Buying a custom trade show booth is a valuable investment. But sometimes it makes more sense to rent rather than buy. The good news is, renting a trade show exhibit lets you access the benefits of exhibiting without a major financial investment or worrying about the logistics of ownership. Once you’ve decided that you want to rent an exhibit, you’ll need to find an exhibit rental partner. This company will provide the rental booth that supports your trade show success, so it’s important to make this decision with care.

1. Determine Your Trade Show Needs

You don’t know what you need in a trade show company until you know what you need from your exhibit. Before you even start looking for exhibit rental companies to work with, you’ll need to evaluate your trade show strategy and figure out what you need your exhibit to do. For instance:

• What are your trade show goals? Do they stay consistent over time, or do they change depending on external factors such as the show, the season, or your production schedule?
• What kinds of events do you attend, in what industry?
• What is the exhibit for? Do you have any specific functions in mind, or is it purely a trade show display?
  • Do you do product demonstrations?
  • Do you need multimedia capabilities?
  • Do you have industry-specific needs or technical requirements?
• What exhibit sizes and footprints are you looking for?
• Do you have a specific look or design ideas in mind?
• Do you need assistance with choosing components, or do you already know exactly what you want?

2. Find Potential Exhibit Rental Partners

Once you know what you want, you can start to look for it. There are lots of ways to find potential candidates. The wider you cast your net, the better your chances of finding a company that fits your custom exhibit rental needs.

• Recommendations: Your own professional contacts list can be the best way to find a trade show rental booth partner. It’s particularly useful if you’re in a niche industry or a highly technical one. Companies that are recommended to you from others in your industry are more likely to have the kind of expertise you need.
• The show floor: This method isn’t the best if you need a custom rental display in a hurry, but it can be useful if you have the time. At the next show you attend, keep your eyes open for more than just leads. Look at exhibits on the trade show floor. Which ones really catch your attention? Stop in and see if you can find out the booth’s origins. Even if it isn’t a custom exhibit rental, the company might provide rental services, so it’s another candidate to add to your list.
• Search engines: It’s always good to get recommendations, but if they haven’t turned up anything that fits your needs, there’s always the internet. A quick search will result in lots of potential candidates for a trade show rental booth partner. You can narrow your search by location if you prefer to work with a company local to you.

3. Talk to Each Exhibit Rental Partner and Narrow Your Choices

Once you have a list of possible exhibit rental partners, you’re ready to find out more about each one. This is relatively painless, thanks to the internet, as you can quickly narrow your candidate list down just by checking out each company website. Specific information to look for includes:

• Company: Check the About Us page for details about the exhibit house and its people.
• References: Look for a portfolio, testimonials, and other information about the company’s previous work.
• Services: Check out the services page for exhibit rental information. Does this company offer the full range of services you need? Do they have a large inventory of rental options?
• More: Is the website polished and professional? Does this company look like they know the industry?
• Cross-check: What do people say about this company elsewhere on the internet? Check social media pages, and read verified reviews, such as those on Google.

Questions to Ask Your Shortlist

Checking out company specifics is easy, but narrowing down your shortlist can be difficult when choosing between companies that look very similar on paper. Don’t be shy about asking questions! Make sure your trade show rental booth partner can meet all your needs.

• What kinds of clients do you work with, and in what industries?
• Can you provide references or provide a portfolio of previous work?
• What display rental options are available? Can you make suggestions based on our needs and your available inventory?
• Can you customize rental components to meet our specific requirements? Do you do this work yourselves or outsource it to another company?
• What additional options do you offer? For instance: lighting, graphics, audio/visual, flooring, furnishing, or accessories
• What services are included in the rental contract? The rental booth has to be shipped to the venue and installed, then disassembled and returned to the facility afterwards. Is all this covered?
• What is your customer satisfaction rating?
• How do you address customer satisfaction issues?

Look for a Long-Term Partner

There’s one final consideration that comes into play if you’re a new company or startup or are entering into a growth phase. If your company fits this description, look for a trade show booth rental partner that can cover your needs for the long term.

