Sales & Marketing Archives - Page 2 of 5 - PromoKitchen

What’s the most important trait in a salesperson?

Posted on May 8, 2014 by PromoKitchen Contributing Editor

The following article was written by Steve Pons, vice president – national sales, at Accolade Promotion Group (APG), a division of Golf Town Canada Inc. We all agree that good people are what differentiate a good business from an exceptional business. Jim Collins’ widely read book Good to Great talks a lot about getting the “right people on the bus”…

Stop Selling Stuff – Part 1

Posted on March 20, 2014 by Brad White

Rare is the opportunity for suppliers to see their products in action. You create new products and market them to your distributors. You field requests for samples and you write quotes. You source products or you make them yourself. You carefully decorate them, box them up and ship them to an event. You have spent so much time and effort…

Photo Credit: Håkan Dahlström via Compfight cc

Sales: The Key To Making It Happen In 2014 (And Beyond)

Posted on January 25, 2014 by PromoKitchen Contributing Editor

By Dave Regan, PromoKitchen Contributor Some like to rehash the pros and cons of the previous year, but it is much more useful to look ahead to the new season. Yet when planning, some scrutiny of the past 12 months might be beneficial: What worked? What did not work? What did we try or not try? I often hear account executives…

Be A Problem Solver: Do A Client Marketing Review

Posted on January 17, 2014 by PromoKitchen Contributing Editor

By Paul A. Kiewiet, MAS, CIP, PromoKitchen Contributor The first of the year is a great time to reconnect with all of your best clients. Right after the holidays is the perfect time to set yourself apart from the competition by providing your customers with a value-added extra: The Marketing Review. What the heck is a marketing review? How do you…

Don’t Wait For The Super Bowl

Posted on January 8, 2014 by PromoKitchen Contributing Editor

By Ruth Verver, PromoKitchen Contributor January is a great time of the year. As a business owner, you are setting your goals for the new year and putting your plans in action. You are probably still on a high from the holidays and getting geared up for all the industry shows. I’m a football fan and, for me, January is…

Take A Bigger Piece Of The Marketing Pie

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Tonia Allen Gould

Finding the right promotional product that enforces a brand under budgetary restrictions are some of the biggest challenges that promotional products sales or project management representatives face with their clients. The knee-jerk reaction is to adhere to those budgetary constraints by delivering affordable, albeit sub-standard product that meets those challenges, inadvertently compromising a client’s brand integrity along the way. Oftentimes,…

What I Learned From Losing A $10 Million Sale

Posted on November 12, 2013 by Brad White

I’ll never forget the time I answered the phone and heard this: “Hi, yes, my client is looking for five million t-shirts to be packaged with their product and sold in stores. Can you handle that type of order?” Long, confused pause… “Excuse me, how many shirts?” “Five million. It’s for a major promotion.” Ha! Well let’s nominate this lady…

How to Manage An Irate Client

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Danny Rosin

“Speak when you are angry and you’ll give the best speech that you will ever regret.” I was inspired to write this post because of an awful situation involving an angry client and a salesperson who was unsure how to address them or the problem. And believe it or not, I actually look forward to these sorts of business dilemmas…

How About Some Face Time Instead Of Facebook?

Posted on July 23, 2013 by PromoKitchen Contributing Editor

By Janie Gaunce, President/CEO of Grapevine Designs Remember the United Airlines commercial (ok, some of you weren’t born yet) where the CEO gathers his team to announce the sad loss of a major account they had a relationship with for 20 years? He then distributes actual paper tickets for flights to send the sales team out to visit with…

Then/Now Promo Industry Reflection

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Danny Rosin

When PromoKitchen chefs and Brand Fuel business partners Robert Fiveash and Danny Rosin were casually talking about how they used to approach the promotional products market using the tools available in the industry 15 years ago, their list grew. And as that list got longer, in most cases, they were delightfully surprised at the improvements that had taken place in the industry in such a short period of…