We welcome another guest blogger, Jacqui, who is self building a house in Hampton near Twickenham, Middlesex.
A regular visitor to the Homebuilding & Renovating Shows, there is no better place to start than with Jacqui's views on attending exhibitions.
It was 2005 when I went to my first Homebuilding and Renovating show at the NEC in Birmingham. My first impression was that I was a little disappointed. I taken a day off work travelled from London to Birmingham I think the first thing that greeted me as I walked into the show was a large septic tank. I wanted to see nice houses and things to inspire me, not waste digesters and under floor heating.
But then I discovered the seminars, as I recall Sarah Beeny was the main attraction, property ladder had just hit the screen and was essential viewing at that time. During that day I went to as many of the seminars as I could fit in.
David Snell’s tips on how to find land left me spotting opportunities all over the place. Tim Crump from Oakwrights, with a chap from Potton and Mark Brinkley debating the merits of timber frame v brick and block. Since that first show I have probably been to 6 more Homebuilding and Renovating shows all over the country and now I am the one looking at the Underfloor Heating and speaking with window and door supplies.
These shows are a must and here are my thoughts on what you should expect from the shows. At your first show you should try to attend lots of the seminars they will really inspire you. Start with one of David Snells lectures on finding land (unless you already have your plot). Michael Holmes the editor of Homebuilding and Renovating is very inspiring and has a great story to tell so make sure you don’t miss that one.
In the early stages of a project many of the stands won’t really interest you as you won’t be at that stage of the build but as your project progresses you can go to other shows and start looking at the stands that are relevant. After buying the land I went to the show in Birmingham for a day and half and picked up lots of brochures and approached loads of companies for quotations.
But its a amazing how many companies didn’t even follow up the leads after the show. I only went back and chased any suppliers that I was really interested in. Now that I am at a stage where I am ordering products I don’t think I have used any suppliers that were not pro-active in the first place. These exhibitors really should read the excellent book by Fiona Humberstone – Exhibit! A must read for anyone hoping to grow there business from a show.
http://marvellousmonthlymarketingtips.co.uk/fionas-book/
More recently rather than collecting the brochures which are mostly sitting in a bag in my spare room I either ask for a business card or just take down the company name and look them up in the show guide. All the information in the literature will be on there website so why bother lugging it around unless you want to read it on the train home.
I also take my own business cards to give to exhibitors it saves time repeating your details, if you don’t have a card you can just type out your details on paper and use those.
To read all of Jacqui's blogs please visit her website