A TIME for CHANGE
What makes a salesperson remarkable is his or her ability to adapt to shifts in the market. Sometimes, you just have to shake things up.
By Andraya Vantrease
S
ales reps can’t sit at their desks and
expect business to come to them.
While you may have enjoyed the
luxury of high marketing budgets,
repeat business from booming
Fortune 500 firms, and little competition from other ad specialty
companies, things can change.
Back to the Basics
When the phones stopped ringing at Image
Group Inc. (asi/230059), a Canadian-based
distributor from Counselor’s 2012 Best Places
to Work list, President Laura Hansen knew
something had to be done. It was 2009, and the
once-bustling office was experiencing consistent
quiet months. Coincidentally, around this time,
she got a cold call from a consultant offering a
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free evaluation, and she thought, “Why not?”
“The consultant knew we had a trade show
coming up, and she wanted to be a secret shopper to evaluate my sales team without them
knowing,” says Hansen. “I was impressed by her
feedback, so I hired her to meet with us every
two weeks for a year to teach me and my team
how to get back to the fundamentals of selling.”
Reps were so accustomed to sourcing product
and writing orders that they had forgotten what
it means to sell. The consultant met with each
member of the sales team individually, evaluating
strengths and weaknesses and advising them to
break lazy habits and begin prospecting again.
She noticed that many of the reps had long-term
clients, but didn’t know where to start when one
dropped off and left a space in their workload.
“We developed our own sales manual that
covered everything from preparing for sales
meetings and handling rejections, to making
great first impressions and earning new clients,”
Hansen says. “We even included apparel guidelines – we’re very casual out West, but if you
have a meeting downtown, you should know
to dress up. Everyone knew how to do these
things, but no one had verbalized it.”
Account rep Jenn Forgie says that working with a consultant helped her with timemanagement skills and effectively balancing the
work of caring for current clients and finding
new ones. “I’m extremely busy in my work with
a solid and loyal client base, and I never rest
on my laurels,” she says. “Managing my time
between sending new ideas to clients, prospecting, and doing follow-up is a fine balance,
and as a salesperson, it’s important to learn
that balance with each of our clients. Knowing
what each client needs and how much time it
requires is a key to my own success in sales.”
The reps at Image Group also learned to
be more intuitive and proactive with media
resources. Since technology has completely
changed the way clients and reps interact, the
consultant focused on creating outgoing collateral and an online presence on Facebook,
LinkedIn and other channels. “We revamped
our profiles and began sending monthly e-flyers
and catered them to the type of client or the
season,” Hansen says. “This meant coming up
with ideas instead of waiting for clients to ask
for something.”
Forgie prefers to send targeted product
ideas to each client rather than mass e-mails,
but appreciates that different tactics work for
different reps. “There is a great value in building relationships and retaining them through
continual contact, and I prefer to send specific
ideas for specific clients because it shows that I
respect their individuality, budget and branding,” she says. “The bottom line is to produce
sales, and we do it effectively because we are
all invested in understanding our clients and
their needs and turning that into an invaluable
relationship based on skills, service, unique
ideas, quality of product and an unparalleled
experience.”
Because her reps share their ideas with old
and new clients alike, Hansen wanted to make
sure her reps weren’t giving away creativity only
to be outbid by a competitor’s price. “We call it an
upfront contract: If we’re going to come up with
new ideas, are you going to shop it around or will
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Restructure Sales
we have the first chance at what we’ve created?”
she says. “We want them to be honest about their
intentions because the majority of distributors can
get the same products and lower their margin.”
Being frank and transparent with a client
is important, especially today when reps may
have never even met their contact face to face.
Hansen asks that reps take time to learn about
their clients and ask them how happy they are
with Image Group’s service. “With much of the
correspondence being through e-mail, it’s hard
to tell where a client stands and if they’re about
to make a change,” she says. “You must find out
about upcoming events, challenges, plans, and
whether you’re meeting their needs. We don’t have
the luxury of body language or even tone-of-voice
hints anymore.”
Hansen admits that although the temporary
decline in sales wasn’t the greatest news for the
business, it gave them time to focus on bettering
each and every sales rep. “It was a really good
refresher for us,” she says. “We updated our job
descriptions and company organization chart,
and had time to work on many internal things
that we needed and may not have had time to do
otherwise.”
TAKEAWAY TIP: Use your downtime wisely,
and get an outsider’s perspective. Hiring a consultant results in a point of view and feedback
that you wouldn’t necessarily get from meeting
with employees. Being put under a microscope
can sometimes lead to helpful discoveries.
Tee Time
In late 2007, a trio of college buddies from Boone,
NC, began an apparel company that teams up
with various children’s charities and aims to marry
fashionable apparel with worthy causes. One of
the founders of 46NYC, Hal Kivette, says that he
and his two co-founders were always involved in
charities and felt that one thing lacking with these
organizations was quality, trendy apparel. “Charities typically give out T-shirts that aren’t comfortable and fashionable, so no one ends up wearing
them when really, they provide an important message,” he says. “We wanted to fill that gap.”
