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Step into the vibrant world of Expo West in this episode of the Startup CPG podcast where Daniel Scharff is joined by startup CPG sales legends Matt Levine from Chlorophyll Water, Clara Paye from Unite Foods, and Pierre Jamet from Fishwife. Join them as they share insider tips for Expo West - what to do before, during, and after the show to make the most of your opportunity.
From prep hacks to pitch perfection, discover how to wow potential buyers. Master booth setup, keep samples fresh, and ace networking using LinkedIn and CPG Slack. Know the advanced strategies like the "buyer pick 'n roll," stand out in the crowd, and get tips on chasing down a buyer in the aisle.
Whether you're a pro or a rookie, this episode gives you expert advice, anecdotes, and actionable strategies that can elevate your trade show adventure.
Tune in now!
Listen in as Matt, Pierre and Clara share about:
- Preparation and Goal-Setting
- Engaging Attendees with Concise Pitches
- Booth Planning and Fresh Samples
- Active Engagement and Decoy System
- Networking and Grant Opportunities
- Sample Distribution and Engagement
- Effective Post-Show Follow-ups
- Networking with Distributors
- Booth Design and Confidence
- Booth Management Strategies
- Protecting Energy and Handling Criticism
- Utilizing Brokers
- Business Card Strategies
Episode Links:
Matt Levine’s Website
Matt Levine’s LinkedIn
Clara’s Website
Clara’s LinkedIn
Pierre’s Website
Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.
Show Links:
- Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)
- Join the Startup CPG Slack community (15K+ members and growing!)
- Follow @startupcpg
- Visit host Daniel's Linkedin
- Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.com
- Episode music by Super Fantastics
Creators & Guests
What is The Startup CPG Podcast?
A podcast from Startup CPG - highlighting stories from founders working towards a better food system and industry insights from experts to give you a better chance at success.
00:02
Daniel Scharff
Hello, CPG ers. Welcome to the Startup CPG podcast. I'm your host, Daniel Sharf. And today we have an awesome bonus episode. So we're joined by three CPG legends who are going to give you the inside track on how to crush all things Expo west. So, the things you need to know to do before the show, during the show, and after the show, to make the most of your investment that you're making. I am really pleased to be joined today by Matt from chlorophyll Water, Clara from Unite Foods, and Pierre from Fishwife, each of whom I've personally seen crush Expo west. So I think they're really great people to give advice here. So, guys, let's just jump right into it. Can each of you please introduce yourselves and your brand before we get into the good stuff? Clara, maybe I could start with you.
00:47
Clara Paye
Sure. My name is Clara. I'm the founder of Unite. We make gluten free protein bars in a world of flavors. Been exhibiting at Expo west since 2022, which was the first one. We were set up in 2020, but that got canceled. Different story for a different day. So have about two expos under our belt.
01:07
Daniel Scharff
All right, Pierre, do you want to go next?
01:10
Pierre
Sure. So I'm the head of sales for Fishwife. Fishwife was started by Becca Milstein in the heart of the pandemic in 2020, and is just really on a mission to really change the shape of the canned seafood set in brick and mortar retail, we make premium, delicious, ethically sourced thin seafood, and we're just getting started. DTC native now. Really scaling in brick and mortar this year. Obviously, Expo is always a fun time in order to do that. I think I'm at my 9th Expo now, so. Almost coming on that decade, but, yeah, just so happy to be joined by an amazing panel and happy to share some tips.
02:06
Daniel Scharff
It'd be nice if you got a badge or something when you hit your. I feel like they should have that, like a Boy scout tent.
02:13
Pierre
Like a bib tag.
02:14
Daniel Scharff
Yeah. And Fishwife was just on shark Tank, right?
02:20
Pierre
Yeah, last Friday. Struck a deal with Candice, and Lori was all hands on deck this past few days, and, yeah, it's been. Just been amazing.
02:32
Daniel Scharff
All right, cool. Okay, Matt, your turn.
02:36
Matt Levine
Hey, what's going on? So, I am the founder of Chlorophyll Water. Chlorophyll is the first ever bottled water to pass clean label project certification. Made from 100% recycled plastic, it's chlorophyll, vitamin a, b, twelve c, and d, little organic lemon juice, natural spearmint sold nationwide at aloe, yoga sprouts, Irwan, Bristol Farms Urban Outfitters. And this will be our second expo west, I believe. Second expo west, but we've done Expo east as well, twice. So we're kind of rookies. So I could definitely give some first time knowledge, but I've been walking the show prior to exhibiting walk the show so just to get to know it. But no, super stoked to be on this panel and always here to help out other founders.
03:29
Daniel Scharff
All right, I think this is a super cool panel. I've seen each of you guys just do way better than anyone would expect to in their first couple expos. So let's get everybody those tips. So starting out, I think first it would be cool to just dive into right now as of recording. So it's mid January. We've got two months until the big show. What are you guys doing now? What should people be doing now over the next two months leading up to the show? And Pierre, maybe we could start with you.
03:59
Pierre
Yeah, I would say definitely rest and get some sleep, but that's obvious because Expo west is relentless. I think we all sick after expo and need a week break.
04:12
Daniel Scharff
I call it conference crud. Like you always come back a little out of it after you might have a cold. I don't know.
04:20
Pierre
Yeah, people make fun of me because I wear a scarf starting day two, but I highly recommend a scarf. So I think it's really important to always do some goal setting about expo, thinking what you really want to get out of it and be reasonable about this, but really be intentional in reaching out to those leads. Maybe some people that have gone dark on you just being able to say, hey, let's meet up in person. But don't do the booth appointments because those never happen. Well, they're never on time. Maybe try to meet up for coffee. I like coffee because it's less of a commitment than a dinner, but little coffee. Maybe if they're giving a presentation on a panel, meet right after the panel. I love those kind of 510 minutes meetings. You go straight to the point.
05:14
Pierre
You don't bring a big deck. Just have one or two pages, samples of your product and just have a conversation. I mean, a lot of those buyers, investors, et cetera, just keep it simple. So I think preparation are also training anyone that's going to work the booth so they can be a great representative of your brand, be able to talk about the story, the product and everything. Some of the other things that in my mind are really important is preparing a ten second pitch. Like, what is it, and why should I care? Why should I stop a lot of these guys? I mean, there's so many booths. I don't even know how many booths there are. Everybody has a story. Everybody has an interesting product. So why should I care right now to, quote unquote, waste five minutes with you?
06:05
Pierre
So having a really impactful ten second pitch is really important, and I think that's part of the preparation.
06:14
Daniel Scharff
I think on that note, maybe we could just do a quick round of what's everyone's. Maybe not. Like, either ten second pitch, or if someone's walking by your booth and it's a buyer you want to talk to, what is the thing that you say about your product to grab their attention? Can we do a quick round of that, maybe? Clara, I know you got this down. Do you want to go first?
