Laying my cards on the table, I have always told clients the truth, but I ever so slightly fabricated statistics to help me make my case here and there. Generally, those are stats that cannot be corroborated, are reasonable and are accepted easily. In this political climate, statistical fabrication is “normal.”
So, let us look at you as a “sourcerer.”
In my fifteen compelling arguments in the building blocks for client development and maintenance (see illustration), one of the blocks concerns sourcing. I put forward the argument or reason a client should buy from you, and not directly online or from a media giant that advertises relentlessly on TV, is… sourcing.
My job, Ms. Customer, is to be your agent, your sourcing service who has been trained and dedicated to finding and vetting five-star suppliers and manufacturers, the best of the best in both quality and service to deliver the promotional products needed for your program. I do not know if you are aware that there are literally thousands of top tier manufacturers in America who sell only through authorized agencies like ours.
We know where to shop or source for you, where to place the orders, where to save on shipping and time, by not only using the best but close sources, as well. In every way, we tailor our work to satisfy your specific need. What we do is not possible from the big box media driven companies. There, you are simply a customer number. There, saying sorry means we cannot deliver for you. There, your customer service contact may be thousands of miles away living in a different nation.
That is a promise and that should be your reality. That is how you can justify your value added and your added cost. Again, the average buyer does not realize they can not access the best of the best suppliers and manufacturers without you. That is based upon our industry model of supplier to distributor to end user. You need to tell them. Many, many distributors protest a supplier putting a name on the shipping box. To me that is a ridiculous position in conflict with letting your clients know that, without you, they can not get a given supplier’s merchandise. After all, you are the brands you represent. You are the “sourcerer.”
We are facing massive supply chain issues, huge spikes in shipping costs and many variables we have never seen in my 55 years in our industry. The norms we grew to accept in inventory, on time shipping, quality customer service, pricing integrity, are all being challenged. As currency and commodity prices become more unstable, so too will published supplier information. It is, and will, be even more difficult in the future to update prices on a company website, SAGE, ASI etc. Suppliers will need more people to react almost daily to variables and, by adding more people, they will be adding overhead and strain even more for competitive pricing v/v direct online sources.
We are in a very volatile world. When you fill up your car and see gas is up, so too are over 75% of the products you sell (I made up that stat), as so much of our product line is oil derivative.
Once again, get it into your mind, then the customer’s mind, that you are not a vendor. You are an agency. An agency is retained by a person or company to represent them in securing anything from an insurance policy, a home or, yes…. even a promotional product. TV media giants do not provide this service. They will not do what you do. However, you need to educate your buyers as to your true value.
Here is to convincing sales arguments
The Sourcerer’s Apprentice.
Joel.
Joel D. Schaffer, MAS is CEO and Founder of Soundline, LLC, the pioneering supplier to the promotional products industry of audio products. Joel has 48 years of promotional product industry experience and proudly heralds “I was a distributor.” He has been on the advisory panel of the business and marketing department of St. John’s University in New York and is a frequent speaker at Rutgers Graduate School of Business. He is an industry Advocate and has appeared before the American Bankers Association, American Marketing Association, National Premium Sales Executives, American Booksellers Association and several other major groups. He has been a management consultant to organizations such as The College Board and helped many suppliers enter this industry. He is a frequent contributor to PPB and Counselor magazines. He has facilitated over 200 classes sharing his industry knowledge nationwide. He is known for his cutting humor and enthusiasm in presenting provocative and motivating programs. He is the only person to have received both the Marvin Spike Industry Lifetime Achievement Award (2002) and PPAI’s Distinguished Service Award (2011). He is a past director of PPAI and has chaired several PPAI committees and task forces. He is a past Chair of the SAAGNY Foundation, Past President of SAAGNY and a SAAGNY Hall of Fame member. He was cited by ASI as one of the 50 most influential people in the industry.