Home shows - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

kowdecks · 02-03-2006, 07:46 PM

I have always had people I know tell me their best way to get seen and book alot of estimates are home shows. I'll try anything once so this is my year. After 3 years of trying I got into the biggest show in my area. I got a double outside boot 15x30 right by the enterance. I am planning an awsome 15x30 deck disply. anyone have any good advice or does and don'ts. I'll appretiate it

Mike Finley · 02-03-2006, 07:53 PM

Have a really good follow up plan in place to make the most of all that money you are spending. There was an article in Deck Builders magazine recently about taking advantage of home shows.

Glasshousebltr · 02-04-2006, 09:30 AM

Ditto on the follow up Mikey.

Bob

Brian · 02-04-2006, 10:33 AM

We are doing a home show next weekend. We're going to give a free paint upgrade for anyone who gets an estimate by March 1.

We did 2 shows last fall. We found that many people would sign up for an estimate, but we had quite a bit of trouble setting appointments, particularly at the first show. At the second show we tried to get multiple phone numbers as well as an email address. That improved our ability to set appointments.

Brian Phillips

kbdesigns · 02-04-2006, 11:27 AM

Unfortunetly, your display isn't always enough to draw people over to you. Do some some kind of gimmiky thing like a drawing or give away something with your logo on it. T-shirts are great because people wear them and advertise for you. I have a friend who is a landscaper and he had a drawing for a free grill. It was one he had bought on clearance at Target!

Glasshousebltr · 02-04-2006, 11:46 AM

kd, I don't know if thats a good idea. A drawing is what marketing pros call shotgun targeting. It works great with low compulsive purchases, but construction is considered at higher field. I think ya want to target around home ownership and drive the follow up deep. Just my thoughts.

You can really tear a saleman up sending him on too many bad leads.

Bob

Grumpy · 02-04-2006, 12:03 PM

The LARGE companies in my area that use how shows only have FEMALE lead generators tricking middle aged men to fill out forms requesting estimates. Personally as a salesman I'd have hated it if I had called up a lead and the horny middle aged man says to me "I only filled ou the form so I could look down the girl's shirt."

I've heard good and bad about home shows, and I think you really need a good sales staff to follow up on the leads you recieve because they are not all going to be qualified.

If youa re going to do a rafle or something to draw people to your booth consider having someone work the crowd asking people to visit booth #1234 to enter the free raffle.

go dart · 02-04-2006, 12:55 PM

i burned out on home shows (but i know they're valuable) build displays and assemble, man the booth, dismantel and store for next yr. ugg! i remember my first question was where do you live? my radius is 30 mi and lots of out of towners attend. also remember salesmen bragging about 50 leads which i knew meant 45 people would not get set. 2 or 3 quality leads (set at show) per day was enough for me. oh i was taught to always have something in my hand when working the booth for some reason it disarmes people. good luck i'll stick to my 3% of sales marketing budget.

TomU · 02-04-2006, 02:32 PM

I visited the Indianapolis Home Show last Sunday to get acquainted with Shingle Monkey and to see what other venders/contractors were there.

SM had a nice display and made a very good first impression...a genuinely nice guy. I took a couple of pictures of his booth and will attempt to post when time allows.

I did speak with many other contractors...windows, siding, doors, gutter guard type products, basement remodelers, kitchen and bath remodelers and landscapers. A few stated that the two major home shows they do each year provide them leads for the entire year.

A couple of points:

Make room in your display for people to come INTO it, not stand out in the aisles.

Give aways bring all the folks interested in something free...not necessarily your future clients,

Make it educational and informative; offer to contact them with further information. Those seeking your services will find you, just don't give out the store on the initial contact.

TomU

kowdecks · 02-06-2006, 08:16 PM

I have 2 outside booths totaling 15'x30, so I'm building a 15x30 composite deck with a 16x15 trellis and maybe other cool thing my 1st show so I'm going big the. I will be set up right next to the door to go into the show so people will have to notice me. I'm afraid to give anything away only because I only want serious people coming in. and not just signing a lead sheet to get somthing free. following up on the computer is a great idea.

**ProWallGuy** · 02-06-2006, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kowdecks

following up on the computer is a great idea.

I'd try to phone follow-up first and foremost, and use the email as backup.

gutrman · 02-07-2006, 11:45 AM

We were in a home improvement show in a mall this past weekend. It was our first show ever, so I did not know what to expect. I was pretty happy with the turn out. There were other vendors there that were hounding every person that walked by. I sat back and let them come to me. If they are interested they will come up and ask questions. This way you are not wasting your time selling to some one that will most probably not get your poduct or service.

