Tossing and turning with budgets just as we kick off the first part of the year is never my idea of fun – I tend to formulate a plan and then stick to it but in this instance the way the markets are moving in such a state of flux, I just had to look at a couple of things again.
Prices have been dropping like the proverbial rock and not just for trade show space but the whole kit and support that goes into getting my teams from A to B with sales orders along the way.
The “Beast” is what my sales manager has nick named the new display unit we squeezed out of the budgeting exercise we had ticked off and agreed late last year – originally we were not going for new, our second team was getting the older units from the lead team.
The I had some sales information waved at me by Dennis; for some reason he’s gone all pastel and ambient lighting on me and seemed to be developing an unhealthy obsession with an alumalite hybrid display from one of our main suppliers, Exhibit Deal.
The bottom line is I cracked and we ordered a 10′ x 20′ trade show display which looks like Dennis is going to be taking his next date to – all subdued lighting with a clean, crisp finish – we had the display up today and I have to admit it does look pretty sexy.
I’m not someone who gets his head turned by a pretty face though and what really did make me change my mind was the price tag: we closed on this unit for less than $25,000 and I am being made to eat some harsh words.
The point to drive home here is that now is the time to look at what you need with regards to capital investment in your exhibition kit – you are simply not going to get a cheaper deal on any aspect of your exhibition strategy than at this time!