61st Annual Pottstown Home Show: Selling the Home Show & NARI-BIE

“To get people to go where you need them, you must give them a need to go.” stated Ranae Gabel, Marketing Director of the 2015 Pottstown Home Show sponsored by NARI-BIE (Building Industries Exchange). It seems a simple enough concept in theory but in practice, it takes a professional to formulate a concept to match the desired results.

NARI-BIE is the pre-eminent building industry trade group in country and Berks-Montgomery and Upper Chester County are lucky to have one of the older chapters founded in 1952. The professional contractor is no longer just a “hammer-swinger” or a lawn-seeder. The days of simple trades are long gone and every occupational professional needs to have a full range of skills, accreditations, management & marketing skills just to open their doors. Welcome to BIE!

NARI-BIE offers a home, a venue, a staff and a membership that is dedicated to offering the finest skills with the most ethical and educated procedures available. The member benefits alone are worth review if a contractor is going to be working in our areas. We strive for excellence in each and every member. Each year more and more benefits are added to the long list to support our local contracting community.

While the organization is governed by NARI National, the local BIE holds to their own traditions of member benefits, community outreach and continuing education and of course, The Pottstown Home Show.

Hospitality is the motif of the 61st Annual Home Show and the inspiration was the “hospitable pineapple,” the international symbol of welcome. The inspiration behind that vision is NARI-BIE member and marketing professional, Ranae Gabel of In Touch Marketing Concepts. “We are a warm and local community,” states Gabel, “and while we serve a large area of Eastern Pennsylvania, we want to keep the hometown flavor, feel and focus.” In fact, the home show is completely put on, put up and designed by the member exhibitors themselves. “It is important to our residential and commercial clients that they know who we are, and that we are here, locally, to meet their needs and present the highest quality of services.”

The first job in marketing is to convince the audience that they want what you are offering, as with anything it needs to be logical, affordable and compelling. And there is something awfully compelling about a pineapple when you look into it, the weird, pillowy exterior hiding that luscious fruit and heady juice. The pineapple has been used in decorative motifs for as long as anyone has known about them. They are woven, painted, cast in a multitude of metals as finials, doorknockers and furniture knobs and pulls. We are pretty much surrounded by the pineapple and that does make us feel right at home even if we don’t quite know why.

But how do you convince the committee?

Making the proposal to the NARI-BIE Board of Directors as well as the Home Show Committee was interesting. It was presented as a natural extension of what NARI-BIE represents, a welcome and a welcoming home. Looking across the landscape of a trade show, down aisles, around corners and into booths, the theme or motif has to carry the show and represent the exhibitors across so many specialties. And most importantly, it must engage the participants, even before they cross the threshold of the venue.

Take the pineapple motif and wrap it around the show. There could not have a been a more appreciative audience for the presentation. And the most lively discussion came at the suggestion of a limited edition, themed recipe book to give to the attendees. Dennis Gehman, Co-Founder & President of Gehman Design Remodeling was the first to jump in and offer a recipe which will be included in the book, a pineapple/kale concoction. Not far behind was John O’Boyle, CEO if J.O.B. Construction hopped aboard with a delicious pineapple/raisin ham sauce, also in the book. “Tom Wing or Eileen Quote to go here.”

What does this have to do with hospitality? Or building trades? Well, have you ever noticed that when families gather, they always end up in the kitchen? Families have been drawn to the warm aromas from around the hearth for centuries. Comparing notes around the meeting, it was agreed that no one tosses a good cookbook. And we want our offerings to become a part of the family as well, to remind people of the dedication and warmth that NARI-BIE offers to our friends and clients alike.

Hospitality is the greeting card for the show this year but, beyond the “warm and fuzzy” feel of the show, a decidedly pineapple filled FREE cookbook being given away, iPad Mini chances and treat samples to be tasted, there is going to be hard-core technology, trending décor and innovative offerings for better living. Booths showing neat gadgets and new opportunities to be explored are already massing their displays. Craftsmen and business owners will be in attendance to discuss projects, both large and small. There is no doubt that the builders of NARI-BIE keep up with and forge ahead of the mainstream industry with modern appliances and techniques. And presenting the Pottstown Home Show to the public is just one of the best things we do each year.

Spring is, after all a time for blossoming.