Show brings out the builders and the same tired sales pitch

Home Channel News, Jan 10, 2000 by Scott Larson

IF THIS IS JANUARY, THEN THE ANNUAL SCRAMBLE known as the International Builders Show must be on.

I say scramble because how else can one describe these four days of seminars, speeches, product demos, product displays, houses of the future, concrete houses, engineered wood houses, smart houses, houses under construction in the parking lot ... you get the idea. Especially if you've ever tried to get into a Dallas-area restaurant once the convention center has closed for the day.

Given this event's yearly draw -- more than 70,000 builders from all corners of the globe -- it's hard to argue with its relevance, especially if you're one of the 1,000-plus vendors on hand hoping to capture somebody's, anybody's attention.

Obviously, the same should hold true for dealers. Here, in one place at one time, lumberyard operators can peruse products and services with the very builders they conceivably could sell them to.

Yet the show's very depth, breadth and in many ways success make me wonder why and how any trade show ever became the preferred or at least accepted means of showcasing any industry, much less one that loves to tout the fact that it's built on personal relationships. I don't know about you, but to me many trade shows have the aura of, say, a cattle drive. Once you and several thousand like-minded creatures have been herded down one aisle of red carpet, you begin to feel as if you've been down them all.

Exhibitors shoulder the bulk -- though hardly all -- of the blame for this sensation. I've been to the Builders Show five of the past six years, and each time I'm confronted with the same sea of Invitations: Come watch us re-build (again) our portable concrete house! Stop by and see the same nifty applications for engineered wood that we showed you last year! Get your golf swing further analyzed by a blond female pro! All the while I'm bombarded by what are billed as supposedly new or innovative products.

Yet for a lot of exhibitors the whole exercise seems more oriented toward luring someone into the booth than actually having a must-see product to show them once they get there. How else do you explain the half-dozen or so race cars so proudly and prominently on display at last year's show?

This approach doesn't seem to make much sense, especially when one considers how much money is invested in the effort. Given the costs associated with obtaining booth space, designing and erecting an eye-catching exhibit and transporting an army of smartly attired sales associates, who can blame the growing number of industry vendors that have questioned the real return and ultimately decided to skip one trade event or another?

Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I'm hoping they are redirecting at least some of the savings into research and development. After all, how many exhibitors can honestly say that every year they've got something new or innovative to tout, show after show? Precious few, based on my observations.

And that's a shame, because the Builders Show does draw builders. They come for all sorts of reasons -- seminars, networking, regional association events. No doubt the specter of new products attract them as well. Too bad they have to run the gauntlet of the tired and mundane to find any.

My take is that exhibitors could secure a much greater return on their investment if they toned down the marketing hype and raised the curtain on real products, solutions and trends. Two years ago, for instance, Wickes Lumber debuted its "Frame a House in a Day" framing installation program at the Builders Show. Today that program is not only a cornerstone of Wickes' transformation into a builder-oriented supplier and its turnaround as a business entity, but it's also set a new standard in dealer-customer relations.

And, for me, it made a much more meaningful show.