Question: I'm interested in finding ways to attract larger companies and to sign them as clients. My product line/services are promotional items (imprinted pens, apparel, bags, coffee mugs, etc., and printing of business cards, forms, brochures.) Thank you for your insight.
Jill's Response:
Many customers view promotional items as commodities. It doesn't matter if you think they are or not. They think they are. Most will go online to order them today.
Cheaper prices will not get you in either since you're only talking nickles and dimes on this type of merchandise. The cost of switching to a new vendor is higher than that. Or if low prices do get you in, the business is only temporary. Your customers will switch to the next vendor who comes along who offers better pricing than you do.
Ultimately, it's not about your products/services. Unless you can find some way to differentiate yourselves from everyone else, it will be nearly impossible to get in and sell to big companies.
To be successful, you need to come up with ideas to help your prospective customers use these promotional items to get more business. You need to get really smart in this area, study it and become an expert.
But, even if you do help customers by bringing them top-notch ideas, you'll find some who use you to get these suggestions then go online to buy things at a cheaper rate.
Because of the commoditization of your products, the business you're in is transitional and moving away from direct sales reps. This is not good news for you. Selling will only get harder and harder as time goes on.
WOW...What a slew of negative comments!! I am in the same type business (promo products, printing etc) To follow your advice, I guess I should take the night shift managers job at Burger King. The future for promo items etc is in the billions world wide and not all go online to buy. I get those excuses from my reps all the time (the unsuccessful ones, that is)Please give me a reason not to cancel your advice column, Jill. any comments??
Bill
Posted by: Bill Fox | 12/29/2004 at 08:28 AM
Gee Bill, I didn't think Jill was being 'negative'. Quite the opposite. Her comment about the need to differentiate is irrefutable. And, doing so, allows for some pricing flexibility -- in the salesperson's favor. But unless and until the salesperson decides to identify and leverage his or her uniqueness and benefits (not those of the products being sold) then selling will be a tougher and tougher experience.
As to the 'shoppers and droppers' phenomenon, it's true in almost every field. I just read where Best Buy™ is consciouisly following the profit-ability of their customer base and learned (drum roll) that 20% created over 80% of the chain's profits and they're going to seek them out and will do more to 'throw out' the others who create more troubles and less profits!
If anything, Jill's response gave this person some hope, and some darned good guidance. Funny, I thought that was pretty clear. Sorry it didn't come across like that for you.
Posted by: Bill Doerr | 12/29/2004 at 01:37 PM
Bill,
I receive emails all the time from salespeople in your industry who want to get their foot in the door of big companies. They have virtually the same catalogs, with nearly identical product offerings as everyone else. They don't have a clue what they can offer the corporate decision maker.
Their management team tells them to "Go out there and sell!" They say, "Tell them we give great pricing and service."
But that's not enough in today's market. They have to have ideas about how the company can leverage these promotional opportunities to create more revenue, increase customer loyalty, reduce turnover, cut costs, etc.
In other words, they have to think about the value of their offering, not just the fact that they can offer cute frog keychains or stuffed animals. That means they have to learn a whole lot about how business works, the impact of promotional items on motivation, the relative success of different types of programs and much more.
People who are new to selling these items don't have any idea where to begin. Success requires a strong base of business knowledge beyond the catalogs, the ability to come up with high impact ideas, and helping customers implement them so they achieve their desired results.
If they don't know this, they will fail because they add NO value at all. They'll lose to the idea people or to the low-cost internet solution.
Why don't you tell us what you're doing to be successful? And how would you get into a new client today?
Posted by: Jill Konrath | 12/31/2004 at 01:34 PM
Joel Bauer states in his book, How to Persuade People ..., that gifts, such as novelities can be used as transforming mechanisims. In other words, they take the person or group you are speaking with away from their present mindset and create an alternative for them to remember. I think if I was in the trinket business I 1) read this book and 2) figure out who plays the tradeshow game and make a difference for them.
Posted by: Cary Duke | 01/07/2005 at 09:43 AM
The problem lies in how you approach your business. If you are in the Promotional Products business, you are a seller of a commodity product and you will have to do all of the work that goes with differentiating yourself from others who sell the same product. If however, you see your self as a promotional advertising company then you sell advertising and marketing ideas to your clients and the product is simply the medium or vehicle for getting the message into the market.
