SEMA News—September 2015

INTERNATIONAL
By Alysha Webb

Borla: A SEMA-Member Export Success Story

Borla Performance Industries has participated on each SEMA overseas business development programs, including those to China, the Middle East and Russia. Pictured (far right) is David Borla, Borla vice president of sales and marketing, talking with buyers at the SEMA China program.

International sales represent some 25% of the total sales at Borla Performance Industries and are growing rapidly. The company is one of the originators of stainless-steel performance exhaust systems, and among the secrets to its success is taking direct control of its international business, said David Borla, 41, vice president of sales and marketing for the 38-year-old firm.

“Nobody knows more about our products than we do,” he said. “We don’t expect our resellers to promote or drive demand for our products.”

As American automakers began to export more performance models around the world, SEMA members such as Borla Performance Industries saw international opportunities grow. The firm, started by Alyse and Alex Borla nearly four decades ago, was a pioneer in selling its products overseas. Alex Borla, the company’s co-founder, CTO and David’s father, is from Romania, so the company first set up an international office in Europe.

“We were very bullish on the European Union,” said the younger Borla.

As it turned out, Europe was not as good a bet as the company expected, he said. While Borla’s products were in demand in Europe, other markets might actually provide the company better opportunities.

“You put your best plans in place and you make adjustments as things start to evolve,” Borla said. “I can tell you that whatever we had planned going into whatever part of the world, those plans have changed. Your success depends on your ability to modify your strategy as you go.”

Success in international sales also requires resilience. The company switched its international focus to emerging markets that included the Middle East, China and Russia. Its fastest-growing international market is currently South America, Borla said.

Market research is also key. Borla uses all of the resources SEMA offers to expand its market knowledge. At the international roundtables, for example, Borla said that he listens a lot and tries to figure out how to apply others’ lessons to his own international business.

“I think no matter how successful you have been, the most important thing is to go into those meetings with an open mind and an intention of improving yourself,” Borla said.

Nothing can replace on-the-ground research, and Borla Performance Industries uses SEMA’s international trips to do that research—especially about end-users in different markets. Borla has been on a sand dune in the Middle East in 130ºF weather and had dinner in the home of a customer in China. He has visited car clubs in many countries and gone to races.

“You need to show a commitment,” Borla said. “Get down on the street level and see how people are using your parts.”

The SEMA trips also help build relationships with distributors, which are crucial. If they like and trust you, distributors are more likely to give you the real picture of the market rather than telling you what they think you want to hear, Borla explained.

“Most of us are good at what we do,” he said. “Those who succeed are the ones who get the deepest understanding of the market and are able to create the right product, price it properly, and promote it properly.”

SEMA Shows Aren’t Held Only in Vegas

	Borla attends SEMA trade events in other countries. He is going to China’s SEMA Business Development Conference in September, for example, and he takes advantage of “every precious moment,” he said, talking with people and collecting business cards. And that is just the beginning.

Borla reconnects with the company’s distributors at the SEMA Show in Vegas each year. The Show is also a good place to find new distributors.

“Every year, someone comes up to our booth and becomes a customer,” he said.

He also attends SEMA trade events in other countries. He is going to China’s SEMA Business Development Conference in September, for example, and he takes advantage of “every precious moment,” he said, talking with people and collecting business cards. And that is just the beginning.

“Follow-up is key,” he said. He has a team of people—and a system—to work with the contacts he makes on his international trips. For smaller companies without such resources, prioritization is critical.

“Collect opportunities you can follow up on,” Borla advised.

International business isn’t risk-free. You have to know when to cut your losses, Borla said. For example, Borla Performance Industries stopped selling in Venezuela because it couldn’t get product to its distributors. But Borla advised persistence in the face of such setbacks.

“If you become discouraged easily, you lose the opportunities that come along,” he said. “Put the onus on yourself to figure it out.”

Borla noted that his family’s company has been able to document a return on every overseas SEMA trip it has participated in. He credited SEMA with some of that success but stressed that participants have to make an effort themselves to get the most out of the trips. Doing that requires everything from a possible attitude readjustment to getting enough sleep. And don’t assume that you are offering something international customers can’t live without.

