Exhibitor Case Study

Scissorman: "Distilled Retailing"

Trevor Robertson, known throughout the craft industry as the Scissorman, decided exhibiting was for him within five seconds of experiencing his first craft show.

"I was selling scissors by mail order through the craft magazines and someone told me about the craft shows. I came up to Sydney to look at one of Expertise Events shows at Darling Harbour. I thought I'd be smart, go early and have a look around before it became busy," he recalls. When Trevor arrived 10 minutes before the show's 10am opening, he was confronted with a 500 metre queue waiting to get in. "When I finally managed to get through the doors, all I could see was a lot of trading and money being exchanged for goods over the counter. I knew within five seconds that this was for me." Within minutes, he was in the exhibition office, booking into shows, starting with Expertise Events' 1997 Canberra Craft Show.
Years later, Trevor is an experienced craft show exhibitor, with a loyal clientele in major cities around Australia. Indeed, he has his customers to thank for his trading name.

"When we initially did the shows, we used First Direct Marketing, our mail order business name. I then began overhearing customers saying things like "It's the Scissorman" as they approached my stand. I realised that "Scissorman" was the ideal name." Trevor soon trademarked the name, and subsequently developed his own logo. "I think it's important to have a good name and a unique identity in the market place. The Scissorman describes exactly what we do."

What Trevor does is sell scissors for many different purposes. "We sell over 500 different types of scissors. For example, we have strangely shaped scissors for machine embroidery, duck billed scissors for cutting away lace, the range is quite mind boggling. When most people come to our stand they are amazed because they never knew there were so many different types of scissors available." Apart from scissors, Trevor also sells rotary cutters, and other cutting tools, tweezers, thimbles, magnifying lights which assist people using fine embroidery scissors and other associated accessories. "The things we sell all relate to the core business of selling scissors," he explained.

Trevor believes the craft shows are the ideal vehicle for selling his products. "I call it distilled retailing. With conventional retailing you can have a shop where you might have a handful of customers each day, whereas at a craft show you have thousands of people passing your stand, and they are all potential customers. The craft shows bring all the people who might need your product into the one place at the one time."

Show retailing also has advantages over traditional retailing. Traditional retailing is essentially an all year round activity, with the only guaranteed days off being Christmas Day and Good Friday. With show retailing, the time required is much more concentrated. Trevor takes part in around 14 shows throughout Australia each year, each running for four or five days. That represents around 100 days, once time for travelling, setting up and bumping out is added in. When Exposure spoke to Trevor, he had just returned from a show in Sydney. His next show was in three weeks time.
"The down time between shows lets me take care of other components of the business, such as marketing and sourcing new products. Doing shows gives you much more flexibility than traditional retailing."

The other advantage is the show cycle.

"There aren't any shows over the Christmas period. That means there's about three and a half months which allows you to have your own life, do your own travelling, and simply replace washers at home."

The flip side to this greater flexibility and freedom are the particular demands of exhibiting.
"It's full on when you do a show, and each show usually involves about seven days, plus travelling and a week's preparation."

Over the years, Trevor has got it down to a well-worked routine. He arrives around lunchtime two days before the show opens, giving him about day and a half to set up. The first afternoon is spent building the structure of the stand, and the next day is given over to stocking the stand, laying out the products, adjusting displays, putting signage up and pricing. He has his own walling system, lighting, displays and tables, making the operation self contained. Packing up once the show is over usually takes around five hours. Throughout the show, Trevor will be there from early in the morning to after the show closes. There is always some preparation and restocking at both ends of the day.

Once the doors open each day, there's no stopping once customers find his stand and start looking at his range. "Our products are hands on. That's the real key to it. People need to pick up a pair of scissors and try them. We have a basket of fabric on the stand which lets them do that. What's comfortable in one person's hand may not be as comfortable in someone else's hand. Scissors are quite unique in that way."

Over the years Trevor has gained many regular customers. While he may not know them by name, he usually recognises faces and is able to greet them with a friendly smile and a "how are you?".

The physical presence at the shows combined with good service is Trevor's key to winning customers. He also believes that helping a customer who has a problem presents an opportunity to win them for life. "If someone has a problem with one of our products, we fix it for them straight away or give them a new product. Even if we suspect a pair of scissors might have been abused it's easier to make the customer happy. Nine times out of ten they buy something else."

Trevor believes the interaction with the customers and the adrenaline flow is what keeps him going throughout the day. It is only during quiet times, which for him are quite rare, that tiredness may be an issue.

"It's during the quiet times that you start to feel hungry, you want to go to the loo and your legs start aching. When it's busy, the adrenaline sees you through. There's no point sitting on a chair in the corner expecting the business to come your way. You have to be proactive, energetic, and a bit of a showman. If you let that enthusiasm come across people respond."

Trevor is now moving to streamline his operation. "When I started out, I used a tandem trailer to transport the stand and equipment and freighted the stock. We've now had three big pallet containers built. At the end of each show we'll pack everything into them and they will be freighted to the next show. Meanwhile we'll fly home and send top up stock."
While it will mean additional costs in freight and stock, Trevor believes it will liberate about 25 days that would have been spent on the road. "That's basically a working month. For any small business, the most valuable thing is time."

Trevor's next step is the launch of the Scissorman website. "The website will tie in with the shows and promote our attendance at shows. We'll have discount coupons available on line that can be used at shows. It will also be possible for people who have seen something at a show to order it online later on."

The craft shows will remain Trevor's primary business vehicle. "I think we've built a reputation within the craft industry for quality service and value for money and it's something I like doing. I have a passion for it and I think that's something that comes across to customers. I've never regretted becoming involved at all. I think doing that changed my life."

Article reproduced thanks to Exposure magazine, July 2004.