Exhibition Displays: Outsourcing and Leveraging your Investment

Showcasing products and services in attractive exhibition displays at trade shows has been shown to be one of the most efficient ways for a business to succeed in the marketplace. Trade shows offer a venue for promoting products and services, as well as an opportunity to investigate the competition, network with potential vertical teammates, meet with experienced industrial professionals that might be looking for work, etc. – overall, trade shows can be an incredibly effective investment.

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However, with all the planning and money many companies invest in attending a trade show, perhaps there are certain parts of that process that should be outsourced to save time, money and headaches. The biggest advantage that comes with outsourcing your trade show requirements is in the area of expertise. Hiring outside help for jobs that either require specific knowledge or a lot of research, like finding the best trade show banner or a specific piece of trade show furniturethat meets a certain set of requirements, can help you find the best options and also stay within budget. Unless you have the time to stay up with every new display tool, hiring professionals to help source your trade show supplies gains you access to their expertise and product knowledge, leveraging your investment in the trade show.

On the other side of the equation, flying in your own crew to do the trade show booth set up and dismantle may not make sense either. Depending on how large and intricate your actual trade show display is, you may save a lot of time and effort to hire labor to help put up your booth. Anyone that has attended a trade show knows that the first day can be the most labor intensive and time consuming one. Besides hauling in and erecting your display, if no help is sought, the first day’s responsibilities include the check-in process with the hotel, checking into the trade show and preliminary meetings- and that is after all the time spent traveling.

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In all likelihood, it is important for you, the trade show attendee, to focus on more pressing issues for the upcoming trade show, like organizing your time, how you and your co-workers will be working the booth, and most importantly, beginning the process of meeting with prospects. It is your responsibility to network and promote your product or service in the most productive manner possible in the upcoming small window of time. Spending time organizing and planning that first day, instead of doing the manual labor of setting up your exhibition displays, can help assure you meet your ultimate goals.

The second advantage is the sheer cost effectiveness of hiring labor for your trade show displays. Let’s say that you do have to attend to other issues on your first day of the trade show. Do you bring co-workers with you to the trade show to perform jobs like installing the trade show displays? In most cases, you would have to. However, think about the costs associated with extra co-workers attending a trade show. Let’s say you have two extra members of your staff attend the trade show for three days, so that they can install and take down the large display. That’s, most likely, two additional plane tickets, one or two hotel rooms for two nights, their normal salary and/or an agreed per diem and all meals and associated costs.

This cost can run into several thousand dollars and most likely is poor budgeting – hiring a professional install and dismantle company to do the same task may seem expensive, at least until compared with the actual costs of bringing your own crew to do the same task.

Hiring outside help might be a good option for offloading some of the time consuming tasks associated with success at trade shows. It may be expensive to hire and train another salesperson, so they can take your place at the show. However, leveraging product knowledge and expertise to find the best trade show supplies, or the tasks like rolling out the carpet and setting up the exhibition displays can make a lot sense – check out your options and do the analysis so that you leverage the investment and optimize your time, allowing you and your company to focus on making industry connections, created leads and, overall, helping to ensure a successful trade show experience.

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