Phil Taylor, president of North Wilkesboro, N.C.-based distributorship Taylor Business Products and a DMIA Board member, wandered the aisles at an ASI Show in Chicago looking for stuffed animals. His client, a large insurance company, wanted them for a 12-week promotional campaign, but the items Taylor found were designed for children.
About to give up, Taylor came across a booth he hadn't seen before. The vendor displayed animals, but, "They were very different than the ones I had been looking at. They were very realistic," he says. The vendor imported the animals from China and kept a small inventory in the United States. Taylor was wary at first. He had not worked directly with an importer, but the products fit his client's need, so he left with samples and a catalog.
The insurance company chose 12 different animals from the catalog--one for each week of the promotion--and authorized Taylor to purchase 700 of each. The animals were embroidered with the firm's logo and dressed in clothing to reflect the promotion's "Survivor" TV-show theme. The importer demanded payment upfront, so before giving him the order, Taylor asked for the names and contact information of three recent customers with similar-sized orders. The references all said the same thing: "He's as honest as the day is long. He'll do exactly what he says he'll do, but he wants his money," Taylor says.
Taylor also sold the insurance firm brochures announcing the promotion and scratch-off cards. The cards and brochures were sent to the firm's bank partners each week. Recipients scratched the cards to see which animal they had "won" that week. To collect the animal, the recipient mailed the card to a P.O. Box Taylor had set up. He stored the animals in his company's warehouse and offered the insurance firm complete fulfillment.
--Andrew Brown
Waiting with Fingers Crossed
Phil Taylor's experience with importers is mostly positive, but he admits, "I have some almost-horror stories." For instance, a client wanted extra 10 x 10-inch canopies added to its order just days before it was supposed to ship. Taylor called his importer, who waited a day to call his contact in China because of the difference in time zones. The client got their canopies...just in time. The containers were already on the boat when Taylor's importer called. So what did his contact do? "They had a little boy on a bicycle take them down to the docks," Taylor says.
An insurance firm wanted stuffed animals for a 12-week long promotional campaign, but they rejected animals designed specifically for children. Phil Taylor, president of North Wilkesboro, N.C.-based distributorship Taylor Business Products, successfully sold these stuffed animals after discovering them at a trade show.
Know who you're dealing with. Ask for references before you work directly with an importer. "Don't be shy about digging a little to find out who you're dealing with," says Phil Taylor, president of North Wilkesboro, N.C.-based distributorship Taylor Business Products.
