Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Lee Burbidge on April 02, 2013, 05:19:28 pm

Title: Trade Show / Event
Post by: Lee Burbidge on April 02, 2013, 05:19:28 pm
What would interest you at a trade show? What day? Weekend or weekday? Do you have any interest in trade shows? If not, why?
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: Lee Burbidge on April 03, 2013, 08:12:42 am
BlXXXdy hell!!! way to go dudes. Which events have you attended recently or would like to attend...
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: colin purewater on April 03, 2013, 08:22:03 am
I went to the cleaning show and tbh
It wasn't that good but if suppliers can't be
Bothered going the what is the incentive
For any of us to bother either

Gardiners would make a lot more  money
If there attended

Can't believe facelift didn't get there hand on there
Pocket got the own stall, perfect opportunity to show case there
Poles ( like iconic did) and they just stick them
On the end of pure freedom stand,  (felt sorry for mike
A little funding would of gone a long way)
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: GoodFella2006 on April 03, 2013, 08:37:23 am
If Gardiner opens a stand with their SLXII poles right next to the Facelift stand,I would travel over 100 miles.
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: Lee Burbidge on April 03, 2013, 09:50:44 am
I went to the cleaning show and tbh
It wasn't that good but if suppliers can't be
Bothered going the what is the incentive
For any of us to bother either

Gardiners would make a lot more  money
If there attended

Can't believe facelift didn't get there hand on there
Pocket got the own stall, perfect opportunity to show case there
Poles ( like iconic did) and they just stick them
On the end of pure freedom stand,  (felt sorry for mike
A little funding would of gone a long way)

Yeah bumped into Mike at the Cleaning Show
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: Lee Burbidge on April 03, 2013, 09:52:06 am
If Gardiner opens a stand with their SLXII poles right next to the Facelift stand,I would travel over 100 miles.


Pity Gardiner does not feel the need to take a stand at trade shows.... would be great to see them wouldn't it?
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: Stephen Fox on April 03, 2013, 09:55:51 am
I went to the cleaning show and tbh
It wasn't that good but if suppliers can't be
Bothered going the what is the incentive
For any of us to bother either

Gardiners would make a lot more  money
If there attended

Can't believe facelift didn't get there hand on there
Pocket got the own stall, perfect opportunity to show case there
Poles ( like iconic did) and they just stick them
On the end of pure freedom stand,  (felt sorry for mike
A little funding would of gone a long way)

Colin, The Cleaning Show was a tricky one this year, after Windex being cancelled it just shows how interest in the shows have dwindled over the years. We've done a couple of shows a year for the last 7 years and have seen things shrink while the cost of exhibiting goes up. You get very little change out of £8k, just for a smallish stand.

This year was out of the question for us as we have a number of new products coming out which were not ready for the Show. It made little sense in having a stand as the current range would be available there anyway for people to see. You don't really go to a show to 'sell' products, it becomes like a car boot sale and you will hardly ever sell enough to cover the expense. It's more to meet customers and make contacts for future business.

We are also trying a different route by staging 'home town' demos so window cleaners can turn up, try out the new gear and bring along their existing equipment to compare side by side and see first hand the advantages of the Facelift range. This is very hard to do at a trade show.

This is not to say we won't be exhibiting ever again. We will be at future shows, it will be interesting to see how the Trade Shows develop.
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: TomCrowther on April 03, 2013, 10:05:17 am
The only people who make money out of any trade show is the organisers. The stands cost a ridiculous amount of money, plus all the staff's time, hotels, banners, advertising bumf, giveaways. When you work out how much you have to sell in order to recoup the outlay in terms of profit, the whole thing becomes a loss leader.
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: Aqua-dapter on April 03, 2013, 01:06:23 pm
We are holding a demo this evening of the Aqua-dapter and the Phoenix pole range: http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=167103

Anyone who wants to is welcome to come down and take a look.

Paul
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: Forum Admin on April 03, 2013, 01:24:19 pm
This is a very interesting topic!

We are extremely interested in organising a get together for members and suppliers - where the costs are significantly less and it's not about profit but more of a get together and an opportunity for all!

