Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 3, 1991 TAG: 9104030116
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By GEORGE KEGLEY/ BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Leading her pitch for environmental engineering services was Shaun Carroll, clad in an asbestos-inspection suit and looking like a space walker.
Her 6-month-old firm has clients, she said, but she took a booth at the show to help establish the company name.
More than 160 products and services - from The Homestead resort to chiropractic care - will be displayed in booths today and Thursday from noon to 9 p.m. Admission is by business card or invitation from exhibitors.
Networking contacts with other business people are encouraged but direct sales are not, said Lori Gubala of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce, a sponsor of the event. Several hundred company managers and other officials opened the three-day show Tuesday evening.
Meeting the right person for a business transaction is the biggest value of such a show, said Tom Freeman of Lynchburg, a marketing consultant who stages such productions regularly.
At a Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol show last week, Freeman said, a salesman spotted a Tennessee Eastman executive he had been trying unsuccessfully to reach for weeks. The executive gave him his direct telephone number and invited him to call.
A roofing contractor found 12 business leads at the same show, he said. Freeman has scheduled a show for the Charlotte area and he's investigating a Northern Virginia site for another.
Hosts for the booths had varied company. Sweet Springs Valley Water Co. of Gap Mills, W.Va., dispensed cups of mountain spring water near Lionberger Construction's photos of building projects, across from the Virginia Division for the Visually Handicapped display of literature for employers.
John Sarber, a former banker who represents Priority Management, distributed tips for organizing cluttered desks.
by CNB