I will let you know how the leads turn out. If anything it gives you good exposure.

marc · 02-12-2006, 05:44 PM

We do alot of home shows, boat shows, fairs etc. Approx. 40 shows per year.
We used to get alot of people requesting a free estimate and then we would start playing phone tag and lose approx. half of them. We now offer an additional $500.00 off their project if they set an appointment at the show. This idea has more than tripled our leads. Alot of people will disagree with me on this one but we have our salesmen work the shows. They don't cost us anything unless they sell (commision only) and they get to meet the people they will be going to see early and build a little repor. They want to work the shows because they know that if they don't, they will not recieve any leads.
I'm not telling you to do this but it does work for us.

Patty · 02-12-2006, 06:00 PM

Marc,

Having your salespeople man the booth is a smart idea for a million reasons. First off, they can sift through the "rubble" and ask the right questions right off the bat to truly qualify whether the person is a serious, potential customer. The adage, "Time IS Money" is very true and realizing a serious customer from a "window shopper" right at the get-go is a great idea....not to mention developing rapport right from the start. VERY GOOD POST, MARC.
YOU GET A STAR!

marc · 02-13-2006, 03:34 AM

Patty,

It's funny that you said that.................The only fear I have about having salesmen man the booths is that they will try to qualify the customer. IMO the only reason that you would try to qualify is so that you can DISQUALIFY. I don't know why anybody would want to do that. These people call us or come to the show and ask us for an estimate. In my world that qualifies you for at least one visit. Unless the customer is more than 1 hour away. There aren't that many people out there that are so bored that they think................"Hey, why don't we call up contractors and ask them to come visit us.......that sound like fun."

Just my opinion

DecksEtc · 02-13-2006, 08:44 AM

marc, it's not that people are necessarily "bored". There are however, a lot of people who like to contact 3 or 5 or more contractors for an estimate and "tire kick" to see if they can get the cheapest price. The thing about home shows is that they are already there and they can request a whole bunch of quotes/appointments all at once.

Personally, I don't have a problem with people getting more than one quote - they should get 2-3 and I tell my potential customers to do so. I think we all do "customer qualifying" to an extent - salesman or otherwise. We ask questions to guage what we have to do to sell a job and what we think the potential for a sale is.

JMO

Scottsdale · 02-13-2006, 12:06 PM

I have a different approach. I have done many homeshows. I have found that the people producing the homeshow design it so that people are herded through a maze as fast as possible so more people can get in quicker. You will notice something very improtant here that will help your lead generation. Its not necessarily the quality of the few leads, its getting more and more leads and heres how. You will notice that in most homeshows there is no place to sit. When you get a hot dog at the food court you have to stand to eat it or continue to walk through the home show. So, with that in mind your goal is to give people a reason to stop and stay at your location. Maybe your product is not the reasoon, but getting them to stop is in your best interest. So build a deck for your booth to represent what you do. On that deck put as many tables, benches or chairs as comfotably as possible. The people will need a place to sit and rest. As they rest perform something. Display your looping video on a t.v. and build something infront of them. Entertain them! While you cannot use power tools during the show you can pre-fab a small deck and screw it together while they watch. Put on a show! Talk them through it. Customers love nothing more than a free education. This has been the most profitable, by far, for my company.

Shingle Monkey · 02-19-2006, 07:13 PM

Like Tomu posted I spent 10 days in a 10X10 booth 3 weeks ago.

Qualify the leads, lots of tire kickers that may be interested.

Have a card printed up the size of a post card that you can have them fill out at the show..name,address, phone numbers, when they want the job done. When you are done talking to them and they leave write notes on what they were loooking for on back of the card...this info is priceless 3 weeks later.

I ended up with 63 quality leads, and have had atleast 10 calls from business cards that I had handed out.

I didnt hound anyone, if there were interested in roofing then I would talk to them, but they had to make the first contact. Im a small roofing company that doesnt have time for tire kickers.

kowdecks · 02-20-2006, 04:58 PM

The more I talk to people the more I realize I want qualified leads I'd rather be their for 3 days and get 25 qualified leads I can go through in 3 weeks tan stay 3 days get 200 leads that it takes 3 months to go through and you end up with the same amount of jobs

dfwhomeremodele · 03-06-2006, 12:56 AM

I was in 2 Home Shows the first 2 weekends this year. The first show I got about 75 leads and the 2nd I got about 30. I have not had time to get to all of the leads. Most of the people we called said they would call us if they were interested when we called them. Last August I did a home and garden show in the same place I got the 75 leads and got 2 leads. I was scared to try it again but I got enough business from the show with 75 leads that I paid for all 3 shows and was able to stay busy for the winter. The only other side effect is all the time spent driving to the peoples house and getting only about 30% of the leads. Hope this helps