Welcome to the future or are we repeating the past? One of the hot topics in the industry is the question about how internet companies like 4Imprint or even more recent Alibaba might affect YOUR business.
Direct marketers are not new to the industry. In the early 80's it was direct mailers after all, who could compete with the ease of just picking up a catalog and ordering by toll-free phone rather than from a sales person. At that time there were about a dozen competitors and today about 4 have survived. One Nelson Marketing, became an on-line marketer called 4Imprint. Did you know the majority of their orders are not conducted via the web? While they are driven to the website, most orders require the intervention of their internal staff. The point is, the web is just one more tool we all use to help drive business. It does not at all replace the need for a professional sales team to provide their advice and guidance to the right product, and more importantly, to the right source for the best product.
You have the benefit of creating and maintaining art files; artists who can, in hours, provide the correct art for each print process. You make the buyer's job easier. The best comparison I have seen is David Blaise's comparison in last week's video. The do-it-yourselfer, who goes down to Home Depot to buy the materials for a deck verses the homeowner who hires a contractor. Sure it is cheaper to DIY, but consider the risks and the benefits of buying from YOU. Alibaba is just that, an online marketer who picks the cheapest plant in China to produce the cheapest product based on THEIR logarithms to make them the most profit without any consideration to CPSIA compliance or the client's needs.
Our West Coast Sales team conducted a meeting asking that very question, we share some of those ideas in this edition. If you have some great ideas to share, feel free to reach out via email.
Get Charged, THE GREAT NEWS... IS THE ON LINE MARKETERS CANNOT COMPETE WITH YOU and they KNOW it! Their market is the low hanging fruit of the DIY network!
Fred
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| GET CHARGED! |
How do we compete with on-line marketers?
Here are some of the bullet points presented by our West Coast Team:
CPSIA Compliance or Pro 65 Compliance - Know the suppliers who offer the most safest products not just the "cheapest"
No Personal Relationship or the benefit of your knowledge or experience
Low Risk- Most on line transactions are 100% prepaid by credit card which may or may not be secure Personal Service from product and vendor selection to complaint resolution
On Time delivery
Quick and efficient ordering - no online shopping carts to contend with, you get a verbal or purchase order from their system and they are done with the process.
Select the right customer and buyer.
Thanks for sharing your valuable ideas!
Very good article today in Promotional Consultant. Focuses on doing business with the right client...though not always possible, it is what we should strive to do as professionals.
- Submitted by Curtis Uejo
The key is having options. No idea is the correct one all the time, but given enough options we can fight back against the trend toward rampant commoditization, effectively position the value we bring and win.
One of the best practices of talented sales professionals is that they don't let the customer set the rules or take control in the first place. Here are a few key characteristics of high-performing sales professionals:
1. They decide which accounts (or opportunities within existing customers) to pursue based on established selection criteria.
2. No matter what they sell, they pride themselves on being business professionals who help their customers improve their business, not on being vendors who just sell products.
3. They realize the necessity of having to understand their prospect's business, and to do this they need to conduct their research.
4. They operate outside the traditional practice of only calling people who normally buy their products.
5. They decide who the right senior-level decision makers are and how to meet with them.
6. They strive to operate proactively, and even when they are reacting to a customer opportunity (as in an RFP situation) they are "strategically reactive."
In other words, they take control of the sales process and take control of their own destiny. It's breaking the rules in order to move the process forward.
Congratulations to the reps who have submitted some more awesome orders for their customers with great ideas!
Patrice Shapiro: 300 T108 Power banks from Spector worth over $12,000.00 being used as holiday gifts for a realtor client.
Laurie Epstein tapped into the Sports Market for her Sports Academy client. 152 men's and women's basketball uniforms scored a very nice order for close to $8,000.00. The supplier she used was Sports One Group ASI 50240 decorated by Union Jack Screen printing in Nebraska.
Lisa Straub landed an awesome order from a local plastics company for Tumi Luggage, 20 of item 22021 along with decorated Tumi luggage tags worth over $10,000.00. Congratulations to Lisa. Lisa joined the company about 2 years ago and has grown her business from scratch with no industry experience; although she does use her extensive marketing background to help her clients find the right product. She hit just the right spot for this great order! Way to go Lisa! Purchased direct from Tumi.
Mathew Hahn wins the "Spirit" award with his order for Hoxworth Blood Center who is celebrating with a "Welcome to the Jungle" theme. Blood donors will receive a "jungle" animal Key Chain when they donate blood at any of the 8 donors centers. 5000 plush key chains worth close to $20,000.00 Alexon Promotions ASI 34044.
Cathy Rossner hit it big with an order for 1500 Blankets worth close to $15,000.00. The blankets will be given to patients to be used during drug trials for one of her bio-tech clients. Another biotech client of Cathy's, who happens to be the leader in the development of Pharmaceuticals through the use of Human Growth Hormones, purchased 130 Messenger bags for a five-year celebration of a clinical operations office. They placed an order worth close to $12,000.00.
Believe it or Not,
Irv and Myrna Russotto placed another awesome uniform order for Ripley's Aquarium, a large assortment of sweater vests from Edwards and jackets and easy care shirts from SanMar. All being decorated by his favorite "go to" decorator, Digital Graphics, located in Knoxville, Tn. The order was worth over $5500.00. He makes his customers look good and he "guarantees it!"
John Lucking landed a "dream" appointment earlier this month at a Multi National Billion Dollar Consumers Goods Company with headquarters here in Cincinnati near their largest competitor P&G. He enlisted the assistance of Cory Short to help him with the "logistics" of the appointment including the use of our North American Major Accounts power points. Here is John pictured in the World Headquarters conference room packed with 20 Brand Managers and assistant Brand Managers.
He had 2 buyers that are his "Champion". When we inquired on how he got the appointment his answer was simple, "I Asked for One". The buyers all loved the lunch he catered in from the local favorite "Pot Bellys". He was told by the buyers "Nobody" gets appointments like these and nobody ever brought them lunch either. I am sure it will not be long before John is in our Albrecht Advantage with an order from that powerful group.
Get Charged,
Fred