06:31
Clara Paye
Sure. I felt like Matt just did a great one when he pitched chlorophyll. It was, like, so perfect. I usually actually say, can I tell you a little bit about the brand? Because I don't want to inundate somebody and kind of irritate them. So when you seek permission, that automatically lowers their defenses, and they usually say, sure. And if they just blow you off, usually that doesn't happen.
06:54
Daniel Scharff
But do you have to look as sweet as you look? Oh, yeah, of course. I don't think I can pull that off.
07:01
Clara Paye
You have to smile. And my pitch is just like, hi, I'm Clara. You know, I'm the founder of Unite. We make globally inspired protein bars. We saw a big hole in the market when we want to welcome more people into wellness. And these are some of our flavors. Which one would you like to try?
07:16
Daniel Scharff
Pro. All right. Nailed it. Matt?
07:19
Matt Levine
Yeah. I take the approach of help, don't I? Just. I'm helping hydrate. I'm just. I don't even say anything. I just kind of hand them a chlorophyll water because people are eating so much. There's so much going on, and there's so many samples. I'm just handing out chlorophyll waters, and then people are getting bombarded with pitches, with this, with that. If someone's interested in your brand, they're interested. If you need to sell them too much, then they're most likely. You're wasting their time. You're wasting your time. So I just take the approach of just handing out chlorophyll waters and just hydrating people, and if they're interested. And, yeah, I kind of just take that help, don't sell, teach, don't preach approach. And just kind of, that's my little quick because there's so many people, everyone's running around, everyone's got friends there.
08:16
Matt Levine
People are being pulled in different directions. So, yeah, I kind of just hand out chlorophyll waters.
08:22
Daniel Scharff
I love it. I do kind of wonder if you take the same approach to dating. If your approach is so laid back and chill like that, I bet it works for you. But that's a question for another day. All right, Pierre, coming to you.
08:36
Pierre
Similar to Matt, I like to welcome people in the world of fish, like holding a tray of beautiful samples, maybe a little piece of anchovies and really high quality butter and a piece of cracker or something. Something that's really easy for them to be like, sure, why would I not try this? And then after they have a sample, that's when I have at least 510 20 seconds to give them more of a spiel about what they're eating, invite them more to come towards the booth, maybe have a seat. If we're talking for more than minutes or two, propose author other samples saying, hey, would you like to try our collaboration with live? Do you want to try our sardines with lemon and really preach about the product and the deliciousness? I think there's so many products at expo that don't actually taste good.
09:35
Pierre
So you would be surprised when you have a product that tastes good. People really love to spend more.
09:47
Clara Paye
Matt wants to, we all want to talk about this. Go ahead, Matt.
09:49
Matt Levine
No, I think to echo that, I think it's just having quick one know as well. Like when someone has a quick comment about the brand, I know people come over to our booth and they're like, why should I have chlorophyll water? And my always one liner is like, well, why shouldn't you? It's like reading your horoscope. What are you looking know, looking for detox energy of. So I think having those one liners, less is more. I think Pierre mentioned, you know, less is more. Keep it simple. What's that saying? Keep it simple, stupid. Just keep everything really simple. Yeah, because if you can't communicate your brand within the first one or 2 seconds, how is it going to sell on the shelf?
10:32
Matt Levine
So it's like consumers that one or 3 seconds when a buyer is walking by your booth and stopping by your booth, if you can't communicate to them why they should be drinking it, then it goes for the same reason of why would someone purchase it in the store? So it's just having those quick selling points on the bottle brand design, booth design, and obviously just wear a smile too. Just be happy. That's kind of like, just be happy to be there while wearing comfortable shoes.
11:07
Clara Paye
So I wanted to talk, actually about sample freshness. And so I think making your samples look as fresh and appealing as possible because there's so many sample stations that are overrun, and I've heard buyers say, oh, I don't eat anything at expo because I don't want to get sick. I don't know how long it's been sitting there. I don't know what's going on. So we try to chop fresh samples every hour versus just like, chopping for the whole day. Or we always want to keep our samples as fresh as possible. We keep them in sample cups with lids so they're clean. They're not just sitting out there with people talking and spitting all over them. It's really like thinking about the cleanliness and hygiene of how you're sampling will affect if people try it or not.
11:49
Clara Paye
Is it a big bowl where people are dipping their chip in? That's disgusting. Who wants to eat that?
11:54
Daniel Scharff
Yes, I'm sure anybody from show standards also will appreciate you reinforcing the stealth and safety guidelines. I love that comment because even I used to work for a company that does plant based eggs, and I went to an event once that they were sampling at and I didn't work there anymore, but I went up to try it and the product was cold. And it's not good if it's cold. Like, that's something that is supposed to be meant to eaten warm, obviously to completely different experience. And same with drinks. Matt has the benefit of his drink tasting great warm. But most drinks that people are serving at expo need to be ice cold. Would just blow my mind if people did not have them iced down, like at the bottom of the cooler, the dripping cold one to make your best first impression.
12:39
Daniel Scharff
So I love that comment. And Matt also, I liked what you were saying, know, just trying to navigate quick little conversations and one liners. I was just remembering one time I had a conversation with a buyer for a national natural chain who came by the booth and they're like, well, yeah, I don't really like this. And I was like, okay, but, like, talking to them. Then it turned out they actually, like, this was a flavored energy drink and they only like water. I was like, oh, wait, I've heard that about you actually, that you only drink water. You don't drink anything with flavor. She was like, yeah, that's true. I was like, okay, well, here's why. This would appeal to a lot of people. And she completely came around on it.
13:18
Daniel Scharff
So I think it is important to remember that also that the buyer may actually not be the consumer of it, but they do know how to make those kind of decisions based off their consumers. So I like you bringing that up. Okay, Pierre, were still going through some of your tips. Did we get to the end or do you have more to contribute?
13:35
Pierre
Yeah, I have a couple more. I think. Daniel, you're going to launch some new tools also on the startup CPG channel, which I think is going to be tremendously helpful for everybody. But LinkedIn, startup CPG, Slack community, so many great resources just to plan that outreach. Make it known that you're going to be there. Plan your nights, your happy hours, all the fun stuff that you can do outside of the show. And a lot of the retail buyers are there on that Wednesday, that first day, but also a day before, sometimes taking meetings to talk about promotions. Sometimes you could talk about new items or seasonal skus that you're doing. So I think really take those opportunities to meet up with people, make the most out of that week.
14:29
Pierre
That's why again, being fully rested is really important because you're going to be really tired after it.
14:35
Daniel Scharff
I love it. All right, cool. So yes, I totally agree with that. And there is so much going on, but if you don't actually just try to plan everything out ahead of time, you get there and you don't have anywhere to go. So I like the prep thought. And yes, you are right about the tools we will be releasing, one of which is the startup CPG retail sales tracker. In partnership with cultivate CPG, we will be releasing that, I think on the 25 January. So probably by the time this is out and it's going to be the ultimate sales resource for everyone for free, listing all the chains that you could be going after, and you can use that to help you make your own little list for expo. More to come on that.
