2009-08-28 - Event includes host of firsts, including three mobile exhibits onsite, to showcase ABB low voltage, medium voltage, and high voltage products in use
Kansas City, Kansas, August 28, 2009 – With a record number of nearly 500 personnel in attendance at the ABB Power & Control Roadshow here on August 25
th and 26
th, talk of automation and power solutions was in the air – everywhere.
In addition to the 322 customers and prospects at the show – an attendance record for the event --, ABB pioneered a number of firsts. These included inviting consulting specifiers and prospects from the Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning market in KC; having large medium voltage equipment on the floor in the exhibit hall; and inviting all attendees to visit the three mobile units that complemented the event. These units showcased low voltage products, medium voltage products and systems, and high voltage products and systems, respectively.
“Having 300-plus customers in one location for a day is not only a rewarding sight but an incredible opportunity to solidify ABB's position in our local marketplace,” noted John Wilmes, the district sales manager for the Power & Control Sales Team of ABB. “From 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, the Overland Park Marriott was bustling with eager people attending workshops, interacting with ABB product experts on the Expo floor, and touring the product trailers, which included working demos of ABB solutions-at-work.”
The Roadshows, which are held in high-potential markets, and targeted to prospects and customers within a 200-mile radius, are a unique opportunity to “strengthen relationships with current customers, while ushering in a whole new generation of ABB believers and future users,” Wilmes noted.
Don VanLandingham, sales manager for ABB distributor Logic, said that customers he talked with felt an obligation to support an event built solely for them. And they came in droves all day, declaring an appreciation for the attention given them -- and “coming away with a better appreciation of how ABB can help them be more efficient and more productive,” he said. Wilmes noted the local team will be busy for weeks, just following up on the 350 sales calls we just made in one day.
Orders Placed
While ABB cannot provide details, the MV business noted that a very significant order had been placed at the show by a customer visiting the mobile unit. “We can talk about the order, once we’ve received the P.O.,” noted managers, “but the real story is that this tactic of going right to, and as near to the front doors of our customers as possible, is proving to be powerful in growing ABB’s business.”
Train the Trainers; and Provide Technical Know-how for Customers
The first day of the two-day event includes a profile of the technology on the exhibit floor – so electrical distributors can optimize their end users’ time, when customers attend the following day.
On Customer Day, workshops offer “must-know” expertise on a host of automation-related information, ranging from UL and NEC standards, to mitigating arc flash in transformers, to harmonic mitigation in industrial environments, to sizing motors correctly for drives, to a profile of motor types, and PLC installations, and efficient, energy saving control panel designs.
The show offers visitors a close-up look at a wide berth of ABB products and services (drives, controls and systems, and motors), automation, power/transformer, medium voltage, and instrumentation solutions -- and the chance to talk with the product experts on all the lines, according to Steven Jones, who organizes the event for ABB. “The exhibits root the whole event, and provide a location that all visitors can circle back to, as they map out their day.”
The Process Automation division of ABB, along with the Medium Voltage business unit of the Power Products division, were on the floor with displays, too.
The Roadshow resumes its tour, stopping next in Dallas at the new Cowboys stadium, in Dallas, Texas, in early November. The schedule of venues and dates is available at www.abb.us/roadshows.