In the world of promotional products, many throw around terms that sound great, but rarely have any real substance to back them up. Some of the words and phrases that come to mind are:
• Partner
• Engagement
• Strategy
• Tactical
• Implementation
• Turn-key solution (my personal favorite)
Unfortunately, through experiences, we learn that these words are meaningless marketing terms designed to do little more than create a false sense of ownership. It’s time to stop using words and phrases that are worthless to evaluate partners. Instead, make your assessment much easier by realizing there are two types of partners in the world: those that are involved, and those that are invested.
Involved Partners:
• Pass the buck – either internally or externally – when something goes wrong
• Speak in vague generalities
• Respond to communications and inquiries
• Create a wildly inconsistent experience for their clients
• Express happiness for an order
Invested Partners:
• Display ownership of the entire process – from inventory to decoration to on-time delivery to customer service
• Are both direct and candid
• Drive communication
• Deliver a dependable experience for clients
• Seek to eliminate problems (art, decoration, meeting in-hands date, etc.) before they happen
• Express gratitude and seek to build a mutually beneficial relationship
There are a large number of truly excellent suppliers in our shared industry. As a distributor, the question you should ask is simple: do you want to work with suppliers who are involved, or do you want to create relationships with suppliers who are invested?
Suppliers need to ask the same question and always choose to partner with distributors who are invested in forming relationships – both with their clients and suppliers themselves. Answering in this manner leads to a dramatically more positive experience across for all parties involved: the supplier, the distributor, and, most importantly, the end-user.
When it comes to involvement or investment, there really is no choice.
Bill is president of PromoCorner, the leading digital marketing service provider to the promotional products industry, and has over 17 years working in executive leadership positions at leading promotional products distributorships. In 2014, he launched brandivate – the first executive outsourcing company solely focused on helping small and medium sized-promotional products enterprises responsibly grow their business. A featured speaker at numerous industry events, a serial creator of content marketing, president of the Promotional Products Association of the Mid-South (PPAMS), and PromoKitchen chef, Bill has extensive experience coaching sales teams, creating successful marketing campaigns, developing operational policies and procedures, creating and developing winning RFP responses, and presenting winning promotional products solutions to Fortune 500 clients. He can be reached at bill@PromoCorner.com.