“We really don’t sell anything people need,” Borla said. “It is a ‘want’ product. The notion that anyone needs your stuff—you have to drop that arrogance immediately.”

Building relationships with customers is crucial. Don’t look down on another culture just because it is different, he said.

“You need to be open-minded and respectful when you travel internationally,” Borla explained.

He advised making product displays as portable as possible, because you are limited in what you can bring on a trip, and shipping a display invites problems. Borla said that his company even leaves some of its displays in-country with customers, which helps establish good relationships with them.

Borla Performance Industries’ successes overseas are significant and have won government recognition. The company, with a manufactur­ing facility in Johnson City, Tennes­see, and marketing and sales office in Oxnard, California was presented with a U.S. Department of Commerce Export Achievement Award at the 2012 SEMA Show.

Contact Linda Spencer at lindas@sema.org for more information about the association’s international resources, including make/model data, the International Happy Hour at the SEMA Show and overseas business-development programs to China, the Middle East and Russia.

SEMA News—September 2015

HERITAGE
By Drew Hardin
Photo Courtesy Petersen Archive

Go-Cart Cavalcade

Some 10 years after its founding, Hot Rod was branching out, looking for new trends to appeal to its speed-hungry readers. Late ’50s and early ’60s issues continued to cover the traditional hot-rodding venues—Bonneville, Indianapolis, Pikes Peak and NHRA-sanctioned dragstrips across the country—but other forms of motorsport were appearing regularly, too.

During these years, a lot of editorial space was devoted to go-carts, “autodom’s newest, cheapest, funnest sport,” wrote Managing Editor Bob Greene in “Go-Cart Cavalcade,” a lengthy roundup of carts and cart parts in the August 1959 issue.

“Now, through an evolution of miniature powerplants graduating from the early washing machine engine, a whole new world of carting has exploded,” he wrote, “a creditable industry mushrooming overnight to supply the sudden demand for simple tube frames, engines, wheels and sprockets.” A “century note” could get you into a cart kit, “and some of the five-cubic-inch two-stroke mills sell individually for about a third of that.”

At the time of Greene’s roundup, there were about 40 cart makes on the market, some from hot-rodding veterans such as Chuck Potvin and Frank Kurtis. Halibrand made mag wheels for carts, and Dean Moon turned out scaled-down versions of his famous disc wheel covers.

“Four for $5.95,” said Greene.

Moon and his father, in fact, created a 1/5-mile dirt cart track in Santa Fe Springs, California, on a plot of unused land next to Moon’s speed shop and his father’s restaurant. They named the track Moonza and held a 100-lap race there on Memorial Day in 1959. That’s when Petersen photographer Eric Rickman snapped this starting-line photo that day as Moon gave pre-race instructions to a motley assortment of competitors.

SEMA News—September 2015

HERITAGE
By Drew Hardin
Photo Courtesy Petersen Archive

Go-Cart Cavalcade

Some 10 years after its founding, Hot Rod was branching out, looking for new trends to appeal to its speed-hungry readers. Late ’50s and early ’60s issues continued to cover the traditional hot-rodding venues—Bonneville, Indianapolis, Pikes Peak and NHRA-sanctioned dragstrips across the country—but other forms of motorsport were appearing regularly, too.

During these years, a lot of editorial space was devoted to go-carts, “autodom’s newest, cheapest, funnest sport,” wrote Managing Editor Bob Greene in “Go-Cart Cavalcade,” a lengthy roundup of carts and cart parts in the August 1959 issue.

“Now, through an evolution of miniature powerplants graduating from the early washing machine engine, a whole new world of carting has exploded,” he wrote, “a creditable industry mushrooming overnight to supply the sudden demand for simple tube frames, engines, wheels and sprockets.” A “century note” could get you into a cart kit, “and some of the five-cubic-inch two-stroke mills sell individually for about a third of that.”

