Peter literally grew up in the exhibit business!
- From the age of 13, Peter went to work on weekends, school holidays and summer vacations with his father to Exhibit Craft, Inc. in Long Island City, New York.
- Peter worked his way through the shop from department to department doing what was asked while learning the business from the broom up.
No business like trade show business!
- By the time Peter was 19 years old, he had worked in all departments. Exhibit Craft split its company half going up to Montreal to work on the 1967 worlds fair.
- Peter was assigned account executive to Olivetti Underwood managing over 40 trade shows a year.
- In 1970 Peter was hired by Sperry UNIVAC as their corporate trade show exhibits coordinator.
Reproduction so true, it can shatter glass
- In 1971 Peter was hired as Memorex’s corporate exhibits manager responsible for 25 shows for their computer, video and audio groups.
- Peter took Memorex’s new audio group to their first Consumer Electronics show where they asked ”Is it live or is it Memorex?”
Design Enterprises, Inc.
- After Memorex Peter went to Anaheim to sell exhibits for Design Enterprises.
- Sold over $150,000 of new exhibits during the first 4 months after developing a new approach to timely sales.
- Design Enterprises was known for doing most of the exhibit work on the Queen Mary.
- Beckman Instruments called and as always, looking for adventure, Peter went.
Bridging the gap between trade shows and sales
- Beckman was very serious about trade shows.
- They spent millions.
- The president worked every major show.
- They demanded accountability.
- There were 6 divisions going to over 45 shows a year.
- Every dollar had to be accounted for.
- We created a new level of trade show marketing that increased sales efficiency and reduced selling time.
Fast Forward to OrCAD
- 1990, OrCAD of Hillsboro, Oregon grew from $0 to $8 Million in three years in part because of trade shows.
- Without venture capital, OrCAD boot strapped its marketing and sales and used trade shows to grow its worldwide business.
OrCAD and trade shows
- Signed up dealers at shows.
- Met editors for one on one presentations.
- Distributed free demo disks after getting prospect names addresses and phone numbers.
- Set-up work stations where prospects could sit down and try the software.
- Had reps work side by side with factory people.
Trade shows worked for OrCAD
- Trained field sales people.
- Did competitive analysis.
- Conducted product research.
- Staged pre-show meetings.
- Offered show specials.
- Used OrCAD suite each night to spend quality time with invited reps, prospects and customers.
- Reviewed and distributed sales leads each night.
- Processed sales leads immediately.
"My goal is to help you sell more, enjoy more and make more."