BARTERING
he first — and last — barter agreement many of us remember making was probably a grammar-school exchange like, “Hey, I’ll trade you my liverwurst for your peanut butter and jelly sandwich.” If the other kid liked liverwurst, you were in business. But bartering is not just child’s play. It can be a very sophisticated — and lucrative — way to do business. “Barter is more than just a fair exchange of goods and services between two businesses,” says Phyllis Malitz, CPA, a bartering consultant and principal of Phyllis Malitz & Associates Ltd. “It often provides both financial and marketing bonuses for both sides as well.” In the trade show world, there are dozens of opportunities to barter — with show management, customers, and other exhibitors. Besides stretching your budget, bartering can help you build relationships with partners and customers, and it can help you get more marketing exposure at a trade show. Here are four examples of resourceful exhibitors who’ve bartered for everything from blenders to tractor-trailers.
Exhibit Trade Jackie Kaufenberg, marketing manager for Altimate Medical Inc., wasn’t even thinking about bartering when she started looking for a new exhibit. The medical-device manufacturer based in Morton, MN, had outgrown its 10-by-20-foot booth. Kaufenberg wanted to upgrade to a 20-by-20-foot exhibit in time for the October 2000 Medtrade show. The problem was, it was already the summer of 2000 and Kaufenberg had a budget of less than $10,000. Kaufenberg decided to look for a used exhibit. While searching the classifieds at ExhibitorOnline.com, she found just what she was looking for — a 20-by-20-foot truss system with tables, four storage units, and the original crates for $7,000. When she looked more closely at the ad, she realized that the company selling the exhibit was one of Altimate’s customers — Sammons Preston, a medical-equipment retailer from Bolingbrook, IL. She gave Sammons a call and arranged to trade the booth for $7,000 credit on Altimate products, instead of paying cash. The deal not only saved Altimate money, but enhanced its relationship with its customer. In addition to the cost of the product credit, Kaufenberg only had to spend $300 on paint and new countertops for the booth, for a total of $7,300 — well under her $10,000 budget. Four years later, Kaufenberg still uses the bartered booth. She redesigns it each year with a new theme, and cuts costs even further by enlisting the help of a local theater-set designer to design the exhibit. For Kaufenberg, the key to successful bartering is looking at both sides. “Always be looking for a win-win situation so that both parties feel good about the arrangement,” she says.
Blending Resources Rusty Taphous, exhibit and marketing coordinator for Vita-Mix Corp., a blender-manufacturer based in Cleveland, OH, uses bartering as a marketing tool. Vita-Mix participates in roughly 1,400 consumer and trade shows each year. In 1997, companies that sell beverage mixes started to contact Vita-Mix before trade shows. They wanted to borrow blenders to prepare samples for attendees on the show floor. In exchange, they offered to supply beverage mixes that Vita-Mix could use in demonstrations. After a few successful bartering experiences, Taphous began scanning exhibitor lists for other beverage-mix companies that might be interested in similar arrangements. Taphous has since mastered the art of show-floor barter. He ships extra blenders along with his exhibit to each show. He and the rest of the booth staff deliver the blenders to the booths of beverage-mix companies before the show and pick them up after the show. As an extra bonus, they get to meet one-on-one with mix-company staffers to demonstrate their product. At a typical show, as many as 15 to 25 booths use Vita-Mix blenders to blend their drinks. “The end result is that customers come to our booth and express interest in our blenders because they see them all over the show floor,” Taphous says. Taphous has even worked the scenario into his show-floor sales pitch. “When customers say they see our blenders all over the show,” he says, “I tell them, ‘Mix companies want a blender that will make their mixes look and taste the best they can. That’s why they use our blenders exclusively.’ This helps close the sale.” Now Taphous packs extra blenders in case someone on the floor needs one. He has even shipped blenders to mix companies exhibiting in shows Vita-Mix cannot attend. “Even if we are not at the show,” Taphous says, “our blenders are out there working for us.”
Wheeling and Dealing Without barter, Dawn Gagne’s display at the Sam’s Club Year Beginning Meeting in 2004 would have been as empty as a church parking lot on Super Bowl Sunday. The communications manager for Exide Technologies Transportation in Alpharetta, GA, was in charge of a display that was supposed to show how Exide batteries fit all vehicles — not just cars. Gagne’s dream list for the display included a semi-truck, a dump truck, a boat, and a golf cart. The problem was, she didn’t have the budget to rent the vehicles. Gagne didn’t let that stop her. She called several of Exide’s sales people to see if they knew of any customers in the area that might be willing to help. Then she called the customers and offered to give them free Exide batteries in exchange for the use of their vehicles. “It was relatively easy,” she says. I even got several of them to drop their vehicles off at the convention center for us.” With about $750 in batteries, Gagne was able to supply each and every item on the wish list. The display was successful, and Exide’s customers drove away happy.
Promotional Coup Jennifer Kearney, trade show manager for Motient Corp., wanted to make a promotional splash at the 2001 Comdex/Spring show in Chicago, but she had her work cut out for her. First of all, Motient, a Linconshire, IL,-based supplier of wireless, handheld e-mail devices, had just changed its name six months earlier. Most people at the show would not recognize the name of the company. To add to the challenge, her show budget had been cut by a third, with nothing left for advertising. So Kearney got creative. She called Jim Rowins at Key3Media Events Inc., show manager for Comdex, and arranged to give Comdex’s staff 30 wireless handheld devices, complete with a year’s worth of e-mail and Web-browsing service — a retail value of approximately $35,000. In return, Rowins gave Motient banners, kiosk sponsorships, ads in the show directory, and extensive coverage in the show daily. Plus, Motient got the added exposure of having show management use its product on the show floor. This relationship paid off. Kearney nurtured the barter relationship with Key3Media for future shows, and drew on the experience to strike a similar deal with the Consumer Electronics Association at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that year. Over the next six months, her savings totaled $170,000 and cost her just 100 handheld devices and Web-service packages. As you plan for your next show, keep an eye out for bartering opportunities. As these exhibitors learned, you can get a lot more on a trade than peanut butter and jelly.
Sarah Sawyer staff writer