• For his client Salada tea bags, Hugo invited consumers to “unbottle their tea.” Consumers who shared the site www.unbottleyourtea.com with five friends received a BPA-free bottle. About 100,000 people told five friends, “which allowed us to build a database of 500,000 people for just a water bottle,” Hugo says.
• For a medical products company that sells to pediatric hospitals, the agency offered a brand Magna-Doodle magnetic writing board toy. Recipients received a miniature model with a chance to receive the full-size version for free if they agreed to meet with a sales rep. “They just went crazy for it,” Hugo says.

From Advantages’ magazine Success Stories.

But this research would not be possible without the data, which is why it’s so important that any and all ad specialty professionals should be taking the time to fill out our surveys — we want as many submissions as possible so that we know the research is accurate.

Of course, filling out surveys can be time consuming and we know time is money. That’s why Counselor is offering an added incentive to both distributors and suppliers to take the surveys. Here are the details.

• Distributors: Click here and fill out this survey and you will automatically be entered to win $1,000 cash or one of two $250 American Express Gift Cards.
• Suppliers: Click here and fill out this survey and your name will be entered in a drawing to win one of three thank-you gifts: A free one-page ad in Advantages, Counselor, Successful Promotions, Wearables or Stitches.

Please take the survey that applies to you today and help Counselor produce the most important research report done in the ad specialty industry each year.

–TeamCentral

Not only have we added the ability to reserve your 2010 and 2011 ASI Show booths online in the ASI Store, but if you act this month you can save big $$ on booths and marketing. The following are the deals being run this month:

• March 15: Reserve your booth space by this date and you will save $300 per booth!
• March 31*: Reserve your booth space through the ASI Store by this date and you will receive a $199 advertising coupon that can be used towards ASI Show marketing!

In addition to these deals, you can also get “Early Bird Specials” on 2011 shows as well as multi-show savings packages, all through the ASI Store.

So what are you waiting for?! Click here to learn more about reserving your ASI Show booth in the ASI Store. And if you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us at feedback@asicentral.com.

For more information about The ASI Show, go to www.asishow.com, or call 877-ASI-SHOW. 

–TeamCentral

*Must be done through the ASI Store

Carving out time for prospecting, cold-calling, following up on sales proposals and crafting new promotional programs for current clients is vital for distributors. You can’t get so caught up in other administrative tasks that you forget the thing that’s most important to your business: bringing in revenue.
Here are four tips to ensure you’re spending more time selling. These come from Scott Gingold, CEO of consulting firm Powerfeedback (www.powerfeedback.com), who specializes in helping businesses prioritize their time and go-to-market strategies.

1. Get up early.
   “A lot of businesspeople you deal with today are starting earlier,” Gingold says. “A lot of times, people have to get out of the mindset that the business day starts at 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. It doesn’t. It starts earlier than that. I try to schedule myself a 6:30 a.m. coffee, 8 a.m. breakfast, another coffee at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. lunch.”
2. Don’t be a slave to e-mail.
   “It’s easy to fall into the trap of checking e-mail every two minutes rather than setting up a schedule for it,” Gingold says. “Have selling time, whether it’s on the phone or face-to-face.”
3. Consolidate appointments.
   “If I’m getting in the car and have to drive 10 miles, I’d better be looking at that map and saying, ‘Who else can I see?’ even if it’s just a courtesy call,” Gingold says. “If you’re right there, you might as well meet a current customer.”
4. Reinforce a positive attitude.
   Sometimes distributors shy away from selling because they’ve come to fear rejection. Turn that around by focusing on current clients that appreciate you and your business – the change in tone should help your confidence level. “If you’re getting doors slammed in your face, pop in somewhere that loves you and loves your company,” Gingold says. “You’ve got to keep pushing that rock up the hill.”

