Since the beginning of the pandemic, leaders have been trying to find a way to communicate the steps to take to slow the spread of the virus. As we all know, in March, most of the country shut down in order to “flatten the curve.” That worked to slow the spread, but it shut down the economy as well. Now that we are nearing the end of 2020, the predicted ramp up of cases is upon us…and leaders all over the country (and the world) are working to slow down the spread.
That goal is what led Ohio Governor Mike DeWine to meet with local officials in Coshocton County via Zoom. He implored our local leaders to get creative and do what they can to help communicate the message that we need to be safe. After the meeting, officials from the City of Coshocton and Coshocton Regional Medical Center reached to us to help spread the word. We discussed creating a video, including many local officials, entrepreneurs and healthcare leaders to send a unified message to our community. The theme became simple.
We need to “Step up…and Mask up!”
The work on that script and video began immediately and I am proud of what we created. But it was important to us to create something that sustains the message after the initial bump. So rather than just create a video, we worked to create a campaign. Next up, we reached out to government officials to step up as well. We sent out script (that I will include below) and the first person who recorded his version of the video was Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. He applauded the efforts of Coshocton County and encouraged everyone to “Step up…and Mask Up!”
Excited about this participation, we worked to keep the momentum going. We will continue to share the message from leaders and government officials, but we also wanted to add something tangible to the mix. So what better way to encourage people to “mask up” than to provide masks with the message? We agree. The design was created (as you see in the video) and the masks are ordered and are on their way. In addition, we have created re-positionable stickers that are being printed and will be given to businesses that want to promote the message.
We are excited about the positive momentum that has been created so far…and are happy to use our powers for good. So how can we keep this momentum going? Here are a couple of ideas. First, if you are in our area and you want to participate, let us know. While we think these items will go quickly, we can try to get you a sticker and a few masks to help spread the word. We know that some people find this message divisive (I don’t get that and I talk about it here), but we feel it’s the right thing to do.
If you are not in our area, maybe you can create a campaign like ours in your community. In the interest of helping, here is the script we created that you can modify and use.
Step Up…Mask Up Script
In Coshocton County, we are proud.
We take care of one another, and look out for our neighbors.
We believe in supporting small businesses.
And we celebrate our heroes in healthcare.
We are kind…and we are proud to give back.
That is why we want to urge you to “mask up.”
Wearing a mask is not a weakness…it’s kindness. Mask up.
Wash your hands. Keep your distance. And mask up.
Step up…and Mask up.
(Multiple Leaders on screen). Step up and Mask Up
Let’s all do our part. Be kind. Support small business. Help keep each other safe.
That is who we are Coshocton County.
Let’s step up…and mask up.
Special thanks to our local leaders for not only wanting to do what’s right…but stepping up and working together to make it happen.
Here’s to keeping each other safe. Step Up. Mask Up.
One of the buzzwords that is thrown around a lot in business today is the word “culture.” I actually love that. It’s important because it speaks to the environment around the organization…and how everyone feels about their work. When you create a successful culture, you have the ability to create a tribe. If you have done that…congratulations.
And when you create a company and a brand that people are proud to represent, something cool happens. Your employees will actually WANT to wear the logo. In fact, they will often be willing to pay their own money to buy branded merchandise with the organization’s logo on it! That shows a powerful culture.
If you find yourself here, then it might be time to create a Employee Sale.
An employee sale is a fairly straight forward exercise. It’s not a new concept. You would select some items that could be imprinted with the company logo on it. Employees have the opportunity to select items for themselves. You would curate the items and the way they would be imprinted. This allows employees to select items that they would be excited about using or wearing, while you get to manage the brand. While the concept is not new, the technology has improved. Now you can create an online shop to help you manage this process in a much more efficient way.
But an employee sale can really get out of control. When they do, they can become a real nightmare to manage. And when that happens, leaders often throw up their hands and say “no more!” That’s a shame. Because if you have created a culture and a tribe that want rep your brand…you want to help them!
So here are a few tips on creating a successful (and less painful) employee sale.
Keep It Simple
One common mistake I see with employee sales, especially the first one, is to try and include everything. The more items you include, the more you have to manage. What I recommend is to keep it simple and include the basics on the first sale.
I explain this to everyone when we start this process. They always nod and say “Yes. That makes sense.” Then when we select products, they ultimately want to include 20 or more items. It’s easy to do! First, we are excited! Second, we have everyone (including our boss) making special requests to be included. Then you look down and have a ton of options on the table. This is what most often leads to frustration. Trust me. Keep it simple. You can always add the special requests on the next sale. This leads nicely to…
Do Them Every Quarter
One of the ways to manage the requests and the expectations is to let everyone know you will do these sales consistently. That will allow you to add special items to the “next time” list. In addition it allows you to add seasonal items. Things that people want in December are not what they want in July. If you do the employee sales every quarter, you can help manage the items and the expectations.
How Do They Pay?
This may sound simple, but there are several ways to do this. There is no “right way.” But it’s important to figure it out up front so that both the team and the vendor know! One way is that the company gives everyone the ability to order the item…and the company pays. Another popular option is to allow employees to order what they want and then deduct the cost from their pay. This payroll deduction option is one of the most popular. Finally, you can let employees just pay themselves. The employee sale can be set up with a credit card option to make this work. Either way is fine…but this needs to be worked out in advance to avoid confusion.
