It’s barely October, but already I can hear the whining that will be coming out of December. If you are not proactively helping your clients plan for Q2 2022 now, please don’t be posting your bitterness toward clients and suppliers come Holiday 2021.
It’s not enough to mention in passing, or mumble quietly that lead times are long and supply chain is broken. You need to be educating your customers that we are experiencing a once in a lifetime Supply Chain Disruption that is not unique to our industry.
You taught them that you could turn around an order in an impossible time frame. But that was when everything was working. Don’t expect to be a miracle worker this year. More importantly, don’t allow that expectation to dictate your client’s ordering schedule.
Right now you should be talking to your customers about your plans to attend PPAI Expo, ASI Show Orlando or your first regional shows of the year and laying out a calendar of events for the new year. Right now, you should be talking up Big Game 2022 (aka Super Bowl), Valentine’s Day (we Love our customers!), or even President’s Day.
It’s not too early to be suggesting St Patrick’s Day promotions, the start of Spring (yes, before the start of Winter), Earth Day and to certain prospects 420. By starting the brainstorming and planning now, you’re telling your customers that 1) you are a professional who thinks strategically, 2) you are looking out for them to save them money, and 3) you can take a lot of stress off their plate.
When they ask you why you’re talking 2022 promos, you can once again broach the topic about the substantial price increases you expect to see come January 1st due to import shipping rates multiplying by ten times (a $1900.00 container now costing $19,000 to ship from China to LA), to domestic freight increases from UPS and FedEx, domestic truck and rail shipping costs have increased 43% and add to that a depreciated US dollar, and the 50% increase in the cost of cotton.
You can explain that once reliable shipping is no longer reliable and that West Coast ports have forty or more cargo ships at anchor waiting to offload where previously it was rare to see a single ship at anchor.
What else can you do? You can partner with your best suppliers and proactively learn about what products are in stock and can be decorated in a reasonable time. You can stop thinking in terms of 3-4 day production times and think in terms of 4 week minimum lead times. You’ll save yourself a whole lot of headaches by acknowledging the reality of the current situation and changing your behavior accordingly.
So how do you deliver negative news without being negative? You accentuate the money and stress that can be saved by being proactive and forward thinking. You present the facts and the kind reminder that “this too shall pass” — we just don’t know when. Present facts confidently and positively. If they haven’t yet ordered their 2021 End of Year gifts and promotions, this is the time to positively let them know that there are still some great options but that the options get narrower each day they dawdle. (You might not want to use that word with them).
Your client wears a lot of different hats. They are not the promotional professional. You Are.
You need to educate, coach, guide and be their advocate. Your job is to make them look good.
Make them look good by making sure they understand that lead times have changed Make them feel good by showing them how much money they can save by ordering early.
Paul Kiewiet MAS+ is an industry speaker, writer, consultant and coach. He serves as the executive director of MiPPA. Kiewiet was inducted into the PPAI Hall of Fame and the MiPPA Hall of Fame. He served as Chairman of PPAI in 2007. A former distributor, he founded Promotion Concepts, Inc in 1982 and worked with some of America’s most valuable brands including Coca-Cola, Kelloggs, and Whirlpool.