Kivette, along with John McGinn and Graham
Bunn, decided on six areas of need – civil injustice, poverty, disease, birth defects, educational
disparities and malnutrition – and partnered with
charity organizations in each category to raise
money. The three friends created a high-quality
clothing line with designs that represent each
specific area of need, and they donate a portion of
each sale to the corresponding charity.
After four years of consistent growth, 46NYC
experienced a drop in sales and a rise in competition. “We had an amazing 2011, but last year, it got
a bit stale with organizations similar to ours popping up,” Kivette says. “We needed to figure out
how to make ourselves unique in such a crowded
market.”
Last year, they reinvented the way they do
business, and instead of carrying inventory of
every design, they’re taking a more time-sensitive
approach: one month, one cause, one product. “We
wanted to make people act in the moment rather
than thinking they can help later,” he says. “By
featuring a different shirt and charity each month,
then making it unavailable after that time period,
we’re hoping people will buy quicker.”
Kivette has also attached a tangible donation
structure to each purchase. Instead of saying a
dollar amount from every shirt will go toward
the Wine to Water campaign (January’s cause),
46NYC revealed to buyers that for every shirt they
purchase, they’re providing water to someone in
Haiti for up to five years.
“We want people to know what is actually
being done with their donations,” he says. “We got
together with organizations that we’ve supported
before and new ones, and came up with a dollar
amount that we’ll give for each piece of clothing
we sell – enough to help them, but still keep us in
business. This model provides something real that
ultimately affects other people.”
46NYC launched its first “limited-edition” shirt
on January 1st and the reaction was incredible. “A
lot of it is promotional, and it’s working to increase
donations,” Kivette says. “If you tell someone to
donate $10 to a certain cause, the buyer just knows
he donated that amount of money, but if you
tell him that that $10 buys someone a goat that
provides milk for a family of five for some period of
time, it will typically impact him more.”
The company continues to sell what’s left of its
stock inventory, and interestingly enough, sales
for these items have increased as the traffic to the
website has spiked. “We had to make our products
How do you adapt to market shifts?
Advisory Board Members Weigh In
“Have a glass of wine with my
personal board of directors
(which includes my husband,
business-savvy girlfriends and
area business leaders).”
Nicole McNamee,
director of new business
development, POP Solutions
(asi/359180)
“Have a good relationship
with your client so that you
are involved in their business
planning. It’s often hard to gain
that sort of trust, especially in
our industry. But once you’ve
established value, it puts you in a
good position to benefit from any
change. Technology will continue
to be a driving force and being
educated on how your client
might use it is also important.”
Noel Garcia, managing
director, Boundless Network
(asi/143717)
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“Be in constant contact with
clients. They are the knowledgeable party that can educate you
on changes within their industry
or group. I call them “checkup.”
Most companies are not dormanttherefore we need not be either.”
Nina Shatz, bouncer
(director), Red Ball Promotions
(asi/346567)
“Diversifying is the best way to
adjust to market shifts. The customer list you work with needs
to be as diverse as any stock
portfolio. Pick companies to target in different verticals that will
ensure your long-term success.
There is no problem specializing
in an industry, just do not get
trapped there!
Mark McCormack,
owner, Identity Marketing
Group (asi/229993)
“If you are in business, then
you are a survivalist. You know
what it means to have to adapt
to everything, including market
conditions and shifts. If you
don’t know how to adapt, that’s
a 15-point commentary in a
manifesto.”
Tonia Allen Gould,
owner/founder, TAG!
The Creative Source
(asi/341358)
sought-after and exclusive, and we have some
great charities lined up for the rest of the year,”
says Kivette. “We announce some, but others are a
surprise, which makes it fun for everyone.”
February’s cause was Children’s Heart Project,
and every six shirts funded an echocardiogram
for a child suffering from a potentially life-threatening heart murmur; March supported Chris4Life Colon Cancer Foundation, in which every
shirt purchased provided a FIT test for the early
detection of colon cancer; and April was designated to the National Autism Association. With
every three shirts purchased, 46NYC was able to
provide a family affected by autism with a safety
box containing tools to help prevent and respond
to wandering-related emergencies.
TAKEAWAY TIP: Study the strengths and
weaknesses of the business model, especially
in the first few years. It’s not always going to be
right the first time, and having the courage to
change your approach will only lead to more
attention (and thus, sales).
Global or Bust
More and more, consumers are searching for
promotional items online. Whether it’s an
HR rep Googling “custom mugs” or a newly
appointed marketing manager scouting for a
reliable supplier, they’re turning toward the
Internet. If an online-based distributor is as
user-friendly and available as it should be, it’s
capitalizing on these inquiries, no matter where
the consumer is located.
Jim Franklyn, partner at Inkhead (asi/231159)
in Atlanta, says that lately he’s seen a spike in
inquiries from other countries, specifically Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. “Customers
in the U.K. are way ahead of us in their use of
technology, and the number of hours they spend
online blows our numbers out of the water,” he
says. “Over half the inquiries we receive between
8 p.m. and 8 a.m. are from outside the United
States, which is huge, considering that five years
ago, it was around 10%.”