Without the backing of many suppliers and members turning up it's very difficult - we had the VanFest last year and everyone who attended had a great day and the sun even came out!

If we can get enough suppliers and members to visit we will seriously consider organising something for everyone.

Any ideas/venues would be great. We have already had a lot of interest if we have seminars giving talks on what everyone eants to hear about - such as "how to improve business?", "how best to clean?", "best marketing ideas?" and much more.

All ideas are welcome and it would be great to get the whole industry together without the ridiculous costs for suppliers.

Thanks,

Mitch.
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: deeege on April 03, 2013, 02:18:43 pm
This is a very interesting topic!

We are extremely interested in organising a get together for members and suppliers - where the costs are significantly less and it's not about profit but more of a get together and an opportunity for all!

Without the backing of many suppliers and members turning up it's very difficult - we had the VanFest last year and everyone who attended had a great day and the sun even came out!

If we can get enough suppliers and members to visit we will seriously consider organising something for everyone.

Any ideas/venues would be great. We have already had a lot of interest if we have seminars giving talks on what everyone eants to hear about - such as "how to improve business?", "how best to clean?", "best marketing ideas?" and much more.

All ideas are welcome and it would be great to get the whole industry together without the ridiculous costs for suppliers.

Thanks,

Mitch.

I'm going to suggest a you choose the North-West to host an event. The North west is well represented on this forum and is an easy place to travel to from everywhere north of Watford and south of Glasgow.
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: Forum Admin on April 03, 2013, 06:19:02 pm
Keep the ideas coming guys.........we want the event to be something that all of you would want to visit and worth while travelling to.

Ideas so far:

- Seminars
- Competitions
- Good location
- Several suppliers with low costs involved for them

Keep'em coming.

Mitch.
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: TomCrowther on April 03, 2013, 07:09:10 pm
You would need to organise it several months ahead of time in order to get a decent attendance/turnout. Autumn probably if you want to do it this year. Summer is out of the way and more people will be able to attend.
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: Ian101 on April 03, 2013, 11:19:31 pm
This is a very interesting topic!

We are extremely interested in organising a get together for members and suppliers - where the costs are significantly less and it's not about profit but more of a get together and an opportunity for all!

Without the backing of many suppliers and members turning up it's very difficult - we had the VanFest last year and everyone who attended had a great day and the sun even came out!

If we can get enough suppliers and members to visit we will seriously consider organising something for everyone.

Any ideas/venues would be great. We have already had a lot of interest if we have seminars giving talks on what everyone eants to hear about - such as "how to improve business?", "how best to clean?", "best marketing ideas?" and much more.

All ideas are welcome and it would be great to get the whole industry together without the ridiculous costs for suppliers.

Thanks,

Mitch.

I'm going to suggest a you choose the North-West to host an event. The North west is well represented on this forum and is an easy place to travel to from everywhere north of Watford and south of Glasgow.
+1
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: ben M on April 03, 2013, 11:29:04 pm
This is a very interesting topic!

We are extremely interested in organising a get together for members and suppliers - where the costs are significantly less and it's not about profit but more of a get together and an opportunity for all!

Without the backing of many suppliers and members turning up it's very difficult - we had the VanFest last year and everyone who attended had a great day and the sun even came out!

If we can get enough suppliers and members to visit we will seriously consider organising something for everyone.

Any ideas/venues would be great. We have already had a lot of interest if we have seminars giving talks on what everyone eants to hear about - such as "how to improve business?", "how best to clean?", "best marketing ideas?" and much more.

All ideas are welcome and it would be great to get the whole industry together without the ridiculous costs for suppliers.

Thanks,

Mitch.

I'm going to suggest a you choose the North-West to host an event. The North west is well represented on this forum and is an easy place to travel to from everywhere north of Watford and south of Glasgow.
NO WAY!!!!! London is much easier for everyone!!! I live in the South west but easy to go to London! and the north west is crap  ;D
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: DG Cleaning on April 04, 2013, 12:21:15 am
It should be in Barnsley which is after all the centre of the universe ;D
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: Ian Rochester on April 04, 2013, 05:59:03 am
I took myself and two of my technicians down to The Cleaning Show at the NEC last month, round trip of 480 miles in a day.  It was totally worth the trip, picked up some very good ideas and had a look at a lot of new equipment and products

Those who say that there wasn't much to see just weren't looking properly
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: Lee Burbidge on April 04, 2013, 07:43:31 am
This is a very interesting topic!

