Originally published in May 2012, this "Throwback Thursday" piece from Mike Schenker, MAS, is the latest in a series of weekly installments of his most popular contributions to Identity Marketing from the past 20 years.
The longer I'm in the promotional products business, the older I'm made to feel. I realize that this statement does seem obvious and maybe redundant, but it's a reflection on how much change I see all around me. It's also an indication that old people repeat themselves. A lot. Oh, and we repeat ourselves, too.
I've been feeling very nostalgic lately (another trait of old people), as recent events have had me looking back quite a bit. It started with a recent sales call I made, to my first boss in the "ad specialty" business. I was looking forward to this meeting, as I'd not seen Michael in many years. I admit I could have done without his exclamation upon seeing me, "Man, did you get gray." Thankfully, he was referring to my hair, and not my skin tone.
When I started out as a distributor 100 or so years ago, I wasn't very good. I was brand new to the industry and had no clue as to what I was doing (unlike today, when I have something of a clue and a remaining shred of credibility). Since I wasn’t very successful on making sales calls (or having successful sales calls, for that matter), Michael had me coming into the office every day that I didn’t have appointments, in order to file the seemingly hundreds of catalogs that came in. While that may sound mundane, I’m here to tell you that it was, in fact... mundane.
However, instead of simply filing these catalogs, I got into the habit of actually reading them as I went. In so doing, I amassed what I honestly believe was an incredible amount of product knowledge... something I maintain to this day.
But for what purpose? Today, if a distributor needs to find the proverbial left-handed screwdriver, she doesn’t have to go searching through all those catalogs (and who else remembers the microfiche reader?). Instead, all she has to do is log onto one of the many promotional industry bulletin boards and inquire about this.
Believe me, I'm not knocking the internet. Without it, you wouldn't be reading this column now. For all I know, you're now cursing your computer for that very reason. Regardless... What I am criticizing (and that may be too strong a word) is that maybe things have gotten too easy. I recognize that pride in workmanship might be a dying mentality, but I'd like to believe that there are still many industry professionals who like to metaphorically roll up their sleeves and do some digging of their own, knowing that they might just find more than they’d hoped for.
I know I'm coming across as the dinosaur I may actually be. I wasn't always like this. I used to be quite cutting edge (and I'm not just referring to the thermal paper fax machine I had). As recently as three years ago, I was one of those annoying people on Facebook and Twitter promoting every random thought and breath I had. Now, both my thoughts and breaths are raspy.
In retrospect, I've probably always been this way (not old, just curmudgeonly). Clearly, it's a vibe I give off, as can best be relayed in a story that few people know, and one about which the Trophy Wife still laughs. Unfortunately, it's also a story I can’t tell in a family publication like this (feel free to reach out to me directly), but I will share the finale: a ridiculously young "lady" referred to me as a "cranky old guy".... and this story took place well over 10 years ago.
Don't get me wrong: I don't object to modern improvements and change. Okay... maybe not to modern improvement.
During a recent sales call, one of the people to whom I was presenting was tapping away on his iPad while I spoke. I'd like to believe that he was taking notes about my presentation... sure, that's what I'm going with. He had no note paper, nor a catalog in front of him. Instead, he was crossing back and forth between my website and a blank document, "scribbling" furiously as we went along. He's brand new in the business, brought up as part of a technologically
savvy generation. He will never know the joy of filing catalogs in three-ring binders?
You know what? Maybe I'm jealous.
Mike Schenker, MAS, is a promotional industry veteran and member of the Specialty Advertising Association of Greater New York (SAAGNY) Hall of Fame. He can be reached at mike@mikeschenker.com.