15:14
Daniel Scharff
All right, so next, Clara, do you want to go next with some of your pre expo tips?
15:20
Clara Paye
Sure. I mean, I think Booth planning is really important if you have it in your budget. I think of expo as like my stage and I am there and it's showtime, right? Like, I am not leaving the booth unless I have to go to the bathroom. I am not eating in my booth, I am not having side conversations with my friends in my booth. I am there on stage, on show, right? And so I invest in having a company set up our booth for us because I want to show up on that first day rested. I don't want to worry about did I build the booth on time? Did I get all the samples there? Did I get all these things there?
15:54
Clara Paye
So if you have it in your budget to invest in somebody to set up and dismantle your booth, it's the best money to me. How much is it spend? Because it's not as expensive as it depends on obviously how complex your booth is. But it's probably between 1000, $502,500 depending on how complex your booth is. And for me it's a set up.
16:14
Daniel Scharff
And dismantle considering the value of your.
16:18
Clara Paye
Time, the value of your time and just how refreshed you're going to be and how energetic are you on that day one when that show starts. So I think that's a big planning for your samples is another one. Like freshness is really important. You want the product that was just produced. You want product that tastes really good. If you can tease a new product or if you have something interesting coming up, Expo is a great time to tease that product. There's a lot of press looking for show trends for something new, something innovative. So it's a good time to debut something if you have it. So be thinking about that. It might be a little bit late to r and D, something new, but maybe holding off like not launching something until expo and making that the debut.
16:57
Clara Paye
So you have a thought starter or a talking point. Now that we've exhibited a few know, we always want to have something fresh to show a new buyer and then starting to also plan out like new. Hope does a great job in education. So like before I was in this space, I went to an expo west the year before and I just did the education before the show. And so went to their business school and learned and started networking a year in advance. So if you're not ready to exhibit this year, look up the education events and maybe attend those. And I think my best thing that I ever did was I volunteered in an expo booth, actually a couple of them the year before I exhibited, and that gave me a real test and taste for what actually happened.
17:38
Clara Paye
I'd had been to a million expos before in the hardware industry, let me tell you, totally different in food. It's literally and figuratively Disneyland. So you kind of get a taste for what kind of buyers are there. What does the interaction feel like, look like, and so it's a good learning opportunity. I really appreciated that. And like everybody else said, show up refreshed and put your phone away. Don't look at your phone in your booth. I can't stress that enough. I walk down expo and I see people like this and they're answering emails or they're doing God knows what, but it's like you paid. Think about how much money you spent to be standing right there. Don't look at your phone. Look at your phone at a scheduled interval. Answer emails at a scheduled interval.
18:19
Clara Paye
Maybe when your booth slows down, but you're on stage and it's your job to engage with everybody that comes into your booth. And I also have decoys in my booth. So if a salesperson is coming to pitch me something, I have a person I can pass them along to and say, could you please talk to my marketing person? Or could you please talk to this person and so that you can guide those people so that you're not interrupted. And then treating everybody with dignity, I think, is really important. I think so many people are badge hunting and looking for just a color badge, but you might miss a huge opportunity if you're being really short sighted and just talk to everybody like a human.
18:59
Clara Paye
And your job, your number one job, is to get as many samples in people's mouths as possible, because that person might not be a buyer for your category, but they might best friends with that buyer, or they might just be a consumer themselves who falls in love with your brand and becomes a super user. Everybody can consume all of these.
19:16
Daniel Scharff
I love it. And controversial question for you here, Clara. Are you a behind the table or in front of the table kind of person at expo? Are you back there waiting for them to come to you, or are you out there fishing the stream?
19:30
Clara Paye
No, I'm fishing. I get told to please stand back in my booth.
19:33
Daniel Scharff
I've never heard that. Is that true?
19:35
Pierre
Do they do that?
19:36
Clara Paye
Oh, yeah. They're like, you can't stand out and pass out samples. And it's like, I'd rather ask forgiveness and ask for permission, but if it's slower time, I'm standing out there with a tray being like, hey, you want to try a churro flavored protein bar? I know you do. Come on over. I'm just, like, hopping that would work on me because this is my. And if all else fails, I'll put on our churro mascot uniform. And that one I love.
20:07
Daniel Scharff
Just speaking of outside of the booth also and finding people at panels and stuff, I know you personally have gotten accounts, I think were on a panel last year with Mitch from Earth fair and then you got to meet him there. And I think then they started carrying your product. So, I mean, definitely a lot of stuff going on at expo. If you just research it ahead of time and figure out where people are going to be and just put that on your own agenda, make sure you get to the places you need to go. And yeah, there are retailers who will hold sessions and maybe you don't go, but you can send somebody from your team just to make sure to go over there, get their business card, ask a question. Perfect. All right, Matt, coming to you.
20:46
Daniel Scharff
So I think we're still on pre expo stuff, but I know it's all blending together, which is so.
20:51
Matt Levine
Yeah, no, I think even before you exhibit at the show, attend you, any trade show you do, I think it's important to walk the show, to know where you want to be, to understand what everyone else is doing. Get some booth design information, intel. So I think before you even exhibit, walk the show, bring samples, bring a bag of samples. New hope is not going to want to hear this, but, yeah, my first year or two before I got a booth, I just packed my book bag, carrying around water super heavy. But I was just handing it out to people and just networking and kind of just getting the lay of the land. Because Expo west is so big that your location, your hall, where you're situated, means so much. It is really important. So I definitely recommend attending the show before you exhibit.
21:46
Matt Levine
And that's not only with Expo west or it's with every trade show, just attend. And then the other thing, too, is when you're applying for shows or after you get the show, you could apply for grants. So that's another thing, too, is that with chlorophyll water, this expo west, we applied for a grant and we got it. There's so many state programs, there are so many programs that you could apply to, and you could actually get your trade shows paid for. So that's just another little tidbit. I would definitely look out for those as well. I think bring a lot of samples, definitely you want people prepare to bring a lot of samples. If you have the opportunity to bring full samples, I think that's always great because this way, while you're stationary in your booth, your products walking around the entire show.
22:40
Matt Levine
So my goal, every expo is for everyone to be drinking green water. I want people in other booths. I want buyers, I want water everywhere. So I plan to bring a few pallets each and every Expo east and west, just to kind of go through the inventory at the trade show and have everyone drinking it. Nothing left over. And then, yeah, you could. Setting up appointments, I know Pierre mentioned is super tough, so it's just knowing the familiar faces, reaching out to people before the show. Hey, we're exhibiting. Hey, we'll be there. Posting on LinkedIn saying that you're going to be exhibiting. Just letting people know that you're going to be at the trade show and you're going to be there. And then as far as a lot of prep that we're doing, and we just keep the booth really simple.
