 odd Plaisted felt like he was stuck in neutral as attendees walked right past his booth at the 2006 Minnesota Green Expo. Owner of Elk River, MN,-based Plaisted Cos., maker of 40 different landscape, horticulture, and athletic-field products, Plaisted’s 2006 product display comprised simple wooden boxes that held samples of the company’s soils, gravel, sand, and more. But the inside-the-wooden-box display left attendees bored with the exhibit, creating a problem for Plaisted. If prospects weren’t interested enough to stop and chat with staffers, how could the company even begin to convert them into clients?
Plaisted decided that if he was going to spend the money and make the effort to attend the three-day show with his salespeople, he needed better results.
Before heading to the 2007 show in January, Plaisted gathered his employees for a brainstorming session. He wanted something unusual and creative — something that would make his company’s booth stand out at the show, illustrate the company’s entire product line, and generate enough interest to get attendees inside the booth so his staffers could capture leads and make sales.
During the brainstorming session, Plaisted’s team cooked up several ideas, including a “Secret Recipe” theme, alluding to Plaisted’s custom-blended soils. The team envisioned buffet tables holding the product, complete with a sneeze guard and plates for attendees to help themselves to sample-sized scoops of Plaisted’s products. The company even considered mixing up special soil recipes upon request to show attendees the look and consistency of their custom-blended soils, while reinforcing the cuisine theme.
However, this plan required refilling the containers throughout the show — a bit of a deal breaker because it meant keeping extra sample material on hand, plus the added expense of mixing and distributing product throughout the show, rather than simply displaying it. The group also bandied about talk of wearing chefs’ hats on the show floor, while one employee in particular questioned the theme altogether.
“My thought process was we really aren’t a restaurant. What does food and being a chef have to do with our business?” says sales rep Bruce Dalchow. “What does a buffet have to do with designer soils?” Dalchow set out to find a theme tied to the company’s products and services — a booth that would make it clear to anyone walking by that Plaisted had a lot to offer.
The light bulb over Dalchow’s head lit up when he recalled his boss’s assortment of two dozen or so toy dump trucks that line shelves in the company offices. The company owns a fleet of 40 full-size trucks that deliver its soils to clients throughout a five-state area. Using toy trucks to display products would echo real life and emphasize another Plaisted Cos. service that differentiates it from competitors. While most companies handle either the trucking or the manufacturing of soils, Plaisted’s in-house fleet of trucks allows the company and its clients more control over quality and customer service.
Using the dump trucks as a way to display products seemed like a good fit, Dalchow says, but he wasn’t sure how to turn the idea into a booth. He explained his concept to the rest of the employees. Together, they came up with a plan that used the truck theme and created an exhibit that tied together all the elements of their extensive line of products, including the company’s trucking service.
First, the search began for the right dump trucks. The Tonka Toughest Mighty Dump Truck earned approval as the most fitting — it was new, easy to find, and had a dump bed big enough to hold plenty of product. It took trips to four different stores to round up more than three dozen vehicles, mirroring Plaisted’s real-life 40-truck fleet. The toys retailed at roughly $30 apiece, totaling approximately $1,200 dollars to purchase the miniature fleet.
With bright-yellow bodies and red accents, the little trucks looked more like sandbox toys than sand and gravel distributors. Luckily for Plaisted, one employee happens to be an auto-body specialist. He took the trucks apart, painted them gray and black to match the full-size fleet, and branded them with the Plaisted logo.
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The entire 20-by-30-foot exhibit became a staging area for Plaisted’s truck-themed product display. Tables topped with black vinyl displayed the fleet of miniature Plaisted dump trucks, while booth staffers taped yellow hash marks on the vinyl to mimic winding roads.
In-house talent created made-to-order street signs that showcased the seven categories of Plaisted products, such as mason supplies, sand and gravel aggregates, and engineered soils. The green-and-white, eye-catching signage directed show attendees to trucks that held the products that piqued their interest. The color scheme continued on the individual signs clipped to each toy truck. Along with the name of the product, the signs carried an image of a real Plaisted truck, reminding attendees that the display was based on Plaisted’s actual fleet, while reinforcing the company’s delivery services.
With a total investment of approximately $3,000 for the new exhibit elements, Plaisted and his team were thrilled when their miniature display delivered gigantic results. Attendees stopped and looked at the trucks, then walked into the exhibit to learn more about the products. They ran their fingers through the different sands and soils, getting a hands-on feel for the products. The flow of visitors remained steady, keeping staffers busy throughout the show, a welcome change of pace from the previous year. The increased booth traffic generated approximately 40 leads at the show, doubling the previous year’s 20 leads.
“We saw more people on the first day than we saw at last year’s entire three-day show,” says Plaisted, attributing the increase in sales leads to people’s interest in the toy trucks. “If we learned one thing,” he says, “it’s that there’s something of a child in all of us.” e |