Franklyn has worked to find a way to service
these customers, despite the lack of resources.
“When we get an e-mail from someone in another
country, we go right to work,” he says. “However,
it’s much harder to offer a decent price when
you’re calculating freight from the factory to the
U.S. and then out to another country. We’re very
limited right now because the global issue hasn’t
been solved yet. Ideally, we need to be shipping
directly from the factory to the end-user.”
Inkhead has created an international sales
team to handle the volume from overseas orders,
and they have been trying to influence suppliers
to streamline production and delivery to other
countries. “We’ve gotten a few suppliers to work
with us on shipping directly from the factory to
the client to cut out a lot of freight charges,” says
Franklyn. “We’re going to our gold suppliers first
because we want them to get that business, but
if they can’t do it, we have no choice but to find
someone who can.”
The recession was a wake-up call for the
promotional industry, he says, because it forced
everyone to evaluate what they were doing and
how they approached sales. And since the majority of people start any kind of shopping search
– car, house, promotions – online these days, it
was a no-brainer to make 19,000 products available for viewing on the Inkhead website. “We’re a
transaction-based company first, and people find
us when they’re searching for something specific,”
Franklyn says. “We pop up, they contact us, and
our sales team, either domestic or international,
takes it from there.”
With 22 employees and revenues of $10 million
last year, it’s safe to say Inkhead is doing something right. Franklyn knows that it’s just a matter
of time before globalization becomes a priority,
especially considering the growth of the Canadian
market in the past few years. “When it gets too
painful for people to ignore anymore, they’ll figure
it out,” he says. “The Internet is changing the way
the world does business – over $224 billion was
done in online sales in 2012. The U.S. is going to
find a way to adapt or get left in the dust.”
TAKEAWAY TIP: Don’t wait for everyone
else to catch on to the latest trend or growing
market. If you’re experiencing an increase
in inquiries, find a way to manage them and
service the customers the best you can with what
you have.
Don’t Hate, Collaborate
Bob Levitt, founder and owner of the Bob Levitt
Company (asi/144605) in Los Angeles, worked
for six years as the executive vice president of business development at PromoShop (asi/300446)
before going off on his own in 2011. He has a
unique outlook on the world of ad specialties, one
that many of his competitors are shocked and
threatened by.
“Most people in this industry are afraid to talk
about sales tactics with other distributors, like
there’s some genius secret that they’re hiding,” says
Levitt. “I’ve made a living doing just the opposite
– collaborating with the ‘competitors’ to better
service clients.”
It was after working in sales management and
overseeing 49 reps for years, that he decided it
was time for something new. He began at the San
Diego ASI Show, talking to distributors, suppliers, multi-line reps – anyone who would listen and
advise him about his career path. “People wanted
to hire me as VP of sales or business development, but I didn’t want another salaried job,” he
says. “I suggested an unorthodox approach: Hire
me on a project basis to help with whatever you
need. And so I began a career in consulting.”
Over the past two years, Levitt has simultaneously sold ad specialties and worked on a contract
basis to help other distributors and suppliers
write sales manuals, respond to RFPs, gain new
clients, and break into the promotional industry.
“I’ve reinvented myself based on my career experiences, and I can put bows around different skills
and offer it up,” he says.
Over the last year and a half, 70% of his
income has been from consulting and 30% from
selling promo items. Levitt has worked with companies of all sizes, and he currently has a longterm contract with a manufacturer who pays him
to develop a plan and advise them on how to get
into the promotional world.
When a distributor approached him with an
offer of completing an RFP on behalf of the company, Levitt assumed that role too. He became
the face of the company, and set up an e-mail
on the distributor’s system to interface with the
prospect, complete the research, write the final
presentation and answer questions.
“They were paying me a flat fee to do this,
and the deal was that if I won the RFP, I’d have
full access to this client and become its account
executive,” he says. “So many distributors are
paranoid, but if they don’t have the manpower or
positioning to adequately service a client, they’re
only losing opportunities. If I hadn’t agreed to
help, this distributor was going to turn down
the RFP because there simply wasn’t the time or
resources.”
Being transparent about his model is key, and
he has found that others are willing to work with
him if he doesn’t hide either side of his business.
Levitt believes that collaboration and creativity are what fuel promotional companies, and
secrecy is only hurting the industry. “If I disclose
the name of a client, and one phone call from you
to that client takes them away from me, I never
had them in the first place,” he says. “Competition
makes us all better, and we not only need to focus
on bettering our own companies, but also the
industry as a whole.”
TAKEAWAY TIP: The old saying is true:
“Honesty is the best policy.” Step outside of
your comfort zone, and ask others to step
outside with you. The goal is to win business
and retain clients, and if you can’t do it alone,
don’t be afraid to collaborate.
Andraya Vantrease is a NC-based contributor to Advantages.
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