At the time of Greene’s roundup, there were about 40 cart makes on the market, some from hot-rodding veterans such as Chuck Potvin and Frank Kurtis. Halibrand made mag wheels for carts, and Dean Moon turned out scaled-down versions of his famous disc wheel covers.

“Four for $5.95,” said Greene.

Moon and his father, in fact, created a 1/5-mile dirt cart track in Santa Fe Springs, California, on a plot of unused land next to Moon’s speed shop and his father’s restaurant. They named the track Moonza and held a 100-lap race there on Memorial Day in 1959. That’s when Petersen photographer Eric Rickman snapped this starting-line photo that day as Moon gave pre-race instructions to a motley assortment of competitors.

SEMA News—September 2015

HERITAGE
By Drew Hardin
Photo Courtesy Petersen Archive

Go-Cart Cavalcade

Some 10 years after its founding, Hot Rod was branching out, looking for new trends to appeal to its speed-hungry readers. Late ’50s and early ’60s issues continued to cover the traditional hot-rodding venues—Bonneville, Indianapolis, Pikes Peak and NHRA-sanctioned dragstrips across the country—but other forms of motorsport were appearing regularly, too.

During these years, a lot of editorial space was devoted to go-carts, “autodom’s newest, cheapest, funnest sport,” wrote Managing Editor Bob Greene in “Go-Cart Cavalcade,” a lengthy roundup of carts and cart parts in the August 1959 issue.

“Now, through an evolution of miniature powerplants graduating from the early washing machine engine, a whole new world of carting has exploded,” he wrote, “a creditable industry mushrooming overnight to supply the sudden demand for simple tube frames, engines, wheels and sprockets.” A “century note” could get you into a cart kit, “and some of the five-cubic-inch two-stroke mills sell individually for about a third of that.”

At the time of Greene’s roundup, there were about 40 cart makes on the market, some from hot-rodding veterans such as Chuck Potvin and Frank Kurtis. Halibrand made mag wheels for carts, and Dean Moon turned out scaled-down versions of his famous disc wheel covers.

“Four for $5.95,” said Greene.

Moon and his father, in fact, created a 1/5-mile dirt cart track in Santa Fe Springs, California, on a plot of unused land next to Moon’s speed shop and his father’s restaurant. They named the track Moonza and held a 100-lap race there on Memorial Day in 1959. That’s when Petersen photographer Eric Rickman snapped this starting-line photo that day as Moon gave pre-race instructions to a motley assortment of competitors.

SEMA News—September 2015

HERITAGE
By Drew Hardin
Photo Courtesy Petersen Archive

Go-Cart Cavalcade

Some 10 years after its founding, Hot Rod was branching out, looking for new trends to appeal to its speed-hungry readers. Late ’50s and early ’60s issues continued to cover the traditional hot-rodding venues—Bonneville, Indianapolis, Pikes Peak and NHRA-sanctioned dragstrips across the country—but other forms of motorsport were appearing regularly, too.

During these years, a lot of editorial space was devoted to go-carts, “autodom’s newest, cheapest, funnest sport,” wrote Managing Editor Bob Greene in “Go-Cart Cavalcade,” a lengthy roundup of carts and cart parts in the August 1959 issue.

“Now, through an evolution of miniature powerplants graduating from the early washing machine engine, a whole new world of carting has exploded,” he wrote, “a creditable industry mushrooming overnight to supply the sudden demand for simple tube frames, engines, wheels and sprockets.” A “century note” could get you into a cart kit, “and some of the five-cubic-inch two-stroke mills sell individually for about a third of that.”

At the time of Greene’s roundup, there were about 40 cart makes on the market, some from hot-rodding veterans such as Chuck Potvin and Frank Kurtis. Halibrand made mag wheels for carts, and Dean Moon turned out scaled-down versions of his famous disc wheel covers.

“Four for $5.95,” said Greene.

