Proforma Albrecht Sales Achievements Awards Night
Monday July 21st, 2014
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At the Gaylord Texan Resort (an exquisite Marriott Resort)
1501 Gaylord Trail - Grapevine, Texas
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Don't miss out on the 2014 Convention and Sales Awards July 20th - 23rd.
Check out the video of the Ultimate Destination, The Gaylord Texan Resort, register today at www.proformaalbrechtconvention.com.
Join us as we recognize our top sales and profit leaders for 2013.
Congratulations to all of our sales reps for another awesome year.
We are looking forward to celebrating with you in July.
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Proforma 2014 Convention
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Up Close & Personal
 Cathy started in the ASI industry in 2002, during a major recession. She persevered through three years of marginal sales before the business became self-sustaining. She branded her business Creative Marketing Group in 2006, coincidental with when she joined Albrecht & Co, and has been on a growth path ever since. She attributes much of her success to the incredible support she's experienced at Albrecht.
Best Laid Plans
In 2012, she had what was then her best year ever at $734,000. Her plan for 2013 was to maintain her sales level because she was working too many hours and was trying to find some balance in her life. When she reached YTD sales of $635,000 by September, it became clear that the business had taken on a life of its own, and something had to change.
So, after much discussion with her husband Jim, and with Fred, she concluded that she needed to upgrade the resources she had at her Reno office. She had a great CSR, Nicole Tucker, in Ohio. But she needed someone with industry experience that could work with her locally. So, once again Fred offered to help.
Light at the End of the Tunnel
Fred worked with PROforma to place and ad in Cathy's local area for a support person with industry experience. Fred graciously reviewed all the resumes that PROforma sent him. As you can imagine, they had no industry experience. That changed at the end of October, when Amy Yazinka responded to the ad. Amy has 12 years of industry experience - on both the distributor and supplier sides of the business. After several meetings, Amy joined Cathy's business in December and has been just what she needed to get her life back. You will all get a chance to meet Amy in July.
The Formula
So, what are the elements that contribute to Cathy's success? First and foremost is providing very responsive service to her clients. Given the nature of her client base, her business is more computer-based, than face to face. So, her clients have come to expect her to respond to emails pretty much instantly. Here are some other things she does that help her build and maintain strong relationships with her clients:
* Thank You Gift Program (whenever a referral is made the person making the referral is immediately sent an email with a link to select a thank you gift). She consistently receives over 40 referrals each year.
* She had been in a Mastermind group with other Albrecht reps since 2008, and sets both business and personal goals every year.
* She sends out Personalized Calendars to her clients and prospects every year.
* She sends Holiday Gifts to her clients every year - very nice gifts.
* She conducts Planning Meetings with her top clients at the beginning of each year.
* She holds an End User Show for her Bay Area Clients each spring. About 50% of her business comes from the San Francisco Bay Area (where she started her business.)
* She utilizes the eNewsletter Program with PROforma.
* She does an analysis of her sales after the close of each year, so she can clearly determine where to focus her time in the following year.
One thing to note about Cathy's Million Dollar year in 2013 (and pretty much her sales every year) is that she books business one small order at a time - with an average order size of $1674.00 in 2013. That was close to 600 orders.
On the personal side, Cathy and her husband of 12 years live in Reno, Nevada. Jim also works out of their house doing business consulting to companies all over the world in the Technology and Building Products industries. They love to travel and hope to do more of that now that Amy is part of her team. They plan to leave the cold of Reno each January for a warmer, tropical, destination.
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Success StoriesJosh Frey featured in Proforma's "Connection" magazine for his work with Iron Mountain.
 Josh Frey and Proforma Albrecht & Co. Use Teamwork to Display Diverse Capabilities and Land $500,000 Deal
When it comes to eCommerce solutions, Proforma has proven once again it has a strong advantage on the competition. Josh Frey, Sales Representative, and Carl Albrecht, Project Manager, with Proforma Albrecht & Co. became aware of an opportunity to provide a national promotional products and apparel program for Iron Mountain, a leading provider of storage and information management services. The program was being managed by Staples, but Josh and Carl were determined to prove Proforma could exceed Iron Mountain's expectations for the program.
With more than 1,000 locations in 32 countries, this Fortune 1000 company needed a sophisticated and reliable, yet user-friendly eCommerce store to handle their program. Josh and Carl turned to the Support Center to help create an ironclad request for proposal. Manager of Business Development - Major Accounts Michelle McCafferty helped from day one, assisting Josh and Carl with filling out the RFP and gathering the needed information. Once this was off and running, Dan Whitehead, Strategic Advisor to Owners selling more than $1 million, began to coordinate resources at the Support Center to demonstrate Proforma's capabilities to the Iron Mountain decision makers.
Dan, Josh, Carl and Fred Albrecht worked with key members of the Support Center to map out an entire day of informational presentations, including a mini-tradeshow at the Support Center with more than a dozen of our top PLPs in attendance! Norwood & BIC Graphic North America, Leed's, Trimark, SanMar, Gold Bond, Sweda Company, Vitronic Promotional Group and Hub Pen Company were among the dedicated Vendor Partners who committed to attending the end-user showcase with just one week's notice.
Three decision makers at Iron Mountain flew into Cleveland for the day to meet with Josh, Carl, Fred and the Support Center Team. They heard about the products and services Proforma could provide and walked through the vendor tables to hand-pick items they would like on their company store.
The event allowed Josh and Carl to display their vast capabilities, including warehousing and fulfillment. They took the Iron Mountain representatives to the nearby warehousing facility owned by Dennis Funk and Rich Bewley, Co-Owners of Proforma Signature Solutions. The decision makers were able to walk away with the confidence Proforma could execute an eCommerce site that could seamlessly takeover their Staples relationship with complete transparency. They were convinced Proforma would improve their brand management while providing more product variety and customer service. With teamwork and support, Josh and Carl sealed the deal on this anticipated $500,000 annual sale with Iron Mountain.
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Success StoriesGreat Minds Think Alike, This Master Mind Group Credits their success to sharing ideas and best practices.
 Peggy Johns
One of the best things I have done since being with Proforma Albrecht is to be a part of a "Mastermind Group" with Peg Babcock and Cathy Rossner. During our September conference call we discussed the upcoming holidays and which customers purchased and who did not. I have a nice customer that always does gift cards for their 600 employees and I have tried and tried to change that habit. One year I sold them business card/gift card wallets and thought I had really done something special. I mentioned this in our call and Peg Babcock said "Show them a really nice woven blanket. You're in Ohio for cryin' out loud. Everyone there needs an extra blanket." Cathy agreed and so I thought, what the heck. The following week I had lunch with this customer, brought the idea up and showed her two virtual samples that Pro Design, LLC. did with their logo. My contact loved it, showed the plant manager and they placed an order for over $21,000.00. We have a wealth of knowledge and talent among us. Make the commitment to tap into it!
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If you would like to review any of our past issues, we now have them archived.
Click Here for the archive page. |
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Fred Albrecht 513-753-2580
Proforma Albrecht & Co. |
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