23:29
Matt Levine
I actually like setting up the booth different than. It's very therapeutic for me to be in expo west when no one else is really there. So it's just like, I get there and know, say hello to my neighbors, get to know the other brands that are setting up, and the people around you become your best friends for those three, four days, and you bounce ideas off of them, you're bouncing buyers off of them. You're just really getting to know them. I mean, Daniel, there's so many times we would crisscross buyers, introduce people here and there. I would even walk, I think you were around the corner, but walk retailers over to you. So I think it's always important get to know your neighbors, become close with them.
24:10
Matt Levine
There's neighbors that we kind of look for each and every year that we've become close with that we've just worked well together. So that's kind of some quick little tidbits there. Yeah, I would just say samples. Have enough samples. You're spending a lot of money to be in that trade show and don't leave early. I never really understood that. If I'm paying all this money, I'm staying until the final second. I'm not leaving until I'm literally the first person there in the morning. Last person to leave. I really never understood brands that pack up shop before it's over. Just get your money's worth. I'm always the last person there.
24:56
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, I like all of those points. And just to add on a few things, so Clara had mentioned about kind of freeing yourself up, or I think you said, having a decoy in the booth. But one thing that I totally agree with, know it's not going to be a great use of your energy to just. If you're the salesperson, let's say, or you're the founder in charge of sales, to be the one pouring every sample and pitching every single person who comes just, it takes a lot of energy and a lot of breath and a lot of talking to do it. You know, if you don't have a scarf handy. By the way, Pierre, when you were describing that, like, if a nice looking man with a scarf offered me this lovely charcuterie board, I would be instantly transported into this gourmet world.
25:39
Daniel Scharff
And it sounds like you got it dialed in. But if you just spend all your time just, like, pitching to every single person and every service provider comes by, you won't have it left for you when the big buyer comes by. Right? So I really appreciate that. And actually, on our startup, CPG Slack, we do a little bit of matching with people who want to volunteer at booths, like Clara was mentioning, with brands who would like to have a little help. So I think it's great if you go on there and maybe find somebody who can volunteer for a day as a brand, I think you get seven total badges, so you should probably have a little bit to spare, and then it makes all the difference. I had at Expo East a Wharton student each day, and they were phenomenal.
26:22
Daniel Scharff
And then I was just out there with my eyes going, looking for the right badges. And then, Matt, also, the experience, I think it super helps. Like, my first year at expo, I would say I didn't even really know who the retailers were and had to have help for people to kind of clue me. In. The second year, I knew the retailers, but not necessarily who the buyers were. My third, like, I know who I'm looking for. I can recognize them down the aisle, and they're not getting by me. So I like all of those comments. And then also coming with a list. Okay, you maybe even know who your retailers are, but I go into every show with, here are the 15 people that I'm absolutely looking for.
27:00
Daniel Scharff
I've tried to contact all of them, and with my nice little graphic that I've made, and, like, come here, please come say hi. And they'll be like, oh, yeah, I will. But then they forget, and they'll walk right by your booth without noticing it. So I always hit them last minute, like, looking forward to seeing you today and something personalized or texting them if you have their number or whatever, just to give them that last second. Like, hey, don't forget, because there's nothing worse than missing the key buyer that you need to see there in person to get something going.
27:29
Matt Levine
Yeah. When designing the booth, too, and planning your booth, you don't spend a lot of money. I think our egos tell us we want this beautiful booth. We want to represent the brand, but really, our brand speaks for our brand. I think as you're starting off trade shows, especially in the beginning, you're going to make mistakes. You're going to not have enough one sheeters, not have this that. So I just think get through it. Keep the booth really simple, keep the design simple. And it's only three days. It's three days. You don't need an elaborate setup. You just need your brand to really speak for itself and really just have the key communication points that you want to get across. So that's with having one sheeters. I think having really informative one sheeters that retailers could take with them, I think is super important.
28:20
Matt Levine
Plan those out, get those printed. And any other swag, people love swag. So I think besides having your samples, I think maybe we have stickers now. People put their stickers on there. I like to invest into things that will help market the brand, and that's stickers or that's kind of hats or things that people will actually wear, use and be walking billboards for our brand. So I would say you don't need to spend a lot of money in the beginning. Less is more. Gain the experience of the trade show and kind of go from there. Really bootstrap it in the beginning. And there's a lot of ways to get really creative with how you build out your booth.
29:09
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, there are definitely different ways to do it. And I'm probably more in your camp, Matt, of like, I'm not really such an, I don't care so much about marketing and just me personally, I'm more of sales guy. So I'm like, the booth is what it is. I honestly don't care what the booth is because I'm not even going to be in it. I'm going to be in the aisle as much as I can. Just hunting people down. I would just take like a demo table if I could and have the product and I'm good. I'm going to make it happen. But then there are people like, Clara's booth always looks amazing. And then I remember, like, okay, wild wonder always does something, like, really elaborate and it's beautiful and it's an experience and it's cool.
29:44
Daniel Scharff
And like, me as more of a sales oriented person, I'd be like, don't spend the money on that. Save our budget for something else. But it can be really impactful. Wild Wonder did these gorgeous. It was like a tote bag, but it was shiny and cool and everyone was desperate to have one. So I think if you're going to make the investment, make sure it's going to pay off that way.
30:07
Clara Paye
I think the most important thing is to have an inviting booth, so that doesn't mean you have to spend a lot of money. We've all had the experience of walking into a boutique and feeling like we don't belong there because nobody wants to help us or talk to us and makes us feel awkward, and you're just like, okay, I'm just going to leave. And we've also been to the boutique where somebody's overly and we're like, no, thanks, I'm leaving. Right. So we've all had that experience. As a consumer, you want to be somewhere in the middle. You want to be friendly, you want to be inviting, you want to have a smile, but you don't want to inundate people with everything. And your booth can draw them in if it's interesting or if it's colorful or if there's something going on.
30:48
Clara Paye
But we actually did not spend a lot of money in our booth, and we've used it for three years in a row, so it can be done in a cost efficient, effective way. But I think it's the person that are more important than any booth design, because if you have a bunch of people in there that just look like, don't bother me, or if you have a bunch of people in there that look like they've had too many energy drinks, they're both problematic.
31:11
Daniel Scharff
How did you actually design your booth? Did you come up with what you wanted the layout to be or did you hire somebody and they just kind of took care of the whole thing?
31:20
Clara Paye
It was a part of our branding package. So when we did all of our branding, the person that we worked with, they designed our trade show booth, too. And it's basically just a graphic and a little podium, and that's about know and then flooring. So there's nothing really know, too complicated about our booth.
31:42
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, it can just be as simple as you have a backdrop and then you have maybe a table runner or something like that. And then I love featuring the product. And I think Matt does this better than almost anybody is. Like, there's not a lot going on in his booth other than a ton of beautiful green water that is very product focused, centric, like, keeps you thinking about the product. And then I also think one thing Matt does really well is he'll have, like, a mini pull up banner with just some super impactful data on there, like, top rated Nielsen growth brands, stuff like that. That's just like, immediately I can look at it and be like, oh, this is a hot brand. I get it. So I love seeing that. So let's say moving on to kind of like at the show.
