Apr 17, 2015 – Apr 19, 2015

[Florida Guy]

So if working three long days this week would be too much for the reps why not have them pick the busiest hours to make sure they are there. When you work a start up company long hours and difficult times or a feature of the job. Perhaps they don't have the right people there. Also coverage times could be rotated so that everyone is not there all the time. Simple scheduling too hard for them?
It seems to me now that some people on this forum are willing to excuse many things. I wonder what other questionable decisions are being made by the company that are really not in their best interest

 

[JEBar]

those guys work more than three days a week ... the tour involves extensive travel time, loading, unloading, setting up and taking down displays, maintenance on the P4, making it available for press coverage and drives .... and no doubt the list goes on

 

[Truett Collins]

So if working three long days this week would be too much for the reps why not have them pick the busiest hours to make sure they are there. When you work a start up company long hours and difficult times or a feature of the job. Perhaps they don't have the right people there. Also coverage times could be rotated so that everyone is not there all the time. Simple scheduling too hard for them?
It seems to me now that some people on this forum are willing to excuse many things. I wonder what other questionable decisions are being made by the company that are really not in their best interest

Can tell you have never had a job where you are on the road all the time, tearing down, setting up, making your presentation, tearing down, setting up, making your presentation, tearing down, setting up, making your presentation, tearing down, setting up, making your presentation, over and over and over again.

 

[Kuda]

Good news on the Elio's Elgin dash... ;-)[/QUOTE]

URCRAZY.......

 

[Florida Guy]

Blah, blah, blahTruett there are lots of hard jobs out there and you have NO idea of my background so stop your foolish assuming. If they can't handle the demands of the job they should go get one they are better suited for.

 

[Lil4X]

Well here I am at Barrett Jackson West Palm Beach at 7:21 in the evening. One of the few booths that are closed is the Elio Motors booth. It is very disappointing to come out here to see and sit in the car and find that the representatives must have something better to do. How can they make the car if they can't even man a booth

Or perhaps YOU should look at the post I made on page 1 of this thread and the answer I got 53 minutes later. In any event it seems dumb to leave a show such as this hours before closing and exactly when most of a day's attendance will happen. Makes me question other decisions EM makes. Did they leave the NY auto show early too?

From many years of running trade show exhibits and consulting for many companies and trade associations, I can assure you this is called "trade show suicide" - for exactly the reasons you give. As a visitor, you took the time to drive to the exhibit, only to find that the EM staff didn't think you were worth their time. That's how it looks to the guest, and this kind of snub is not soon forgotten by trade show attendees. It will require a LOT of marketing dollars to overcome a slap in the face like that. It's not that by not showing up you tick off a handful of guests to your booth, but that they will tell that story all over the internet. That's the kind of press you DON'T need.

The reps have been on the road now for a long time, from show to show to show dealing with people with attitudes like you display here would soon lead to fatigue, and health problems if hours spent at the shows and on the road were not controlled to allow time for rest/relaxation and just to unwind.

Well, poor baby! They need to find work somewhere that doesn't make such terrible physical demands on them. To my mind, any exhibitor who fails to man his/her booth while there is still one prospect in the exhibit hall needs to be barbecued. Proper organization for manning the exhibit is one of the first requirements of a show, and if someone fails to show up for his assignment, he's on the next bus home with a pink slip in his hand. I've seen it done, and it isn't pretty, getting fired on the show floor.

Here's why professionals are "on stage" from 30 minutes before the doors open until as much as an hour after they close: It's your job. You don't put chairs in your booth for the simple reason that it makes you look lazy or dead. Go sit in someone else's booth if you can't remain vertical for another minute. Then call the paramedics. Tired and footsore are part of your job description, you can sit, eat, even sleep AFTER the show closes. Why am I such a stickler for these things? Trade shows are the most concentrated opportunity your company will ever have. Secondly, they produce an image of your company that is difficult to duplicate anywhere. If you want to be seen as dynamic, forward-looking, and innovative, you don't do it with your booth staff sitting on their tailbones reading a newspaper, or worse failing to show up while the show's going on. Hungry? Tired? Rotate your booth staff so everyone gets to eat and sit down for a while - OUTSIDE your exhibit space.

Putting on a trade show exhibit is unbelievably expensive. One of my customers showing in a 10'X10' booth 30+ years ago congratulated himself that it only cost him $800 to appear in a major industrial exhibition. That was for renting the real estate for four days. He neglected to consider the construction and shipment of a minimal portable booth, the cost of the displays and signage, the salaries of everyone manning the booth, their lost-time on their normal assignments, their meals, lodging, and entertainment on the road, not to mention airfare or mileage, plus literature, hospitality suites, staffing, buffet and entertainment costs for VIP guests, and a dozen other items that add up quickly. Rather than an $800 exhibit, his appearance at the show cost him well over $40,000, or about $10K/day - for a minimal exhibit at a BIG multinational show.