We are extremely interested in organising a get together for members and suppliers - where the costs are significantly less and it's not about profit but more of a get together and an opportunity for all!

Without the backing of many suppliers and members turning up it's very difficult - we had the VanFest last year and everyone who attended had a great day and the sun even came out!

If we can get enough suppliers and members to visit we will seriously consider organising something for everyone.

Any ideas/venues would be great. We have already had a lot of interest if we have seminars giving talks on what everyone eants to hear about - such as "how to improve business?", "how best to clean?", "best marketing ideas?" and much more.

All ideas are welcome and it would be great to get the whole industry together without the ridiculous costs for suppliers.

Thanks,

Mitch.

Hey Mitch I actually touch on this subject in my Editorial for the Aprils edition of WCM available in the next day or two.... just finishing off :)
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: Lee Burbidge on April 04, 2013, 04:50:21 pm
Very interesting stats...... it seems that a lot of you want to go to trade shows.....
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: Forum Admin on April 05, 2013, 09:16:07 am
Hi Guys,

Very interesting reading here!

We really feel that the window cleaning community need a good worthwhile show to visit with many members, seminars, competitions and suppliers to interact with!

What time of year would be best? Last year we had the VanFest in September and had some great weather but this leaves little time for planning and many are away on holiday. Later in the year? November? Next year? March?

What would you like to see seminars on? Increasing business? Best ways to wfp/trad? How to convert customers/quotes? All ideas would be great here - we would like to put the show together for you and something that makes it worthwhile for you guys to turn up and have a great day!

Keep the ideas coming and we can plan the ultimate trade show for the window cleaning industry!

Thanks,

Mitch.

 
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: Lee Burbidge on April 06, 2013, 06:54:05 am
Hi Guys,

Very interesting reading here!

We really feel that the window cleaning community need a good worthwhile show to visit with many members, seminars, competitions and suppliers to interact with!

What time of year would be best? Last year we had the VanFest in September and had some great weather but this leaves little time for planning and many are away on holiday. Later in the year? November? Next year? March?

What would you like to see seminars on? Increasing business? Best ways to wfp/trad? How to convert customers/quotes? All ideas would be great here - we would like to put the show together for you and something that makes it worthwhile for you guys to turn up and have a great day!

Keep the ideas coming and we can plan the ultimate trade show for the window cleaning industry!

Thanks,

Mitch.

 

Very interesting Mitch..... one needs to defo happen but I guess with enough time for you to get the message out and pull everything together. Was it really last September?? At the last VanFest I made so new great friends like Richard Clue and Wulfy and it was nice to see companies like GrippaTank there with there GrippaMax system..... plus the Phoenix pole was revealed for the very first time on that day, like exclusively!! It was a nice location as there was lots todo for the whole family.... I took my daughter with me on that day, we spent time talking with other window cleaners, checking out exhibitors then going into the amusement part with the rides..... was a brill day.
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: Xline Systems on April 07, 2013, 07:21:23 am
count us in ;D
Title: Re: Trade show
Post by: Forum Admin on April 08, 2013, 09:57:51 am
Hi Guys,

We have contacted many suppliers recently to see if there is a neeed for an event like this.......and there really is!!

We have had nothing but positive comments about organising a trade show / event for window cleaners, several have already put their name down for when we have further details!!

So it seems the suppliers are on board and excited about bringing the whole industry together.......so we just want to make sure that other than special offers, competitions, seminars and giveaways on the day what will bring you guys to the event!?!

If you have any ideas please feel free, seminars with talks on subjects of interest to all such as "How to increase your business?" seem to be popular!

This is getting very exciting for the window cleaning industry - it's giving everyone a chance to have a presence and attend so all can benefit from the event!

I look forward to getting ideas and planning this event further.

Thanks for your time,

Mitch.