Hong Kong - Expensive can be Cheap

I had to write this Blog quickly to capture my thinking on this subject.

I decided to stay at the Hong Kong Kowloon Shangri-la hotel during the visit to the electronic trade shows. It is a bit more expensive than conventional hotels, but you get what you pay for.

Firstly the high speed internet is free in the rooms. This makes a huge difference as the internet is a vital business tool for me. It would normally cost around $25 per day.

Secondly, breakfasts are included. I have a choice of eating in the lounge, which is quiet and peaceful, or having a "slap-up" breakfast in the dining room. I opt for the quiet breakfast because it is efficient, healthy and requires no effort. In addition to this there is tea and snacks available until 11pm. I use this to sit and type my notes and e-mails in a pleasant comfortable surrounding. There is also a daily Happy Hour with free drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and good snacks. We enjoy this.

Thirdly, I can reserve a fully equipped private conference room for two hours per day; a benefit I use often. As an example, we had a wonderfully productive meeting this evening with a new manufacturing partner. It was enjoyable to get out of the hustle and bustle of the exhibition to spend two hours working on a new product in an atmosphere conducive to cooperative discussion.

And then to top it all; I was feeling a bit under the weather from jetlag and a spot of flu. I asked the lounge manager where I could get some cold medicine. She pointed me in the right direction. So far, so good. I returned to my room, where I took the medicine and settled down to get some work done. After a short while, there was an unexpected knock on my door. There stood an attendant from the lounge with a flask of boiling water, some Camomile tea with honey and fresh lemon. "We wish you a speedy recovery. Get well soon!" How's that for service!!

Will I be back? Definitely!!

ESX Day 2

So... we have completed the second day of exhibiting at the Electronic Security Association's ESX convention. It was superb.

Many of the long time UPG customers visited our booth. They were pleased to see our existing product range. Many of them had forgotten some of the products we carry in stock in our warehouses. They were also very excited to hear of the new products on which we are working.

We managed to see a host of potential new customers with whom we formed a good relationship in a very short time. Our regional sales people are going to be very busy over the next few months, establishing solid working relationships with these people.

In summary we could clearly see that the leads we received from ESX were a much better quality that at ISC West, however, we must remember that perhaps UPG Security is achieving a better reputation and becoming more well-known in the security industry.

On another side, what impressed me a great deal was the beauty and cleanliness of Pittsburgh. I think that I had got my idea of what the city would look like from movies. I was more than pleasantly surprised.

We are looking forward to coming back to Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas, to spend time with our new found friends.

ESX

We are attending the ESX security convention in Pittsburgh.

Yesterday was a good day for us. Some of the meetings we had were superb, highlighting UPG Security's amazing potential for the future!

We saw a number of dealers on the exhibition who enjoy using the quality UPG products and are looking forward to seeing the new products. These dealers are being referred to the loyal UPG distribution partners.

More work ahead!! Till later.....

Here we are in Pittsburgh at the ESA (Electronic Security Association) convention. It is a true pleasure to see many of our long time friends, going back to the 1970's.

In the Associate member meeting, UPG Security agreed to assist as a "champion" of ESA membership in the region, further showing the commitment to the industry in which we are working.

The UPG Security exhibition booth was one of the first to be complete for Wednesday's show. Efficient!

One thing that struck me is that the delegates to the convention are starting to recognize the UPG personnel on a more frequent basis. There is no question that the focus on security by UPG is starting to take hold.

We are excited for today's series of meetings and the exhibition. We expect to meet with some of existing customers and also to see a lot of potentially new distribution customers.

Watch this space for more updates directly from the ESX in Pittsburgh.

You can also get "real-time" updates on Twitter on https://twitter.com/UPGSecurity You can also send Tweets back to us to let us know your ideas, questions and suggestions.

ESX

It's been quite a while since the last post. We have been working on a host of new products, services and ideas.

UPG Security will be exhibiting at ESX in Pittsburgh this week. We look forward to meeting distributors and dealers, alike. The excellent reputation of UPG Security and it's reliable, cost effective products is starting to grow in the security industry. Our presence at ESX shows our continued commitment to the industry and our customers.

We will have some superb prices for distributors who visit the UPG Security booth. These special offers would make the visit well worthwhile.

We would also like to discuss some of our new ideas with knowledgeable security practitioners.

We look forward to seeing you there.

China 1.5

This is the last blog of this "China" series.

Our last day brought some unexpected surprises, all good.

Firstly our hosts for what I thought was our only meeting, arrived an hour early. I thought I would get a chance to do some quick shopping, but, alas, Steve sent me a text message to say that they had arrived early to pick us up.

We went on an hour's drive to their premises, in a new modern technology park. The drive was pleasant enough in a large eight seater van.

When we arrived we saw many pallets of their products stacked under a cover, ready for shipping; a good sign.

They led us to their meeting room and showroom on the fourth floor of their building. As we walked in, we were struck by the obvious quality of their product offering. They offered us the usual cup of Chinese tea. We decided to do a factory tour first.

They showed us three floors of production facilities. It looked like a well calculated blend of high tech manufacturing and normal hands-on testing and calibration. We also saw them doing 100% testing of some incoming materials; impressive.

We returned to the meeting room for a very cordial discussion. It turns out that they are not selling anything into the American security market. What a great opportunity!!

We arranged to get some products to ISC West, so that we can show them to our good customers in our suite, for their input. Exciting times.

We returned to the hotel for a brief beer in the lounge before our next appointment. I was not aware, or did not remember, that we had a dinner meeting. This was with one of UPG's excellent suppliers. Dinner was at a nearby Chinese restaurant, two blocks from our hotel. Why didn't we discover this venue earlier???

The dinner discussion was enjoyable. When the discussion turned to business, I got an idea of where we could use this proven product in the security industry. A few quick e-mails were sent. We have already received some positive feedback.

We are also considering a ground breaking change of how things are done in normal security systems based on their new technology. I am hoping that we can do a presentation at one of the forthcoming security shows to discuss this new technology and how it can benefit our industry.

So another good day in China.

All the work done on this trip will give us plenty to do over the next few months. All bodes well for a strong focus on the security industry for UPG's security division.

Watch this space for further exciting news AND make sure you see us at ISC West in Las Vegas!!

China 1.4

Hey all. I'm a bit late with this blog. I was very tired yesterday from all the running around, but now that we are back in Shenzhen, we can recover a little bit before this afternoon's meeting.

So what happened yesterday?

My meeting was canceled. Why? Well, we had an arrangement, made by the Taiwanese head office, that the factory representative would pick us up at the hotel in the morning. They called to say that they would not be doing that and if we wanted to see their factory, we should get a car to drive us there for an hour and pick us up later. Well, I have always thought that after we have flown 10,000 miles and checked into a hotel at our expense, the factory could also put in some effort. I do not want to chase anyone for business; we should both put in some effort. So we canceled and made an appointment for Steve to visit one of UPG's excellent battery manufacturers.

I had a choice of staying behind or joining them. The factory tour was interesting. Watching the factory manufacture the different types of batteries was fascinating, but as we walked through the factory an idea started to form in my mind.

While Steve and Louis were discussing various matters with the factory management, I sent out a few e-mails from my Blackberry to see if this new idea would fly.

Well..... I think it may just do that, and could be an enormous boost for UPG Security and our suppliers.

We immediately arranged for some samples to be sent with our equipment to ISC West in Vegas where we will be discussing the ideas with our security distribution customers.

This is exciting!