If you only want a small 10×10 booth rental right now, a smaller exhibit house with a limited inventory may fit the bill. But it’s important to consider how your needs might change over time. If you wanted something bigger or flashier, could that same company still meet your needs? If you eventually decide you want to purchase a custom build, can they accommodate you? If you’re looking for a long-term exhibit rental partner, choose a company that offers a full range of trade show exhibit design, sales, and rental services. That way, you can be sure your needs are covered, no matter what happens in the future.

4. Make a Final Decision

Your final step is to ask for a quote and a contract. You can then compare offers and pick the one that best meets your needs. The exhibit itself may be your primary concern, so you’ll naturally want to choose a company that has the specific items you need. But that’s not the only important detail. Some other points to consider include:

• The contract: What items, services, and costs does the contract cover? The quote should detail what is provided by the company, with a breakdown of rental components and associated services like transportation and booth setup. It should also include all costs and fees associated with the trade show display rental, including the deposit, transportation and delivery, installation and dismantle, and insurance, plus any applicable taxes.
• Payment: Check that the payment schedule works for your event budget and timeline.
• Terms and conditions: Check these thoroughly, and go over the cancellation policy, liability clause, and dispute resolution process. Make sure you understand how these processes work, and that you know what your rights and obligations are.

Avoid These Exhibit Rental Partner Red Flags

Along with the positive attributes that are good to have in an exhibit rental partner, there are also some red flags it’s best to avoid. These red flags aren’t necessarily proof positive that a company provides poor service. But they can indicate that a company isn’t able to consistently meet the needs of their clients.

Limited Information

• The company website is sparse, with little information about its products, services, or employees.
• The website doesn’t have any testimonials, reviews, case studies, or photos of previous work.

Poor/No References

• The exhibit house can’t provide references or a client portfolio.
• There’s a disparity between what the exhibit house says about itself and what others say. For instance, their website testimonials are all glowing references, but the off-site reviews are poor. This isn’t always a red flag, as most companies cherry-pick the best reviews for the website. But if you find only negative reviews elsewhere on the web, consider your other choices first.

Poor Service

• The company rep doesn’t listen to what you want but instead pushes rental options that aren’t a good fit for what you need.
• You get a lowball offer that’s significantly lower than all the others. It might seem like a great deal, but it’s worth considering whether that low price comes at the expense of service or quality.

Renting vs Buying: How to Know Whether to Rent or Buy an Exhibit Is Right for You

Renting a custom trade show exhibit can be an excellent solution, but when is it the right solution? Both renting and buying are good options, when used at the right time for the right reasons. If you’re not sure whether to buy or rent a custom exhibit, consider the following points:

Have you exhibited before? If your company hasn’t yet attended its first event, renting rather than buying makes sense. Exhibit rental lets you get started without having to make a major financial commitment.

What’s your budget? It’s generally more affordable to rent a booth, and not just because paying the rental fee is less than the cost of purchase. Owning a booth also means paying for things like storage, shipping, repairs, and other expenses—but you can avoid those by renting.

How often do you attend trade shows? If you attend only one or two shows a year, it may be more cost-effective to continue renting in the long-term. If you attend lots of shows every year, the per-show cost of a purchase starts to come down, meaning it may make more sense to buy a trade show display.

How soon do you need the booth? If you only have a few weeks until the show, it may be better to go for a rental. Purchasing a custom exhibit with only a few weeks of lead time likely means paying a premium to get the work done quickly.

What are your exhibit needs? If you have very specific requirements in terms of booth size, shape, or functionality, it can make sense to buy a custom trade show booth. That way you have the option to customize it to your specific needs. On the other hand, if you’re looking for display tables, shelves, and other common components, renting can easily supply what you need.

Choose a Trade Show Exhibit Rental Partner That Can Support Your Success

Your trade show success hinges on more than just your booth, but there’s no question that the booth is a very important part of the whole. Whether you’re looking for a one-time exhibit, or a long-term trade show rental booth partner, it’s worth putting in the time and effort to find the right company for the job.

The design team at ProExhibits has experience building showstopping rental exhibits. Don’t let budget or time stop you from making a splash at an upcoming trade show. Contact us today for expert trade show rental design, booth construction, and top trade show planning.