A Goal is a Dream with a Deadline … Napolean Hill
The USA is a controlled-time culture. In the exhibit business deadlines are set first by the show management as representatives of the show association. To meet the show deadlines and to keep client budgets in line these deadlines must be met. There is no excuse for excess money spent on penalties and late fees. In turn to accommodate all our client projects and fulfill outside material orders Absolute Exhibits must set deadlines as well. Describing the urgency of a project or deadline in ways that resonate with the other party is an uphill battle for us. For cultures with a built-in priority for punctuality and deadlines, simply informing them that you have a firm deadline is enough.
The Ultimate Inspiration is the Deadline … Nolan Bushnell
For clients who live with delays and fluid timelines daily the realization of what the consequences will be if the deadline is missed is far more difficult to convey. There is a relational fall out that will happen if timely follow-through doesn’t occur. There are no delays in the trade show world because the trade show will go on whether you are ready or not ready. Clients who have signed sales orders and paid deposits will have their exhibits built first and late signers will squeak onto the show floor with minutes to spare, with no time for fixes, feeling stressed, exhausted, and overwhelmed.
Not Meeting a Deadline Reduces Choices
In the past few months we have learned that it is better all the way around that once a deadline date is given and then explained to a prospective client and not met; it is best for us to not move dates and attempt to build a project. This only amounts to unhappy clients, more missed dates to receive graphic files, and furnishings and resource orders that cannot be fulfilled by material vendors. Please take this all into consideration before you begin to work with us. We are neither unmoving nor unbending. We want every client to receive what they are expecting, and late orders will preclude that from happening for all of our clients. There is no way in good conscious that we can jeopardize a group of clients for one or two latecomers.
