We don't need a showroom.

One of our manufacturers recently told me this. All I could do was shake my head in a disappointment. After all of the work we do promoting product lines to hear this is truly disheartening. All sales order are not written "at market."  Customers attend various markets and some just wait for sales reps to visit them. A good sales team works year-round educating potential customers.

Company A joined our showroom last summer. When the reps arrived at market we knew nothing about the product line since we had not been sent literature/samples before we got there. Before (or at the start of) market would have been a great time to educate the sales representatives. We would have wanted to know the key selling features of the product line. Where do the products sell the best? Are there any skeletons in the closet? Are we going to hear negative or odd things from former customers? Do we have a former and current customer list for each territory? We would have wanted to learn about product displays and what type of delivery we would be working with. That market was not good for Company A. By the time sales reps arrived home they were armed with flyers and a few products but no explanation regarding them except to say that it was best to visit their website for the most current information.

After market, all road representatives resumed communications with their customers letting them know about the new lines, one being Company A. Reps sent potential customers to the Company website. Then in January, the Company did not participate in the Showroom.

About a month after market, Company A sent new sales literature and product. Still the company did not come up with any type of promotion but, rather, suggested their website.

Not participating at market is not an option in this sales rep's mind. A Company needs a couple of years to determine if a showroom is good for them. I still don't know which of my customer's have purchased this line. Not every customer will contact me, especially if I am sending them to an internet site.  But they do learn about the product from me and repeatedly hear how I feel about it.

So, if you think your business is truly above having a showroom I can only think that you have an inside sales team or distributors in place.