If you put out an RFQ (request for quotation) and your budget is $45,000 do you take into consideration the one for $49,000 or do you grab at the one for $39,000 and dance happily off to your show? Truth be known you may have missed it with that decision and maybe $49,000 offered a whole lot more. Nothing is more frustrating for the account executive than to lose a bid and then see the prospective client on the show floor at their show to hear that they made a huge mistake not signing with the account executive’s company. Really???

Okay, you have heard it before but once again are you comparing apples to apples? Here are some questions to ask so that everyone is speaking the same language.

1. Are there any estimations in your quote including I&D time?
2. Are you going to post show bill? And what does post show billing include?
3. Are you estimating on straight time I&D only?
4. Is the carpeting in your offer a higher grade than the show standard of 16 ounces?
5. Are you farming out the AV equipment, the furniture, the I&D to secondary vendors?
6. Does your price include shipping to the show?
7. How thick are your standard building panels?
8. Do you print in-house?
9. Does your exhibit structure include any security or noise abatement?
10. Am I working with your company or are you a middleman/broker and do you send your projects to another exhibit builder?

Lastly, anyone you work with needs to offer you references and testimonials, as well as show floor pictures, not just renderings. Anyone can hire a designer and produce a beautiful rendering bit the proof is in the pictures of the builds!!