Moon and his father, in fact, created a 1/5-mile dirt cart track in Santa Fe Springs, California, on a plot of unused land next to Moon’s speed shop and his father’s restaurant. They named the track Moonza and held a 100-lap race there on Memorial Day in 1959. That’s when Petersen photographer Eric Rickman snapped this starting-line photo that day as Moon gave pre-race instructions to a motley assortment of competitors.

SEMA News—September 2015

HERITAGE
By Drew Hardin
Photo Courtesy Petersen Archive

Go-Cart Cavalcade

Some 10 years after its founding, Hot Rod was branching out, looking for new trends to appeal to its speed-hungry readers. Late ’50s and early ’60s issues continued to cover the traditional hot-rodding venues—Bonneville, Indianapolis, Pikes Peak and NHRA-sanctioned dragstrips across the country—but other forms of motorsport were appearing regularly, too.

During these years, a lot of editorial space was devoted to go-carts, “autodom’s newest, cheapest, funnest sport,” wrote Managing Editor Bob Greene in “Go-Cart Cavalcade,” a lengthy roundup of carts and cart parts in the August 1959 issue.

“Now, through an evolution of miniature powerplants graduating from the early washing machine engine, a whole new world of carting has exploded,” he wrote, “a creditable industry mushrooming overnight to supply the sudden demand for simple tube frames, engines, wheels and sprockets.” A “century note” could get you into a cart kit, “and some of the five-cubic-inch two-stroke mills sell individually for about a third of that.”

At the time of Greene’s roundup, there were about 40 cart makes on the market, some from hot-rodding veterans such as Chuck Potvin and Frank Kurtis. Halibrand made mag wheels for carts, and Dean Moon turned out scaled-down versions of his famous disc wheel covers.

“Four for $5.95,” said Greene.

Moon and his father, in fact, created a 1/5-mile dirt cart track in Santa Fe Springs, California, on a plot of unused land next to Moon’s speed shop and his father’s restaurant. They named the track Moonza and held a 100-lap race there on Memorial Day in 1959. That’s when Petersen photographer Eric Rickman snapped this starting-line photo that day as Moon gave pre-race instructions to a motley assortment of competitors.

SEMA News—September 2015

HERITAGE
By Drew Hardin
Photo Courtesy Petersen Archive

Go-Cart Cavalcade

Some 10 years after its founding, Hot Rod was branching out, looking for new trends to appeal to its speed-hungry readers. Late ’50s and early ’60s issues continued to cover the traditional hot-rodding venues—Bonneville, Indianapolis, Pikes Peak and NHRA-sanctioned dragstrips across the country—but other forms of motorsport were appearing regularly, too.

During these years, a lot of editorial space was devoted to go-carts, “autodom’s newest, cheapest, funnest sport,” wrote Managing Editor Bob Greene in “Go-Cart Cavalcade,” a lengthy roundup of carts and cart parts in the August 1959 issue.

“Now, through an evolution of miniature powerplants graduating from the early washing machine engine, a whole new world of carting has exploded,” he wrote, “a creditable industry mushrooming overnight to supply the sudden demand for simple tube frames, engines, wheels and sprockets.” A “century note” could get you into a cart kit, “and some of the five-cubic-inch two-stroke mills sell individually for about a third of that.”

At the time of Greene’s roundup, there were about 40 cart makes on the market, some from hot-rodding veterans such as Chuck Potvin and Frank Kurtis. Halibrand made mag wheels for carts, and Dean Moon turned out scaled-down versions of his famous disc wheel covers.

“Four for $5.95,” said Greene.

Moon and his father, in fact, created a 1/5-mile dirt cart track in Santa Fe Springs, California, on a plot of unused land next to Moon’s speed shop and his father’s restaurant. They named the track Moonza and held a 100-lap race there on Memorial Day in 1959. That’s when Petersen photographer Eric Rickman snapped this starting-line photo that day as Moon gave pre-race instructions to a motley assortment of competitors.

