Coach's Corner

by Fred Albrecht

It has been an awesome January as Suzie and I have had a great opportunity to travel to the PPAI show, as well as the Proforma regional meeting in Chicago, to network with our top suppliers as well as a majority of our sales executives. It is always great to get feedback and learn what you all are facing in the marketplace, share opportunities and challenges. Check out our new column on "found at the show," I had some great feedback and even more than I could use for one article, so more will be coming in our next edition.

Sales continue to climb in January as we are starting the year off with another record month. If you notice, this week we sent our commission reports out fully automated in a PDF form- that is both something you can easily file electronically or print. We have worked hard over the last 12 months to automate some of our work process always keeping in mind that the automation is designed to help our people be more efficient. This allows them more time to spend working with you to help you spend your time with your customers.

The future is in your hands. The opportunities in this industry are limitless. I strongly urge you to be part of the our convention in Orlando in July. Keep your calendars open for July 19^th through July 23^rd. We will be traveling to Orlando on the 18^th and will schedule our return on the 23^rd.

We are working on our agenda and plan to have more "private" functions and education within the larger Proforma format, so you get the benefit of both. No need to SIGN up yet, this is just a "pre-announcement" so you can "save the date" and plan your travel. More details will follow in the near future.

Coach Fred

Let's Rock & Roll!

Rockin' out this week, we have had some more awesome, creative ideas. Thanks so much for everyone who allows me to share your experiences with the entire team.

Laura Janus has come through with a great order for 2,000 PB3690 Pens from Sweda ASI 90305. The order is for her animal nutrition client and is worth over $8,000.00. What a great way to start the year!

Terry Hemlepp, our awesome sales partner from the great state of Kentucky has turned in an order for 1250 San Mar T-shirts, item 29LS decorated by "Talk of the Town" totaling close to $9,000.00 for his Technical College client. Congratulations Terry!

Chan Williams of Faye B's Reminders came through with another EMC client purchasing for their annual meeting. 600 more custom step stools from Stuart McClelland at Phenix Direct. It sure is nice to have a custom product that is really difficult for the competition to replicate. The order is over $7500.00.

Charlie Brown found some "cash" in the "scrap business," his client specializes in scrap metal. Charlie sold them 2000 PC54 T shirts from San Mar decorated by Everything's Image in Cincinnati. The order totaled over $14,000.00. Only a repeat from a December order. We love those repeat orders!

Curtis Uejo told me at Vegas, "Don't be a fool tool", so he went out and sold one of his clients who owns a "tool" business. 2000 PC61 T shirts, screen printed by Blue Frog Screen Printing in California. The total order was over $13,000.00 Seems like January is the month for T-shirts!

Stacey Steele has a very unique internet client that offers a travel site to books trips into California. High tech

company, so it would make perfect sense to sell them 250 - 5450 Capital Computer Back Packs from our friends at Gemline! A high tech order totaling close to $8,000.00 low tech dollars!It must be the month for California Dreamin' cause we end this edition with another California "biggie" ....

Dan Ahern's order for 41 "Select a Gift" selections for an insurance client. Another great rewards program worth a cool $5,000.00.

Trimark Powered by Leeds Spring Launch & E-Catalogs

The 2015 TPL Spring Launch is now live on the web! TPL launched 71 new styles, a new brand: Roots73 (see below) and a new decorating method: inFusion (also below). As a reminder, this is a supplemental launch for TPL. The full-line launch happens in the Fall so the catalog that came out this past August will continue to be valid through July 2015.

The Spring 2015 E-Catalog and Roots73 Brand E-Catalog are also now live and can be found here:

Hard copies of the Spring supplement will be available mid January.

Roots73 Distributor Guide and FAQ
Roots73 launched this week as a new brand to Trimark Powered by Leed's. This iconic brand features a variety of garments with world-class style and comfort. To better familiarize with the brand, we've put together a Distributor Agreement and FAQ Sheet. I confirmed that at this time you don't need to sign anything but just have read and been made aware of the distributor agreement. Also, it states within the Roots73 FAQ sheet that there is not any additional discount beyond EQP for one off samples. That is incorrect. The sample pricing for Roots73 will be 25% off EQP. We will be correcting this document soon. We are so excited to be able to offer this exclusive brand to you!!

New Decoration Method: InFusion
TPL launched a new decorating method this week: InFusion. This method produces razor-sharp detail by infusing logos with custom-made fabrics for a permanent image that is undetectable to the touch. We can begin to take orders for InFusion now however, orders will not begin shipping out until February 2nd.

We've put together an inFusion flyer to show how the appearance of a logo can change based on the color of the garment. In addition, I attached a flyer that describes the Infusion decoration.
InFusion Flyer

Best Regards,
Corey Cardinal
Field Sales Manager - Trimark Powered by Leed's
Polyconcept North America
400 Hunt Valley Road
New Kensington, PA 15068
Phone: (800) 860-1555
Mobile: (248) 410-8690
CCardinal@TrimarkbyLeeds.com

Mike Brothers 100% Made in the USA Catalog Launch

We are proudly launching the industry's first 100% Made in USA emblematic catalog. The attached catalog was unveiled at the PPAI Show in Las Vegas.

