Assessing the value of ConExpo-Con/Agg

By |  March 3, 2020
ConExpo Roundtable

The Pit & Quarry Roundtable & Conference was hosted Jan. 14-15 in Bonita Springs, Florida. Photo: PamElla Lee Photography

The following transcripts were edited from two concurrent discussions at this year’s Pit & Quarry Roundtable & Conference.

P&Q: Producers: Do you plan to attend the upcoming ConExpo-Con/Agg? If yes, what strategic goals does your company have for the show? If you or your company do not plan to attend, what factors are behind the decision? In addition, how has your company’s approach to ConExpo-Con/Agg changed over the years? And how much stock do you put into trade shows when you need to make a purchasing decision? Equipment suppliers: Do you expect ConExpo-Con/Agg to provide a bump to your 2020 equipment sales? Describe the value the show offers your company, and has that value changed throughout your tenure in the industry? How has the nature of trade shows like ConExpo-Con/Agg changed as the industry increasingly operates in a just-in-time world?

ConExpo Roundtable

VDG’s Alex Kanaris, far left, expects business to pick up due to ConExpo-Con/Agg. Photo: PamElla Lee Photography

ALEX KANARIS (VDG): We’re planning to participate in the show and also MINExpo. Our experience with the show is [this]: We’re going to get some very good leads, and we’re going to get the opportunity to introduce suppliers to new technology.

This is one thing that we invested in in 2020 as compared to 2019. We’re investing in three areas: One area is research and development. The second area is purchasing production equipment for more accurate plant production, and faster. And the third area we are investing in is advertising.

So we believe that the [ConExpo-Con/Agg] is a very important place for us to exhibit all of our new technology, and we believe our business is going to pick up from those shows.

ConExpo Roundtable

Carlisle

JEFF CARLISLE (DOUGLAS MANUFACTURING): We always feel it’s a great benefit if you work it right. We go out there and buy the customers dinner. We’ve got a couple of new launches we’re going to do this year that we’re going to highlight at the show. It’s always been good.

I like AGG1 better. It’s a little smaller. It’s a little more intimate. People aren’t running past you because they have six miles to go to get to the new parking lot way behind Circus Circus. But it’s still a good show. We get everybody together at once.

The leads we generate are great with the new product, and we can specifically go to that end user and say “you saw this” and kind of jog their memory about it.

So it’s always been a good show. I like it. It’s exhausting for everybody, but it’s a good show.

ConExpo Roundtable

Mellott

JUSTIN MELLOTT (MELLOTT COMPANY): We’re also going to be at ConExpo. We always see that it’s a great investment. It’s a great time to go out and see a lot of the things possibly that we can buy, and it is absolutely exhausting.

I think the days of actually making a handshake deal and an agreement at the show don’t really exist anymore – at least that’s what I’ve been told. But I would ask the producers: Do you ever go to these shows specifically to find a piece of equipment – not necessarily with what’s upcoming, but just in general?

STEWART PETROVITS (ROUTE 82 SAND & GRAVEL): I like ConExpo, but it’s become so huge that it’s kind of overwhelming. I’ve gone to every one since 1993.

This year, I asked our equipment guys and they actually turned me down. They said it’s become so big and overwhelming. If we want a new milling machine, we’ll have three of them here to demo in the yard tomorrow. We don’t need to go to Las Vegas to see a milling machine, but I go.

I go there to look for things I didn’t know I needed. That’s what I find there. I always come away with something that I didn’t know I was looking for, or that a-ha moment.

So it is big. It’s almost too big at this point, but you can find something there that could change the whole direction of the company if you can wander to every single booth. But you definitely have to have a plan. And,yeah, we’re going – there are a couple of things we’re going to buy and I’m going to look at them there – but we pretty much narrowed it down with the dealers.

ConExpo Roundtable

Gray

JEFF GRAY (TELSMITH): Being part of Astec, we have about one acre in the Central Hall. It’s a big effort for us to arrange for that, a lot of cost involved.

What do we get? What do we see? We do get a bump because we bring the prospects into the booth that are open to hearing and being educated about our new products and the upgrades to our existing products in the way of technology and electronics.

As far as deals, we don’t start a deal and close a deal at the show, but it’s a good place to close ongoing deals that have been six months or 12 months [in the making] prior to the show. Sometimes, it’s a nice place to formally do it and maybe have the customer sign [for] the piece of equipment.

DAN JOHNSON (THE CONCRETE CO.): I’m on the same page with Stew – almost exactly. It’s so big [that] it’s overwhelming. I’ve gone for decades now, but there’s always new and fresh ideas there. I’m kind of on the fence about going this year.

One of the things I try to do,  because there are so many innovations and things you’re just not going see anywhere [else], is try to task the people we do send in coming back with at least three solid ideas to improve productivity, to improve safety, to improve efficiency – something that’s going to make our operations better. [We] put that kind of expectation on them so they’re looking and thinking while they’re there instead of just enjoying the experience. But it can be pretty overwhelming for a lot of us.


