The client had seen the amenity in the concepts and throughout the design process. The wheat grass accessory seemed innocuous enough, but when he got to the show, what did he ask?
“Where’s my wheat grass?”
Without missing a beat, a simple laminated box featuring a basic plant from the show site and anchored by coffee beans, was assembled. The on-site carpenter created the box from leftover scraps from the build of the stand. The beans were procured from the coffee bar on the stand. And the herbs came from a trip outside the exhibition hall at the airfield site.
This example and several other stories were shared with me by Ross Smith, a principal in Leo Associates, a UK-based exhibition company. Ross is a second generation exhibition professional and has been around international shows, primarily air shows, for most of his life. Ross was in Dallas recently for client meetings.
“I’ve been involved in the business for as long as I can remember,” Ross told me. “There are trade show professionals who are now my clients who were guests in our home when I was a child.”
This long-term relationship with the business started because his father, John, was in the decorating business. The senior Smith started his own firm nearly 20 Paris Air Shows ago. Since the show runs every other year, that’s nearly 40 years.
With that kind of experience, you can’t help but have stories. While we talked about everything from chasing late-arriving literature to moving whole exhibits to rescuing abandoned exhibitors, one theme was consistent: the well-being of the customer was first and the show will go on.
“This is about the customer,” Ross said to me. “The show will go on and it’s our job to make it happen.”
There’s that theme again: it’s about the customer, having passion and being persistent.
Oh, yeah, the persistent part: Ross related a story about how he spent 5 years calling and stopping by a prospect’s stand. He did it in a non-threatening way, making it all about stopping by to say “hi, how are you?” Then, one day, the prospect called and said that he had a small project with which Ross could help him. The project blossomed into other projects and a long-term relationship. By building trust and being persistent, Ross earned the business. That’s a lesson for all of us working on networking.
Thank you, Ross, for your time and for dinner. A pleasant, informative evening.
Relentless