Please spread the word, and let me know how many I can send you. They are better in your customers hands than sitting in our inventory! ☺

Our import catalog will remain but would love to grow the trend toward Made in USA.

Let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you!
Bernie
Mike Brothers Emblematic Solutions
651-789-0334
651-789-0336 fax
SAGE #69013
PPAI Supplier Member #342444
UPIC: MikeBros
www.mikebrothers.com
Find us on Facebook

Proforma Albrecht Team Members Share what they "found at the show". This new addition to the Albrecht Advantage will feature either products, people or news you would like to share from your experience at Trade Shows or Events throughout the year.

Michelle Rockwell, continues to reap the benefits of attending our national convention in Dallas last July. She has earned new business and found opportunities in to sell "technology" solutions. While she did not learn it "all" in Dallas, she did learn "Who" to contact and "What To Do Next" while she was there. Thanks for the nice comment, Michelle! We had the opportunity to catch up with Michelle at the PPAI show in Las Vegas as well. What a great chance to network!

Thanks Fred! Without your support and the support of the entire Albrecht Family team, I would not have been able to capture this new account! The private trade show in Dallas really helped me become the total solution provider they were looking to partner with. I look forward to many more great sales weeks to come! It was wonderful to see you, Suzette and Carl at the show this week!

Best Regards,
Michelle Rockwell

Both Lori Weisz and Tracy McClure discovered this Made in the USA product that they both felt needed to be shared. So, we've branded it and made a PDF that you can download and share with your customers. Click image to download.

Alicia Patrick's Top 5 Items/Ideas/Experiences:

1. Experience- It is always brings me such great joy to get to see our Sales Executives at the show. I love catching up with them about the year that has past and learning their new achievements for the next year.

2. Wow factor: Hit, Jetline and Dard have introduced supplying clothing & printing on the garments to their lines... this brings back the One Stop Shop that we all love. All three suppliers are great partners with Proforma- what a way build a relationship even stronger.

3. Check out Moderne Glass new print process they introduced: Jet- Direct http://www.glassamerica.com/jetdirectt.cfm as you can see they are capable to print in various locations with full digital colors, such as the lids of the straw tumblers, the base of martini or wine glasses, lids on water bottles or jars, and of course on the standard locations. Talk about branding... this is one way to completely WOW and bring unique to the table for the clients!

4. Dard/Tagmaster has quite a few new items but the Selfie Power bank with Mirror Finish caught my eye, it is a new Power Bank that has a mirror finish that illuminates your clients logo but also has a button to take selfie snap shots. I always looking for new innovative techy items and love this product: http://www.tagmaster.net/product-detail/2200mAh-Selfie-Power-Bank-wMirror-Finish/1014

5. Magnet LLC also has some new items that caught my eye for giveaways along with a new item that truly gives back. Check out the new Outlet Cord winder and Outlet Cord Sling (Item TEK149 & TEK 143) - these are both nice giveaways items that clients can give out at tradeshows to know they will not be thrown away. Also they have introduced Digital Camouflage, their Bag Factory line, with each purchase of 1 of the four items proceeds are donated back to the US Army. http://www.zoomcatalog.com/catalogs/magnet-group-new-products-2015#/1/

6.This year I feel that I could go on and on about new products along with the suppliers capabilities! Leeds added over 200 new items to their line. Spector Image has gone over the top to make their line above the rest in the retail look. Gemline is on the edge of all of the hip new styles. Allen has added new styles in the Camelbak.

Alicia Patrick

Amy Yazinka is an associate of Cathy Rossner's. She attended the PPAI Show in Las Vegas and was kind enough to send us this 7 page reports on suppliers and items that she visited and found interesting for their clients. We thought we would pass it along to you. If you would like to view the whole 7 page report, simply click on the image below. Thank you Amy and Cathy!

Alumicolor Offers Exclusive EQP To Proforma Albrecht

Here is a very unique line that intrigued me at the Proforma Regional Show. We get EQP with them and are the only company in the industry to get EQP. Nice exclusive. Rick Tapio has sold this line and can vouch for the quality as well.

Click on the links below to view:

A PDF of our Top Sellers - this includes our most popular product - the Pocket Scale - which is a pen-sized scale that can be used by architects/engineers/contractors to read blueprints at the building site.

A PDF of our new AlumiRazor Utility Knife - this product has a very unique look and innovative design that will make it a coveted gift item for companies in the construction, shipping, warehousing and liquor industries.

I hope this information will be well received by your team. Please let them know that we are happy to send free samples of most of our products as we know that the best way to sell them is for people feel the quality for themselves (the AlumiRazor is the only exception to this policy due to its high end nature). We also offer Free Spec Samples on most of our products as well. Please let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to working with your company!

Thanks

Scott

Scott Schoenbauer

General Manager, Alumicolor

scott@alumicolor.com

970-204-4200

970-282-7100 (fax)

Updated pricing from SANMAR

See attached value basic pricing. This is updating as of February 1^st. What you'll notice mostly is a rise in "white" with a drop in colors from December. Let me know if you have questions.
Click on the image for a full size, two page pdf.