32:28
Daniel Scharff
I know we've talked about it a little bit, but any other tips for people as they're sitting there in their booth or preferably standing out in front of their booth or at least making sure no one's going to pass them by, what are some additional tips that you would give to people? And one that I'll throw in is just the distributors can be equally important as buyers. You are trained to go like, green means, go get those green badges. But I think the distributors, in some cases, actually can be more important than meeting the buyer because some buyers just will pass everything through the distributor. And so for me, if there's a distributor coming by, I'm always saying, hello, especially unfi Kehee, we all know. And then just saying, oh, which account do you work with?
33:12
Daniel Scharff
And then so many times I've just been overjoyed because it's the account that I've been trying to get in touch with. And if you make them a fan of your product, the buyer is going to end up trying your product. Any other ones from you guys? I don't know. Matt, do you want to go first? Yeah.
33:27
Matt Levine
No, I think you brought up a good, I think it's treating everyone equally at the know. You never know who's going to come by your booth, and you never know whether they're a distributor or whether they're a retailer with a different type of badge. You don't know. So the goal is to, this is not necessarily a show where you're going to actually write orders. So you're not going into this where you're not going to get a purchase order right there. This is a follow up show. This is a hello. This is a meet and greet, so to speak. So I think you just want to meet as many people as possible. You just want to give out as many samples as possible and get people to try your product.
34:07
Matt Levine
So I think it's just, if you're an introvert, this is your three days to be an extrovert and just smile and just give out product. And really, this is also, we live in such a digital age right now where we don't even meet some of the retailers or the buyers or the Unfi ke reps in person a year after until they actually take the product in. So this is kind of a hello and a meet and greet. So it's a networking event just as much as it is a trade show. So I think you treat it like a networking event. Have business cards. Have a lot of business cards, because usually those scanner things don't really work too well, the LinkedIn scanner stuff. So have as many business cards as possible. I give out a business card with every.
34:58
Matt Levine
I don't let people leave my booth just taking a sample. They have to take a one sheeter, and they have to take a business card. It's all coupled together. If they throw out the business card, they throw out the one sheeter. It doesn't matter if nine out of people throw it out. One could be a great distributor, one could be a great buyer or retail account. So I would say give out business cards. Give out one sheeters with your samples and collect as many business cards as possible so you could do your follow up. Not right after. Wait a couple of weeks to do that follow up. But, yeah, I think just network. Just network. Smile. And I think we all said it. Give out as many samples as possible. Yeah.
35:36
Daniel Scharff
I like the idea also of just making sure you push yourself out of your comfort zone. Like, if you're an introvert, become an extrovert. I remember any instance at a trade show where I just kind of let a buyer go because I felt just not comfortable really putting myself out there or just kind of jumping in and being like, hey, I really need to talk to you. I think there are nice ways that you can do it, though. I mean, one, I for sure have seen a buyer walk by and missed them, and I've run back down the other aisle across so that I could then just by chance run into them, coming like, oh, hey, every show I've done that a bunch of times and had product with me. Like, oh, cool.
36:14
Daniel Scharff
Actually, just running back to my booth, can you come by and try a sample? So sorry. If you're a buyer listening to this, and you did not know that I did that, but probably I'm not such a good actor anyways, and you knew about it. And secondly, I think also going back to Clara, what you were saying before about kind of, like, asking permission a little bit, I found that to work for me sometimes. Mean, number one, if I meet a buyer and they're not the right buyer, or I see them coming by and I don't know who the right buyer is for that account, I would always say something like, could I ask you, is the right buyer, can I ask you, who is the buyer for the category? Are they here at the show? 100% of the time?
36:53
Daniel Scharff
People would answer me if I asked it that way. And then they would also respond really well if I said like, hey, can I just introduce myself? I just wanted to say hello. And usually they'll say yes to something like that. Like going back to what you were saying about, can I just tell you about my brand a little bit? I think if you're in an uncomfortable situation, kind of approaching it that way for me, worked pretty well. Instead of just being like, hey, here's my product, please, can I tell you all about it out of just sharing that tip in case it helps.
37:23
Matt Levine
Just to harp on that. If you're over pitching, I think if you're over pitching, it's not going to work. The retailers know what they want. And the other thing, too, is that at trade shows like this, you can't get discouraged by people coming to your booth and trying to sell you things, which it realistically happens a lot. Ingredient suppliers, packaging suppliers, logistics companies. And be prepared. Once you do sign up for expo, you're on mailing list. So you're going to get random phone calls all the time from logistics companies. But don't be discouraged if you're getting pissed. A lot of things, you got to just give out samples because you want people. I know I said it a lot, but you want everybody walking around with your product, because then that's your biggest advertising, that's your biggest marketing.
38:14
Daniel Scharff
I like the diversity of styles that we have here, which, I mean, for you guys, you've all been extremely successful. So I think it's good for people to kind of listen to the different approaches and then figure out what's the right one for them and their product. Like Matt, you've had an explosive growth, and you're very chill and confident in your product and kind of let stuff come to you and also have your business cards out. I would say more high energy, high anxiety also about trade shows, but I also, at the same time, learn to stop putting my business card out because I don't want to be on those lists. But I would just hand it to the buyer if they're actually there. So what about you, Pierre? Where do you fall on the spectrum of those?
38:57
Pierre
That's. That's an interesting one. I'm probably closer to Clara. I'm definitely in the aisle trying to start a conversation, but it's really around food. I want people to have a really nice time, a healthy bite of protein, something that's super delicious. And then I want to casually have a quick exchange, rapid fire questions. I'm also there to ask questions. I think that's a lot of the misunderstanding. Stop pitching so hard at a retailer or whoever. Ask questions, and you can find out that might not be your buyer, but that buyer is walking one aisle away. So definitely ask questions. Focus on the product, focus on the story. And that's kind of my approach.
39:46
Pierre
I would say it's a little bit more thoughtful and methodical, but you're not passing by my booth without me having the opportunity to have a conversation with you and you getting a sample. And by the way, they say, I don't like fish. Totally fine. I'm still going to say, well, you should definitely try this one. And maybe you can yell at me if you don't like, but be a little pushy, but not too.
40:14
Daniel Scharff
Any Clara, anything you want to add on all of those? Great.
40:19
Clara Paye
I think, you know, you will find people that don't like your. It's fine. Like, don't let it discourage you. You will find people who be like, I just don't like this. And you just smile and say, well, thank you for trying. Right. Don't let it discourage you. That's just normal human behavior. Right? You're not going to please everybody. And then going back a couple of conversations ago, were talking about, like, you're not there to close the business that day. So that, I think, makes you seem desperate. You're there to get invited to the line review. You're there to get invited for a next conversation. They haven't asked you to the dance yet. And conversely, we've had retailers give us yeses on the trade show floor, and then that actually never went anywhere. Right. And so it's a vacuum of time.
