But one simple truth (or advice) from this friend.
If you want to order gifts, don’t wait for this year to end.
So click an email, send a text, pick up the phone, or go online to shop.
But let’s take care of our customers and teams and hope this madness will stop!
This little poem I am calling “The Nightmare on Merch Street” is just a light hearted attempt to share some important information. As we said in this blog, this year has been a tough one. We need to show our appreciation more than ever. But it’s a tough time to do it…that’s for sure. So if you are planning to order your appreciation gifts, this is NOT the year to wait to the last minute. Otherwise, you might be facing your own Nightmare on Merch Street!
It’s important for our lives to be based in truth. If we want to be effective, productive and happy, it’s important for us to operate as things are…not how we want them to be. That’s why I wrote this blog discussing “now that we are here.” With that in mind, I want to give you 3 Facts about Corporate Gift Giving in 2020.
It’s More Important Than Ever
We are unapologetic fans of showing appreciation. Of course we are. It’s the business we are in. But we also believe there is an appreciation gap in business today. We talk about that here. But this year, we are asking employees to work more with less. Some team members have been laid off. Others have taken on more responsibilities. It’s what we have had to do to survive. At the very least, we are all working in an incredibly uncertain and stressful time. We need to show them how much that means to us. And for customers that is doubly true. These are our truest supporters that have continued to do business with us…and we need to make sure they know how much we appreciate it.
It’s Harder Than Ever
But here’s the thing, while it’s more important than ever, the fact is it’s harder. Many people are still working from home. We can’t do the traditional holiday events or parties. Even if we can, these events will look small or different to say the least. If we want to give our team a gift, we have to create new ways to deliver them and make them fun. It’s a real challenge. There is no getting around it. (With this challenge in mind, we created this site to help).
It’s Important To Order Early
While we are always a fan of planning in advance, this year it’s a must. As an industry, we are starting to see challenges with delivery times for many orders. Because we HAVE to ship to more and different locations, it’s become a challenge for delivery. As a matter of fact, UPS and Fed Ex have already acknowledged it’s going to be an issue.
In addition, the stock of many items across our industry has been a huge challenge as well. Why? Because when the pandemic began, all business in many (if not most) industries stopped. The promotional products industry was no different. So suppliers shut off orders from overseas to manage space and cash flow. When the economy started to open back up, many suppliers took conservative bets on what to order in. It’s a smart move. But it has created stock challenges on some items. What does that mean to you? It means the item you are in love with for you team might be out of stock. You either need to order before it is…or get ready to change to a new item quickly so you can still show that appreciation that is more important than ever!
So those are 3 Facts about Corporate Giving in 2020. They are realities we all need to deal with. Please be patient as we help you try and navigate these strange waters with you. Again, if you are interested in seeing a solution to delivering the gifts, check out this site we have created. Everything on the site is “all in.” It includes the price of the items, imprinting, setup fees, and shipping to your team member or customers door…all in.
I was sitting at my desk, with the feet up, listening to Mike Michalowicz speaking at a recent Commonsku at Home event. Mike is one of my favorite speakers, thought leaders and authors in the business space. He has written several must read business books including The Pumpkin Plan and Profit First. When he said he is working on a new book about marketing, he had my attention. It was then that he told us about the most powerful word in marketing.
Mike’s new book (still in production) will be called Different is Better. The concept is simple. When there are thousands of options in nearly every business space, how do you stand out? It’s not just about being better (though that is great). It’s about being different. You must do something to differentiate in the customers mind.
Simple right? As we know, simple is not the same as easy.
While I am excited to dig into the book and try many of the tactics Mike discussed, there was one thing that caught my attention. One way to stand out in a sea of competitors is to use the most powerful word in marketing. What is that magic word? What simple word can you put on a piece of marketing that will wildly increase the likelihood that your customer will not only read the piece, but maybe also KEEP it? Let me give you the word…
It’s your customer’s name.
As Mike suggested, we are all attracted to our own name. If we are in a conversation with someone in a crowded room, and someone mentions our name, it will break through the noise. We will hear it. Our name is special to us. It gets our attention. It makes our customer feel important…because they are! If you want a simple way to make your marketing more effective, personalize it. It’s the marketing equivalent of listening to Beyonce and “putting a ring on it.”
