My feet still hurt. Well, they don’t anymore, but boy did they hurt after 3 full days walking the floor of the Javitz Center at the 2013 National Stationery Show. We have been there before – but this time it was a completely different experience.
In the past, we had attended the National Stationery Show on behalf of our parent company, Frisch Plastics Corp. As a manufacturer, and wholesale distributor, to the greeting card and stationery industry, we often attended to keep up with industry trends. This year was different. This year, with the launch of Let’s Go Invite! we attended with a retailer’s perspective — and a very specific goal – to find the best products to offer to YOU!
It took us two full days just to walk through the entire floor — and this was with a well organized walking list. Day 3 was spent returning (multiple times) to the companies that made our short list of possible companies to work with. Prior to going to the show, we researched many of the companies that were attending, in order to narrow down the list of who we wanted to consider working with. We met with representatives from paper manufacturers, finishing companies, printing companies, invitation companies, designers, and more, in order to find the best fits for us. Before we agreed to work with any company, we met with them multiple times, and asked what seemed like an unlimited list of questions.
The goal of Let’s Go Invite! is to provide our customers with a broad selection, the finest products, and a range of price points. Since we believe that we need to give you, our customer, the best customer service, we would not even consider working with anyone who provided less than that to us. There were a number of companies that we were originally interested in, who did not make our cut.
There was one manufacturer that we were interested in based upon our research. We went to their booth to speak with them, and began speaking with one of the two representatives that they had at the show. After speaking with the representative for a minute or two, the other representative called her away. She told us she would be right back. We waited, and waited, and waited. When she did not return, we left.
Usually, that would be enough for us to cross someone off the list. But this was the first day of the show, and it was really crowded, so we decided to give them a second chance. We returned to their booth on day 3. Day 3 was not crowded at all. In fact, when we went to that booth, there were two representatives, and no potential customers. We mentioned to the representative that we had met her on day one, and that she had rudely blown us off. She was very apologetic. We began speaking with her again….would you believe that she blew us off a second time???? Well, suffice it to say, we will not be working with that company.
On the other hand, the companies that we did choose to work with are all the polar opposite!! We met with each company that we chose to work with a minimum of 3 times over the course of the show. Every one of the people that we met with at our chosen companies were knowledgeable, helpful, and pride themselves on their high standards… as do we.
As our samples begin to arrive, we are very excited, and cannot wait to share them with you!!