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Cost Saving Examples
General Contractor Bill Auditing, Negotiation and Correction
Examples of how to use this trick to improve your marketing ROI and significantly reduce your trade show costs. Contrary to popular belief, the GC will correct your bill if you have the right approach. In fact you can even get the bill corrected after the show. With the proper mix of correct contact name, patience and persistance, this technique will save you 10-20% per show.
Incorrect Freight Category - On a small project the personnel at the general contractor (GC) desk entered the freight handling charge as the wrong class, uncrated vs crated. The increase was $14 / 100 lbs. After a couple of trips to the desk, we had the rate corrected leading to a savings of $783.75.
Hanging Sign Installation and Equipment Billing Mistake - An exhibit has a hanging sign. The crew that comes to hang the sign is not familiar with the hall so it takes them much longer than usual to hang the sign. As a result, we are charged too much for this task. After careful negotiation, the general contractor charges our customer what the sign usually costs to hang, rather than what we had been billed, a savings of $552.00.
Incorrect Exhibit Weight Recorded - During the general contractor billing audit for another small project, the customer was charged for 9100 lbs. but the exhibit weighs 6500 lbs. After much discussion, each crate is weighed on site and the adjustment made. The billing adjustment - (9100 lbs. - 6500 lbs.) x $42 / 100 lbs. (cost per 100 lbs.) or a savings of $1092.
Electrical Services Double-Billing - We had contracted for a theatrical style overhead lighting package. The package was all inclusive. However, somehow our client was billed for the labor included in the lighting package again by someone at the general contractor's service desk. We spoke to the theatrical lighting company and they agreed to credit our customer for the services that were double billed by the GC service desk - a savings of $1872.50.
General Contractor (GC) billing mistakes are rampant at all of the trade shows that we have attended. It is not unusual for us to save a client our entire fee, just by finding all of these mistakes, and getting them corrected. Learn all about the line items on the bill from the trade show general contractor, find the items that are incorrect and get them corrected in order to increase your trade show marketing ROI and reduce your trade show related costs.
