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Baby Come Back

Instead of selling to your customer, try being an ally or a partner

11/3/2020 | Mike Schenker, MAS, Uncommon Threads

We’re winding down this flaming pile known as 2020, happy in the knowledge that the pandemic is behind us, and that business didn’t suffer after all.

Sure I’m delusional.  It’s gotten me this far in life.

I’ve read a lot of articles, both within the promotional products industry and out, and I keep seeing stories about how things are on an uptick, and that sales are strong and customers are back and spending.  That’s called “sales”.  Maybe “marketing”.  Certainly “wishful thinking”.  The stories told don’t match up with what I hear directly from associates whose businesses have tanked.  For all the imprinted (or blank, for that matter) facemasks they sold, it can’t make up for the loss of their daily bread-and-butter business.   

Once upon a time, a down economy meant great things for the promotional products industry.  Common logic was that, when business was off, that was the time to promote.  

That was then, this is now.  While recent events have brought imprinted fly swatters to the forefront, I know it can be disheartening to try to sell coffee mugs at this time.  Think again.

We’ve talked about this before.  Instead of selling to your customer, try being an ally or a partner.  Find ways to help them get back on track while, at the same time, revving your business back to where it should or could be.

Try to remember that you’re selling ideas…not just products…that recipients always love and appreciate.  I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have an imprinted writing instrument that they guard with their lives…loaning it to an associate for a brief moment only after that person has signed a receipt for it. 

When I’m coaching a client or sales team, I’m often asked “what’s the most important thing a salesperson needs to know to succeed in this business?” Aside from advising them to go back to school and reconsider HVAC, I offer other suggestions and advice.  For example:

  1. Lend a hand.  Or an ear.  This is especially important now.  Empathy, creativity, going the extra mile, and overdelivering will make all the difference.

  2. Lead with ideas.  Remember: don’t sell products.  Ideas sell, and ideas help.  A fun, creative, and memorable promotional item will get the door open, get the conversation flowing, and deliver results.

  3. Know of what you speak.  Know your target and their markets, and speak enthusiastically about the funeral home industry or the mobile pet care market.  Hell…you’ve had all this downtime.  Didn’t you study at all?

  4. Believe in your products.  That includes yourself.  You’re a very marketable asset.  Speak with passion about your business, your company, your products.  Share success stories.  If you’ve read something recently about how other businesses or industries are ramping up again, share it with your clients.  These stories should become part of your daily narrative.  

  5. Be a sponge.  Be knowledgeable about many different kinds of businesses.  You don’t need to know how to repair an engine, but you do need to know the importance of the back end of an auto dealership.  You don’t need to pass the bar exam, but you do need to know the specialties of different law firms.  You get the idea.

  6. You ain’t 9 - 5.  Creative ideas flow at all hours.  Don’t watch the clock.  You come up with a brainstorm while sweeping the leaves off the porch, fire off an email…even to yourself…and be sure to communicate it with your clients or associates at the first opportunity.  

  7. Go above and beyond.  Your customers work with you for a reason.  You’re not just another salesperson or website, all selling the same stuff.  Remind your clients that you’re a professional who overdelivers and has a vested interest in their success.

  8. Remember when.  I know this might be difficult for some of you but try to remember when you were the fresh face.  Put your knowledge and experience to good use: is there a newbie on your team?  Try to help in the training of the new account executive.  Not every other salesperson is potential competition.  There’s nothing more important than bringing new and talented individuals into our industry.  When you serve as a mentor it also helps refresh some long-dormant concepts in your own mind.  

What about you?  Any ideas you can share with the readers?  We all know I haven’t cornered the market on brilliance.

Is this all just an exercise?  Maybe…but I sure hope not.  If you follow any or all of these ideas you should be on the way to recovery.  If nothing else, you stopped watching cat videos for ten minutes.


Mike Schenker, MAS, is “all that” at Mike Schenker, Consulting, where he assists businesses entering the promotional products industry, mentors professionals, and offers association management.  He is a promotional industry veteran and member of the Specialty Advertising Association of Greater New York (SAAGNY) Hall of Fame. He can be reached at mike@mikeschenker.com.
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