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Wednesday
June 16, 2010

Tip of the Day - How to Find New Leads

Filed under: Tip of the Day

Wondering how to add new clients to your base? It’s easy: Generate new leads. Or maybe, it’s not so easy. “I advertised at first, but it was fruitless,” says Joyce Jagger, owner of TheEmbroideryTrainingResourceCenter.com. “The easiest and most effective way I found to get new leads was to always give my existing customers business cards and brochures so they could refer me to others.”

According to a new business-to-business Marketing Benchmark Survey, 69% of the more than 2,600 professionals surveyed said that generating high-quality leads was their top concern. In an increasingly competitive market, successful decorators have found ways to target their leads and expand them, making for a significant rise in customers and sales.

Tip 1: Tuck business cards and brochures into packed orders for referrals. “When a customer comes in to pick up their items or if you’re mailing an order out, put a brochure about your referral program and a business card in their bag,” Jagger says. “Flyers, brochures, anything – as long as there’s info about your program, such as that they get 10% off their next order if a person they refer buys from you.”

Jagger’s advice for a referral program is simple: Give your clients your business card or business flyer. Advise them to sign their names on the back and distribute them to their friends, family and acquaintances. When the person who was referred comes into the shop, store the business card and keep track of who referred the new customer. When the original customer returns, they can receive a discount on their next purchase for spreading the word about the company. “I never had to advertise because this brought me more customers,” Jagger says. “It can’t get any better for you than people telling other people about your business. It’s by far the best way to get new leads.”

Tip 2: Ask for a referral after a customer has placed their order. “Ask if they have a friend or acquaintance who may be in the market for your services,” Jagger says. “You can then call that referral and let them know that Mr. or Mrs. [your customer] was in your shop looking for a special gift and you thought maybe they’d also be in the market for a special gift for a loved one.” She notes that holidays such as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter and Christmas, plus special occasions such as anniversaries and weddings, are easy times to generate more customers through this system.

Tip 3: Target PR departments. Howard Potter, owner of Yorkville, NY-based A & P Master Images and a four-year student of Jagger’s, says, “We do everything for public relations at St. Luke’s Hospital – their golf tournaments and all their little events there. And individually we’ve then networked through PR to every head director at the hospital.” He says that the PR department is the starting point for working your way into the company and reaching out to as many employees as possible. He began conducting inside sales directly with the staff, and A & P Master Images was one of the first companies to come into the hospital and sell logoed apparel to the staff through payroll deductions.

Tip 4: Include free products with large orders. “The hospital with 3,500 staff members placed an initial $2,000 order with us for basic embroidery,” Potter says. “When I brought them their embroidered polos, I included a free tote bag, a laptop bag, a duffel bag, and gave them maybe $100 at my cost of free stuff to show them what we can do on other items.” People are thrilled to receive free products, and it gives them an incentive to continue buying and to build a relationship with a decorating company.

Tip 5: Always, always, always promote more products. “While we were selling the hospital apparel, I also had two tables set up with other products, because we also do sublimation, promotional products, screen printing and embroidering, so we showed two tables’ worth of products that we had done for other people,” Potter says. “We brought in catalogs, free tote bags, sticky notes and pens to give out with all of our information on them.”

Each month when Potter goes to visit his hospital client, he rotates the freebies that he brings so as to always introduce new products to the market and watch how the employees respond, hoping that they’ll pass the product onto their friends and family. “The employees themselves know people and have kids on sports teams,” he says. “And, that’s really networked us on a really low cost to generate an extra $20,000 to $40,000 in sales just off of that.”

From Stitches’ Embroidery Business Insights newsletter, vol. 120.

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Tuesday
June 15, 2010

Tip of the Day - Cold Calling Dos and Don’ts

Filed under: Tip of the Day

It’s no secret that cold-calling is one of the most difficult parts of networking. Nobody likes to get turned down, and a rejection certainly isn’t conducive to future cold-calling ventures. Here’s three dos to master cold-calling:

