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. Check out yesterday’s part one and be sure to check out our National Tour page for more information and to register for the eastern leg, coming in late April.
Stahls’ Canada Western National Tour Wrap-Up
Part Two: No Ghosts, But Plenty of Stahls’ Spirit
by Dale Mouscos, Marketing, Stahls’ Canada
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| Regina’s Delta Bessborough. |
SASKATOON: We landed in Saskatoon in the coldest weather we had for the tour so far. It was -1°C, feeling like -11°C. It just seemed to get colder and colder the closer we got to home. Our taxi driver was very informative, giving us a tour of everything that we passed along the way to our hotel. It was late at this point, but we arrived and checked into the Delta Bessborough which is a historical landmark of Saskatoon built by the Canadian National Railway from 1928 to 1932 – back when the first affiliate of Stahls’ was established. Coincidence? It may very well be. It is said that this hotel is haunted going back to stories of its earlier days. At this point, we were pretty tired and retired for the night in preparation for our longest day yet of the tour.
March 25th – We woke up bright and early and when we entered the Kelsey & Saskatchewan Room, our equipment was out of its boxes; our displays were set up and we were ahead of the game by about an hour. Hmmmm, maybe the hotel really is haunted! We found out later that Doug had gotten a head start knowing that we were in for a very long day. Thanks Doug! You’re a valuable team player. We proceeded to get everything in its rightful place and were ready for another successful show.
It started off a little slow but picked up a little later on in the day. We saw a total of 30 customers, some for the first time ever. In speaking to some of our customers, it was clear that they take comfort in knowing that although we operate out of Toronto, and now Edmonton, we are still there for them. Spencer went out to pick up the truck that we would later be driving to Regina and returned with lunch for us all. After the show had finished, we packed up and loaded the truck with some great help from the Delta staff and Catering Coordinator Brandon Gay. Let me say, that I would never have expected the amount of help that they gave us to put us well on our way with another head start. We proceeded to drive to Regina with a view of open plains, plenty of deer and that’s pretty much it.
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| A tribute to Stahls’ Canada General Manager Rob Gardiner, cut with the GCC LaserPro Spirit LS laser engraver. |
REGINA: When we arrived at the Delta Regina, we checked in and received instructions about where to take our truck to offload our equipment. It was conveniently located at the back of the building with a freight elevator that took us pretty much right to our meeting room; Campania A. The hotel staff was once again superb as they all seem to be at the Deltas that we have visited so far. We set up the show and took the opportunity to rest before our show the next day.
March 26th – And now for the second coincidental event of the western National Tour… PPPC was hosting their TOPS event in the room right beside ours. PPPC is the Promotional Products Professionals of Canada, of which we are members. We had 38 customers come and see us in Regina and are we sure glad that they did. We had the opportunity to meet with some newer customers who were just starting out. It’s an invigorating experience to be able to help one get started right from the beginning. With the vast selection of products and services that Stahls’ has to offer, from Hotronix® heat presses to CAD-CUT® heat transfer materials, it can otherwise seem overwhelming. I hope we helped to get those newer customers to decide on how they can set up their business to best suit their needs.
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| The Hotronix® Heat Press Caddie™ and Caddie Shelves. |
Nearing the end of the show, we had someone purchase the floor model of our Hotronix Heat Press Caddie™ and Caddie Shelves. This helped to lighten the load a little bit for the trip back home. We then proceeded to the airport destined for home, completing the western portion of our National Tour 2014.
Spencer reports that Doug continued on to Winnipeg where he contacted and met with over a dozen of our customers in the area. Based on the number of orders Doug came back with this week, the western leg of the National tour is turning out to be extremely successful.