Expo West by Ryan Crouch, Consumer Products Sales
In early March I was able to travel out to Anaheim, CA to attend the Natural Products Expo West. With over 3,000 exhibitors spaced through 5 Halls, consisting of over 600,000 sqft Expo West is well known for being one of the largest shows companies can display new, innovative products that specifically target the “better for you market”. There were a several goals in attending the show; first was to look for potential new companies to work with, I also wanted to meet in person with companies we have been working with over the last year or so and finally I wanted to explore what is new and trending in the food industry.
I feel my goals in attending were met and then some. After returning back to Ashton, I almost immediately started having conversations with companies I met at the show, I also had the chance to meet in person for the first time several people I had only worked with virtually and I definitely saw many innovative new products. The number and types of plant based products being shown was staggering. There were also many companies showing some very interesting varieties of ice cream. This was the first time I or anyone from Crest has attended Expo West and following the experience, we are already planning to attend the Natural Products Expo East Expo this fall in Phila- delphia.
The Lost Art of Making a Phone Call by Al Duthie, Tech Service
In today’s world, both with business and personal, it appears most everyone wants to use any long distance commu- nication method which avoids having to make an actual person to person phone call. Why? Well, if you make a “live” call you will have to have an actual conversation with another person, on the spot. And that’s becoming a more and more rare situation for most people. Those of us who grew up with being forced to use a landline telephone (dare I say a rotary dial phone) do know how to appropriately talk on a phone call. However, even our older generation has significantly changed its ways in terms of communicating with our smartphone tools of texting, e-mailing, videos, etc. Often, these contact meth- ods end-up being the best ways to successfully contact someone. It is a 2 way street. We all fall into the “trap” of convenience having a smartphone in our hands. Older people raised with phone calls who get out of the normal practice of phone conversations may even develop phone “anxiety”, like many younger people seem to have. I can think of reasons why telephone calls are better than other communication methods. One reason is clarity with a concept of idea. For example, instead of having to send multiple texts or e-mails to explain something to some one, pick-up the phone and call. A second reason is the immediate back and forth interaction, where there can be timely questions asked and answers given. A third reason is that a phone call can be much more efficient and pro- ductive, especially for more business-related items, and this provides more impact with the encounter. I would make this case; why not set yourself apart from others and use the phone call to your advantage. This no doubt applies to business/work calls, but also with personal calls. Of course, the biggest challenge to this premise is that the per- son you call must answer the phone call! But that can happen, perhaps more oftern than you think. Try it! See what happens.
16 Crest Ink January, February & March 2023
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