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Wednesday
October 27, 2010

Tip of the Day - 20 Ways to Master Your Time

Filed under: Tip of the Day

Promotional products salespeople can easily fall prey to time-consuming detail work, from product research and placing cold calls to filling out purchase orders and chasing payment. Here are 20 tips to make sure
every minute is maximized profitably.

  1. Clean the Client Closet.
  2. Analyze Product Profitability.
  3. Make the Most of Market Expertise.
  4. Encourage Repeat Business.
  5. Create a Time Cushion.
  6. Know Your Clients’ Business Cycles.
  7. Educate Yourself.
  8. Learn on the Run.
  9. Purchase Quality Equipment and Software.
  10. Be Accurate From the Start.
  11. Think Quantity and Repetition.
  12. Group Up.
  13. Practice a Clear, Articulate Message.
  14. Track Your Time.
  15. Create Habits.
  16. Set a Meeting Agenda.
  17. Live by the Four Rs.
  18. Watch Out for Hassle-Makers.
  19. Reduce Travel.
  20. Work With Preferred Suppliers.

Read more in the Advantages 2010 November issue.

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Monday
October 25, 2010

Tip of the Day - Add Flair to Your Holiday Copy

Filed under: Tip of the Day

Do you want to set a celebratory tone in your client’s holiday message but need more ways to say it than the typical adjectives “merry” and “happy”? Here are five synonyms to add flair to your copy without repetition:

  1. Cheerful (“Ready to Put the Cheerful in Your New Year?”)
  2. Festive (“Best Wishes for a Festive Season”)
  3. Jolly (“We’ve Got a Jolly Good Holiday Sale in Store for You”)
  4. Jovial (“Our Jovial Customer Reps Put the Ho-Ho-Ho in Your Holidays”)
  5. Joyful or Joyous (“Here’s Wishing You a Joyous 2011”)

From Advantages October issue.

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Wednesday
October 20, 2010

Tip of the Day - Break Into New Markets

Filed under: Tip of the Day

MarketingHere are five steps to take to ensure your sales and marketing efforts to new markets will be successful.

STEP 1: Evaluate the Local Market
Before deciding on a specific new market to target, you have to be certain that It’s going to be worth your while, according to Ken Thoreson, president of consulting firm Acumen Management Group. “Number one, are there enough opportunities, enough companies in that market sector within your geographics?” he says. “For example, if I want to sell to chiropractors, are there going to be enough to go after? If I find there are only three companies in my territory, I may not want to go after them.”

STEP 2: It’s all About Research
Once you decide to go after a new market and have identified potential opportunities in your area, the next step is ramp up research efforts, according to Mark Ziskind, COO of Counselor Top 40 distributor Caliendo Savio Enterprises (asi/155807), who uses Counselor’s State of the Industry report (www.StateOfTheIndustry.com) to learn which industries are big purchasers. “We’ll look at that info and ask, “Is this consistent with our client list?” You then mirror that with your contacts and your geography,” he says.

STEP 3: Make In-Person Visits
Ziskind warns that you shouldn’t do all of your new market research remotely. “You might go visit them,” he says. “Talk to them and ask, “What would you like to see in a supplier?” Or, go to the kiosks in the mall and ask, “What makes you push one phone model over another?” All you need to do is stumble onto one gold nugget of information to get a better understanding of the tools you need to go to market.”

STEP 4: Get Specific Information
After you’ve gathered general data about a particular market, you’ll want to drill down to find out as much information as you can about specific company targets. Going to corporate websites and making calls can be your sources of information here, says Thoreson. “You can pick up the phone and just ask for sales, or ask the receptionist if he or she can mail you information about their company,” he says. “Typically, if you’re selling to small businesses, you can’t go online or to The Wall Street Journal for information, but if they have press releases on their website, read their latest press releases. All that kind of information can give insights.”

STEP 5: Make a Sales-Call Checklist
When you decide that you’re prepared enough to make that first sales call to a company within your new market, Thoreson suggests the following checklist for sales reps:

From Education Adviser, vol. 32

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Tuesday
October 19, 2010

Tip of the Day - Create Business Buzz on the Web

Filed under: Tip of the Day

FacebookHere are some tips for starting to develop your online marketing strategy via social networking tools.

1. Use your real voice. That means dispatching with the bland corporate-speak, often used by public relations departments and executives, and going instead with a real voice – your own. Even then, there’s a balancing act. It’s OK to comment on things beyond the scope of your business or the industry, but be wary about offending potential clients – for the sole reason that you may end up losing a customer.

2. Realize social media goes beyond the typed word. Various forms of social media support photos, video and audio. Whatever your preferred means of communication, chances are there’s a social media tool that works with it.