SEMA News—September 2015

HERITAGE
By Drew Hardin
Photo Courtesy Petersen Archive

Go-Cart Cavalcade

Some 10 years after its founding, Hot Rod was branching out, looking for new trends to appeal to its speed-hungry readers. Late ’50s and early ’60s issues continued to cover the traditional hot-rodding venues—Bonneville, Indianapolis, Pikes Peak and NHRA-sanctioned dragstrips across the country—but other forms of motorsport were appearing regularly, too.

During these years, a lot of editorial space was devoted to go-carts, “autodom’s newest, cheapest, funnest sport,” wrote Managing Editor Bob Greene in “Go-Cart Cavalcade,” a lengthy roundup of carts and cart parts in the August 1959 issue.

“Now, through an evolution of miniature powerplants graduating from the early washing machine engine, a whole new world of carting has exploded,” he wrote, “a creditable industry mushrooming overnight to supply the sudden demand for simple tube frames, engines, wheels and sprockets.” A “century note” could get you into a cart kit, “and some of the five-cubic-inch two-stroke mills sell individually for about a third of that.”

At the time of Greene’s roundup, there were about 40 cart makes on the market, some from hot-rodding veterans such as Chuck Potvin and Frank Kurtis. Halibrand made mag wheels for carts, and Dean Moon turned out scaled-down versions of his famous disc wheel covers.

“Four for $5.95,” said Greene.

Moon and his father, in fact, created a 1/5-mile dirt cart track in Santa Fe Springs, California, on a plot of unused land next to Moon’s speed shop and his father’s restaurant. They named the track Moonza and held a 100-lap race there on Memorial Day in 1959. That’s when Petersen photographer Eric Rickman snapped this starting-line photo that day as Moon gave pre-race instructions to a motley assortment of competitors.

First-Time Exhibitor Case Study

By Marilyn Haigh

How Luma III Found Opportunity and Success at the SEMA Show

	The Luma III team headed by Kirk Lucas (second from left) took home two awards after entering the Aurora in the New Product Showcase.

Every year, hundreds of first-time exhibitors venture to the SEMA Show and, for those who work the Show properly, the payoff can be huge. Luma III founder Kirk Lucas and his team put it all on the line to attend last year’s Show and walked away with two Best New Products Showcase awards, a stronger brand identity and new deals in the works.

Luma III, a company based in Wichita, Kansas, manufactures the Aurora, a unique LED spray-gun attachment that provides superior lighting without the $20,000 price tag of an auto shop spray-paint booth. Luma III sells to the aerospace, industrial and boating markets, but with Lucas’ background in the garage, he knew that he wanted to target the auto industry and found that the SEMA Show was the most effective way to do so.

After a successful 2014 Show, Luma III learned how to capitalize on what SEMA has to offer. SEMA News asked Lucas what he did right in 2014 and what advice he may have for first-timers at the 2015 Show. Lucas recommended that new exhibitors enter the New Products Showcase, consider doing a contest or giveaway to draw attention to their product, and focus on finding the right customers.

SEMA News: Your company won two runner-up awards in the New Products Showcase. How has that benefited your product and
its marketing?

Kirk Lucas: We were able to co-brand with SEMA and put it on our website, and we had a handful of articles written about the product itself in magazines such as Fender Bender and Autobody News. It’s all great publicity, and I think that one of the toughest things for a startup company is getting in front of people who have no idea who they are. SEMA has gone above and beyond in helping us at doing that. I would definitely more than recommend that anybody who can qualify for the New Products Showcase try to get a product in.

SN: How did you make sure that you attracted the right kind of customer at the SEMA Show?

KL: It was very tough for us. One of the techniques we used is that we stood at the front of our booth and held a spray gun in our hands with the light on it. Every once in a while, we would turn the light on and off and shine it at people’s feet. Somebody who painted would see the spray gun, which would catch their attention, and then they would see the new light on it that provided some mystery, and that would draw them over to the booth.

SN: Why is it important to have a well-planned booth and an efficient team working the space?

KL: There are so many different people who go out to the Show, and if you’re in a niche market, your potential market is maybe only 10% of the people who attend the SEMA Show. You want to make sure that those people are the only ones who show up to your booth. You don’t necessarily want to sell to everybody; you don’t want to be wasting your time talking to someone who has nothing to do with your industry.