The following transcript was edited from a concurrent Pit & Quarry Roundtable & Conference discussion.

ConExpo Roundtable

Garcia

KEVIN GARCIA (TRIMBLE): Will we go there? Yeah. I don’t think you can afford to not go to that show anymore. Contractors and purchasers still go to the show just to make sure they didn’t miss anything.

It’s one thing to read about a product online; It’s another to know that you’ve got an industry partner. And I think sometimes just coming to talk to the people – do they understand my problems, can they speak my language, is this somebody I really want to spend my money with? They look for that reassurance, and that’s what you can’t get from a website.

I remember the 2014 show, most people were coming to the Trimble booth and still wondering, ‘what is it you guys do?’ Then in 2017, the level of questions from the customers, they had been far more educated. They were asking very specific, applicable questions to their industry. The level of education of the attendees now has gone up significantly.

I expect that again this year, where they know what they want to know and they’re coming in with a very pointed specific question: Can you solve this for me, or is this something that works with your solution, and how do I get it? I think it actually is a good thing because we spend less time educating and more time reaffirming what’s going on. So, yeah, we always see a pretty notable bump from that.

ConExpo Roundtable

Clarke

EVAN CLARKE (KLEEMANN): You always see a jump in sales after a ConExpo. The customers made the decision because of a contact.

Having gone to the show since it started, one thing I have really seen is that customers have now become more informed. Now the customers are coming up to us with understanding to talk about equipment.

As manufacturers, we are having to get more information and more technology on the booth to better inform the customer and support the customer when they come on, so you definitely see it as something that’s really improved over the years at the show.

SHELDON SHEPHERD (TECWEIGH): We’ll be attending ConExpo-Con/Agg and done it a lot over the years. A number of years ago, I thought that probably trade shows would be on the decline and be replaced by other methods used on the Internet, but you still can’t replace that human interaction.

And I think that’s what it brings to the table both in the existing customers as well as new customers. They’re going around checking out what the latest and greatest is, and they maybe have applications to discuss with somebody.

The other part, as the manufacturer, is it’s usually attended by a lot of our channel partners as well, so it’s always a good chance to meet with them. Everybody’s all in the same group at the same time.

ConExpo Roundtable

Swank

JOSH SWANK (PHILIPPI-HAGENBUCH): We see a bump typically about a year after each ConExpo. We use the show a little differently. Some shows, as Evan mentioned, people go to buy, some go to research and look at.

We have a pretty consistent knowledge of our clients domestically, but from the international side, that’s where we see people coming and doing more education on what we can offer them, and that’s what turns into more of a longer lead cycle for those purchases.

But we really use it as a time to meet with our partners around the world. They come to ConExpo and we meet with them, explain what’s new and what we’re working on, as well as our clients in North America and globally. It’s a nice time every three years to get together and to go over our products and services and what we have to offer, as well as announcing new products at that time.

JOHN GARRISON (SUPERIOR INDUSTRIES): We’re excited about the show. We have spent the last four or five years developing a lot of new products; our Rock Face to Load Out strategy, having crushing, screening, washing and conveying.

You can run ads, you can have all kinds of social media about all the things that you’re doing,  but at a show like this, people walk into your booth and they’re like, ‘oh, I didn’t know that you make this; I didn’t know that you were in this space now.’ So really I think a lot of people research and they come with a list of who theywant to see, but I think it’s a show where the shock and awe of walking into a booth and being able to touch themachine and talk to somebody that has some knowledge of it – I think that’s very advantageous.

I don’t think trade shows will ever die for our kind of equipment. You always get to show your latest and greatest technology, and honestly, there’s a lot of work that goes into developing new products and many manufacturers can utilize how long it takes and how much it costs.

ConExpo Roundtable

Ross

PAUL ROSS (DOUGLAS MANUFACTURING): To John’s point, we’re still in a tactile industry, so as opposed to software and other forms of technology, our customers like to touch things and see things and they do love that opportunity to come in there and physically interact with your products, whatever they happen to be. And it is a great point to launch new products.

It’s just a focal point every three years to get that message out to the industry, and there is no better vehicle.

MARK STRADER (BRAMCO-MPS): Being from the distribution side of the business, we really enjoy getting to go in support of our manufacturers by bringing potential clients through and showing off the cool new toys, whatever it may be. It also gives you a great opportunity to see what everyone is doing, so we are excited about the show and certainly will attend.

KEATON TURNER (TURNER MINING GROUP): I’ve been going to the show since 2008. We’re sending a team there this year and looking forward to the show.

For us, it’s about relationships. Obviously, all of the new equipment and the new products and features – a lot of people go to see the equipment. For me, the excavators and dozers do the same thing they did the last time we saw them. Our buying decisions are typically relationship decisions. For us, a seat heater on an excavator or something is not going to sway us to buy a machine over a different model.

The people we spend time with at the show, whether it be on the client side or the vendor side, are typically the ones that we end up doing the most business with, so we’re going to the show to spend time with dealers.

