Value?

[Printficient]

What would the value of a non biased floor walker be?  This would be someone hired to attend a show for the express purpose of bringing a knowledgeable unfettered opinion to the buying of equipment or supplies.  This person would help the buyer get the best bang and fit for their specific shop based on the buyers space, needs, industry knowledge and business model.  Would this be of interest to anyone?  What qualifications would you look for in such a person?

[TCT]

Think the issue would truly be finding a non biased person. To develop knowledge and provide advice it would typically be based on experience in the industry. You will not be able to find someone like that. Example- looking at a auto made by Lawson vs. M&R, find someone that is going to go off listed features only....

[tonypep]

Agreed. Pretty much zero value

[bimmridder]

Not trying to sound arrogant, but my opinion is most valuable to me.

[tonypep]

Exactly the point

[Screened Gear]

What would the value of a non biased floor walker be?  This would be someone hired to attend a show for the express purpose of bringing a knowledgeable unfettered opinion to the buying of equipment or supplies.  This person would help the buyer get the best bang and fit for their specific shop based on the buyers space, needs, industry knowledge and business model.  Would this be of interest to anyone?  What qualifications would you look for in such a person?

I see what your looking to do here. I think the non Biased part is not really important. What your describing is a buyer. A buyer has, one knowledge of what they are buying and then the time to do it. They also have contracts and deals with the suppliers. The people that pay for a service like this is people/shops that don't have time to deal with it. Honestly if I hired someone to do this for my shop I would have needs in the press that I need. I don't have the time to figure out if my compressor can handle another presses, my shop is big enough. I don't have time to call around/look on forums/go to trade shows to do it. I would want this person to know or check into all of that and come back to me with a full system approach to my production. I mean you have like 3 options with all the costs/down time/ increased production rates bases on my shop numbers. Now if you could do something like this you have value.

Now how do you get paid? If you do this you make money like this. One you have a fee. Small like $1000 this is only incase they never buy from you. Then how do you make real money? You set up volume discounts with the manufactures. You negotiate the crap out of them so you can give your customer a better price then they could get on their own and still keep some of the difference for yourself.

Now the real question is can you do this?

[Printficient]

What would the value of a non biased floor walker be?  This would be someone hired to attend a show for the express purpose of bringing a knowledgeable unfettered opinion to the buying of equipment or supplies.  This person would help the buyer get the best bang and fit for their specific shop based on the buyers space, needs, industry knowledge and business model.  Would this be of interest to anyone?  What qualifications would you look for in such a person?

I see what your looking to do here. I think the non Biased part is not really important. What your describing is a buyer. A buyer has, one knowledge of what they are buying and then the time to do it. They also have contracts and deals with the suppliers. The people that pay for a service like this is people/shops that don't have time to deal with it. Honestly if I hired someone to do this for my shop I would have needs in the press that I need. I don't have the time to figure out if my compressor can handle another presses, my shop is big enough. I don't have time to call around/look on forums/go to trade shows to do it. I would want this person to know or check into all of that and come back to me with a full system approach to my production. I mean you have like 3 options with all the costs/down time/ increased production rates bases on my shop numbers. Now if you could do something like this you have value.

Now how do you get paid? If you do this you make money like this. One you have a fee. Small like $1000 this is only incase they never buy from you. Then how do you make real money? You set up volume discounts with the manufactures. You negotiate the crap out of them so you can give your customer a better price then they could get on their own and still keep some of the difference for yourself.

Now the real question is can you do this?

This sounds like a consulting gig to me.  Yes I could do this.  This is one thing I do now.  What I am getting at I guess would be for the guy that is buying his first auto and all the smoke and mirrors he has to go through from the actual salesmen.  Case in point.  Let's say that you have an exposure unit that exposes 1 frame in 90 seconds and the sales guy says that he has one that will do 2 in 20 seconds.  Is this a good buy for you?  Probably not as the deciding factor for a unit is how long does it take you to develop the screen.  If it can be done in 10 seconds then this is a good buy.  If longer then you would end up with a bunch of exposed screens stacking up while you wash out.  All other parameters of exposure being equal.  This is what I mean.

[tonypep]

Not necessarily true at all Sonny. Every shop manages their pre-press differently. Not trying to be over-argumentative but in many cases the 2@20 is a very good purchasing decision. For instance we have to large rinseout sinks exclusively devoted that process and shot screens four up. Developing goes super fast. And of course emulsion comes into play with exposure times.

[Screened Gear]

I'm not sure I see a difference in a consultant and a buyer and what your talking about. I agree with your example. Making the exposure time faster is not worth it if the rest of your system is the bottle neck.

[jsheridan]

I goto the shows to hang out with my friends and colleagues, if they happen to have some nice equipment, that's a bonus.

[Gilligan]

Just tell them to buy an mhm and move on... That's where you are going anyway right?

[TCT]

I guess I see no big value in it personally.

You are asking the wrong crowd though Sonny, most of us are here to learn on a higher level(that is what I keep telling myself) so there is not as much value in that for a lot of us. Now, if you hit up the "other" forum or Facebook groups I would imagine there may be interest there....

[tonypep]

The problem with the "consultant" who goes in haven figured it all out already is just that. Same with going to a show for a couple of days and recommending equipment with an unbiased opinion (highly unlikely no matter who you are). A seasoned consultant (not myself I can assure you) knows that you first must listen, observe, research, and respond to the clients needs. Not what you deem to be the best based on best of all possible worlds and experiences elsewhere. The interdependent variables multiply exponentially in our industry; making each shop unique (no matter the size). 
I'm sure Sonny is a nice guy and Xenon makes good products but theres history that I won't mention.