Posted by: Rennie | 01/12/2005 at 04:53 PM
I'm in the promo business, too. It's true that many are online price seekers, but service and quality will build loyalty and repeat business with smart customers. You can also help yourself in the price game by establishing relationships and special pricing with your best suppliers.
Sam's Club and Office Max started to get into this business, but I have noticed they are not promoting it much. I think they quickly realized that there are a lot of little details involved and they didn't have the trained personal to take it to that level. Some of these bigger competitors may drop off for those reasons, as they realize that they are trying to spread themselves too far.
Hang in there!
Posted by: Michelle | 03/02/2005 at 05:45 PM
I am a print distributor, but also have promo products available as well. I don't actively promote the promo items, but use them as a way to provide value-added service to marketing collateral that I print. TGetting into the promo products business was a matter of responding to our client's needs. Sure, they could go online to buy this stuff, but the myriad of options is overwhelming for the most buyers, especially if they are small to mid-size business people. Not only that, but time is crucial. I always ask if it makes sense to spend a lot of time shopping for promo items - is it the best use of their time as a businessperson. Chances are it isn't. My advice is to look to do business with smaller companies that might need a little more hand holding. It is possible that your competition is overlooking "the little guy".
Posted by: Erik Anderson | 04/28/2005 at 03:01 PM
This is a very helpful thread for me because I feel the same pain in my struggle to differentiate my company's value/offerings -- and I know that I need to break away from a "me too" proposition. but I haven't yet figured out how.
It IS helpful to me to acknowledge that some businesses ARE perceived as commodities. It hurts that mine sometimes is. Still knowing this helps me figure out what and how to change this. I think for my business my next step is to find out from customers and prospects in my target markets what they want, what they value.
Thanks, Jill. Reality, even hard truths I don't like hearing, give me hope because I have a fighting chance when I deal with reality but not when I'm fighting illusions.
Posted by: Henry P. | 06/07/2005 at 12:10 PM
I have a story to add to this thread. I think it can help summarize the discussion as a parable if you will. It is a story I was told once about a pen salesman who finally after two years got an appointment with one of the top executives at Heinz in Pittsburgh.
After listening to the salesman's explanation for why Heinz should buy their corporate promotional pens from his company the top dog shook his head, and basically said "I can see no reason why your product is better than our current supplier. A pen is just a pen."
He stood up to excuse himself when the salesman, frustrated, blurted out "Yeah, and ketchup is just ketchup." Immediately, the executive at Heinz paused. The salesman had stunned him. "Excuse me?" The salesman, sensing an opportunity, pushed further and said leaning in "If you believe that a pen is just a pen, then you must believe that ketchup is just ketchup."
The top executive replied "At Heinz, sir, we are not just ketchup. We believe we bring more to ketchup than anyone!" The salesman smiled. "Well, that's the very thing I have been trying to explain to you. My company believes we bring more to pens than anyone! I just need you to experience our pens - our way." Now as the story goes the top executive admires the salesman, the salesman gets the order, and the relationship begins.
What the salesman's company did with the order, I guess we will never know. But most of us do know what Heinz was able to do with ketchup. The point is "A pen is just a pen, until you build a greater vision around that pen, and then pull your customer into that vision through their experience. This experience is your total product, it is the basis of your relationship, and the relationship is the basis of all of your sales - so make more of the experience, and you will make more of your sales.
Most smaller businesses never build this greater vision, remain sales driven, continue to compete on price, so they stay small. Small business owners selling commodities need to develop marketing and sales strategies that allow them to exploit their most natural strength - what they should excel at - customer intimacy. Draw the customer into relationship with a better experience (however you define this as a company), and you will find you will win more business, keep more business, get more referrals, and best yet - can charge more!
Posted by: Michelangelo Celli | 07/01/2005 at 12:17 PM
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Andrea Jasperson
http://www.itemspromotionalcenter.com
Posted by: Andrea Jasperson | 02/08/2006 at 12:49 PM
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Isaac Marowitz
http://www.itemspromotionalcenter.com
Posted by: Isaac Marowitz | 05/11/2006 at 07:16 AM