My First Home Show

world llc

i decided to take a step into the advertising world and for my first run i wanted to try a local home show, figure i could have more exposure and control over it as well. i chose to show molding and mill work and try to stick to that rather then general (very general) contracting for various reasons. i also went in partners with my faux person... i build it, she finishes it. i used up all my free time, nights and weekends, to design and build all the components of this so it would be fairly finished and assemble-able on the spot.
well today was the first day of the show, and i got 1 lead. it was very slow and everyone that stopped by thought it was a display for the faux finishes!! Ivy got 5 or 6 leads and alot of the other designers and contractors were interested in having her to do work for them...
anyway, i just feel a little bummed out and hope tomorrow goes better. any words of wisdom from you seasoned show guys would be greatly appreciated. i have a full album of 19 pics in my profile if you want to see the process for this build.

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BattleRidge

Well you could have one of those signs say millwork and trim. I think it looks awesome BTW.

silvertree

Great display and you just learned a good lesson, if you don't make it more than obvious what you do, people just pick the easiest guess.
I have a beautiful kitchen display for shows, I put out countertop pieces so people would have something to pick up and talk about and out of a couple of hundred conversations I got a couple of hundred "How much a square foot for countertops".
As nicely as you can, get rid of the Faux finishes advertising or I think this will happen the next time too. Its business and its your business, you tried it and it worked for your partner better than it worked for you, so talk to them about it and see if they won't take a more backseat role.

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Vote for Pedro
Kitchen, bath, St Paul remodeling
Minneapolis Remodel Blog
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deck king

silvertree is correct. get out of you booth and address the people as they walk by, have something distinctive in you hands that gets them to ask questions about what you do. good luck!

Patrick

You need to make a flier that lists EVERY thing you do, perhaps with a special offer, and have a college kids that makes sure that flier ends up in EVERY single hand that walks by

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Originally Posted by Celtic
Like I said...I'm sure you are very good at what you do ~ whatever that is and where ever it happens.

world llc

thanks for all the advice guys, i really appreciate it. Saturday was a good learning day for me... that people just walk by, don't ask questions, and just assume. in talking with some of the other booths, they all gave me tips on attracting clients and it was alot more then the "hello" and smile
i started catching people as they were walking by and asking their opinion of our set and like clockwork they would look, walk back, and come inside our booth and get excited as they talked about what they thought. for 1 out of 3 people it broke the ice enough to talk about what they wanted!we also did a raffle for a free glazed focal wall to try and get some extra numbers... glad I'm not the painter in this one Sunday was the busiest day, and we had a better concept of people at home shows, so we ended up more then doubling out list of numbers!

so bottom line... i ended up with 2 "call me next week to set up an appointment" 5 "we want your services and will be in touch with you in the next month" and about another 5 that were "IF we________, then..." and we got 52 names and numbers to call back.

how long should i wait to call back... i was thinking call everyone on Saturday. any advice on the way the call should or should not go?

world llc

i made some fliers and that really helped... i got the"oh wow.. you do that too, we might have some work for you...." thoes were the IF's, i got their info too.

handyhands

We do quite a bit of home shows. In fact, just did one this past weekend, and unfortunately the traffic was horrible....All said and done, I think I left there after 3 days with a total of 18 names and numbers, with 6 of them already scheduled for estimates.

The KEY is to start calling those people right away. Obviously, you're not looking to be intrusive or harrassing, but you need to strike as quickly as you can before the idea/ concept of them wanting to do something cools off to nothing.

I would simply call them, and start the conversation by, "Hello, Mr./ Mrs._______? Hi!--This is ___________, from ___________(company)---I had the pleasure of having you folks stop by my _________display at the _________home show this past weekend, when you discussed the idea of doing____________ to your home. I simply wanted to call and thank you for taking the time to stop by and discuss your ideas with me.

Remind them if need be of what you do, and let them know that you're going to be in their area on such and such dates, and at their convenience you'd be willing to come by,...take some measurements,..answer any and all questions that they may have and see just how it is that you may be able to help them. (maybe toss in a slight incentive/ call to action, like you're currently offering such and such an offer/ discount, etc.

I'm telling you, the longer you wait, the more likely they'll never answer their phones and you'll be left with a bunch of worthless pieces of paper with their names and numbers on it.

Keep in mind,....if you're waiting on calling them,.....Your competition very well beat you to the punch.

Hope this helps, and please share your results!

Good Luck!

world llc

thanks for all the advice guys. i will be pluging away at these numbers around 4 or 5 today and keeping notes on who answered, who's interested in anything, etc. i read the other post about follow up's and i will keep all that in mind.

here's the final look of our booth with brocure holders and a sample panel infront of the table. we ended up handing out over 125 packets containing cards, glossy pictures, and a tri fold.

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cbtexas

My first thought was to have your display 2/3 finished. Have 1/3 of the display raw, unfinished wood, drywall. Let the customer see in his mind what goes into achieving the finished product. Also have some short lenghts of different crown molding, base boards, trim on a display board to let people know what you offer. Many people will think hey, all I have is these plain builder grade base boards. This guy offers the nicer base boards and crown. Hey my room could look like that. See what I am saying. Let them know they need you to dress up the room before miss foo foo can do her thing.