41:02
Clara Paye
And your job is to just memorability, be memorable, that when you follow up with them, they remember who you are.
41:10
Daniel Scharff
I love it. I was just remembering the most ridiculous interaction I had with somebody at Expo east, was a sales guy came up to my booth when I was the CEO of this company, and he was wearing a green badge, so I was in my green badge mode pitching, and he's like, oh, yeah, I'm not really with this company. I just used this to get into the show. I'm actually a vp of sales. So let me ask you, how many salespeople do you have? Like, oh, these are some salespeople that I have here. And he just looked at me and he goes, oh, that's funny. I would have expected you to be much further along with salesperson or two in the market. And meanwhile, we thought were crushing it.
41:50
Daniel Scharff
And I think most people would have agreed that we had incredible growth, and we're doing absolutely well. And I just looked at him, and I was like, what's happening right now, dude? Why are you? And he was like, yes, I'm available if you want to switch things up and really get to the next level. And I was just like, what is this kind of an approach? And so I basically just gave him a get out of here, dude kind of look and walked away. And then two days after the show, this dude hits me up on LinkedIn, and he says, hey, I met your head of sales at the show. Sounds like he doesn't know what he's doing. Let me know if you want a change of leadership, man. That was me, dude.
42:34
Daniel Scharff
Oh, I was so tempted to blast that out there, but fortunately, I was in a better mood than that. But I couldn't believe it. My face is still red, thinking there are crazy people.
42:45
Clara Paye
I've had people go, oh, you're going to be out of business by next year. I go, okay, crazy person. Thank you. I think they're just.
42:53
Matt Levine
The funny thing is, too, when sometimes people will come to your booth and they tell you how you should be doing business, and maybe you should add this ingredient. You should do that ingredient. And then by the third day, I'm like, well, you should start your own by day three. But, no, I think you just got to be charismatic. Just have a personality and just smile and just take it all in. Because there is a cast of characters at trade shows. I mean, it's just par for the course. But you're there because you believe in your product, you believe in your brand, and confidence is key. So that's the other thing, too. When talking with everyone that comes by your booth, just be confident. You know your brand better than anyone else. You know the data, you know the sales, you know the analytics.
43:42
Matt Levine
Have those key. That ten second pitch of why someone should take in your brand and the other retailers a lot of times, too, is that nobody wants to be the first retailer to take in your product. People want to see, quote unquote, like, proven sales, or where are you? So if you have any material where you could communicate, you're in this store. That store Daniel mentioned. Yeah, we've got great, basically, pos great banners that have quotes from the Vogues, the Vanity fairs, and then we've got a tabletop that has our Nielsen score with the retailers that carry us and quotes from retailers, but really clean, really simple, not a lot of information, just the right information. So I think that's really important. The show is massive. The show is really big people are walking quick.
44:35
Matt Levine
So you literally have a few seconds to really engage that retailer. But confidence is key. Just be confident. You believe in your brand, you're investing into it by being there. You're investing your time, you're investing your dollars. So yeah, be patient and don't be discouraged. Don't be discouraged if your traffic's not there. The first day the show works in very north hall. Be crazy the first day. Then everyone goes to the other halls, then north hall is slow, and then the last day, north hall is back. So it's kind of really just, yeah, I would say just have fun with it. Enjoy know trade shows. It's kind of like a party, but you're working, but it's a party of everyone in your know, and you really want to see everyone do well, everyone succeed and just kind of meet new people.
45:32
Clara Paye
I would say protect your energy, too. So if your booth neighbor is like, really Debbie Downer, don't spend time with them, don't get sucked into their energy. Have you seen any buyers? We haven't seen any buyers. From that person to this person, it's your energy that's sucking the room down. So I think that is important. I see people, like, sitting there bickering or it's really weird to me, like, if you're going to have negative energy.
45:56
Matt Levine
At the booth, I think you spoke about, they give you like fake tickets if you stand out or if something's too high or if your table is out a little. So if they come by your booth and tell you to get back in or to move your table back or do it, and just like you said, protecting your energy, protect your booth. Because, yeah, sometimes my first year I had a neighbor that had a huge sign which covered all my product and it was like 8ft tall. And you're only allowed things that I think are 4ft. So it's just really letting your neighbors know you're all there for the same thing where you're all there to bring in business to meet new people, I think protecting your energy is a great point.
46:42
Daniel Scharff
Yes. I love all of those comments and I would go nuts if somebody did that to me with a sign, for sure. But at the same time, if I go to like a distributor show, if I can shuffle my table out a little bit further into the aisle to try to stand, got everyone, you got to look out for yourself. But also be fair to everybody. And yeah, people can help you so much. Matt, you've helped me out just tons of times. And I've always tried to help you out. I mean, you have great product, and there's so much that you can get done by working together.
47:13
Daniel Scharff
And then one of my favorite kind of advanced maneuvers, also that I'll share, is the buyer kind of pick and roll where if you've ever been in an aisle and the buyer is coming down the opposite side and it doesn't look like they're going to come to your side or you don't know, and you can't miss that buyer. I run like a two person play. I'm like, okay, so you need to go and stand opposite us in that aisle and just make yourself big. Like, put your elbows out so that the buyer has to kind of bounce off you and come closer to our booth as they pass. And then I'm there right in front of them, like, hey. Oh, hi. I've got a sample for you. How are you?
47:50
Daniel Scharff
And I've seen other people pull that pretty well, kind of use the physical space to push people one way or another. I also even just walking the show without a booth, instead of kind of like walking the whole show, where if someone's walking in front of you'll never cross paths with them, have just stood in one place, maybe with another salesperson or something, and just basically everyone's going to come down the aisle at some point. You can kind of just stand there and, Matt, I know you do this at shows maybe where you haven't actually exhibited, but just kind of like, hang in one place and then the whole stream will come by you at some point, right. Like you're going to see eventually. It can be way more efficient than walking.
48:28
Matt Levine
Yeah, I actually just throw chlorophyll water at people and I just throw bottles of water. No, I'm kidding. No, but if you see someone at the trade show and they don't stop by your booth, it's actually a great segue to follow up with them. Two weeks later. Hey, saw you at trade show. We were super swamped, and then you could send samples to them. So trade shows are not the only place to do business. It's a great way to email people after the show, even if they didn't come by your booth and say, hey, must have missed you at expo. I'd love to send you samples. So I think the follow up is key, but, yeah, I definitely set up situations at trade shows I'm not really at.
49:08
Matt Levine
Just, like, my laptop and a couple of samples, and it's a great way before you have a booth. I think it's really important to walk the know, walk the show, understand it, and really get a lay of the land.