  1. Connect. The first thing you need to do is connect with the person you’re calling by finding some common ground. You can even start the conversation by asking your prospect how her day is going, and respond back in kind. “Respond in a similar way,” says Gail Williams, business consultant for Allegre Communications and author of Effective Selling Techniques 1.0.1. “Whatever they give to you, give back in a respectful way. And, try to be humorous. Try to first connect with the person on a conversational level.” Also, use your prospect’s name. For instance, instead of saying “Thank you,” say, “Thank you so much, Mrs. Fitzgerald.” This builds your connection with your contact. 
  2. Make it relevant. One of the biggest things business owners forget when they’re cold-calling is relevancy. It’s essential to communicate why your prospect should listen to you in the first place. “You want to get to the point, because they have 2,000 other things they could be doing,” Williams says. Be specific: Mention different decorating or marketing services or goods you could provide the person that would make your business interaction beneficial to him or her. 
  3. It’s nothing personal. Recognize that rejection isn’t a reflection of you as a person. The person you’re calling is out to make money just as much as you are, and if he rejects you, it only means that your paths toward your monetary goals don’t intersect. Instead, try a different perspective. Williams suggests “treating rejection like a gain.” Make it a goal to make 100 calls, or strike up a friendly competition with another member of your staff to see who can make 100 cold calls first.

And here are three don’ts to cold calling:

  1. Unprofessionalism. It’s obvious that you’re not going to be intentionally rude to the person you’re calling. But sometimes the littlest “errors” can make you seem unprofessional to your prospect. Make sure you have your contact’s title correct, and that you address them by it initially. If they tell you that you can call them by another name, take the invitation. But until then, maintain a high level of respect. “You have to assume you’re speaking to someone who demands the highest level, because even if they didn’t, they appreciate the highest level,” says Joanna Grant, vice president of Affinity Express, a Chicago-based company that specializes in international digitizing, document creation and multimedia services. 
  2. Talking too fast. If you aren’t rehearsed, and if you try to cram in too much information too quickly, your contact will be hesitant to trust you. That’s where the term “fast-talker” comes from. Obviously, don’t talk so slowly that your contact nods off, but don’t talk her ear off, either. 
  3. Being unprepared. “Make sure you have the facts about your target and his business as strongly and completely as possible,” Grant says. “You need to be familiar with what they do, what they’re good at and how your products and services can help market their business.” Once you’ve got these facts down, rehearse what you know. “Have your talk track down,” says Gail Williams, business consultant for Allegre Communications and author of Effective Selling Techniques 1.0.1. “If you’re not rehearsed, then you aren’t going to get anywhere.” But, be ready to go off script based on the information your prospect gives you.

From Stitches Small Business Newsletter, vol. 46.

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Monday
June 14, 2010

Chinstrap - An ASICentral Local Celebrity!

Filed under: General, Uncategorized

Last year, I wrote about ASICentral’s very own Steve “Chinstrap” Hawk and how close he came to winning the vaunted annual “Philly Beer Geek” contest, losing by a hair of his chinny, chin-chin to Nate “Nugget Nate” Gefvert. In a battle that saw Steve get down on one knee and propose to his favorite beer — in this case, his fiancee and good sport, Crystal, dressed as a beer – Steve was dynamite that night, and we all thought he was robbed.

Fast forward one year …

With the bitter, skunky taste of 2009’s loss lingering in his mouth like an Old Milwaukee Light, Steve-O not only dusted himself off but raised the bar to a level that would make even the staunchest of beer connoisseurs and historians proud. By riding into the competition on a motorized beer cooler and composing a hilariously clever and inventive campaign speech hailing his nomination for Philly Pale Ale for mayor, “The Human Growler” — as he’s known in beer circles – not only blew away the competition, he tore a hole in it and tapped it! And we’re proud to say that today we here in ASICentral have a true local celebrity in our midst.

Ladies and gentleman, congrats to this year’s Philly Beer Geek, Steve Hawk!

For more images from the event, click here.

And for a text version of his campaign speech that put Steve-O over the top, click here.

And for the winning campaign poster Steve-O designed, check this out!

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Friday
June 11, 2010

Tip of the Day - 6 Questions To Ask Yourself Before A Market Analysis

Filed under: Tip of the Day

Mark Ziskind, COO of Caliendo Savio Enterprises (asi/155807), says distributors need to ask themselves the following questions before they perform an analysis of their local market:

