CHS Inc., based in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, is one of the nation’s leading publicly traded cooperative marketers of grain and oilseed and represents farmers, ranchers and co-ops from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Northwest and from the Canadian border to Texas, according to Hoover’s business list. In addition, CHS operates petroleum refineries in Montana and Kansas, marketing Cenex brand fuels, lubricants and energy products to convenience stores throughout rural America. In fact, CHS’ Cenex stores are the 13th largest convenience-store chain in the U.S., according to the Global 300 Listing.
So it’s no wonder CHS knows a thing or two about complicated, expert logistics.
That’s one of the reasons CHS has chosen to work with ABF Display for more than 10 years to handle complete turnkey exhibit management services, such as design, installation and freight for the tradeshows CHS and its network of dealers participate in each year – tradeshows where the stakes are high and the competition fierce for booth traffic and good prospects.
ABF Display is a family-owned business based in St. Paul, Minnesota that has served the Upper Midwest since 1974. It became an exclusive branded distributor of Nimlok Company– a world leader in the manufacturing of custom modular displays and exhibit systems – for Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota in 1984.
Striking, flexible solutions
“Every year, CHS participates in its own annual meeting where other agricultural giants attend, such as John Deere, Case and AG Chem,” said Steve Miller, Exhibit Consultant for Nimlok Minnesota. “It’s important for CHS to have a striking and professionally branded booth that has the flexibility and capacity to fit all their offerings in the booth space while attracting the right potential customers.”
As one of the largest co-ops in the U.S., CHS needs to reach its customers, the farmer owners who are members of the co-op. In addition, CHS serves Cenex convenience stores, regional gas station chains, and “mom-and-pop” gas stations and convenience stores throughout the U.S.
“Not only do we use the Cenex brand display for branding CHS at the big annual shows, but we also need smaller pop-up booths for our large network of dealer reps who sell products to convenience stores and gas stations,” said Ann Mann, CHS Director of Advertising and Communications.
That means CHS needs a variety of flexible booth designs that can be easily reconfigured for the right event and audience.
“We work with the team at CHS to visually convey their message in a three-dimensional format to the right audience,” Miller said. “One challenge CHS has is to reach out to new and old customers to present all of their offerings. For instance, a farmer might buy all his lubricants from CHS, but not the propane to heat the chicken barn,” Miller continued. “These tradeshows give CHS the opportunity to educate their members on the entire product line and grow their business.”
Never stale
From blueprint to breakdown, ABF Display has the customer service savvy to mix powerful graphics with state of the art industry display technology to showcase more products in the space while looking at each tradeshow with fresh eyes.
“ABF Display has worked seamlessly with us over the last decade with the same tenacity they had on day one and it shows in every tradeshow booth they make for us,” said Mann. “Thankfully, Steve Miller has an eye for details. He handles all of the logistics – from graphics to shipping – leaving me virtually worry-free.”
That means moving faster than many trade show display companies can only dream of. In fact, it was ABF Display that beat all the records for extraordinary turnaround time and customer service when it reconfigured CHS’ 20-by-20-foot booth in Phoenix for an energy summit into a 30-by-30-foot booth in Minneapolis for the CHS annual meeting, events that occurred within days of each other.
And it’s not every trade show display shop that can allow clients to take a literal walk through the booth before it’s shipped, offering clients a chance to critique and review, thereby reducing issues on the other end. ABF Display operates a 30,000-square-foot warehouse in St. Paul where it can store your exhibit, prepare it for shows and ship it, whether you have one show a year or 20.
It’s customer service like this that has earned ABF Display numerous awards, including the Master Distributor status in the Nimlok network.