3. You can supplement your regular advertising efforts at little to no cost. Most commonly used social media tools are free, so that’s a benefit. Whatever you’re paying for advertising or marketing, this won’t add to it. Perhaps it won’t replace it, but it might accentuate other marketing efforts at no cost. Most have a learning curve, but It’s not too steep.

4. Maximize your exposure. There are ways to make different social media communicate with each other in an automated fashion. For example, when using a WordPress.org blog, you can install plug-ins that can automatically post to Twitter with your new blog post headline and Web page link. Photo-sharing sites such as Flickr.com can tie in similarly with some social media. “We use Facebook and Twitter to promote the blog, but we also use the blog to promote Facebook and Twitter,” Shreve says. “It’s like a round robin of sorts.” Again, a commonsense way to view the myriad social media is simply as different means for saying the same thing. People get news from television, radio, newspapers, magazines, the Internet and their neighbors, friends and acquaintances. It’s just a question of which delivery method they choose.

From Education Adviser, vol. 32.

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Thursday
October 14, 2010

ASI Radio Rewind - Michael J Fox

Filed under: asi radio show

Michael J FoxIf you missed this week’s ASI Radio Show, you missed an unprecedented event here at ASI: an interview with actor, author and Parkinson’s activist Michael J. Fox. Fox — who will be the keynote speaker at next year’s ASI Show Orlando — was entertaining and candid as he spoke of everything from overcoming challenges and adversity, to his love of promotional products and favorite acting roles.

It was a great interview and an event I am proud to have been part of. If you missed the interview, you can listen to the archived stream here for a week.

And if you’d like to download the mp3, you can do so here.

Also, if you’d like to read some Q&A excerpts from the show, just click here.

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Wednesday
October 6, 2010

Michael J Fox to be on ASI Radio

Filed under: asi radio show

This just in …

ASI Radio has booked actor and activist Michael J. Fox for next Tuesday’s radio show! (October 12, 10:30 a.m. EST, http://asicentral.com/radio/). Got a question for Mr. Fox on leadership or about overcoming difficult obstacles? Please feel free to email us at radio@asicentral.com or call us on our Radio Hotline at 215.953.4977 and it could be read on next week’s show!

Mr. Fox will be the keynote speaker at next year’s ASI Show Orlando where he will be discussing his motivating and inspirational story as he continues his fight against Parkinson’s disease. Read more about his keynote here.

More news about Michael J. Fox’s appearance on ASI Radio to come … stay tuned!

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Wednesday
October 6, 2010

Tip of the Day - Run a Successful One-Person Business

Filed under: Tip of the Day

Seven steps to successfully running a one-person business.

Step 1 - Be Flexible. The key is serious organization and immense flexibility.

Step 2 - Be Selective With Suppliers. Part of the secret to being nimble is to pick a handful of trustworthy suppliers and work with them repeatedly to build a rapport that can be called upon in times of need.

Step 3 - Build Efficiencies. Of course, seamless order processing and drop shipments save time – a critical move for solo distributors who often need every minute of the day to get their jobs done.

Step 4 - Outsource Your Weaknesses. Adrian Miller, president of Adrian Miller Sales Training in Port Washington, NY, says distributors should outsource tasks that they either aren’t good at or don’t like.

Step 5 - Make Every Move About Money. “The important thing is to do things that generate revenue,” Miller says.

Step 6 - Work Your Contacts. For distributors selling on their own, selling deeper into existing accounts and leveraging contacts within a few key industries is often a smarter sales strategy than spending hours cold-calling new clients in new industries.

Step 7 - Lose The Dead Weight. Like larger businesses, it’s vital for one-man businesses to consistently evaluate their client base for revenue and profitability targets.

Read the complete article this month’s in Counselor magazine.

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Friday
October 1, 2010

ASI Radio Holla Back Line

Filed under: asi radio show

From guest blogger and well-known industry personality and ASI Radio Show host Michele Bell …

Hey there and Happy Friday!
 
We have a brand new feature for ASI Radio — our “Holla Back” 24/7 call-in line — on which you can leave a message for myself and the other editorial hosts on any topic you’d like to rant or rave, snippets of which we may play on a future radio show. You can leave your name or kvetch anonymously — we want to hear what you’ve got to say!
 
The lines are now open at (215) 953-4977 so call and leave us a message — whether it’s sweet or snarky — we’ll take it all!
 
Cheers!
– Michele Bell
Editor, Supplier Global Resource
Senior Editor, Counselor

PS: An alternative name for the call-in line that we bandied about was “The Good Time Line,” until we realized it might elicit callers looking for something other than my editorial services. LOL!

PPS: For those of you who know me, try not to be put off when you hear my message on the Holla Back voicemail… Apparently, accordingly to Counselor editor Andy Cohen and managing editor Joe Haley, I sound “unnervingly and uncharacteristically pleasant.”

 

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