SN: Is there anything you would change about your booth? What improvements are you making this year?

KL: We’re trying to focus our campaign this year more around the distribution companies and maybe even international distribution companies. Our booth is being built more for them than for the average painter, like it was last year. We’re getting a bigger booth, we’re creating more room, and we’ll have a section that shows how our product works. We also have to be able to communicate that information to a distribution company that doesn’t have as much of an idea of the paint industry as an actual painter would. They might sell paint products, but that doesn’t mean that they paint.

SN: How did you follow up with potential buyers?

Luma III manufactures the Aurora, an LED light spray-gun attachment that helps painters produce a better product with strong lighting and a color-matching feature.

KL: One of the really nice things about the SEMA Show was the CompuSystems technology that you could scan the badges on. We had a big list of both distributors and customers that we were able to scan and put small notes next to. We will be purchasing the TrafficMax option this year. I would definitely recommend it to anyone going to SEMA for the first time. If you want to bring that right person into your booth, you want to know who they are before they show up to the Show and how you’re going to grab their attention.

SN: How are you using social media to raise awareness of your brand?

KL: This year, two of my business partners are putting together a really neat campaign for the SEMA Show. It’s a contest. We’ll actually be giving away products at SEMA if you send in a picture with your best paint job with our light on your spray gun.

We’re learning a lot about how powerful social media can be. It’s a huge step in the right direction for any startup company trying to bring up its brand awareness. Last year was a little faint just because we didn’t realize the power of what SEMA could do. Now that we’re really co-branding with the SEMA name, [social media] has more of an impact than what we originally thought.

SN: Which events should first-time exhibitors attend at the SEMA Show?

KL: We’re going to be attending the International Happy Hour this year that we’re really going to dive into. We’ve got a handful of distribution companies we’ve already talked to and have meetings lined up at that event. If I were a first-time exhibitor, I would definitely look into attending this mixer on Wednesday evening because you’re reaching further than where you can get by yourself. When you get a face-to-face meeting with someone overseas, that’s more than a lot of business owners can get in the first couple years
of business.

SN: What was the biggest challenge you faced at the 2014 SEMA Show, and how did you overcome it?

KL: We had to figure out how to get our booth to the SEMA Show. Shipping was very expensive, and funds were very tight. When it came down to it, we had the booth completely finished the last months before the Show, and we realized that even then we may not be able to make it out. So we came together and we made some sacrifices. I sold my car, and we made some very big last-minute sales that allowed us to rent a U-Haul trailer and a truck and trailer the thing out there and set it up ourselves.

SN: It sounds like you made a lot of sacrifices to come to the Show. Did it all pay off?

KL: Yes, it did. More than you know.

First-Time Exhibitor Case Study

By Marilyn Haigh

How Luma III Found Opportunity and Success at the SEMA Show

	The Luma III team headed by Kirk Lucas (second from left) took home two awards after entering the Aurora in the New Product Showcase.

Every year, hundreds of first-time exhibitors venture to the SEMA Show and, for those who work the Show properly, the payoff can be huge. Luma III founder Kirk Lucas and his team put it all on the line to attend last year’s Show and walked away with two Best New Products Showcase awards, a stronger brand identity and new deals in the works.

Luma III, a company based in Wichita, Kansas, manufactures the Aurora, a unique LED spray-gun attachment that provides superior lighting without the $20,000 price tag of an auto shop spray-paint booth. Luma III sells to the aerospace, industrial and boating markets, but with Lucas’ background in the garage, he knew that he wanted to target the auto industry and found that the SEMA Show was the most effective way to do so.

After a successful 2014 Show, Luma III learned how to capitalize on what SEMA has to offer. SEMA News asked Lucas what he did right in 2014 and what advice he may have for first-timers at the 2015 Show. Lucas recommended that new exhibitors enter the New Products Showcase, consider doing a contest or giveaway to draw attention to their product, and focus on finding the right customers.

