Cleanlink News October 23 2009
ISSA/INTERCLEAN Exceeds Expectations
ISSA/INTERCLEAN
North America 2009 drew the highest number of first-time attendee companies in
recent years, which, combined with a turnout of the industry’s elite
distributors and facility service provider (FSP) companies, created a strong
selling environment in a challenging year, say many exhibitors. To see what
attendees had to say about ISSA/INTERCLEAN during the event, visit www.issa.com/live.
While
the number of people dropped about 9.5 percent from 2008, the number of new
customer companies visiting the show for the first time reached 28 percent.
This increase was further confirmed when more than 83 percent of exhibitors
surveyed indicated they had met new contacts at this year’s show, and more than
half said they generated new business.
“Our
experience was very positive and better than we thought it could be,” said
first-time exhibitor Paul Offutt, general manager of Sonic Scrubbers. “Our CEO
said this was the best tradeshow he’s participated at in over 40 years.”
The
event, hosted by ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, and its
alliance partner Amsterdam RAI, took place in Chicago, IL, October 6-9, with
14,248 people registered.
Not
only were the top customers in attendance this year, but the industry’s leading
suppliers also were present with more than 600 companies exhibiting. Special
recognitions taking place during the show included the awarding of 20 Best
Customer Service Awards to exhibitors, as voted on by their customers in
attendance. The program allows customers to acknowledge those companies that go
out of their way to accommodate visitors who stop by their booths.
The
2009 Best Customer Service Award winners were: DCL Solutions, JohnsonDiversey,
Spartan Chemical Co., and Urine Off in the Chemicals category; Intelligent
Products, Inc., Georgia-Pacific Professional, Kimberly-Clark Corp., and
KlenzCorp International in the Disposables category; Advance, Advanced Vapor
Technologies, Viper North America, and Windsor Industries in the Power
Equipment category; Expanded Technologies Corp., Morton Salt, Rubbermaid
Commercial Products, and Unger Enterprises in the Supplies category; and
Activeion Cleaning Solutions, American EPAY, Cleaning for a Reason, and The Weee
in the Other Products, Services & Technology category. To learn more about
these and other exhibitors at the show, visit www.issa.com/exhibitors.
The
Right Results
“We
are very pleased with this year’s results, as we exceeded our expectations in a
challenging year,” said ISSA Executive Director John Garfinkel. “Multiple
exhibitors who participate in tradeshows in many industries told me this was
the best event they’ve been at this year. They also seemed pleased with the
number of quality decision-makers and the number of new prospective customers
they met.
“While
it was an appropriate management decision for our manufacturer, distributor,
and contract-services members to control the number of people they brought to
the show in this challenging economy, the top managers and decision-makers from
the major players were present, which ensured a solid event,” added Garfinkel.
“All
of our distribution partners and key end-users from different segments that are
decision-makers were at the show,” said Greg Moore, national sales manager for
3M. “We’ve been able to get to the right people with the right message and
develop good action items to follow up on.”
Several
top executives also stated that the tradeshow is the most efficient way to meet
large numbers of their customers in a single venue when compared with going to
multiple cities to visit customers at a time when travel expenses need to be
closely monitored.
“ISSA
is the premier show—it’s bigger and gives us more exposure than other shows
where we exhibit,” said Mike Julo, CEO for Direct Mop Sales. “We saw a good mix
of contractors, distributors, and in-house providers. Getting in front of so
many people for this price is a low cost for the exposure we got.”
In
fact, all U.S. states and Canadian provinces were represented among attendees,
with 20 percent of participants hailing from the West Coast, despite the show
having just been in that region last year.
Garfinkel
noted that each city ISSA/INTERCLEAN North America visits brings a unique mix
of attendees, as was seen this year in Chicago. Orlando, FL, next year’s
location, historically attracts a strong mix of customers from the South and
East who do not travel to the show when it is in other parts of the country.
“If we can apply the same innovative marketing techniques and strong business
value that drew attendees this year, we are confident that we will produce a
successful show next year that will once again deliver new opportunities for
our exhibitors,” said Garfinkel.
