This is the third event I’ve recently been involved with, and it’s happening next week. It’s the first UK trade show dedicated to the roofing industry and is at the NEC in Birmingham on 1st and 2nd May 2013.
RoofexShow – NEC 1-2 May 2013
As you are no doubt aware, I have views about trade shows, particularly from a visitor perspective. I’m interested in how organisers can help people who attend get the most out of their visit, find what they want and come away feeling it was time well spent.
I’m also interested from an exhibitor perspective, as several of my clients are construction product manufacturers and suppliers, who pay for stands at such events, give product demonstrations and lead seminars.
It will be interesting to see how Roofex works as a trade show from an exhibitors perspective. I’m attending the show on behalf of a client of mine, SIG Design and Technology, a company that is part of the huge materials logistics group SIG plc (in their Roofing and Roofline division).
SIG Design & Technology are an interesting company from a specifiers point of view, in that they provide a wealth of free, PI insured advice and information to specifiers, including design and specification services. They even run an approved contractors scheme, DATAC, which enables them to guarantee roof installations they have designed.
Solving Problems not Selling Product
If you’ve read my White Paper on ‘Talking to Architects’ you’ll remember Richard Gay, ‘the insulation man’ and you’ll understand the concept. Architects and technologists come to Richard with an insulation problem, and he identifies a number of solutions with different advantages. The specifier gets the answers they need (often in a hurry!) from someone they know they can trust, and Richard, who provides this service for free, gets his company name on the information that gets in the spec. Everyone wins in this relationship. Richard works for Warren Insulations (another SIG company). For a company no-one has heard of, they get about a bit.
SIG Design and Technology take the idea further by providing a complete, impartial, design, supply, management and guarantee service, which is probably why, even if you haven’t heard of them, your contractor will have. They take the risk out of roofing and they save your contractor time and money.
I’m working with SIG D&T to help the people who are known and trusted in their organisation – the specification managers and technical team, to understand more about what they do and make it easier to recommend them to colleagues, including architects. The team have a company page on Linkedin and their people are using Linkedin to be more visible, and more useful, to their clients. They are also beginning to blog (its currently a team effort) and have a twitter account, @SIGDesignTech.
Come to Roofex in Person or Online
What will we be doing at Roofex? In the past I’ve engaged with attendees on twitter, posted photographs and prompted discussions, interviewed people, shared useful video and audio, set up meetings and answered questions. You’ll have to wait and see for the detail but there’s an introductory post on the roof design blog here which includes a preview of the show. We’ll be posting on the technical blog during and after the show, so why not subscribe to get updates? There’s a subscription box on the blog or you can click the link here to enter your details.
Are you going to Roofex? If you are, do let me know so we can meet up. Its a free show and you can book on their website, which also has an app (iPhone/Android and smartphone friendly versions). The website has a full list of over 100 exhibitors, and details of CPDs, Training sessions and Demonstrations.
I agree that roofers should resolve problems instead of up selling products. It’s worth to recommend business which puts customers first.