SEMA News: Your company won two runner-up awards in the New Products Showcase. How has that benefited your product and
its marketing?

Kirk Lucas: We were able to co-brand with SEMA and put it on our website, and we had a handful of articles written about the product itself in magazines such as Fender Bender and Autobody News. It’s all great publicity, and I think that one of the toughest things for a startup company is getting in front of people who have no idea who they are. SEMA has gone above and beyond in helping us at doing that. I would definitely more than recommend that anybody who can qualify for the New Products Showcase try to get a product in.

SN: How did you make sure that you attracted the right kind of customer at the SEMA Show?

KL: It was very tough for us. One of the techniques we used is that we stood at the front of our booth and held a spray gun in our hands with the light on it. Every once in a while, we would turn the light on and off and shine it at people’s feet. Somebody who painted would see the spray gun, which would catch their attention, and then they would see the new light on it that provided some mystery, and that would draw them over to the booth.

SN: Why is it important to have a well-planned booth and an efficient team working the space?

KL: There are so many different people who go out to the Show, and if you’re in a niche market, your potential market is maybe only 10% of the people who attend the SEMA Show. You want to make sure that those people are the only ones who show up to your booth. You don’t necessarily want to sell to everybody; you don’t want to be wasting your time talking to someone who has nothing to do with your industry.

SN: Is there anything you would change about your booth? What improvements are you making this year?

KL: We’re trying to focus our campaign this year more around the distribution companies and maybe even international distribution companies. Our booth is being built more for them than for the average painter, like it was last year. We’re getting a bigger booth, we’re creating more room, and we’ll have a section that shows how our product works. We also have to be able to communicate that information to a distribution company that doesn’t have as much of an idea of the paint industry as an actual painter would. They might sell paint products, but that doesn’t mean that they paint.

SN: How did you follow up with potential buyers?

Luma III manufactures the Aurora, an LED light spray-gun attachment that helps painters produce a better product with strong lighting and a color-matching feature.

KL: One of the really nice things about the SEMA Show was the CompuSystems technology that you could scan the badges on. We had a big list of both distributors and customers that we were able to scan and put small notes next to. We will be purchasing the TrafficMax option this year. I would definitely recommend it to anyone going to SEMA for the first time. If you want to bring that right person into your booth, you want to know who they are before they show up to the Show and how you’re going to grab their attention.

SN: How are you using social media to raise awareness of your brand?

KL: This year, two of my business partners are putting together a really neat campaign for the SEMA Show. It’s a contest. We’ll actually be giving away products at SEMA if you send in a picture with your best paint job with our light on your spray gun.

We’re learning a lot about how powerful social media can be. It’s a huge step in the right direction for any startup company trying to bring up its brand awareness. Last year was a little faint just because we didn’t realize the power of what SEMA could do. Now that we’re really co-branding with the SEMA name, [social media] has more of an impact than what we originally thought.

SN: Which events should first-time exhibitors attend at the SEMA Show?

KL: We’re going to be attending the International Happy Hour this year that we’re really going to dive into. We’ve got a handful of distribution companies we’ve already talked to and have meetings lined up at that event. If I were a first-time exhibitor, I would definitely look into attending this mixer on Wednesday evening because you’re reaching further than where you can get by yourself. When you get a face-to-face meeting with someone overseas, that’s more than a lot of business owners can get in the first couple years
of business.

SN: What was the biggest challenge you faced at the 2014 SEMA Show, and how did you overcome it?

KL: We had to figure out how to get our booth to the SEMA Show. Shipping was very expensive, and funds were very tight. When it came down to it, we had the booth completely finished the last months before the Show, and we realized that even then we may not be able to make it out. So we came together and we made some sacrifices. I sold my car, and we made some very big last-minute sales that allowed us to rent a U-Haul trailer and a truck and trailer the thing out there and set it up ourselves.

SN: It sounds like you made a lot of sacrifices to come to the Show. Did it all pay off?

KL: Yes, it did. More than you know.