My 1st car show display booth

L

LS1-MEX

New member
I was asked if I could have a display booth setup at a GRAND OPENING car show in october. I have never had a booth before. I have all the stuff to set it up but im not sure what I should do. I plan on doing a raffle along with the owner of the business, I will be giving away a couple coupons and a nice detail kit. but as for my display what should I do? so far my plan is to have a canopy set up with a covered table and display 1 or 2 cars that i have worked on. any other ideas??



thanks in advance,

marco

PRISTINE DETAILS
 
I did one a while back. I got a hammered deck-lid from a body shop and polished one side out



Also had a slide show of B/D/A of the cars I had at the booth running on a flat screen under the tent.



Best of luck to you.
 
Find a hammered car and detail the passenger side, inside and out. Show it off and explain in bullet points what you did on a display card in front of the car.
 
The hammered car idea is great, also if it doesnt have leather find a car seat with leather and do half and leave half so they can do a side by side comparison. If you do 3M vinyl wrap maybe do part of the car to show the use of it. And if you do the Carbon Fiber wrap like Di Noc do some of the inside and maybe a body panel and such. Gives them idea of all your services. And if you still beed something ask someone to demonstrate how they wash a car, then give them hints and products you use and maybe get some business teaching the average joe how to take care of his ride between details.
 
3 cars would be great 1 exotic you worked on for the high end crowd to drool over, they will be at ease knowing you know how to baby and a daily driver next to it maybe with different stages of paint correction so they can get a look at how its done. the 3rd one do as decribed above. mayve give away some key chains or water bottles ,shirts and caps with your companies name and logo,

check out Autoplates for some ideas of swag to give away

Promotional Products - license plate frames, pens and flash drives

Lol , i sont work for them i was just on the site ordering some things for my car.

but look around for some swag etc fill a couple tables show some products used and show what shouldnt be used. hope some of my rambling helps you
 
No need for a flat screen TV. A digital photo frame will do the same thing and is battery powered so no need for connections.



Not only is a 1/2 detailed demo car a good idea, but a car you can work on with an audience would also help. It would show how long the process can take and why the cost can be so high.



Not sure what you plan coupons for, but I have had the best success offering a % discount or free add on service only if booked by a certain date. This helps create urgency since people often plan to wait for a particular time or situation but then forget.
 
I like the promotional stuff like pens and water bottles and stuff like that. ill probably have them made the same time i get a new banner printed.



great ideas so far guys, keep them coming.
 
Can I have a pen ????????



Very much agreed with a 50 / 50, even if it was only a hood that was propped up. Since you'll be at your booth, you can explain to everyone what processes you use, how long it takes, blah blah blah. The asthetics don't need any self-explanation, because you will be there to explain it.
 
Jean-Claude said:
Find a hammered car and detail the passenger side, inside and out. Show it off and explain in bullet points what you did on a display card in front of the car.
Click to expand...



A detailing supply shop near where I used to live did the exact same thing - took a beat up, broken down Mid-90's escort and did a full interior/exterior 50/50, showcasing what proper detailing can do to the most neglected of vehicles. It was a great marketing tool.
 
becciasm said:
A detailing supply shop near where I used to live did the exact same thing - took a beat up, broken down Mid-90's escort and did a full interior/exterior 50/50, showcasing what proper detailing can do to the most neglected of vehicles. It was a great marketing tool.
Click to expand...



I agree, that would be great. If you have just clean cars, people will assume they have always been clean. Find a TRASHED ride and work your magic!
 
I did a hood demo at a car show I was at...

5 sections:

sanded and three stepped

three stepped

two stepped

one stepped

untouched middle section



This will show people the differences possible...full correction down to gloss enhancement only with MINOR defect removal.



Leather seat idea would be great to show off, and I agree, get an exotic car there under your booth...the "oh, he works on exotics, he must be good" mentality is what most people have (too bad its not always true!)



flyers, brochures, discount cards (I like the expiration date idea), a sign/banner would be necessary and an attention getter. Pass out free cookies and give people a reason to talk about you later ("did you see the detailers booth, yeah, well did you get those cookies...delicious! no, Ill have to go back (at this point you can remember them hopefully and strike up convo again))



Get a Laptop or LCD screen, I think a 7" digital picture frame is too small, and I havent seen many larger ones with high quality. Heck, I'd use a 42" plasma if I could!



Raffle is nice, free stuff is always a hit! Just make sure you put your name on the product somewhere so they remember each time they use it



Tons of ideas still....
 
Do not invest a lot into this show-trust me. Show car guys don't like letting anyone else touch their cars.



The sun won't be in your favor ALL day. You should bring a finished car, and put photos of it's "before" shots on display, showing the swirls and interior drama. here is my booth set up with 2 client cars, they are both maintenance clients and were very happy to let me show off my work. I also had my laptop running a loop of before/afters and other cars I worked on with a bunch of cards for give away. The display adjacent to the XLR i bought from Car Show Display Inc and it has an 11x14" image of swirls and 50/50 shot with some information on it.



tssTent1.jpg




tssTent3.jpg
 
tssdetailing said:
Do not invest a lot into this show-trust me. Show car guys don't like letting anyone else touch their cars.
Click to expand...



I have found the same thing, even when a perfected vehicle and the owner, draw people in and they can see the finished product- they even acknowledge the difference compared to a lot of the other cars..



How did this go Jaison as far as objective booking and interest? Those boards are really sharp.
 
I probably handed out 50+ cards, had great conversations with about 15 or so individuals and haven't heard from any of them (its been 2 months since the show). I'm gonna bold this statement b/c it was probably my downfall: GET THEIR CONTACT INFORMATION. I should have had something there to write a name+number or email so that I would have someway of getting ahold of that individual. I was happy with the 'traffic' my booth received for sure but I should have been more aggressive developing a contact list.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top