Thanks
to the work of ISSA’s international offices and partner Amsterdam RAI,
ISSA/INTERCLEAN also drew visitors from 64 countries outside of the United
States and Canada. Many exhibitors specifically commented on the high number of
contacts they made with Latin American customers, which ISSA attributes to the
expanded reach the association has developed over the last year with its
Spanish-language electronic newsletter and Web site, www.issa.com/latam,
and many new relationships it has built to prepare for the 2010 Latin American
event next June 9-11, in Cancun, Mexico.
Further
making ISSA/INTERCLEAN 2009 the “Who’s Who” of executive events was the support
of many distributor marketing groups, with 60 percent of distributor attendees
identified as belonging to one of these organizations, many of which held their
own events in conjunction with the show this year.
In
the FSP arena, many veteran attendees were on hand to celebrate the 10-year
anniversary of the International Executive Housekeepers Association’s
co-location of its annual event with ISSA/INTERCLEAN. New alliances with the
Building Service Contractors Association International—which will co-locate its
convention with ISSA’s in 2010—and the Professional Retail Store Maintenance
Association also drew big-name customers to the event for the first time this
year. These groups bring the largest retailers and institutional and industrial
end-customers from around North America.
Visitors
Hungry for Information
Another
indication that this year’s show attracted the right people—people looking for
solutions—is the fact that ISSA’s own educational-product and business-tool
sales during the event were up more than 20 percent over the past few years.
“We
saw a strong interest in everything from cleaning times and workloading tools
to general business-advice books from some of our key speakers,” said ISSA
Member Services Director Anthony Trombetta. “Plus, many of our workshops,
ranging from technical training to organizational management topics, had to
have more seats brought in to accommodate people who continued to sign up on
site, causing us to hit max room capacity.”
Tuesday’s
main educational-conference day hosted many packed rooms, with sessions covering
sales, customer trends, and leadership and environmental topics drawing the
largest crowds.
Attendee
feedback also mirrored that of exhibitors, with many people saying the
educational sessions were on target with their needs. Others said there were too
many to select from and wished they had had more people available to cover all
of the seminars.
“The
consensus among the people I talked to this year was that the education was
outstanding and absolutely spot on,” said Eric Bates, IEHA president-elect.
“ISSA hit it out of the park.”
Another
popular addition to this year’s event was the ISSA Green Connections Center,
visited by more than 80 percent of the distributors and FSPs in attendance.
This area featured live product demos and discussions every half hour right on
the show floor. It also offered a Green Product Showcase of the latest
innovations in environmentally friendly, science-based, and health-focused
technology.
Special
Recognition
Prior
to the event’s keynote address by Donny Deutsch, ISSA recognized 78 exhibitors
who had supported the association for more than 40 years consecutively, with
the longest support coming from companies that have been with ISSA and its
tradeshow for 64 years.
At
this year’s show, three new companies joined this prestigious group, known as
the Star 40. The newest members of the Star 40 club are: Impact Products LLC;
Theochem Laboratories, Inc.; and Quest Chemical Corp.
At
the same time, ISSA was pleased to attract 89 new exhibitors to the show this
year. While several represented traditional cleaning products, others brought
new product groups, such as lighting, safety, and maintenance, and still others
were technology companies and business services. Many of these exhibitors were
located in the new Facility Maintenance Pavilion ISSA created to help attendees
more easily find these nontraditional exhibitors. The pavilion was opened in
answer to the request of more than 45 percent of attendees surveyed in 2008 who
were looking for noncleaning solutions when attending ISSA/INTERCLEAN.
ISSA also
presented three professional awards during the week: The Jack D. Ramaley
Industry Distinguished Service Award recipient was Mattie Chinks of Avmor Ltd.,
Laval, QC, Canada, for exceptional service to the industry, the association, and
its members; the Manufacturer Representatives’ Distinguished Service Award
recipient was Don Lees of Big D Industries, Inc., Oklahoma City, OK; and the
YES Industry Special Achievement Award recipient was W. Grant Watkinson of
Coastwide Laboratories, Inc., Wilsonville, OR.
