We continue to grow with the right mix of business from a very diverse group of reps. Every week we have over 90 sales reps earn record commissions. Sales in September are well on their way to another great month.  

Growth is great for everyone. It increases our purchasing clout with suppliers, our standing in the industry and with each new client we add, we are becoming well known in the market place. Chris Bowles, for example, just surpassed his total sales for 2013 even though he sold his interest that represented the largest amount of his sales in 2013. (He previously shared the account and when the account decided to shop their program to the lowest bidder, Chris bowed out). His former partners in the account, Lisa and Jeff Taplin have done an awesome job of maintaining a presence in the account as well. Teamwork, it pays off for everyone.

The question for the week: What are you doing to ensure your success in 2015? Now is the time to plan. Have you had a "Quarterly Review" with your clients? Have you found an accountability partner to access your dreams and goals and evaluate how far much you have accomplished in 2014 as compared to your January plans?

Get Charged,

Fred

CHARGED!

We have some more awesome sales to showcase. We appreciate everyone's willingness to share their stories and their successes.

Sherry Sklar - 4,000 Meeting Totes from Leeds, an annual repeat order for her large auto show client. The sale is worth close to $16,000.00.

Kate Gottshalk - Kate won the RFP for a local college which is a 3 year contract that allows her to market for the internal use of promotional products. Each year she has grown her presence by protecting the University's brand and following the processes and procedures put forth in the original RFP. This week, her client placed and order for 500 Ultra bond Zipper Padfolios from Leeds worth over 7700.00. They plan to use them as employee gifts.

Chan Williams - Holiday Gifts for an Electrical Coop Customer. He placed an order for 8 different items, The Card Kanga from Handstands, Hand Sanitizers from Tekweld,Garment Bags from Beacon, Bluetooth Speakers from Starline, Diehard Flashlights from Dorcy, Koozies from Numo, Power Banks from KTS and 1200 Folder chairs from The Sourcing Department. The total order comes to over $41,000.00.  

Unfortunately, not all orders go as smoothly as intended and when something goes "Sideways" we always want to know "who has  your back" and who does not. Chan Williams had one of those cases, where we felt the factory simply did not "help" find a solution to a major issue. We placed an order for over 1200 Buckets from Gary Line worth close to $5,000.00. The customer received a "Virtual Proof" and signed off on the proof. As a side note, this order came as a result of a competitor supplying the customer with a "BLANK" sample, one with no imprint. Chan wrote the order gave the supplier great art and asked for max imprint. The buckets arrived and apparently, we all learned a "tough" lesson, max imprint was about 2 ¼" rectangle on an 8 quart bucket. The customer refused to accept the order "as is" due to the small logo, which was approved on the proof. In hindsight, the proof was not "all that clear" as to the relative size of the logo on the bucket. In any event, Chan found a solution that worked for the client- we purchased labels to affix to the buckets, a very labor intensive job and a costly job. All we asked was for a small "good will" adjustment of $400.00 from the factory. We took care of all of the logistics and applying the label. The factory's VP of sales originally "agreed" to the discount. At the end, he was not "authorized" to give the discount and the owner of Gary Line refused to help us out. Moral of the story, Chan and I recommend you find an alternative source for any Gary Line products, they apparently do not feel your business is worth a "good will" adjustment of $400.00.

The Great news is, we had one of our PLP fulfillment houses in Atlanta, All Points, get the goods in, apply and labels we purchased and reship the goods in time for the client's meeting. All through innovative thinking on the Albrecht Team, saving Chan from driving hundreds of miles to pick up, apply the labels and re-deliver!


Bravo, goes out to Antonia Sowash from Innovations, thanks for the feed back from Doug Carson!
Below is the contact info for Antonia Sowash from Innovations. I wanted you to know she went out of her way to accomplish a huge RUSH order and completely out of ordinary production protocol for the company. She was awesome and I had to tell you all.
Thanks
Doug Carson

Antonia Sowash, Sales Associate
Innovation Line - Low Prices, High Standards!
11869 Teale Street, Culver City, CA 90230
P: 800-421-4445 X 205 - F:310-390-5793
Email:  antonia@innovation-line.com
Web:  www.innovation-line.com

 

Contact Cory Short to participate: cory.short@albrechtco.com