  1. What industries play to your strengths? “Understand who you are, what your strengths are, and then chase the clients that would be the most productive for you as a client,” Ziskind says. “I think the tough thing about this industry is that everybody calls on everybody, regardless of how effectively they can service them, and I think that’s not good for the industry.”
  2. In what industries are you underdeveloped? Ziskind says a review of industry standards can help distributors to determine the local industries that they should pursue. “If you’re underdeveloped in health care, maybe go and pursue them because you’re missing some clients there,” he says. 
  3. Are there non-compete clauses with clients? “We have some clients that, due to the sensitive nature of their business in terms of the speed that they introduce technology, don’t allow you to work with competitors,” he says. “Don’t have your sales team call your competitors’ clients if you can’t do it.”
  4. Where is your sweet spot, and who is more prone to need those services? “Really, what is your true core competency, and what do you do best?” he says. “If it’s creativity, find out which clients are really clamoring for that. I think for new distributors, their sweet spot is relationships, personalized services, and the ability to service the smaller accounts until they develop an identity in the marketplace and get some more infrastructure.”
  5. What is the target size of the optimal new client? “Every company probably has a different threshold,” Ziskind says. “Obviously, the optimal client is going to vary based on what your ability to serve is and what your line of credit is from the bank. A two-person operation might have a different definition of an optimal client than we might.”
  6. What characteristics of a client make them more (or less) profitable? “Obviously, what you want to do is chase the most profitable clients that fit your business model,” he says. “Internet utilization is huge for us, but it might not be as big for someone who just got into the marketplace. So, we might find someone that utilizes that technology.” –  Shane Dale

From Counselor’s June 2010 issue.

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Wednesday
June 9, 2010

Interactive Feature: Celebrity Match Game

Filed under: General

Sure, everyone knows that Reese Witherspoon is an Academy Award-winning actress, but did you know she also champions and raises funds for several causes, including domestic abuse?

Since this month’s Advantages’ cover story focuses on fabulous fundraisers, we thought it might be fun to create an interactive Web feature that gives you, our users, the chance to test how well you know your celebs. Presenting our Advantagesmag.com interactive feature of the month: Celebrity Match Game.

Our drag-and-drop feature allows you to match eight causes with eight celebrities — if you get it right, the box will turn green; if you get it right, it’ll turn red. If you get it wrong, keep dragging the cause from celebrity to celebrity until you get it right!

Click here to test your celebrity knowledge now!

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Friday
June 4, 2010

Make a Difference in Our Industry

Filed under: General

The ASI Advisory Boards are for ASI members to help identify challenges and develop solutions in four (4) distinctive areas: 

  • Technology & Operations
  • Safety & Legislation
  • Industry Marketing & Research 
  • General Industry Issues

Nominations for the 2011 ASI Advisory Boards are now open. If you, or one of your peers, are interested in sharing ideas, thoughts and comments to assist in the betterment of our industry…this is a perfect opportunity for you! Participating in one of the ASI Advisory Boards - sharing your knowledge, experience and insight can help improve our industry and the way we do business.

Please email dale.denham@asicentral.com if you have questions about any of the advisory boards or the nomination process.

Click here to nominate yourself, or a colleague.

Click here for more information on the ASI Advisory Board.

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Friday
June 4, 2010

Tip of the Day - What New Distributors Need to Know

Filed under: Tip of the Day

Although sales reps in the promotional products industry each face their own challenges, our industry experts had some general advice to offer the newbies.

SUSAN GAGAINIS:  Talk to someone who is in the industry so that you can learn what to do and not to do at meetings. I wouldn’t approach a prospect or a client without having any idea of what to ask. The business takes a lot of patience to build a client base.

HOWARD WEISBERG:  Be nice and smile. It’s the little things that make the clients value you. Network, network, network. In this business, it’s not what you know, but who you know. Be honest. Use the good graciousness of the suppliers. They are boundless in their energy and will assist a distributor as much as is possible.

BRUCE JOLESCH:  Go find the person in your organization who has been successful and ask what they did. This is a relationships business and people will buy from the same person for years. The more you put in the business, the more you get out of it.

HOLLY ROTMAN-ZAID:  Be enthusiastic and love what you do. There is a lot of work behind the scenes. Understand that it’s not about the stuff, it’s about getting a result to the client.

From Advantages’ June cover story.

Are you a newbie in the industry and have a question you’d like answered? Post a comment below or email us at feedback@asicentral.com and we’ll try to answer your questions.

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Thursday
June 3, 2010

Tip of the Day - Will T-shirts Ever Die?

Filed under: Tip of the Day

T-shirts continue to dominate the wearables marketplace. So we pitched a very simple question to the various distributors, decorators and suppliers we talked to: Can you imagine a time when T-shirts won’t be on top? The answer was a unanimous no. Here are some of the responses we received:

Hans Kinder, Visage Screen Print (asi/743250): “As long as you can buy a blank T-shirt for two bucks and print it for 29 cents, why would it drop? I mean, you can’t even get a gallon of gas for $2.50 these days.”

