SoHo Trends

After my baptism by fire with the printing guys, I wandered next to a booth from a premium tutoring and test preparation company.  I knew that education was a hot industry, so I figured I’d find out a little more about what this company had to offer.  Similar to my previous encounter with the printing franchise, a well-dressed man (WDM) pulled me close to the booth and handed me to his well-dressed colleague (WDC) who gave me his spiel.  Almost the same modus operandi as with the printing franchise.  There were a handful of music stands located in the back of the booth and each had a spiffy binder.  Before the WDC and I made it to one of the music stands, I asked him why so many company booths had the same physical setup.  Large open space in the back of the booths with several music stands spread out.  WDC explained to me that potential franchisees were more willing to stop by and learn about the franchise while standing up talking across from the salesman.  It was a lot more intimidating to people to have to sit down at a table.  Made sense to me.  I cracked a lame joke about getting into the music stand business.  He lauged, opened his binder and went through the pages, one at a time, reading the highlighted text on each page.  This particular franchise was pretty interesting and had a few unique things going for it.  After a few minutes, I thanked WDC and continued my trek through the IFE.