Promo Products: A Career or A Hobby?

Without a doubt promotional products are my career and they have been this way for the last twenty-three years. What really irks me, not only with some in my own company but also with many, many others in the industry is that there are many salespeople who are part-timers or "hobbyists" to use a term from my friend, David Woods of AIA.

I am all for people keeping busy however I wish they wouldn't do it in our industry. Do people still collect stamps or coins? How about building model airplanes? Maybe not, since sniffing the glue has been determined to be dangerous.

In an industry that is faced with many challenges when you consider legislative challenges and product safety concerns, salesperson education and training are very important. Will the "hobbyists" do what it takes to rise to the challenges that the industry faces? I think the answer is a very clear N-O.

So what is the solution? I think, if we look down the road, we can see a day when product knowledge will become more important in this industry than ever before. Knowing and understanding the supply channels will be a must for salespeople!

The case where a salesperson meets a vendor at a trade show who has a table and two chairs and displays some product professing that he or she can get it cheaper and faster than the other guy will become a thing of the past. It will be a given that a salesperson know where the product and is coming from and that is compliant with all of the required safety regualtions in place at the time. Some of the larger distributors like Vernon will continue to do well because they are and will continue to invest in the realtionships with the solid industry vendors who are doing the "right" thing when it comes to product safety. They are not taking shortcuts!

Our company is promoting the suppliers who are building a track record of producing "safe and reliable" products. Working with a company who is watching out for not only your client's best interests, but yours as well, will become more important in the year's ahead.

Small distributors will have a real hard time understanding and building the infrastructure to keep up. The "hobbyists" should begin to go away as clients demand more in terms of product and supply channel information from their reps. The part timers or uneducated salesperson who say "huh, what do you mean?" will be left by the wayside and quite frankly they should!

Again, as always, this is just my opinion but I think all the signs are there that this will be the future. Where do you stand? How much do you know? What do you understand?

There is help out there with our organization PPAI. I recommend to anyone who wants to learn more that they go to ppai.org and check out the section on product safety. In addition to this subject there is so much more that is avaialble for those individuals who want to better themselves so that they are positioned to succeed today and tomorrow.

I hope that includes you! I know that I have a lot to learn. The day we stop learning is the day that we..................

Well I think most of you know the answer.

What was I talking about….

They say that we live in a “sound bite” age and I could not agree more with this statement. I spend a good deal of time in my current role talking to account executives around the country about what they should focus on to be more successful. In addition there are some times when I really focus on what I need to do to help Vernon be more successful as a company. This all sounds great but then it comes time to put these words in to action….and I can’t remember what I was talking about.

Does this ever happen to you? How do we keep our attention span on one subject so that we can actually accomplish our goals? This is a good question. This morning on my 45 minute commute to the office I proceeded to jot down all the thoughts going through my head. Oh my, what a busy place it is between my ears this morning. You will see what I mean as I list out my random thoughts.

• Why don’t salespeople make more cold calls today?
• Do teenagers ever actually talk on the telephone?
• Why can’t I delegate more things to the people that I work with?
• What do our salespeople offer that cannot be purchased on line? Service, creativity, experience, etc.
• Why doesn’t every salesperson with Vernon sell at least 20 calendar orders per year?
• Do people believe that you have to invest in yourself?
• The Vernon website is fantastic!
• Do negative people realize that they are negative?
• How many of us knew growing up that we wanted to be in the promotional products industry? Chris, Rick, Cameron and Stephanie…your opinions don’t count here!
• At what age can you say what you want and not worry about what others think?
• Why don’t more salespeople recognize what Vernon offers and sign up with us? We are good people…aren’t we?
• Why do salespeople not take advantage of every preferred and accommodation supplier that offers spec samples?
• When do teenagers realize that they do not know everything?
• If salespeople sold the way politicians campaign, no one would ever sell anything and we would all be out of work. Just my opinion…sorry but I am tired of the negative campaigning.
• Is your glass half full or half empty?

OK, now I am pulling into my parking spot at work so I need to shut off the mind and go in and actually get something done. I actually thought about more things but some of them were not appropriate to write down and share.

I think you all get the point here and it is not that Dave is a raving lunatic that needs help. That may be a subject for a different day. My message here is that I recognize that it is extremely difficult to stay focused on the task at hand, no matter what the task is.

Being a successful salesperson in today’s workplace requires discipline on the personal and professional level. An individual must be goal driven and they must be organized. They must have the attention span to list out their goals and to design a game plan on how they will hit their goals.

They need to be able to recognize if they are on track or off track at any given point in time. If they veer off track, and this happens to all of us, they must do what it takes to get back on track and headed in the right direction. They must be willing to learn from others. They must be open to new ideas. They must understand that “my way is not the only way”.

I struggle every day to have my list of things to do (I am a list person). Some days I have a list of lists. I have to prioritize every day. Sometimes priorities change from day to day depending on the circumstances. I have to remember what I am trying to accomplish? What is my end goal? There have been times when I am analyzing numbers when I have forgotten what I was looking to do. This is not good! I need to get back on track.

Think about this as you approach your work today? Is there a plan? Are you all over the place as I was on my ride in this morning? Can you take a few minutes to really think through things? Do you have list? Are you organized?

Only if you take the time necessary to get everything in place do you have a chance to maximize your productivity. I strongly urge each and every one of you to begin your day with some reflection of the day’s goals. It is also a good practice to end it the same way looking back at what you got accomplished and what is on your list for the next morning. Go to bed at night. Get up in the morning and look at the list again. Is it still applicable? It is amazing some times what a good night’s rest will do for your ability to prioritize and plan.

Today my glass is half full! I have a plan. I know what I want to do and I know how I am going to do it! It WILL be a successful day!

I hope your day is successful. Good luck! You have the control.