Doing Business with Haunt Vendors

April 19th, 2011

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BY DAN FAUPEL

I originally sat down to write this article to offer tips to the general haunt buyer on how to get the best deals from vendors in the Haunt Industry. With 10 years of experience working full-time as a vendor with Creative Visions, I felt that I had a lot of insight to share.

However, as I put it on paper, it became an article that helps both the buyer and vendor, by helping each to better understand their symbiotic business relationship. The buyer needs the vendor and the vendor needs the buyer. The goal is to maximize that relationship.

Forming successful business relationships with Haunt Vendors revolves around helping each other make money. You spend money with the vendor for product/ services, and the product/services help you bring customers through the door thereby making money. Making more money while spending less and sacrificing as little quality as possible, is the real challenge.

Pyramid of Business Reality

I constantly hear from clients who feel that other companies have “ripped them off.” The product arrived late…it failed immediately upon use…it looked horrible right out of the box…or any combination of the three! They are angry at the vendor and cannot understand why this happened.

The general production adage that you may have heard is called the “Pyramid of Business Reality.” The pyramid applies to all manufacturing and is very well suited for the Haunt Industry. The pyramid consists of the three following variables:

▪ Quality

▪ Speed

▪ Expense

In the real world…you can only get two out of the three at the same time!

You can get something with high quality and get it fast, but it will be expensive. You can get something inexpensive and fast, but it will not be high quality. You can also get high quality and inexpensive, but you will not get it fast.

You need to determine which is most important to you. If you speak with a vendor who promises to fulfill all three, chances are good that he is telling you what you want to hear to make the sale. If you find someone who can deliver on all accounts, please let me know!

If you follow Pyramid of Business Reality, then you can avoid getting ripped off. If you want high quality for a lower than advertised price, then order it very early… like November!

Do your homework

Before you order several thousand dollars worth of props from a company and send them a down payment, do a bit of research on the vendor. Get a client list and contact some of their past clients to find out what their experience with them was like. What is their reputation for shipping on time? Is the quality of the product shipped as good as what you saw at the tradeshow? Does the prop hold up through repeated use?

Ask the vendor questions about their business. How long have they been in business? How many employees do they have? Where are they located? This is just like interviewing a candidate for a job. You wouldn’t hire someone with a questionable background…why give a vendor your money without knowing more about them first? Knowing the answers to these questions before you order would eliminate 90% of the problems buyers run into.

Smart vendors know that a well-educated buyer is a good buyer, and no reputable vendor will have a problem with you wanting to know more about past clients and past projects. The ones that have a problem providing references are the ones to avoid.

Today, almost anyone can clean out their garage, set up shop, get a web site and advertise themselves as a legitimate business. They can post about themselves on message boards and chat rooms, and even exhibit at industry tradeshows. Some notable Haunt Vendors got their start this way, but many more have gone out of business owing Haunters money. Working primarily for creative enjoyment, they forgot to charge for their time or research and development, and set profit margins too low.

With low price and an unrealistic promise of speed and quality, the vendor may be “lucky enough” to have buyers place a ton of orders. With a bunch of orders to fill, reality kicks in; the orders have to be filled! Every available moment is spent working for no salary and little profit, while they neglect their full-time jobs and families. The orders fall by the wayside, or inferior product is shipped. It doesn’t take long for the vendor to realize he is losing the battle. The business fails owing money to many and leaving a sour taste in the mouth of the buyer. From now on, the buyer will be more cautious and may decrease the number of props they will purchase, keeping other existing vendors from making sales the next year. Dissatisfaction with vendors has pushed some attractions into building their own custom props and some even started their own prop companies.

Legitimate vendors have overhead that has to go into the price you pay for products and services. This overhead consists of building rent, utilities, employee payroll, insurance, research and development costs, tool maintenance, design, general administration, and accounting to name a few.

Buyers in the amusement park industry can spend years (depending on the amount of money they are spending) tracking and researching a vendor to make sure they are legitimate and aren’t going out of business any time soon.

