My Story

I entered this industry nearly forty years ago out of love, love with my girlfriend at the time, who’s dad owned an advertising specialties company, eventually, I left the company (so to speak) and ventured out on my own.

I reflected recently on my experience, and imagined, what were other’s stories? I am going to share three stories with you; my entry to the industry and my first order, my biggest regret, and my greatest “aha!” moment. As you read mine, I want you to reflect on your stories, if you feel compelled; I would ask you to send me your stories too, I would love to read them – so please share.

My Beginnings and First Order

I was working for an Anheuser-Busch wholesaler and was heavily involved in the hospitality market, as mentioned I was dating a young lady at the time whose dad owned a distributorship. Periodically, I would feed her leads from my hospitality clients where she would sell calendars and assorted promotional products. I was amazed and intrigued at the same time of all the products that could be branded, and I think over time, that fascination pushed me to ask if I could sell and work in their business, and they said yes.  I worked there for a time and eventually, we parted ways, but my passion I had built over the past three years had me hooked. So, I started my own company, mostly out of necessity, I needed rent money, and I needed to eat.

I had a client, an automobile dealership, Lane Honda, they inquired and wanted 500, 9” round balloons, blue with a white imprint, (isn’t it amazing we can remember those details). I had zero credit, and as an actual business owner, I was greener than green – I was indeed EVERY shade of green.

I remember attending my first tradeshow, solo, at SAAI (you tenured folks remember that), now PPAI in Dallas. I searched for a balloon company and came upon Rodin Industries, and met the father son team of Sid and Michael Rodin. After pleasantries, I asked Mike about this request I had for balloons, he gave me a lesson in balloons, imprinting methods, ad the things I needed to know to sell. 

balloons most effectively. Equally as important, he gave me my first credit line of $500.00. I was all in and off to the races.  

Learning Lesson for Me: share information, be willing to be open to all possibilities, and it is OK to take calculated risks. Be grateful for those who helped you along the way. Thank you, Mike Rodin, I appreciate you!

My Biggest Regret

As I grew, about a year after I started on my own, I became “cocky”, and as I soon found out, was not a good thing to do. You see I had an order inhouse with a very reputable vendor, a vendor who had a one-of-a-kind product that know one else had. The order was not going the way “I wanted”, so when I called to make an inquiry and share my displeasure, I berated the customer service person on the phone to the point where she began to cry and politely said, “Sir, I need to hang up right now”, and did so, in the middle of my rant.

At first, I was more furious, but realized I had to make amends, after all, they were the only one with this product, I was under deadline, and needed this done; so, I called back to apologize.

The CSR would not take my call, (why would she), however, the owner of the company, was happy to take the call. After apologizing profusely, he calmly said; “Cliff, it took a lot of guts for you to call and apologize; however, I do not talk to or treat my employees in the way you spoke, and I refuse to have anyone else do it; that said, we do not want to do business with you, it’s not worth it. I will be sending all of your art files back and your PO…have a great day.”

I was mortified, but after a few minutes, when the realization set in, I was totally embarrassed and humiliated!  And let me say about that owner, ‘GOOD FOR YOU, for standing up for your staff, I deserved what I got!’

Piggybacking onto this story, several years later I did a bumper-sticker order for a political candidate, 10,000, 3” x 12” strips, Royal blue with a white imprint; 

unfortunately, I put on the PO white with blue imprint. The product arrived 2 days before the event, I realized they were wrong, I call my contact immediately (thinking back on the experience) I said the person, “I have a problem with an order I just received, I shared the issue of the color swap, and told them it was my fault. I was calling to see how quickly they could turn around a reprint, as my client had an event in two days.  The VP of the company said, “we can get them out the door today, we will give you 50% off EQP and ship them next day air and charge you for ground shipping”, but sir, ‘you don’t understand, it was my error not yours.” He said, “I know, you owned it, you we’re trying to beat us down, we love those type of partners” – wow!     

Learning Lesson for Me: Hold yourself accountable, own your mistakes. Be humble, treat people with kindness, respect. To GET respect, you must give it, respect is not GRANTED, it is earned.

Biggest ‘Aah Moment’!

I was at a PPAI show several years ago and was mesmerized by a keynote speaker, the late Joe Charbonneau. During his speech, he spoke on many topics, becoming a 3 percenter, top of class and many others. The one thing he mentioned that truly resonated with me was the notion and importance of giving back. This relates allot to the last learning lesson mentioned above.

Joe said, “There is a law in life, called the Law of Reciprocity, and that Law, simply stated is: You’ve got to give, give, give, before you get, get, get, and the more you give, the more you get.”

From that day forward I made it my personal goal, my mission to always look at ways I can give back to our industry and my peers and colleagues. And it is true, when at a show speaking, when I share case histories, systems I have developed to help me grow and be more profitable, ways to think differently, more creatively. A former employer told me how much they resented the fact I was sharing my ‘trade secrets’ and I was doing myself harm by freely giving up my 

information. The next time you attend an in-person speaking event, watch after the program is over, generally people flock to the front to confront the speaker with questions AND to share their stories, ideas, concepts, successes. You see, I am one person, but the swarm of people sharing with me are many, I am truly the winner, it comes back to me ten-fold; and now I have MORE stories and cases histories to share.

Learning Lesson for Me: Leverage the Community, take as much as you can, but give back three times as much as you take, the outcome for everyone is tremendous.

There is something about this industry, it gets in your blood, it becomes a passion, at least it is for me.

What was your first entry experience like, what was your first order? What was your greatest regret and eye-opening moment? How did it affect you, mold you to who you are today? 

My purpose of this article was multi-faceted, I wanted to you to think and reflect. Where were you when you started? What have you learned along the way? Did you ever, in your wildest dreams, think you would be where you are today? What will you share with the next generation of superstars, like yourself, that will help create a smarter, smoother past?  We each have a story, something to share, something that will help everyone else think, reflect and use.

What is your story? Think about it, write it down, I would love to hear from you. cliff@quicksellspeaks.com

Until next time, reflect, and share. And always, continue good selling.  Cliff