The implications of this are simple and powerful. If you are going to create a direct mail piece, you are more likely to get it opened if it actually says the customer or prospect’s name rather than “current resident.” And if you are created a piece of branded merchandise to say thank you to your customers (and you should), what if you personalized that as well? If you create a vacuum tumbler with your logo on it, how much more would it mean if each customer, team member and board member had their own name on it? The effect will be powerful.
And as a side note during this pandemic, it’s safer. If each person has their own tumbler (or other branded piece), then there is a much lower chance of someone drinking out of the wrong tumbler and getting sick.
So now that we are in appreciation season, consider using the most powerful word in marketing to increase the value of your branded gift. Use your customer’s name and personalize your gift for even more affect!
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While promotional products are a wonderful way to reach your customers, there are problems with buying promotional products too. We get that. So we wanted to address some of those challenges here…and hopefully give you some ideas on how to deal with them!
The Problems with Buying Promotional Products
Let’s just start with the idea that no one likes surprise charges. And as you will see as we go through some of the industry challenges, surprise charges are one of the biggest sticking points when purchasing branded merchandise.
Your promotional product sales pro comes to you and says “Great news! I have a special on coffee mugs. They are $1 and you have to buy 500 of them.”
“Great,” you might say. “This it will cost me $500?”
With a hesitant look on their face, your promo pro will say, “Well…” Then they will tell you about the setup charge, the art charge, the proof charge, and the shipping (and don’t forget tax). It’s about then that you realize that your 500 $1 mugs will cost you about $750.
It’s easy to feel frustrated, and sometimes mislead when this happens. So let’s dig into why each of these fees exist.
Setup Fee
When you are buying an item in retail, that item was created in bulk. Each one is essentially the same. So when it comes time to purchase a pair of shoes on Amazon, they can pick up any size 11 and ship it your way. The same is not true when it comes to promotional products. Each order is customized with your logo (and often contact information) on it. That means with every order, there is custom handling on the order. Whether that means creating a traditional screen, setting up the art, getting the machine ready to print the job (or many other ways these items are imprinted) there is handling.
The order has to be “setup” to run. This setup is done by someone that needs to be paid. It’s a bit of an oversimplification, but this is when “time is money” is real. Generally, this is a fee charged by the supplier that is “passed through” to the customer.
While you may be saying, “I don’t want to pay set up charges,” or you might be thinking that “my distributor doesn’t charge me for set up,” I would caution you. Someone is paying for it. Sometimes the supplier will waive it (so they pay their person and eat the charge). Every once in a while your distributor might pay it. Or maybe they are building it into the cost of the item (so you are paying it).
It’s a little like ‘free shipping.” Most of the time, you are paying for it somewhere.
Bottom line: A setup fee is a real thing. The best way to combat this is communication. Make sure you are asking about any setup fees on the front end. Whether you like them or not, you want to know about them on the front end!
Art Charges
While there are exceptions to every rule, this is one I think falls under the “legit” charge. Why? Because generally speaking, an art charge comes when the customer is not providing quality, vector art. Want to know what that means? Check out this blog.
This usually happens because of one of two reasons. Either they simply don’t have good art, or they are being lazy (I say this with love, of course). If you don’t have good art, no problem. But it does take the work of a professional designer to create that art. Trust me. You don’t want to create a branded item with a bad imprint. That’s not good for anyone and it does your brand a disservice. So paying a nominal art charge (think between $25 and $65 depending on complexity) is well worth it.
The lazy reason is simple. The organization probably has the art (they had it created at some point), and the person does not feel like looking. That’s cool too. But again, it takes time to recreate it. It’s amazing how often, when an art charge is brought up, the vector art magically appears.
Bottom line: Want no art charge? The answer is simple. Provide good art.
Proof Charges
This is probably my biggest pet peeve in our industry. To me, this is a charge to you to make sure we got your imprint correct. This is nonsense.
This is generally a fee charged by our supplier partners (love you guys). My take on this is, our suppliers are being beat up to the penny on nearly every item they sell, so they are looking at ways to create margin on their product without (technically) affecting the “per piece” price. It helps them as they fight to show up with a good price in search. But customers do not understand (nor should they) that they have to pay extra to make sure the imprint is what they want. So many distributors like us, simply eat that cost in order to help the customer experience. As I said above, someone is paying it. Generally, it’s us on that one.
The one caveat to this is the customer that asks for proof after proof after proof. Don’t get me wrong, an occasional change is totally cool and makes sense. But when we proof your order 5 or 6 times, charging for the time does start to make sense. At that point, you are using the supplier as your art department, and that’s not cool either.
