The western portion of the Stahls’ Canada National Tour recently wrapped up after visits to Vancouver, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Regina. Stahls’ Canada Marketing Coordinator Dale Mouscos wrote this wrap-up of the week’s events, which included Spencer Ritchie, the National Sales Manager for Stahls’ Canada, John (Hong) Li, Sales Representative and Asian Market Specialist, and Doug White, Inside Sales Representative for BC, SK & MB.  Be sure to check out part two of the western recap and visit our National Tour page for more information and to register for the eastern leg, coming in late April.

by Dale Mouscos, Marketing, Stahls’ Canada

VANCOUVER:  John (Hong) flew out a few days early to visit some of those customers in Vancouver, Surrey and the surrounding area who were not able to make it to our show.

Our National Tour began in Vancouver at the Delta Suites where we arrived a day prior to get everything set up.  Upon arrival, we were greeted by the friendly staff and concierge who checked us in and directed us to our meeting space.  John (Hong) found us in the lobby when we were arranging to have our equipment brought up to the Somervell room.  We spent the evening setting up the room and were ready to go for the show.

	Spencer, Dale, and Doug model the National Tour T-shirt, printed on the Epson SureColor F2000 DTG printer.

The day of the event – Friday March 21^st – Although the doors opened at 10am, we had some very eager customers pop in at about 9:45.  We were pleased to see the enthusiasm that our customers demonstrated and the questions they asked.  We handed out souvenir T-shirts with our National Tour image printed using our New Epson^® SureColor^® F2000 Direct-to-Garment printer and a custom embroidered license plate patch prepared specific to each province that we visited.

Although a few of our customers couldn’t make it, we had plenty of surprise visits from those who didn’t get a chance to register.  This was by far the highest-attended show of our western National Tour, with 94 registered attendees.  Our customers seemed delighted to hear about the new products and services that are coming down the line and we were more than happy to talk about them.

	Even the mountains in Vancouver are named after Spencer.

Saturday March 22^nd – Our next show was in Edmonton the following Monday, so we stayed in Vancouver for Friday and Saturday.  It rained on the Saturday but after the winter that we had in Toronto this year, these mild conditions were fantastic.   Doug went and called on a few of our customers, leaving me and Spencer in the downtown core to experience what happens for the locals there on Saturday.  Believe it or not, it wasn’t too crazy, but just being able to see the mountains from a distance was an image that we will never forget.  We did happen to notice that the name “Spencer” must be very popular in western Canada or even famous for that matter.  In fact, the lounge in the Delta that we were staying at was called “Spencer’s Lounge”.   It’s not every day that you find restaurants, bars, lounges and stores all within the same vicinity named after you.   I think this was a highlight for Spencer.

EDMONTON: Sunday March 23^rd – We flew out of Vancouver on the warmest day yet – it was sunny and 10°C.  Doug flew to Saskatoon to meet up with some customers prior to our show.  We (Spencer and I) landed in Edmonton in the afternoon where it was -1°C feeling like -9°C.  That is quite the difference in temperature, which got us thinking about the long treacherous winter that we barely survived.  I think we both wanted to go back to BC at this point, but the show must go on.  Upon arrival in Edmonton, we picked up a rental car and checked into the Delta Hotel.  Once we were settled, we rested up for what was sure to be a very busy week.

	The Edmonton Warehouse, ready for guests.

Monday, March 24^th – After a restful night’s sleep, we were recharged and ready to go.  We headed over to our warehouse & showroom on 97^th Street to set up for the Edmonton portion of the tour.  We had shipped ourselves some machines, literature, and samples which thankfully had arrived safely.  We sorted out our shipment, added some new informative wall graphics for Any Word. Any Way.™ custom text templates,  and the Epson^® Direct-to-Garment printer that we now have in stock.  Now that the showroom was up-to-date, we were ready to go.

We had wonderful attendance once again with 59 devoted customers and had some pretty insightful conversations about our new products and how they can help our customers to grow their businesses.  We also introduced the new TEK™ printable heat transfer materials.  We were delighted to see some of the same customers who came out to support us last year with both the Grand Opening of our new Edmonton warehouse in May 2013 as well as our National Tour 2013.   It is this type of loyalty that really makes these trips worth it.  We found that these customers seem to be positive, motivated and optimistic about all of our new products and processes that will be coming down the line.  It was really nice to spend some quality time in our own facility and receive the support that keeps us on our toes.

After the show, we dropped off our car and headed to the airport en route to Saskatoon.

Check back tomorrow as Dale and crew head to Saskatoon and beyond.

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