From Counselor’s Game Changer: How To Craft A Creative Sales Approach

1. Yes, but …
2. The boss will never go for it
3. I don’t have time
4. Get a committee to look into it
5. We tried that before
6. It’s not in the budget
7. It’ll never work
8. No!
9. We’ve always done it this way
10. It’s not my job

Source: Chic Thompson

Give up? Well Advantages’ magazine has done a terrific feature this month called What’s Hot in Your Neck of the Woods where all of these questions are answered, and more including regional sales forecasts for 2010!

And best of all, we here at ASICentral took the liberty of creating an interactive map that allows you to simply mouse over the region for a pop-up of all the details. Simply click here to see the map! (Or click here for entire article.)

And for those of you who would rather get the numbers right here, below are all 4 regions ranked by overall sales in 2009 (Go South!).

– VINteractive

Then the recession hit, and the cards were shuffled a bit.

According to a recent article in Counselor magazine, not only is the green marketing losing steam,  but a number of experts agree that it is no longer as integral a focus as it had been just months ago.

“A lot of businesses jumped on board because it was trendy, not because they believed in it. They did it because the polls showed this or a focus group said that. Others never got started,” says Simon Sinek, owner of strategic marketing consultancy Sinek Partners. “Now it’s not trendy.”

But according to Marc Held, national sales manager of Bodek & Rhodes, not only is the green market doing well, but it’s poised to make a significant comeback, especially with apparel. Watch the video here, or click on the video below.

What do you think? Is the Green movement losing steam? Take the new ASICentral poll now, or post a comment to the blog.

–MeanVinGREEN

Joan, this ain’t helpin’ us!

Anyway, enjoy the pics …

Gotta be California …

Two clowns and a red snapper fish head. Nice.

Ahhh, California sunsets.

Giant statue of the sailor and nurse in that famous kiss pose.

Melinda and Kathy on the entrance to the Gaslight District.

Group shot posing with Andy. Strangely, we all think it looks like we’re visiting Andy (one of the youngsters) in the old-age home “Wave hi to the camera Andy!”

USS San Diego.

USS Midway.

Anchors aweigh!

Statue of Bob Hope entertaining the troops.

Southern California!

CJ and Matt.

Gaslamp Quarter.

Yes, it’s actually quite an interesting and fun industry.

Anyway, we here are ASICentral want to know, What Is Your Favorite Promotional Product?

And we’re encouraging you to upload images of your favorite promotional product to our Facebook page (NOTE: chance for egregious self-promotion!) for a future vote. In a few weeks we’ll post all the products to our Facebook fans and let them decide which one is the best one.  

So, go to our Facebook page now and upload an image of your fave promotional product, tell us a little bit about it, and you’ll be automatically entered in the contest. (Not a fan yet? Just click the “Become A Fan” link at the top of the page.) And if you’re wondering what the spoils are, it’s bragging rights, a blog writeup and a mention in our newsletters!

That’s all folks!

– Buggsy

Sure, they were lovely and big and bright, but why would I always wake to them? Did Tony Robbins own the late-night infomercial market? Well, if you grew up in the ’80s and had, like, only a handful of stations, then yeah, I think he did!

Anyway, my first impression of Tony Robbins was of an annoyingly verbose, albeit well-spoken, talking head who seemed to have an excellent grasp of what he was talking about, though I never listened. I was too fixated on his bleached teeth, and so I just didn’t like him.

But in the early 2000s, he appeared in the movie Shallow Hal with Jack Black — the movie where i not only discovered how ginormous Robbins is, but also that he has “banana hands” — and a newfound respect was born. He played himself in the movie and really came across as endearing and genuinely interested in helping others help themselves.

Since I joined ASI in 2007, Tony Robbins has been a keynote speaker at one of our ASI Shows and is set to be the keynoter next week at our San Diego show and, though I’m not going, I really wish I could. Because from what people have told me from the last time Tony appeared at a show, he’s really something special.

So if you’re going to the ASI Show San Diego next week, but aren’t going to see Tony Robbins, then I need to ask … what’s wrong with you!!? It’s FREE!!! And all you gotta do is click here to register!

And if you simply can’t make it, I’ll be glad to go in your place.

– deezTV