The first quarter will soon be behind us. Sales are up 4% year to date. March will end up with a record showing with an increase significantly more than 4%, so we are on the right track. I am excited to see the great results of our campaigns to get more of our reps involved in the Proforma marketing programs, including the appointment setting program. Note, a second quarter mailing of the "quarterly special" is now open, details are included in this edition. Get with Cory if you would like to get on the bandwagon. My fellow owners who participate reported that orders directly from their mailings more than pay for the mailing and create another opportunity to "touch" their customers with a physical mailing. Did you know that mailings in general get more attention than any other method of distribution? Electronic touches are great but there is so much "ad noise" going on in the market place. Direct mail volume has greatly reduced over the years and now that creates an opportunity for you to use your "self promo" investment to "do what you preach", mail one of the greatest advertising medium directly to your prospects.

Drill a Hole? What are they buying and what are you selling?
Ok, here I am going to use the good book of "Jeffrey Gittomer" 21.5 Unbreakable Laws of Selling to preach a very valuable lesson.

"A guy walks into a hardware store and says to the clerk, "I need a drill". The clerk says, well not really you need to make a hole.

How many times would you hear, OK what kind of drill? What a self serving, waste of time question that most likely leads the clerk to point you to a wall with the lowest priced drill that happens to be on sale without knowing if you even know what kind of drill you need.

Here is the lesson and it can easily be applied to selling promotional products. Here is the chance to become a "Solutions Provider", rather than a low bidder. So far the clerk does not know what kind of HOLE THE CUSTOMER NEEDS.

How Big (what diameter) of a hole are you drilling?

What kind of Material are you drilling into?

How Deep is the hole?

Are you drilling indoors or outdoors?

You get it, drill, hole, want, need, outcome.

Apply it to our industry: Hi Fred, what's new and cool in the promotional business? This is where traditionally the customer would get a "canned" speech about the latest and greatest electronic gadget or wearable item. So what questions would you be able to ask?
1)    Who is the target audience, male, female, age, demographics?
2)    How will they be distributed? (Is this an opportunity to sell print and packaging at the same time?)
3)    Is this for an event, trade show or for an introduction of a new brand?
4)    What's is your (the customer's) goal for the project. What would give them the most desirable outcome?
5)    When do you need it? (According to David Blaise, the number ONE concern of a client is not price it  is "WILL THE PRODUCT ARRIVE IN TIME FOR MY EVENT".

The point is, we need to: 

• Know our industry, not just the products.
• We need to know their business, not just our product.
• We have to know what's new, what's next, not just our product.
• We have to know the trends, not just the product. 

Think past the sale to genuine need and desired outcome!
I don't know about you, but I think Jeffrey has a valid message, here. Hope you get as much out of it as I did.

Let's get after the next 9 months and together achieve beyond our wildest dreams and goals. Reach past your comfort level every day, every week and you will be amazed at what's possible.

Fred