Alan Bartlett was already in the midst of planning two national trade shows for October--which was a challenge in itself--when he had to stop what he was doing and plan 12 unexpected product launches.
"I found out less than two months ago that on top of our usual fall trade shows, we would be introducing a new product via national sales meetings, from the East to the West Coast, from September to October," says Bartlett, manager of dealer programs at Kardex Systems Inc., a Marietta, Ohiobased manufacturer of information management systems.
Complicating matters even more: All of the product introductions were in major metropolitan areas, and one of the meetings ran back-to-back with a trade show that was held in Chicago during the busiest season of the year. He knew he would have some trouble finding space.
Although Bartlett was able to secure venues for the 10- to 60person meetings, it required a huge team effort. "It took the help of the entire marketing staff at Kardex to get things working like clockwork."