Sell with E-Samples
A distributor adds custom text and logos to product samples.
Labels make up over half of Dave Hurdle's business, but the president of distributorship Paradigm Group Inc., Indianapolis, has nurtured another segment with success. Two years ago, the company reluctantly started selling promotional products at the request of existing customers. Hurdle's hesitation disappeared after he realized the segment's potential. "We decided that promotional products would be a pretty good way to replace the traditional forms business because of the volume and higher margins," he says.
The transition included a learning curve. "It's a totally different industry," Hurdle says. "The first lesson we've learned is that dealing with promotional product vendors is different than dealing with print vendors, as far as price structure." To support Paradigm's new direction, Hurdle hired Andrea Moxley, an account representative with experience selling promotional products. Now, the company specializes in selling apparel and uniforms to businesses.
End users crave creative promotional products such as desk clocks, calculator/calendars and water bottles. Adding prospects' logos or slogans to those items can help distributors win business.
One client sought a creative solution to complement its safety-awareness initiative. "They had been giving away money and gift certificates for awards, and they wanted to give away something unique that their people could wear or keep on their desks," Moxley says. Paradigm offered a smashed shirt, shrink-wrapped in the shape of a brain. Inside the wrap, a 4-color insert with the tag line "Safety is a state of mind" reinforced the client's message. The client uses the shirts to acknowledge offices with 90-day, incident-free records. So far, Paradigm has supplied approximately 700 shirts, and the client orders more as each office meets its goal.
The same client wanted to reward individual employees who perform safe practices. Paradigm provided a 3 x 4-inch square clock with bendable legs and an imprint of the company's logo and tag line, "Walk the Talk. Safety is a State of Mind." To impress the client, Moxley asked the vendor to supply an electronic sample. The vendor added the custom text to a digital photo of the product to illustrate its final appearance. Armed with a PDF of the sample, Moxley presented the client with a custom solution quickly. In this case, she followed up with a spec sample to show how the clock's legs worked, but many times an e-sample is enough for Paradigm to win business.
Selling creative, custom solutions is the foundation of Paradigm's strategy. Hurdle credits the company's traditional-forms background with providing an edge in the promotional products segment. Many clients are surprised "that we actually came out with ideas for them instead of pointing them to a web site," he says. With so many products to choose from, clients value the attention and guidance distributors can provide.
--Andrew Brown
Candy
Chicago Gourmet/A La Carte, Chicago, offers the Chicago Gourmet Tower--three stacked boxes of candy tied together with a ribbon and inserted into a mailer. Each box, available in gold or silver, includes a tray and candy pad and is tape-sealed. The tower includes four standard truffles, eight ounces of Jelly Belly brand gourmet jelly beans and 15 assorted chocolates. The standard price includes a 1-color imprint on one candy box cover. For more information, visit www.chicagogourmet.com.
Serial Bus Hub, Laptop Fan
Prime Resources Corp., Bridgeport, Conn., has added a Mini 4-port universal serial bus 1.1 hub and a USB laptop fan to its Computer Essentials product line. The hub measures 31/2 inches wide x 11/2 inches high and features a standard 1 x 3/4-inch square imprint area. The fan and clamp measure 5/8 x 31/2 inches, with a standard imprint area of 1/4 x 1/2 inch. For more information, call (800) 873-7746, (203) 331-9100 or (203) 330-0123 (fax). Visit www.primeworld.com.
A manufacturer and distributor raised $450 for charity at their Battle of the Giant Promotional Products contest in February. Mike Burns, president and CEO of Quikey Manufacturing, Akron, Ohio, and Hank Frisch, owner and president of Team Promotions, Cleveland, raced each other up 42 flights of stairs at the Tower City Terminal in Cleveland with oversized promotional products strapped to their backs. Encumbered by a 6-foot pencil, Burns sprinted to an early lead, only to be overtaken by Frisch--sporting a 4-foot replica of a Quikoin holder--on the 30th floor. Quikey has manufactured the popular coin holder since 1951. This epic battle for bragging rights took place during the city's second annual Tackle the Tower race, which drew over 700 participants and raised an estimated $17,000 in pledges for the Ronald McDonald House of Cleveland.
Prime Resources Corp., Bridgeport, Conn., acquired Logotec USA, a textile bag supplier in Irvine, Calif. The acquisition is part of Prime's strategy to offer expanded product lines and become its customers' main supplier. Logotec USA adds fabric bags, cooler bags, briefcases and portfolios to Prime's capabilities, as well as a proprietary decorating process of Image Bonding that allows customers to order up to a 3-color imprint at no extra charge. Logotec will continue to operate in California, with the exception of its sales functions, which will be handled by Prime's nationwide group of regional managers.