49:24
Daniel Scharff
All right, so just rounding off here, let's say last question, which is so post show, I heard, interestingly from Matt, it sounds like you actually wait a couple of weeks to follow up with people. Me, I'm like, fighting myself off from emailing the first day. So you probably like leaving the show. I'm on the airplane setting my send later emails to go maybe like, I don't know, two, three days after the show where I want to, like, I don't know. I always just felt like I want to keep the momentum. But for sure, I got scolded a couple of times by buyers being like, don't talk to me right now. I'm drowning. An email. How about everybody else? What are some tips, maybe? Pierre, I'll start with you for the post show follow up.
50:05
Pierre
Yeah, I think it goes back to how your interactions go, and I think being clear on next steps. Am I sending you samples? Is it a cat review? Am I requesting a meeting? Should I connect with your distributor, et cetera? And that's what you're going to include in an email. And that way the buyer is going to remember the conversation he had with you. But also, back to Clara's point, the memorability of the booth. He's going to be like, oh, yeah, I remember them. I remember them for the swag. I remember them for the t shirt, for the food, for whatever it is. Find something that's real unique and ownable that's going to help you and maybe allude to it. Send a picture in the attachment of your booth or something. I think it's also in that notetaking.
50:58
Pierre
You can staple that business card or something. Take that note down right away. You can always say to someone, hey, I just need 5 seconds. Just going to write this down and I'm right with you. Also, back to, sorry, quick sidebar. Back to when you're at the booth, be quick at pivoting. If you're not the right person. If they're talking about ingredients and I'm sales, well, pivot them to your ops person. Or like, to a decoy business card of the ops manager, HR manager, quality, whatever. Because again, you need to use your time wisely. Also, know when you're supposed to pull your founder CEO to a conversation, but also, a lot of people are going to want to talk to your founder and CEO. So try to save the energy for the right conversation and again, be quick at utilizing them well.
51:55
Pierre
So I think, again, it goes back to the notetaking, being methodical about next steps. Not am I sending samples in the wild, but again, you send samples because you had that conversation. I agree. Like, ten days, two weeks is good. Unless they said, oh, follow up in May. And I've had that happen before. They were like, I don't want to hear from you for two months. This is when I'm doing my review. This is great. Then other ones that I have is also with the samples, you can send a handwritten note. You can find, again, something that will make you different. Because imagine they're going to see 4000 brands. They're going to have hundreds of samples going to their office the weeks after it.
52:47
Pierre
So even if they remember you, it's so much try to be on top of the pile as far as being thoughtful, being caring, being mindful of their time, and really thankful of them taking the time. So I think it's kind of all those things. One thing that we didn't mention know, and Matt, you said it, be early and don't leave early. I had a buyer like a couple of years ago, Carrie, manager of a Whole foods at my booth on a Saturday, 45 minutes before the show opened. I don't know how she got in, but she was there, so you never know. And we spent pretty much an hour talking. I also had at 05:00 p.m. In the basement in re. I had director, VP, SVP and CEO of Whole Foods at my booth. Everybody around me was gone, no one there.
53:49
Pierre
And we spent like 510 minutes talking, exchanging samples, et cetera. Obviously, they were hiding their badge and everything. But again, it speaks to domethy, just go badge hunting. But you never know who that can be. It can be an investor, it can be someone using an exhibitor badge. And you could be like, oh, you're an exhibitor. I don't have time for you. Well, big mistake. You never know. And also, it speaks badly about your brand. Everybody is a consumer. Everybody is going to buy products. Everybody talks, small world. So people will ask like, buyers will ask will be like, oh, is there a brand that you've seen that I should check out? So be memorable in your sort of network.
54:40
Daniel Scharff
I love it. All right, Clara, how about you?
54:43
Clara Paye
I think one tip that we haven't talked about is also leaning on your brokers, both to bring people and bring customers to your booth. Any broker that you have, be clear with them who you want them to bring to their booth, to your booth, and have them walk them over. If they have meetings with them, having a list and clear direction for your Brokers is really important and also relying on them. Also for some of the follow up, here's all the people we met, here's what they were interested in. Because sometimes they have a better relationship with the retailer where they already have scheduled meetings with them and they can say, hey, Clara met you tried this product, blah, blah. I'm still going to follow up too, but also relying on the brokers for a secondary touch point.
55:29
Clara Paye
A different person talking about your brand. And I like to send a picture of my booth, me standing in my booth usually. And I have my brokers put that in their emails so that it's memorable and they can remember. Of the 7000 brands ever expo, which one was unite?
55:44
Daniel Scharff
I love it. I think, yeah, you can look at your brokers almost as just another person you need to sell to at the show. I know I in general did not have great luck with my broker. Just like, hey, can you bring buyers by the booth? They almost never did that. But if it was a specific account, like, hey, I know you're going to be at the show. I need you to bring the buyer to our booth at some point about this specific account that usually would work and we'd be playing like spy games. I'm like, do you have eyes on the buyer? Like which aisle are you in? And like, yes, I'm tracking. They're in aisle too. I'm going to make sure they come by your booth and then we'll rendezvous over. Like, okay, that's definitely something that I would run and yeah.
56:22
Daniel Scharff
Pierre, did you want to say something?
56:24
Pierre
We need air tags. I've been thinking about it like every past expo and I'm almost know, almost want to do it. I'm pretty sure that's sometimes I'm sure it is. That's why I'm saying I almost want to do it.
56:46
Daniel Scharff
If somebody would RFID tag all the buyers, I would pay for the feed and just see that map in Harry Potter where you can see them moving around the castle. I'd pay a certain amount of money for that. I've heard someone tried that at some show. I don't know, maybe that'll be our next business together, guys. Cool. Matt, do you want to add any thoughts?
57:08
Matt Levine
Yeah, I think wear something with pockets. What I do is I collect so many business cards. I have one pocket follow up and follow up with these people and then another pocket. I just took your business card because I want to support you and show some love and then, yeah, I like to follow up a week or two after. Keep it simple. Just wanted to check in, send you my contact information. Because realistically, the retailers know if they want to take in your product. I know, Daniel, you touched on it. It's, it's a calculated, chill approach. I guess we.
57:45
Daniel Scharff
Can'T really, if you're.
57:46
Matt Levine
Pitching too much, the retailer might take it in. They might ask for a bogo, they might ask for a free fill, they might ask for these things. And then you're getting thrown in a location you're not excited about. If a retailer is excited about your brand, you know right away, and then once they're excited about your brand, you're getting merchandise in a great location and you're setting yourself up for success. So I think post trade show, if something's not working, if you're not hearing back, don't push too hard. The right time, the right retailers will come along and, yeah, just don't oversell, don't over pitch after the trade show, because everything works out. What's meant to be is meant to be. And the retailers that really love your brand will help support you and want to see you do well.