It is not always the size of the company. Some smaller companies have been around for a long time and may better fit your budget. Just do your homework so you know what type of business you are dealing with…then you can make educated decisions.

Negotiating the Best Price

Some vendors may not want me to talk about this, but when the buyer knows when the slow times are, they can help lengthen what is typically a short manufacturing season.

Negotiating good deals with a vendor can be a touchy subject. You want to be armed with as much knowledge as possible to increase your chances of success. Negotiations gone wrong can be a bad way for your buyer vendor relationship to begin. When you are good to your vendor, they will be good to you…especially when it comes to needing them to work around your impossible deadline!

Buy in the off-season – Any Haunt Vendor will tell you that they are busiest from March through October. Ordering at any other time of the year will almost assure you of being able to negotiate an off-peak rate. You are helping the vendor stay busy in the off season, and in turn they help you with a lower price.

Order at the tradeshows – Almost any vendor exhibiting at a tradeshow is offering some sort of special pricing to entice you to buy at the show. Take advantage of tradeshow specials. If the show room does not indicate a tradeshow special ASK!

Order before the tradeshow – Start thinking about needs you have for your attraction, months before the tradeshow and list the vendors that can handle those needs. Contact those vendors before the show and let them know of your needs. Place orders a couple of months before the show dates. The vendor may even be able to bring the props with them to the show so you can take them home with you. When a vendor brings products to a show, usually the money spent to manufacture that product that came straight out of the vendor’s pocket. When you get in touch with them to buy before the show, you help them justify bringing something they may not have been able to afford to bring without your order. This helps the vendor save money, and in return they may give you a discount.

Buy Demos – The products the vendors bring to the tradeshow are called demos. Sometimes vendors can be talked into giving you a discount if you buy their show demos off the show floor. This way the vendor doesn’t have to haul the props back to the warehouse.

Use the IAHA Vendor Discount Program – One of the most valuable things about being a member of the International Association of Haunted Attractions (IAHA) is the Vendor Discount Program. Dozens of Haunt Industry Vendors are a part of this program, offering exclusive year-round discounts to IAHA Members. This program can pay for the price of membership ten times over. For people who just aren’t very good at haggling, or are uncomfortable doing it, the Vendor Discount Program makes it easy to get a good deal on props and services. The program is also good for the vendors. As IAHA Members, vendors can get discounts on tradeshow booths and marketing with IAHA media and other media partners.

After reading this article, you should have a better understanding of what it takes to do business with a vendor in the Haunt Industry. Think about what you need from the relationship. Do your homework to know more before you buy. Choose the most suitable methods to save your haunt business money. Follow these steps, and you will increase your chances of forming a successful business relationship!

Understanding the love hate relationship between buyers and the vendors will help to strengthen this symbiotic business arrangement. Buyers need vendors who will produce new innovative products that help them make more money at their events. Vendors need buyers that order often and order early to help cover the year round payroll of quality artisans and craftsmen. Getting the best deal on props can be as easy as buying in the off season, rather than waiting until September to order and expecting delivery before October. Finding out all you can about the company you plan to purchase from, will help keep you from losing money on a fly by night vendor. Making more money while spending less is the goal of both parties of this strained relationship, and working together is good for both buyer and vendor.

To join the IAHA or more information about the Vendors Discount Program, go to www.iahaweb.com

Dan Faupel is Vice President of Creative Visions, a company that specializes in the fabrication of animatronics and themed settings for amusement facilities worldwide. See their work at ww.CreativeVisionsOnline.com. They also have a company called Haunt Visions, which handles distribution of their Haunted Attraction product line …visit www.HauntVisions.com. Dan is also on the IAHA Board of Directors, and is the Chairman of the IAHA Vendor Committee. You can contact him at DanFaupel@aol.com.

This article originally appeared in Haunted Attraction Magazine Issue #49