Bottom line: If you send good art and are using the proof just to make sure everyone is on the same page, I don’t think you should be charged.
Shipping Charges
The best thing about Promotional Products is that we have a very physical media. When done right, branded merchandise can affect all 5 of the senses. But when you have a physical marketing piece, you have to physically get it there! That is where shipping comes in. We have to ship the items to get them to you, your customers or your employees. That costs money.
For the most part, your distributor (or even the supplier) does not set those fees. We are at the mercy of UPS, Fed Ex and USPS. But here are a few things to consider when shipping promotional products.
When do you need them? Just like anything else, if you plan ahead you can save money. If you wait until the last minute, it will cost more!
Where are they coming from? One of the things your distributor should tell you (but if not, you should ask) is where are these items coming from. Sometimes the item you are ordering only comes from California and you are stuck. But often, there are different suppliers that have similar (or the same) products. If so, you can order from the one closest to you for speed and cost efficiency.
How heavy (or big) are they? There are certain things that are heavy to ship. Paper products are heavy. Drinkware is not that heavy, but it takes a lot of space. So you are ultimately paying to ship air. These might be non-negotiable, but if they are, then this consideration might save you some time and money!
Bottom Line: Shipping is real cost. But when you can (and most of the time you can) ask for a shipping estimate. This can help you know on the front end how much shipping will affect your overall bill.
These are real problems you can run into when ordering promotional products. But once you understand these, you will come to find that, as a marketing tool, promotional products are still totally worth it. The antidote for nearly all of this, as you might suspect is communication. One way we are working to remove some of this friction is to provide you a sales order to approve in advance. This way you have the ability to see all of the charges in one place. While we are not perfect, this helps to alleviate some of the confusion on the back end.
If you read this blog on the regular, you might be thinking something like this. “Okay I get that you need to retain customers (we talk about that here). I understand you need to grow within your current client base. But at some point you need to get new customers to grow as well!”
You’re right. Now more than ever…we need to find new ways to create new revenue.
So let’s focus on that now…with Target Accounts. I think this is one of the most powerful ways to grow your business.
Promotional products are most effectively used when they are targeted.
That is why this concept works so well. Let’s start with the concept.
First, you want to create your “target” list. I have also heard this referred to as the Dream list, Bullseye List, and Bucket List. Regardless of the name, you want to create the list of 100 perfect prospects for your company. These are the exact kinds of clients you want to do business with. I base this list on a number of factors. They include proximity, kinds of businesses, reputation for payment, culture and more. You are going to know the factors that are important for your ideal customer. This is the kind of customer where successfully getting just one of them, will quickly affect your sales numbers! If you want to dig into this more, check out our free 5 day marketing course.
This is a powerful step for a couple of reasons.
First, as I just said, this Target Customer is the kind who can REALLY impact your sales. They have the wherewithal to purchase what you are selling…in big numbers. Second, it is MUCH more cost effective to market to 100 people than it is 10,000! You can be much more personal, targeted, and relentless!
Now, DO take the time to get them on paper (or in your CRM if you use one). When getting them recorded, make sure to include all the pertinent contact information. This will keep you from “creating reasons” not to follow up. You will have all the information at your fingertips…so no reason not to call!
By the way, this first step is a huge one. Take some time and don’t skimp on the information. You will be glad you have it right in the long run.
Now that you have your list it’s time to create your plan.
I recommend breaking your Target list of 100 into more manageable numbers, like 5 or ten at a time. This does a couple things. First, by breaking the numbers down, you make the list more reasonable to follow up with. In addition, once you have gone through the first 5 (all the way through the process) you have your next 5 all ready to go. You will be glad you did. On more than one occasion I have made the list of only 5, and then when I got through it, got stalled because I had to start the “target list” all over.
Once you have the Target List created, it’s time to make the impact with these great potential customers with promotional products! Now it’s time to have some fun.
If you have chosen wisely (and in this case, I mean big!) you will need to understand that these are clients that most people would want! So they probably have “everyone” marketing and selling to them. That’s the bad news. The good news is, most people are being lazy when reaching out. They are sending letters, or cold calling or some other “shot in the dark” sales technique.
Since you don’t want to blend in with the other wannabes, you need to create a creative campaign that will stand out. I recommend a “three tier” campaign for that. This means you will send 3 creative mailers—one after another—until the follow up.
You really need to stand out here. Don’t just send a letter. If you want fantastic results, you need to set out to make a fantastic impact.
