Builders’ Show 2007. It’s Déjà vu all over again.

Is it just me, or did this year’s International Builders’ Show seem vaguely familiar?

And by “familiar,” I mean “identical.”

From what I saw, IBS ‘07 was the world’s biggest, most lavish rerun. A week’s worth of repeats, rehashes and I’ve-seen-that-befores.

All the same exhibitors were there. All the booths were in the same place. And the messages emanating from those booths were pretty much the same, as well. Heck, even the goodies from Lowe’s was a repeat.

Which, speaking from a marketing perspective, is really a crime. If we expect our potential customers to take off valuable time, spend wads of cash on planes, hotels and food, and put their feet through living hell at the show, we’d better at least give them something for it in return. And I mean a lot of something. Something new to pique their interest. Something exciting to see. Something different than what they saw the past two years.

Let’s start with some new products. Sure, there was a smattering to be seen. But I found myself really having to search for them. Where was the fanfare surrounding these new offerings? Where was the buzz? The hoopla?

C’mon. You can’t announce a new product with a whisper. You gotta do it with a bang.

And, even if you don’t have new products, you’d better make those folks walking the show believe you’ve got something new to say to them. But few took the opportunity. Instead, manufacturer after manufacturer trotted out the same old booths with the same old messages and the same old graphics they’ve had the two years before.

I know times are tough and budgets are tight and the cost of designing and building a new booth every year is expensive.

But what is the cost of a builder walking right past your booth muttering, “Don’t bother, we saw that one last year.”  Lost is the chance to give your sales pitch. Lost is the chance to start a relationship. Lost is the chance to begin a dialog that could ultimately lead to a big order.

And, you don’t need a big check to make an impact. You just need big thinking. In the message you deliver. In how you deliver it.  In other words, you’ve got to be creative.

A trade show is such a tremendous opportunity to make a connection and start a movement. You have a captive, willing and eager audience. An audience who wants to be ‘wowed’ by you. An audience who’s looking to you for solutions. And yet, it seems, so many exhibitors let that opportunity slip through their fingers.

Good marketing means surprising and delighting your customer at every point of contact. And at this show, I saw very little surprising going on.

The good news is we have one more year in Orlando to show builders that we are worth their attention.

--Mike Hudock