58:34
Matt Levine
And from these trade shows, you build long lasting friendships and relationships. From these trade shows, I've met so many people that now I call friends, and I'm new to this industry. I was never in this industry before. I felt like an outsider, still kind of do feel like an outsider. But these trade shows are when you meet people that become your friends and make you feel part of this industry.
59:01
Daniel Scharff
I guess one other tip I was going to add in about business cards is, for me, I actually almost never ask a buyer for their card because I feel like they only bring so many or oftentimes they don't even have one. But I almost never had an issue if I said, oh, can I write down your email? And they would just tell it to me and I would just type it into my phone right then and make my note about following up with them. Like, the point that Pierre was, I've seen people be like, hey, do you have a business card? And they're like, oh, okay, yeah, let, like, try to fish one out of my wallet or something.
59:30
Daniel Scharff
But, yeah, I was always super happy just to get their email address or asking a different buyer, like, can you give me the right buyer's email address? Something like that just pretty much always worked. So this has been a cornucopia or plethora of incredible. I hope everybody listening is just taking notes down. And then I was just going to pass around to each of you guys if you had a last thought and or way for people to follow up with your brands and kind of stay tuned with you in the future if you have a preferred channel for that. Matt? Yeah.
01:00:02
Matt Levine
I think just one thing to add is when you're exhibiting, just don't eat too much. Don't eat all the samples yourself. Don't go around having because there's so much different types of food that you could get caught up, wake up early, have a proper breakfast, have proper food, a meal before you start your trade show and then book these trade shows, get all the dinners. The restaurants get booked up pretty quickly, so make your reservations kind of in advance right after the show because you're going to be hungry around that 06:00 630 time frame. So that's just a little pointer there. But yeah, you could find us at chlorophyllwater on all social media. Chlorophyllwater.com. I forgot our booth number. But we will be at Expo west. We will be in the hot, you know, feel free to visit us there.
01:00:51
Matt Levine
You don't need to make an appointment. You could just swing by and. Yeah, no, this was awesome, as always. Really appreciate what start CBG does. And Daniel, for including us. So thank you.
01:01:03
Daniel Scharff
Absolutely. And that actually was one of the things about having a volunteer to help out is you can send them out for a proper lunch. I totally agree with you on having an actual meal, especially if you're there for a couple of days to keep your team going. Okay, Clara, any final points and follow up info?
01:01:19
Clara Paye
Sure. I would just say be you. You don't have to be me, and you don't have to be matt, and you don't have to appear. There's only one you. Be you. Be authentically you. And that's enough. So just show up and be you. We will be in the north hall booth 19,000. I think it's on the second floor or the top floor there. I will be in the booth the entire time. Like I said, I don't leave the booth unless I'm on a panel or something important. Just be in the booth, be first in, be last out, and follow me on LinkedIn.
01:01:49
Daniel Scharff
All right, perfect. LinkedIn. Okay, Mr. Pierre.
01:01:55
Pierre
All right, I think last thought, work on a good schedule. Some people, like Clara, can do the eight to 06:00 p.m. Every day and after and before hours. But I think find also like ten minutes here and there to be able to have a break. Maybe get some sunshine outside before going back inside. For many hours but take that break. You will miss out on some buyers but also trust your team to do well. Goes back to the preparation before the show. For the first time, I won't be exhibiting so I'll be walking, which I cannot wait. I don't have to build a booth, break down the booth and be there for many hours. So I'll be kind of taking meetings here and there, spending time at Francis Booth and having just a lot of fun.
01:02:51
Pierre
And then follow fishwife on our site on our Instagram TikTok. Check out the shark tank episode from last Friday. Becca did amazing on it and it's a lot of fun to.
01:03:06
Matt Levine
Thing. Don't forget to stay hydrated. Everybody hydrated. You can stop by our booth. We give out full bottles of chlorophyll water.
01:03:15
Daniel Scharff
Somewhere in between staying hydrated and not having to leave to go to the bathroom too often is where I like to be. Thank you guys so much. And I have a couple of cool announcements for startup CPG at the show. So as probably most people know, we have a dedicated section. It's ACC level three which is part of hot products. If you're looking at the main convention center, you would look up at the top left. That's where our section of 25 booths is going to be. Tons of first timers for Expo west. Really exciting brands. We have a bunch of good stuff that's going to go on inside the section. We have a full day of one one buyer meetings for central Market that'll be announced on our slack where people can apply to meet up with their buyer.
01:03:59
Daniel Scharff
We also, I am so excited to announce, are realizing one of my dreams which I hope is the first ever fashion show walk off for swag. So this is going to be sponsored by Swag.com. And so in our dedicated section, the vision is we will have people with their brand swag with their fish wife shirt or the unite Foods hat walking up and down the aisle. Me and Patricia will be know oh, who are they wearing? Where's that from like hosting? We'll have a cool prize for the winner. So I'm really excited because everybody shows up for the show with looking good with their swag already and prepped. So we're really excited to be able to do a lot of cool video content to feature all of that. So we have a lot that and a lot more, obviously.
01:04:45
Daniel Scharff
We have our Expo West Alley rally party which is the party at Expo west. It is a more than 1000 person bowling party also featuring lots of emerging backpack brands. The best of which will win a booth at next year's expo. And then we have a lot of other stuff going on as well. So just make sure you're signed up for our email newsletter, startupcpg.com. And in the Slack channel, we have an expo s chat in there. Also, if you want to hear about all of the cool stuff that's going on. What do you guys think about the fashion show walk off? Are you guys going to be there? Are you going to participate?
01:05:19
Clara Paye
I'm on swag.com right now looking and see what I'm going to participate.
01:05:22
Matt Levine
Yes.
01:05:23
Daniel Scharff
You're on the swag.com site already. Cool. They've got some good stuff there. Get ready to see some cool startup CPG swag as well. We don't need to be competing. We just need to look good as the hosts for it.
01:05:35
Clara Paye
Will there be a disco ball and like a Runway?
01:05:40
Daniel Scharff
Say again?
01:05:41
Clara Paye
I said, will there be like, music and a disco ball? Smoke Runway.
01:05:46
Daniel Scharff
That's a good idea. We haven't gotten that far in the planning, but yeah, I think that's what we need. Absolutely. Maybe I need a tuxedo.
01:05:55
Matt Levine
I just want to see your blue. I'm. That's all I care about.
01:06:01
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, there will be very serious Zoolander vibes. All right, guys, thank you so much. This has been another episode of the Startup CPG podcast. Thank you so much to Matt, Clara, and Pierre for joining us. This was years and years of experience tips from all of the shows at expo that you guys just got from them. So thank you so much to them for being, I think, just so generous with their knowledge and just being really interested to share it with everybody. I'm always blown away by how much people just love to help. So in the spirit of all of that, thank you guys so much for joining us and all that you do for the community in general. Thank you, everyone for listening, and we will see you on the next episode. Bye, everyone.
01:06:47
Pierre
Thank you, guys.
01:06:49
Matt Levine
Thank you.