By Ray Smith, Exhibit City News
DJ Heckes, founder and CEO of Albuquerque, N.M.-based Exhib-It!, is selling her company to Georgea Frank-Tann, ending a 23-year career in the tradeshow industry that saw her crash the proverbial “glass ceiling” for women executives. She’ll stay on for a year to help with what she envisions as a “seamless transition.”
Exhib-It! offers tradeshow services ranging from branding, marketing and logo consultation and design to production of banner stands, tradeshow displays and custom environmental displays. The company also provides tradeshow management, storage and shipping services.
An author and recognized business leader, Heckes has been phasing out of day-to-day operations over the last few years as she looked for someone to take over the company. She’s confident that Frank-Tann, a New Mexico native with international marketing experience, will elevate the company to the next level.
“She is a smart, talented, beautiful and strong woman who can take this company even further than I did, and I plan to help her do just that,” Heckes says. All six Exhib-It! employees will keep their jobs, just as they did during the COVID shutdown.
“Sometimes, when larger companies take over acquisitions, you lose the personal touch with the customer,” Heckes adds, “and the way we did it was (to) have a local native New Mexican that knows and understands not only our state, but also has international experience in living in other countries.”
New to the tradeshow industry, Frank-Tann will lean on her 10 years of international marketing experience, along with Heckes’ decades of industry experience, to continue delivering stellar service to Exhib-It! clients and grow the business.
“I always tell people we are a marketing company first, and because of that, we happen to design and sell great exhibits and graphics,” explains Heckes, who has garnered awards from numerous organizations as a leader among women in business.
Exhib-It! was listed for sale on Sept. 19, 2023. A virtual meeting with Frank-Tann was scheduled for the next day and a letter of intent was signed within a week, Heckes notes.
For a small business in Albuquerque, Exhib-It!’s footprint in the industry is rather large, Frank-Tann says of her decision to acquire the company’s assets. A large chunk of revenue comes from cities outside Albuquerque, and from federal agencies such as the Department of Agriculture.
“There’s so much, not only the national footprint. DJ built a longstanding staff and a host of processes and systems that make it so we can go to the next level,” the new owner adds.
Frank-Tann considered starting her own marketing agency in Albuquerque, having returned from 10 years living abroad, but felt an acquisition was a better way to exploit her entrepreneurial background and marketing experience. Exhib-It! was the “best of the bunch” she explored.
“Anyone that’s ever started a small business knows it takes years to create cash flow and be successful. It puts us in a better position to scale and grow the business to the next level,” Frank-Tann says. “The hardest part on a 1-to-10 scale is getting from one to five.”
For more about Exhib-It! please see their website https://exhib-it.com/.