Adam Wright, Pulse Marketing and Apparel: “The trends will change, the way that T-shirts are cut may change, the fabric may change, the printing will change, the colors will definitely change. But I don’t see America going away from the T-shirt anytime soon.”

Cole Lohman, Target Graphics (asi/90549): “Everyone understands T-shirts. It’s a classic promotional item. And to the extent that America is becoming more and more casual, I could see T-shirt popularity and use actually increasing.”

Mark Smalley, American Apparel (asi/35297): “You can say so much with a T-shirt and a screen-printed logo. And you can still do it for an inexpensive price.”

From Wearables magazine.

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Thursday
June 3, 2010

Top 100 Markets For Ad Specialty Sales

Filed under: Markets, Research

A recent exclusive Counselor study unveiled the best cities for ad specialty distributors to do business in right now. The list revealed the Top 25 metropolitan statistical areas — or MSAs — that have the most potential for promotional product distributors to find business.

For the online version of this feature, we decided to extend the list to the largest 100 markets and give them not only a rank, but a grade too, with the thinking that just because a city made the list doesn’t mean it’s ideal for ad specialty sales. So, the top 20 cities in the list are all considered Grade “A”; the next 20, Grade “B”; etc … all the way to City #100, which, for the sake of this list, received a grade of “F”.

And since it’s an online feature, of course we decided to make it interactive and fun! All 100 city/markets are listed alphabetically in a right-hand scrolling area. Click on a city and a full-color image representing that city will pop up, along with a rank and grade as well as pertinent statistical info for that city, including annual ad specialty sales, population, number of small businesses, etc …

So without further ado, we present Counselormag.com’s 100 Largest Markets for Ad Specialty Sales! Click here and enjoy!

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Wednesday
June 2, 2010

5 Expert Tips on Fundraising

Filed under: Tip of the Day

  1. Know the Audience
    It may sound simple, but if you don’t know the interests of the folks who are going to attend a fundraiser, you won’t know the best promotional items to provide. “You don’t want to give out wine glasses for alcohol abuse prevention,” says James Reber, fundraising consultant and founder of www.jamesreber.com. “Know what the organization is and who’s going to be there.”

    Sandra Sims, publisher of Step by Step Fundraising, says distributors must understand the general interests of the fundraiser’s attendees. “The most obvious example is a golf tournament. Promotional items related to golf would most likely be the best giveaways, but it also depends on the crowd,” she says. “Are they hardcore golfers? Are they there primarily because they want to support the cause? Usually, it is a mix of both.”

  2. Suggest Corporate Sponsorships
    Since most fundraiser attendees are generally very passionate about the given cause, Sims says that the use of promotional items may, right or wrong, be considered by them to be a waste of money. “So, if you overload them with too many promotional items, they could really be offended,” she says. “Some people will think that it is taking money away from where it should be going: to the charity.”

    Convincing your client to have corporate sponsors provide or underwrite those costs will help this situation, according to Sims. “When they are logoed items, it’s pretty clear who provided them, but nonprofits should also be sure to include the companies in the thank-yous listed in programs or marketing materials,” she says.

  3. Help With Margins
    For any given fundraiser, Sims says nonprofits should have enough wiggle room to raise the retail price of the promotional items significantly, but not to the point where no one will buy them. “The wholesale costs need to be in line so they can double that for the retail price to make a profit,” she says. “Even though it’s a fundraiser, the retail price must be competitive. If the price is too high, they may not sell as many.

    “If the distributor can offer low minimums, that is usually a big help to nonprofit organizations. Then, they can reorder if successful, but they aren’t left with too many overages if they don’t.”

  4. Keep Up With Trends
    There are some new fundraising trends with which distributors should become familiar.
    The Webby Award-winning site www.indiegogo.com is a launchpad for a wide variety of organizations looking to raise money through promo products, including independent filmmakers who want to raise funds to make a movie, or authors who want to circulate a book.

    Slava Rubin, one of the website’s founders, cites a current example in which ice-cream-shape fridge magnets are being given away to anyone who donates a certain amount of money toward the creation of a short documentary film called BIG Little Man. “If you donate 10 bucks, they’ll send you a magnet saying you supported the film,” he says. The magnets have helped the filmmakers raise $1,210 toward the film as of April 30.

  5. Think Green
    Green is big in fundraising, too. Go Green Fundraising, for example, provides reusable shopping bags that can be used as giveaways at fundraisers.

    Reber has also picked up on this trend. “Water bottles are huge, but they’ve replaced the plastic water bottles with the aluminum ones,” he says. “Those are very big.”

From Advantages magazine.

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