It could have been a LOT worse - several of my clients will spend well over $1mil on a 4-day show. It's well worth the investment IF the show is properly selected, an exhibit space is correctly selected and laid out, manned, and arrangements made for rotating staff members and salespersons in and out of the space to keep them fresh. This is no place for amateurs, this is the BIG show - even if it's being held at a local motel or conference center's hallway.

Some companies keep as many as four or five "booth teams" in circulation across the country, leap-frogging from one show to the next. One's setting up, one's running an exhibit, one's striking the booth, and one's on the road. This is particularly common in the pharmaceutical industry where there are several shows every week during the "show seasons" of the spring and fall, ranging from national and state medical associations to medical specialist shows, tech shows, and dedicated shows for administrators, national medical conferences, down to even local meetings. It is a madhouse . . . but then madhouses probably have shows of their own to contend with.

 

[Florida Guy]

Lil4x, it sure is nice to read your view of Elio reps being off during a well attended show. You have expressed my feeling even more eloquently than I could have. Thanks for the support. Perhaps Elio will respond.

 

[mag44]

Truett sounds lake a Liberal/democrat talking like the job for the Elio Crew is TOOOOOOOOOOOO much and to demanding.
They seem to be working as hard as EM is on spending the other mans money.

 

[Truett Collins]

From many years of running trade show exhibits and consulting for many companies and trade associations, I can assure you this is called "trade show suicide" - for exactly the reasons you give. As a visitor, you took the time to drive to the exhibit, only to find that the EM staff didn't think you were worth their time. That's how it looks to the guest, and this kind of snub is not soon forgotten by trade show attendees. It will require a LOT of marketing dollars to overcome a slap in the face like that. It's not that by not showing up you tick off a handful of guests to your booth, but that they will tell that story all over the internet. That's the kind of press you DON'T need.


Well, poor baby! They need to find work somewhere that doesn't make such terrible physical demands on them. To my mind, any exhibitor who fails to man his/her booth while there is still one prospect in the exhibit hall needs to be barbecued. Proper organization for manning the exhibit is one of the first requirements of a show, and if someone fails to show up for his assignment, he's on the next bus home with a pink slip in his hand. I've seen it done, and it isn't pretty, getting fired on the show floor.

Here's why professionals are "on stage" from 30 minutes before the doors open until as much as an hour after they close: It's your job. You don't put chairs in your booth for the simple reason that it makes you look lazy or dead. Go sit in someone else's booth if you can't remain vertical for another minute. Then call the paramedics. Tired and footsore are part of your job description, you can sit, eat, even sleep AFTER the show closes. Why am I such a stickler for these things? Trade shows are the most concentrated opportunity your company will ever have. Secondly, they produce an image of your company that is difficult to duplicate anywhere. If you want to be seen as dynamic, forward-looking, and innovative, you don't do it with your booth staff sitting on their tailbones reading a newspaper, or worse failing to show up while the show's going on. Hungry? Tired? Rotate your booth staff so everyone gets to eat and sit down for a while - OUTSIDE your exhibit space.

Putting on a trade show exhibit is unbelievably expensive. One of my customers showing in a 10'X10' booth 30+ years ago congratulated himself that it only cost him $800 to appear in a major industrial exhibition. That was for renting the real estate for four days. He neglected to consider the construction and shipment of a minimal portable booth, the cost of the displays and signage, the salaries of everyone manning the booth, their lost-time on their normal assignments, their meals, lodging, and entertainment on the road, not to mention airfare or mileage, plus literature, hospitality suites, staffing, buffet and entertainment costs for VIP guests, and a dozen other items that add up quickly. Rather than an $800 exhibit, his appearance at the show cost him well over $40,000, or about $10K/day - for a minimal exhibit at a BIG multinational show.

It could have been a LOT worse - several of my clients will spend well over $1mil on a 4-day show. It's well worth the investment IF the show is properly selected, an exhibit space is correctly selected and laid out, manned, and arrangements made for rotating staff members and salespersons in and out of the space to keep them fresh. This is no place for amateurs, this is the BIG show - even if it's being held at a local motel or conference center's hallway.

Some companies keep as many as four or five "booth teams" in circulation across the country, leap-frogging from one show to the next. One's setting up, one's running an exhibit, one's striking the booth, and one's on the road. This is particularly common in the pharmaceutical industry where there are several shows every week during the "show seasons" of the spring and fall, ranging from national and state medical associations to medical specialist shows, tech shows, and dedicated shows for administrators, national medical conferences, down to even local meetings. It is a madhouse . . . but then madhouses probably have shows of their own to contend with.

So we have one more who has never been on the road for a job......try it sometime and you might come away with a little education of what it takes to do so.

 

[Truett Collins]

Truett sounds lake a Liberal/democrat talking like the job for the Elio Crew is TOOOOOOOOOOOO much and to demanding.
They seem to be working as hard as EM is on spending the other mans money.

And you sound like one who works a little as possible and demands premium wages, try a job that keeps you on the road 7 days a week and you might get a small idea of what it entails.