Let’s go through a fictitious example:
Let’s say my friend Bill has a Home Improvement store that focuses on carpet and paint. Though he certainly wants every “do it your-selfer” to think of him, he can make larger sales AND repeat sales if he focuses his marketing efforts on contractors. They are in the market for his products over and over. So Bill might make his Target List starting with contractors he wants to do business with.
This is when the project can really be fun. Here are some ideas for mailers that he might send:
Mailer 1
He sends a box with a nice measuring tape with his stores logo and phone number on it. It would need to be a nice one if he is sending it to a contractor. They won’t appreciate junk on something like that! With the measuring tape he might include a letter asking if their current supplier is “measuring up” on service and price. He might include other verbiage about having “room for growth,” and their specialty being the “height of service.” You get the idea. Have some fun to tie the letter to the item.
Mailer 2
In the second mailer, Bill might send a Giant Pencil. This is really designed to get his attention and make them smile. The letter might include something about “penciling him in for a meeting” or “having trouble finding time to source carpet.” You really want to get the clients raising eyebrows here.
Mailer 3
Finally he might send a nice travel mug with an offer to buy him a cup of coffee. In the letter, explain how you know they are “on the go” and you respect their time. Bill might also promise to keep the business relationship “hot” by giving leads back to the contractor. Then it’s time to let the prospect know that Bill will be following up (if they haven’t called already). Tell them your intention here. Don’t beat around the bush.
Now you might be thinking, “Wow! This is a lot of money to throw at one prospect.” And you are right. This is probably $40 to $50 per prospect here. But you also need to remember that these are clients that can spend thousands and thousands each and every year. So their impact can be well worth it. It’s also worth noting that you are not going to spend this much chasing each customer…just the Target list!
Now the procedure becomes simple.
First, choose your 3 to 5 first Target Accounts. (Make it a number you KNOW you can follow up with). I tend to choose them based on the ones I am most excited about working with the soonest. This will give me the most motivation to get this process rolling.
Second, once you have chosen the Targets, send out the mailers. I tend to space them out a week apart. This is a bit of a long sales cycle. But it ensures that they will have time to digest the message, even if they are out on vacation, business travel, etc.
Third, just like any business process, the fortune is in the follow up! You must work the phones now to get your appointments with the Target List. If you have done these mailers right (and been creative) you will have a great deal of success.
Be bull-headed in your follow up though.
You have invested a lot of money on these prospects! Work hard to get some time in front them now!
If you have chosen wisely on your promotional items and your themes, you will not only have made an immediate impact with your Target list, but you will also have the chance to have long term advertising with them as well!
This has been true for years. There is an appreciation gap. It’s the gap between how much companies think they show appreciation…and how much employees and customers feel appreciated. It’s probably always been true. Studies show you that 69% of customers that leave you will do so because of perceived indifference. Nearly 70% of them leave because they don’t think you care!
And that was before a pandemic, quarantine, wildfires, racial injustice, murder hornets, and the Big Ten postponing football! So showing your customers and your employees that you really care about them is more important than ever before.
But let’s be honest, it can be harder now. With those challenges, many events have been cancelled. The places where we saw customers have been shut down. So while we need to say “thank you” more than ever, it’s harder than ever before to do it. That is why some companies are thinking outside of the box with appreciation.
Create A Party In A Box
Many companies are looking at the fact that traditional Holiday parties are going to be difficult this year. We want to show our team appreciation, not get them sick! On the other hand, the holidays is when many of us take the time to show appreciation to our employees and our customers. And since we just said, we need to show more appreciation this year, what can we do?
What about a virtual Party In A Box? The idea is simple. While we might not be able to physically get together, what if we did it virtually? We create a Zoom meeting (or pick your platform) and then ship each of your team a box with some amazing items so you can all celebrate together. Depending on your team (and your budget) you can create a branded package that might include an apparel item you want everyone to wear, a bottle of wine, a set of glasses, some sweet treats to eat, and even hand sanitizer! You could create a “party in a box” that really dazzles. And just think, you won’t have to rent a facility or cater a meal…so you can use that budget to build your team, your culture and your brand.
As a side, many of our suppliers are working hard on drop ship programs so you can do this more efficiently and cost effectively than ever before.
What do you think?
If you are interested in exploring an idea like this to show your team or customers that they are special, let us know. You can reach out to your Hasseman Marketing rep…or you can click here to reach out to us!
