Wouldn’t it be nice if the client you want to grow would tell you exactly what you need to do to make that happen? How about the client you are trying to land telling you how to cut through all the competitor noise and earn their business? If they would just send you a little note with all the details, it would make it easier for both of you.
Well, let me help you with that. In a past life, I was responsible for brand merchandise for a Global 500 company. It’s a premium brand — a tire manufacturer, with a logo the Financial Times of London once rated the second-most recognizable in the world (only the script “Coca-Cola” was ranked as more recognizable). As the manufacturer, safety was a core competency, reflected for years in ad campaigns with images of babies and tires and the consumer tag line, “because so much is riding on your tires.” The brand mascot dates back to 1898, so anything with his image with that recognizable corporate logo HAD to be both correct to brand standards AND manufactured responsibly. So, if you’re up to the challenge, here’s what you need to do:
Understand that I have Caller ID. When I see your number, make my reaction “I bet there’s a good idea or a solution to my problem!” If my first reaction instead is “Oh, it’s HIM/HER again,” my second reaction is send you to voicemail. Think before you dial, chronic time-wasters like “just checking in” or “following-up on my catalog” make things worse, not better. Be a value-add, branded merchandise is likely not my only job.
Remember I don’t need to know how the watch works, just tell me the time. If I’m considering you, it’s because I think of you as an expert. Being the true value-add that I think you are, I don’t mind admitting you know more about promotional products than I do. Don’t screw that up. Give me product choices, but not so many my eyes glaze over. Give me decorating choices, but don’t tell me the name of the embroidery machine. Get to what I need as quickly as you can, so you can move on to when I need it.
Do your research first. This sounds basic, but so many distributor sales folks didn’t do it. If you’re learning about the basics of my business while sitting in front of me, it’s probably the last time you’ll be in that seat. Find out about upcoming product initiatives, opening of new facilities, and read the press releases on my company’s community relations. I may want product support, gifts for the open house, or shirts and hats for our volunteers in the community. If I have to come to you with ideas, someone else has probably already suggested them.
Don’t lead with price. Believe it or not, your competitor just offered me the lowest price I ever saw on 10,000 shirts. Problem is that I didn’t need 10,000 shirts. Of course, price is important, I have a budget like everyone else. But I also work for a manufacturer that sells premium-priced products. I understand the real total cost of ownership is calculated by how long something lasts. If the pen I give away leaks and ruins a shirt, or the branded tote bag breaks with the first load of cantaloupes, the cheapest choice wasn’t a value after all, was it?
Do lead with safety. Remember, you’re the expert. Tell me your products are the safest you can find in my product categories, and be able to prove it to me. Your client at the local dry cleaners may not want real-time supply chain information, but I do. I have a brand to protect, and I need your help. Tell me you source from suppliers who believe in a transparent supply chain. Don’t tell me everything is 100 percent safe, though, because it’s not. Do tell me you understand that risk, and work with suppliers that know how to do a recall if they need to. As a client, I consider safety to be a passive exercise, that’s why every P.O. you get from me says, “By accepting this P.O., you represent that the products delivered meet safety regulations for the product’s intended audience, as well as for the states or territories they are delivered into.”
Billy Sarno, now national accounts manager at Hit Promo, was in sales at a national distributor when I looked for an enhanced vendor for the first time. We had one vendor in the U.S., another in Canada, and a third in Mexico. Billy learned through the grapevine that we were looking to add a consumer-facing retail store and website to the enterprise that already included trademark stores and corporate special orders. “I wanted to show you our capabilities by introducing you to other clients of the same scope and similar size,” Billy reminded me. I asked him how he differentiated his distributor from all the other noise and he replied: “We talked about our experience, the infrastructure to support what was actually several businesses for you, and of course, service, service, service.” It was the first time I heard the expression “enterprise,” and through the RFP process, his distributorship showed an understanding that we wanted this enterprise to be self-sustaining. They got the business.
Do you think your client would send you a love letter? Do you really love your clients? Elevating the relationship goes hand-in-hand with success. After three years, we told Billy Sarno’s distributor that corporate policy dictated we had to go back out with an RFP. We did, but they also got a proposal from us at the same time — a question really — that asked “what can we do to be a better client?” They won that business again, and so did we.
Jeff Jacobs has been an expert in building brands and brand stewardship for 40 years, working in commercial television, Hollywood film and home video, publishing, and promotional brand merchandise. He’s a staunch advocate of consumer product safety and has a deep passion and belief regarding the issues surrounding compliance and corporate social responsibility. He retired as executive director of Quality Certification Alliance, the only non-profit dedicated to helping suppliers provide safe and compliant promotional products. Before that, he was director of brand merchandise for Michelin. You can find him still advising Global 500 Brands on promo product initiatives, working as a volunteer Guardian ad Litem, traveling the world with his lovely wife, or enjoying a cigar at his favorite local cigar shop. Follow Jeff on Twitter, or reach out to him at jacobs.jeffreyp@gmail.com.