Smile Like You Mean It

Value and service come in many different flavors, according to Neil Janover, including lemon, honeydew and gardenia.

When Janover, owner of PromoNation Inc. in New York City, plans to send a sample to his client, first he "sensitizes" it, he says. He stores it overnight in one of the office lockers stocked with Yankee Candles, and the clients always remark how delightful the samples, mostly T-shirts, smell upon arrival. It's all part of his relationship sale strategy: customers buy from him, Janover says, because they like him and he's fun—pure and simple.

Janover describes himself as a "touch and feel kind of guy." He won't sell a single item through his website because a customer can't feel an item for sale online. "That's just not my style," says the 13-year industry veteran. "I'm a phone guy. I have a drop-down option in my Outlook: the 'call me' response. I don't even have to type it anymore."

He isn't kidding: when I call him for an interview early one morning, the phone is out temporarily. No voice mail, no receptionist. I realize that Janover and his "Super Sales Girl," Ginger Chavez-Miller, are moving their entire office this morning. The phone is only out for ten minutes, or less time than it takes to cross a busy Manhattan avenue with an armful of phone cables.

I call back, and he picks up on the first ring—he's been at work since 5 a.m., listening to Blondie and making sales calls. "Clients are the least grumpy early in the morning," he announces, within earshot of Chavez-Miller, who's been his protégé for nearly four years. "Who knows—they could be fired by 5 o'clock. Call early!"

In a sea of print and promotional product distributors who are trying to adopt a marketing service provider model, Janover is forging ahead "without all that nonsense," but with steadily growing sales volume of about $1.75 to $2 million this year. "I used to work with a guy who came up with ideas like that all the time," he recalls. "We'd do an umbrella for a client, and he'd come up with a tagline: 'Let us cover you.' I used to tell him: that's not your responsibility. That's why there are ad agencies and focus groups and creatives."

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