THE YEAR IS ENDING.
IS BUSINESS AS WE KNOW IT ENDING TOO? |
 Thanksgiving is over and 2010 will be over before we know it. The last couple of years have been "interesting" for many in our industry.
Those who have been innovative and positioned themselves uniquely have prospered. Those who have built their business by only selling products may be finding new challenges.
In my own personal business dealings, I'm seeing an alarming change that leads me to believe that business as we know it, is ending. "What! isn't that a bit harsh?" you might be thinking. I've been in this industry a long time, and our business is seeing more price pressure than ever due to this economy. This can occasionally make things challenging. I'm guessing that some of you can relate to these price checks?
Through the years, I've positioned our company a solutions provider and I taught seminars on this topic for years. There are situations however, when the buyer needs a commodity item and it's all about price. I've even noticed this happening with good clients where we have an excellent relationship. Some of the price pressure comes from management, who directs our buyer, to "check online for the best price." Has this been happening to you more than in the past?
There are other changes that may affect our livelihood and we will cover that in future issues. My personal feeling is that business as we know it is coming to end, but I'm not preaching the doom and gloom message here. There is always room for creativity and providing valuable client services that keep the traditional distributor in the game. Is the game changing?
Watch for our follow up issue on this topic!
This is an awesome industry that rewards effort and embraces creativity. Here's to a great 2011!
Jeff Solomon, MAS
FreePromoTips.com
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ARE YOU POSITIONED FOR PROSPERITY?
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A key to profitability today is innovation, fresh ways to reach the marketplace and offering additional services. That's the message in this PromoTip Newsletter. We invite you take advantage of the things we spotlight in this issue that will enable you to prosper! Promo Labs, Camera Ready Art and Promo Marketing all offer beneficial services you can use to build your business.
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SUCCESS IN 2011 BEGINS WITH ATTENDING THE PPAI EXPO!
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Those who want to have a competitive advantage WILL BE at The PPAI Expo in January. Can you afford to not be there?
This question was asked on LinkedIn and has received many comments: If you had to pick only one trade show to go to per year, which one would it be and why?
"The PPAI Expo in Las Vegas is my #1 choice. It has the best selection of new products I have seen. Seeing new and unique items is imperative for what I do."
There are great hotel and airfare deals. Click here to register!
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December 1st is PPAI'S Be More Day!
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I can honestly say that a key to my success has come from volunteering and building relationships with industry leaders. Make getting involved part of your success strategy for 2011! It's simple to get started:
- Visit the PPAI Facebook Page on December 1st.
- Post a response and tell people about your positive volunteer experiences.
- Change your profile picture to the Be More image above just for the day to create awareness! (right click and save)
- Post on your social network pages an encouragement to get people to complete their profile TODAY on http://vc.ppai.org/
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Are Those Online "Price Checks"
Affecting You? |
 One of the pastors from our church needed pad folios for their regional conference. The company I am affiliated with had some of our good suppliers get together for a closeout show so I sent my client there.
They did find some items they could use and purchased those, but they didn't find the pad folio item they need.
To find the pad folios, someone in the group ended up looking online. That seems to be the norm these days. They found the perfect item on a well-known online distributors site, which does offer very low prices. The product they found is from a prominent supplier in the industry. The online companies sell price is $5.35, and the EQP piece sell price my company would get is $7.20. That's a significant price difference.
Our church prefers to work with us, but this gets me thinking about the business model question and pricing...again. Low ball online pricing is an issue that comes up occasionally.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY
Your comments are welcomed!
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