If you are a living being in America today, you are well-versed in the politics of the day. The recent indictment of former President Trump revealed much about his home in Florida. The documents that were in his possession are the focus of what we will hear about for many, many months ahead.
The documents in question were (allegedly) stored all over Mar-a-Lago. Some of the images reminded me of many distributor offices I have visited over my 55-year career. Due to the nature of promo product selling, which is ever-changing, collecting “stuff” was unavoidable in preparation to go to market… a sample here, a sample there, a kit here and there, a binder and stacks upon stacks of catalogs. Well, catalogs may be a bit of history, but the rest of the “stuff” is still a part of our promo life. Sampling is still problematic, and it may be time for me to reintroduce The Sample Card.
I think the smallest office I ever visited that was not in a home was a 10’x10’ room/office in the Lincoln Building on 42nd St in Manhattan. The only visual close to what I want you to visualize would be from the TV show Hoarders. I will not reference my kids’ closets when they were in grade school.
I traveled the nation visiting scores of offices for a year with my multi-line reps. There were times I was on an assembly line of suppliers shuffled in and out of office visits. Nonetheless, getting to visit with my distributors was critical. If they don’t sell my line, I am defunct.
I met hundreds of distributor salespeople with DAD (distributor attention disorder). This condition became more prevalent in the last half of my traveling career as the smart device, aka cell phone, competed for the attention of the audience during presentations.
Going back to the last century, the only way to ensure your line would be remembered, presented, and sold was to have your catalog on hand with each salesperson, if not the entire office. Obviously, my catalog is now in a salesperson’s pocket on that same weapon of mass instruction, the smart device.
One of the images shown in the indictment of Donald Trump was the storage room (aka bathroom) filled to the ceiling with boxes on the floor and even in the shower.
I need to get right out front and claim that I was ahead of the former President in using the laboratory for storage. After my presentation, it would ask to use the facility and do my “drop”. My drop was to leave a catalog in the bathroom. I would knock on the women’s room door to be sure it was empty and leave a catalog there, as well. I believed the restrooms were reading rooms. I believed, at least for men, that a restful visit to the bathroom necessitated something to read. I learned that women didn’t linger like men, but they did take a seat more often as opposed to standing. To my surprise, I never saw any other catalogs in the bathrooms. I had a monopoly until it was removed.
It did get me noticed, it did get me business and it did get me” how could you” from disapproving contacts.
The majority of responses were “thank you” as I put a flyer in the catalog with a 100% free self-promotion worth $100 - there was only one. It was my tribute to how Willy Wonka did his marketing. Personal contact between the supplier and distributor has lessened in recent years, partially Covid and mostly because access and information are now at your fingertips. The takeaway is that to stand out, to get noticed, you need to step outside the lines, you need to stay outside the conference room. There are so many people competing for attention and distributor eyes.
So ends this story and best wishes to the former President that his bathroom storage program proved to be as successful as mine has been.
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.