every state abbreviation is beyond ridiculous. But I digress.

A good salesperson is often perceived as a "bit" arrogant. It is really easy when you are the brand-new shiny rep to think that you are blameless, perfect and that any previous reps were idiots and morons.  There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. I'll hire confidence every day, but I will avoid arrogance like the plague.

We are moving to a new CRM system, and I have been reviewing old CRM data and importing it into our new CRM.  I came across this comment in our CRM today from our infamous data clean up rep.

"S/W Sheila. She does not remember talking to 'Sally Sales Rep'. No needs, but confirmed her email and I sent it. Sheila had mentioned that "it could of been someone else" 'Sally Sales Rep'. visited with. After uncovering her title, once again, ''Sally Sales Rep'. was talking to a Admin, not the DM. NEXT: Look-up a new Marketing contact and confirm DM's name. "

 I can't even begin to tell you how many of these types of comments I come across in our CRM. Our new rep decided he was better than our former rep (he also decided he was better than me, but that is a different story).

So here is my unsolicited advice and observation to both a new rep and their boss.

1. As a new sales rep, you do not always know the history of a rep. In this case? 'Sally Sales Rep' was a fabulous sales rep and I would have taken her back in a heartbeat. She had to leave our company to care for a family member.

2. Saying or making these comments? It makes you look small and petty to be trashing your predecessor via notes in CRM. Really. The best way to make a previous rep look bad? Outperform them. Period.

3. This type of passive aggressive and narcissistic behavior is a death knell for the future of this rep. Cut your losses and move on. This type of personality will blame everyone else (remember the CRM data cleaning?) for their shortcomings or mistakes.

4. Are you a CRM admin? Watch out for these kinds of notes in CRM, they are a great indicator of the personality traits of a rep. Culture and personality are incredibly important in a rep. If they don't represent your company well by being rude, snarky or arrogant, they can and will cost you money in more ways than one.

Stay tuned for more about confidence vs. arrogance. But I want to leave you with this.

A confident person brings people together and celebrates everyone's wins.  An arrogant person thinks they are better than everyone else, shouts their own accomplishments, belittles or demoralizes others.

Truly confident people do not need to compare themselves to others or put others down. Their actions and results will show through.  Arrogant people never take responsibility for their own shortcomings.

Be confident.

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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/

You can also check out our website at www.totaldisplays.com