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by Trade Show Week
Press Release
by Joyce Hansen, The Brampton News
Trade Show Directory
Perseverance goes a long way in the trade show industry. Just ask Susan Ratliff. The Valley is poised for big events like never before. The Phoenix Convention Center is undergoing a $600 million face lift that will triple its size to 900,000 square feet. In Glendale, the University of Phoenix Stadium will be the site of Super Bowl XLII in February 2008. All these mean big money for the local economy. Meet Susan Ratliff, president of Exhibit Experts in Phoenix, a woman involved in the Valley's big-money, high-stakes, ever-expanding arena of event marketing and management. Ratliff entered the trade-show arena by accident
. She worked for two years in real estate, and in 1989 she created her own line of children's books. In 1993, Ratliff launched Exhibit Experts, with the telecom company now known as Qwest as her first client and the bank now known as Chase as her second. "We provide all the tools to give a 'wow' factor," she said of her company's focus on providing everything, even training, for booth displays at trade shows and staffing.
Ratliff's company frequently adds wireless Internet capabilities to trade-show booths so sales staff can send a follow-up letter to the prospective client by e-mail via the home office. Long hours and late nights come naturally to Ratliff, whose father started a fence company and had a "work ethic like no one I know." Ratliff was driven to succeed, too, and learned to ride out rough times. Her first event business shut down when a partnership dissolved, then she went to work for the competition, bought it out and reopened in September 2001. Her key insight about exhibits: "The sales staff must engage the customer," she said. "People buy from people they trust." Inspiration: Her son Garrison, now 18, inspired her children's books, which led to her current career. Private passion: "I am a roulette junkie," she said. "I go to Vegas to relax."