ConExpo Roundtable

Schurco Slurry’s Will Pierce (left) offer his input to the Roundtable. Also pictured is Preco Electronics’ Sean Martell. Photo: PamElla Lee Photography

WILL PIERCE (SCHURCO SLURRY): I think the benefits for the manufacturer and the customers, the end users, the direct interaction is obvious. And for us, interacting with our dealers, getting the opportunity to talk to them intimately in a way that’s not in their offices or in our offices is nice.

It’s a national or even international show, so we get the opportunity to find new dealers in places where we might not have great coverage because I think this is still very much a dealer-oriented or distributor-oriented industry. There is some direct-to-consumer, direct-to-user, but I think for a lot of this equipment, it takes so much service and the local guy in your area code that you can pick up the phone and call, it’s very important for the manufacturers to keep that outreach. So we use it as an outreach to dealers as much as outreach to the end users.

SEAN MARTELL (PRECO ELECTRONICS): We’ll definitely be there. We do several shows globally on a yearly basis, but we’re always excited about the ConAggs and the MineAggs. These are big targets for us and lead generators.

It’s an opportunity to connect with our customers, particularly those who maybe we’ve done business with over the phone, but we get a chance to meet them. We get a chance to meet with the OEs and see what the new equipment is, new technology they’ve integrated, etc.

It’s also a great opportunity for my team; they’re not out in the trenches every day seeing what the operators are exposed to and the operating environment of these machines. They get in these cabs and understand some of the challenges the operators have for visibility and why our safety product does what it does.

ConExpo Roundtable

Davis

STEPHENIE DAVIS (DAVIS INDUSTRIAL): As a service company and a distributor, we’re definitely looking to be there. It is kind of a captive audience to have all of our manufacturers, for the most part, in one spot and really be the voice for our customer [that is] looking for that value-added solution, that what’s next.

The Tech Experience last time was a great thing to go through and see what’s new in safety tech that we can bring to our customers that I’m dealing with; the end user, the guy in the ground, the one running the conveyor every day. So to be able to see those things firsthand and bring it to our end user and our sales team to bring to the end user is really value added.

VINNIE ROCCO (AMCAST): For us, it’s a really good opportunity. We catch a few people interested passing by that see your marketing and all that kind of stuff for the show and they’ll come in and ask questions, but for us it is actually really a good chance to finally sit down and meet with a lot of our dealers, a lot of our end users that we have been working on for the months prior, sometimes years.

Everybody’s busy, everybody has machines go down, you have planned meetings you have to reschedule. It’s kind of a nice opportunity where for  few days, you really have a chance to meet with those people finally and discuss a little bit further about everything that you have been working on, whether it’s the parts or the equipment. The idea is that you really get to strengthen those conversations and those meetings that you maybe missed or wanted to have more.

ConExpo Roundtable

Alexander

SCOTT ALEXANDER (ARCOSA): One size doesn’t fit all, so there’s a whole host of reasons. We will have it well-attended by our employees, and it varies whether it’s a reward for a certain operations person or somebody’s trying to develop, but it’s such a unique experience in the industry to bring everything about the industry all together in one spot.

It doesn’t matter if it’s scales, lubricants, equipment, whatever – I can’t think of anything about this industry that isn’t represented there, where you go in one location and see all that. Our folks deal with a lot of people [and] everybody they deal with is going to be there. How nice is that?

There’s the whole training component, where we make sure that out folks attend certain training sessions, whether it’s blasting, crushing, whatever it may be, because it’s a really great educational opportunity. And the employees overall see it as a perk. It’s really special to be able to go and be in that environment. It’s a fantastic opportunity and it’s great that our industry does that.

ConExpo Roundtable

Carney

TRENT CARNEY (ROGERS GROUP): We’ll have several people attending, and we always do. It’s kind of a combination of [people], depending on what the role is of that person.

I might be meeting with manufacturers, might be meeting with dealer networks, but then there’s the education part, too. Miners that we have that are developing, we always put them into a series of the classes to try and help them grow and they always bring back new ideas from that, so we see a lot of value in the classes.

And then just traveling the booths and trying to see that some of our managers that make decisions about equipment seeing all of the different manufacturers. We use it for a bunch of different reasons and it’s the reason we have a very diverse group that we send, to try to make sure we get as much value out of that that we can.

ROB VAN TIL (RIVER AGGREGATES): My [managing] partner and I each go, and we go with different agendas. I’m probably a little more like Keaton [Turner]. I’m going there not only to see people that I know, but we’ll have customers that are there and so I want to interact with them as well as look at manufacturers.

The show is great, but it’s really more that’s the venue to get people together. [My partner] will go very much focused on ‘hey, I’m going to buy these three or four pieces of equipment this year, I want to go compare them’ and he’ll spend hours in a specific booth, making sure he understands it. For us, we each have different agendas when we go there, but we get a lot of value out of it both ways.


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