Photo courtesy of Bratton Photography

Last week, over lunch, Dan’l was telling me a story. This particular story, as many of D’s stories do, involved her beloved family pooch, Shelby Rae, who had recently been “scalped” at the vet’s office.

Well, a day or two later, while on her morning jog, D spotted a mobile dog grooming van parked on the street in her neighborhood. The Pet VIP van was like a beacon of purple and gold that was placed there on that street, at that time, to put an end to all of Shelby Rae’s bad hair days.

Dan’l approached the van and saw that the driver was simultaneously cell phone chatting and cigarette smoking. Not wanting to disturb her busy morning, D motioned and mimed, “do you have a business card?” The driver quickly dropped her cigarette, but stayed on the phone and waved D away. D tried again, with the same result.

This mobile business woman was either:

a) Embarrassed to be caught smoking (not likely)
b) Worried D was going to report her for mobile pet grooming in her hood (also not likely)
c) Or a bit scared because she had just witnessed D’s wild, arm-swinging jog (kind of likely)

In any case, Dan’l got the impression that this groomer wasn’t in the market for any new business and she certainly wasn’t going to be given the honor of coiffing the curls of sweet Shelby Rae.

Long story short (oops!), D’s experience got me thinking about tradeshow season and how, metaphorically, we all drive around in our purple and gold mobile business vans. Wearing logo’d apparel, we make the investment to attend these events that are designed specifically to foster new business opportunities (for which we’re ALL in the market). So it’s always in our best interest to be READY when one of those new opportunities comes a knockin’ on our van door. This goes beyond etiquette, too. Whether it’s having business cards or your fine-tuned message at the ready, being prepared will result in much better tradeshow ROI.