By Skittles
Following Winter OR, events unfolded such that we ended up staying in Salt Lake City with C-Dog Batson for another two weeks. During that time, we were able to get some post show work done, as well as take the opportunity to plan out our next month all the while enjoying the company of our good friend Clint.
First up on our February itinerary, the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo back at the Salt Palace. For us, the largest difference in going to this show was that it was a consumer show, so we were selling to the general public, instead of retail buyers and it was a 100% hunter demographic attending the show. It was really really hard to schlep our Sportsman’s Salve to those hunters! We got lots of “what is that?” and “no thanks” to our offers to try a sample of the Salve. However, once they came in to check it out, and we could see the state of the dry cracked skin on their hands, they saw the potential of the product. We met lots 
of folks in construction and concrete who were impressed that the product wouldn’t mess up their good calluses - hopefully we made some in’s with those folks!
It was cool to learn a little about the hunting and outfitting industries. We found out that some of those permits for particular animals cost in the upwards of $100K’s! And that was just for the permit, and did not include the outfitter service, transportation, lodging, etc, etc. Craziness. All in all, the show was a good learning experience for our upcoming Sportsman’s Show in Phoenix.
A huge shout out to C-Dog who was the JTreeLife Salesperson of the Show! Seriously buddy, thank you for all your help schlepping the goods at the show in only a way that YOU can! Here is an email excerpt of C-Dog’s best sales effort of the show:
“While supporting the MDF at the recent expo in Salt Lake, I wandered around and came across the Joshua Tree both…or rather the booth found me. Whomever the salesman at that booth did one heck of a job getting me to stop, sample and purchase your product. He was a hoot! I spend a great deal of my time outdoors and have always had trouble with rough skin on my hands and chapped lips. I purchased your Desert Shimmers lip balm. It’s without a doubt the best product I have ever used on my lips! And believe me I’ve tried EVERYTHING! You have a customer for life.
I was given a sample of the Sportsman’s Salve. Once again, I’ve never used anything that helped my dry skin so quickly. When hunting season approaches and I’m knee deep in sagebrush, snow and the Wyoming wind you can bet I’ll be stocking up on more of your products.
Thank you for creating such an excellent product. I’m very impressed! Keep up the great work.”
