Still Not Finding Sales Success During the Pandemic?

Are you in a position where you’re still not finding sales success during the pandemic? While this doesn’t make your current situation any easier, rest assured that you’re most definitely not alone. That’s why I’ve turned my efforts in recent months to working with promo industry experts to help our readers find ways to pivot, change their approaches, and find strategies for interim success that can help. Here are some ideas, from those experts, on things that are working, and what you can be thinking about in terms of shifting your approach and your marketing and sales strategies in the coming months. And that’s where my conversation with Billy Sarno from Hit Promotional comes in.

I’ve known Billy for more than 15 years, ever since he first approached me at Michelin to consider BDA as a distributor. I listened to his pitch then and made the decision to go with BDA — beginning what would be a terrific long-term business relationship, as well as a friendship. Billy has 35 years of industry experience, both as a distributor with Boise Marketing, Staples, and BDA, and on the supply side with Visions Awardcraft, then Admints, and now at the top four supplier, Hit Promotional. Billy enjoys representing the long list of comprehensive products at Hit and working with overseas partners within their global supply chain.

While things had already been changing rapidly in the past few years, in my recent conversation with Billy, he shared the current situation is nothing like he’s ever seen before. “Consolidation will be inevitable as we see this industry evolve.” He also shared the belief in fulfilling the demand for turnkey services as a key strategic underpinning of the promotional products industry moving forward. “Financial strength with support to provide services that corporate America is demanding has never been so important. Today, we see a need for turnkey services supporting kitting and drop-shipping like never before. The past few months, it’s been the transition cycle from PPE to kits for PPE, and now a turn to Thank You gifts & Holiday focus as we move into November.”

That’s great for the big players, but what does Sarno think a smaller distributor without significantly deep pockets can do to survive? Billy is bullish on the opportunities for smaller distributors, saying: “They don’t need to fail — there are lots of opportunities in our industry to strategically align with financially strong companies that have the infrastructure and resources they don’t have to still deliver the services they need to be successful in today`s market. Stay calm, evaluate your future, review your client base and your growth plans, and start the research right now!”

Finally, we talked about product compliance and responsible sourcing, which is always a topic near and dear to my heart. Hit Promotional was a QCA-Accredited supplier, and Sarno shared his thinking on the importance of product compliance and responsible sourcing to enterprise clients — especially as we collectively navigate a global pandemic. “Compliance has never been more important, and product safety is a key issue from both the supplier and the corporate customer perspective. Providing all compliance documents is an everyday request, as it should be. I’m fortunate to work with Hit, and an industry leading compliance team. We work daily with our sourcing and merchandising development teams to make sure we can quickly deliver the necessary documents to support our distributors.” Trust and faith in product safety and adherence to compliance and sourcing ethics and principles remains foundational for enterprise promotional products customers, so it would be wise to integrate that both into your operational mindset, as well as your marketing and sales messaging. It matters!

For those who still might find themselves a little stuck from all the unknowns arising out of the pandemic, I asked Sarno for his best advice. Here’s what he said: “Now is a time to start a discussion with those clients that have future projects, search first the opportunities that you worked on in the past, and then be proactive and the first to the table with ideas. Go the extra mile with creative presentations!”

That may sound like a no-brainer, but bottom line, now is not the time to be paralyzed or inactive when it comes to business development opportunities and creativity. Now is the time to brush off the cobwebs, get creative in your thinking as it relates to bona fide solutions that customers and prospects need right now, and go pitch them your best ideas. And definitely keep turnkey solution offerings in mind, as they are very much in demand, as are, of course, all things related to the Holiday season as well as client Thank You gifts. And good luck out there!

How about you, have you found success with either a little extra hustle, or a groundbreaking idea that has pivoted you towards success? I’d love to hear about it, and maybe share for the benefit of others here, too.