Test and Test Again
Just like any other online product, your new store needs to be “proofed.” You need to look over it with a fine tooth comb. Are the colors right? Is the logo the one I want? Then run a few test orders to make sure the site works like you want it to. You will likely be the first person people come to when they have questions. So make sure you have used the site and can answer the basics.
Be Patient
As I write this, we are in the middle of the COVID crisis, so everything is colored by this time. Stock for nearly all suppliers is a challenge. Delivery times are tough and shipping has been delayed. I wrote about this here. But even in normal times, an employee sale has a lot of moving pieces. There will be hopefully fewer if you took our advice on keeping it simple, but there are still lots of individuals, ordering lots of items, with different imprints. That means things can be confusing.
My advice is to be patient. Your tone will be powerful in your organization. This is a spot to under promise and over deliver. When you are talking about delivery times, give yourself time. The order will not be placed until the Employee Sale closes. After that, give yourself 3 to 4 weeks to expect delivery. When you say that from the outset, you manage expectations and headaches. If then, the items come in sooner, great. But expect the unexpected. It will decrease your stress and the amount of emails you have to answer about the items.
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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Happy Thanksgiving! The holidays are officially upon us. And as the Black Friday Sales start (on Thursday, no less) it is extremely easy to get sucked into the stress of the holiday season. We can get too focused on the gifts and less on the meaning. We get focused on the tasks on the to-do list and less on the point of the exercise. I know I am guilty of it. So on this day of Thanksgiving, I wanted to take just a moment to outline a few of the things I am thankful for here at Hasseman Marketing.
The Team
I really am excited and thankful for the team I get to work with every day. From different backgrounds and different parts of the country, the inside employees and the outside sales team are what make us go. They are who “Deliver Marketing Joy.” Thanks to the Hasseman Marketing Team!
Our Customers
Nothing happens until there is a sale. That is true of any business, and certainly ours. We so appreciate the faith and trust our customers place in us every day. Thanks to each and every one of you!
Our Communities
Our Corporate headquarters is in Coshocton, Ohio and we love that area. We #ChooseCoshocton. We are proud of it. We want to have an impact. But with the nature of our business, we have team members in other communities too. Yes, we have people in Ohio. But we also represent communities in Virginia, North Carolina, and California as well. We are thankful for the opportunity to make a difference in each.
Our Suppliers and Partners
As with most any business, we are not in it alone. We have a host of fantastic suppliers and partners that help us do what we do. These suppliers are manufacturers, printers, designers and software developers…and more. We are thankful for the opportunity to work with each. So thank you! If you are reading this, you are likely in one of these camps.
All of us at Hasseman Marketing would like to take this chance to give Thanksgiving…for you!
In nearly every sales force you have three kinds of team members. You have your Rock Stars, the average performers, and the Laggers. And your success as a business is dependent upon working with (or not working with) the right groups with the right amount of time to grow your sales.
1. Rock Stars: These are the folks that are self-starters. They are driven. This group takes very little of your time to motivate and (most of the time) they are actually pretty low maintenance. There is not a need or want of any hand-holding (for the most part) because they don’t have time for that. They are working to get the next sale.
Sometimes they are so easy to deal with you might ignore them. Don’t.
2. Laggers: As one sales manager once told me, “You can’t push a rope.” Many organizations make the mistake of spending a lot of time with the Laggers. They are often very nice guys and gals (that’s why they were hired). And the tendency is, we think that if we “coach them up” they can turn into Rock Stars. Most of the time, this is fantasy. Raise your hand if this has happened to you…everyone!
3. Average Performers: The fact is, most of your sales team falls into this category. These are good sales members that have moments of “rock star status.” They just don’t perform at this level consistently. They very well could be “rock stars” but they are not…yet. One of the jobs of an entrepreneur, sales manager, or sales guru, is to raise the level of these team members.
But how do you thank and appreciate the Rock Stars and incentivize the rest? That is, literally, the million-dollar question. Let’s take a look at a few options…
1. Status Award: When it comes to affecting sales members’ behavior, a great option is to create Status awards they “wear.” This allows them to be reminded of their accomplishment nearly every day. It also shows the Average Performers who to model their behavior after. When thinking of a status award, think of the Green Jacket that is given to the winner of the Masters. What are some other ideas for status awards? Think of doing a cool custom watch. The average person looks at their watch more than 10 times a day. Make it a fashion statement and you have something they are proud to wear. Not a fan of a watch? No problem. What about a custom ring or a special shirt. You get the idea.
Make it cool and it will get the attention you desire.
2. Fun Award: Sometimes you can really have fun with the celebration! If you create a contest or incentive around lifestyle and the fun that success can bring, you might create awards that celebrate that. What do I mean, think about toting around a very nice Coleman cooler to every event this summer with an award message. What a great way to remind your team of their success (and get people to ask about it!).
3. Public Awards: Another way to make sure your sales team knows how they are doing is to create an award program that is a very public display of accomplishment. Read more on how to really do this right here. But when you create a public display, you can really give your sales team a way to showcase their own accomplishments to everyone that walks in their office! The other cool effect of these awards is that it tells all future customers that they are dealing with a Rock Star…and we all want that. If you want to dig deeper on learning how to create a program to help grow sales, just contact us here and we will reach out to you. In addition, you can shop online for other ideas here.
