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Thursday
October 8, 2009 Sell This Product - UmbrellasFiled under: Sell This Product Wind-resistant umbrellas help companies and their customers weather the storm. Companies strive to withstand the elements, and their promotional products should, too. Take umbrellas, for example. They’re popular items for imprinting and giving away, but not all umbrellas are created equal. “It was becoming increasingly obvious to us that the typical quality available in the market would not withstand the extreme wind and weather conditions umbrellas are subjected to,” says Bob Hechler, spokesman for Windbrella (asi/97247). “Salespeople were asking clients to place their most valuable asset – their corporate identification – on products that failed quickly and ended up in landfills.” Contrary to many promotional offerings, Windbrella’s 62″ golf/oversized umbrella carries a 100% lifetime guarantee. The product features an automatic-opening, pinchless runner; 100% fiberglass shaft, ribs, spreaders; and a double-canopy, vent mesh system, which Hechler says allows the wind to vent through to prevent inversion in high winds. Windbrella introduced its golf/oversized umbrella as a promotional product, targeting the golf, corporate and nonprofit event markets, though Hechler says all markets can use umbrellas. He adds that Windbrella developed a Target Market Program that contains a series of brochures focused on the 19 largest end-users of promotional products, letting them know why umbrellas should be part of their advertising and promotional product budget. “This has allowed our distributor partners to penetrate almost every segment of end-users,” he says. “There is a place for our distributors to customize the brochure with their contact information, making it a tool that can be used to sell more than just umbrellas.” The first step in selling any promotional product is to create a company or personal business plan, says Hechler, because the job becomes easier once a direction is determined for salespeople. “Once that is accomplished,” he adds, “tools like ESP Online and our Target Marketing brochures will assist in the creative selling process.” GREAT TARGET MARKETS
CASE STUDY Two retirees from an automotive aftermarket business decided to sell umbrellas to the industry they knew from their past careers. They reestablished their contacts with dealerships and developed a package to send to every consumer who buys a car. The package contains a Windbrella with the dealer’s logo and a thank-you letter from the general manager, asking the consumer to give the dealership a 10-point rating on a soon-to-arrive survey. “Their volume was over six figures in 2008,” says Hechler. “While 2009 is slower, they are still finding success with the strong dealerships, and Windbrella is sure to be the supplier of choice, as we climb out of the current economic situation.” From the 2009 Advantages September Supplement.
Thursday
October 8, 2009 Tie Tuesday @ ASIFiled under: General There are some real characters here at ASI. From the outwardly flamboyant Matt “Mr. Wearables” George to the subtly hysterical Andy “Captain Killjoy” Cohen, never a dull moment is had here in the hallowed halls of Advertising Specialty Institute. So when for no reason I — who literally works in a dark closet with designers and developers and has no real pressing reason to dress formally – donned a tie a few Tuesdays ago, I received a bevy of snarky comments such as:
And on and on. But then someone mentioned or said in passing that we should all dress up next week, and, not thinking of who I was dealing with, said, “We should do a Tie Tuesday.” Boy am I sorry I did. Now almost all the men in both Editorial and ASICentral are dressing up like members of the Young Republicans Club on Tuesdays (not that there’s anything wrong with that), and I’m taking the heat. Anyway, this past Tuesday, thanks to Editor Joe Haley of The Joe Show, we had an impromptu photo session to ascertain the best tie @ ASI and, according to Joe, of course, he won when votes were solicited via email. But I’m not convinced. In fact, I think the results were skewed with everyone’s favorite cranky editor voting for himself multiple times. He was the gatekeeper of votes, so … Yeah. Since I have my own blog, let’s do this thing fair and square. The following are the ties … let us know which one you think is the best by commenting below or emailing us at feedback@asicentral.com – ASTie-Central Tie#1
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