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Wednesday
January 14, 2015 Sharing Our StoryFiled under: Community, News About ASI Earlier this week, I sat down with a group of distributors to discuss an informative 30-minute program ASI has aired on a few cable stations that we hope captures the excitement of this business, the power of promotional products and its importance to marketers. The distributors’ concerns and questions over the program echo some online discussions making the rounds, and I appreciated the opportunity to share my own feelings and answer some questions. Our main goal in airing the program was to communicate why we’re all in this industry and what it can do for others looking for an interesting career and a new way to be successful. Through initiatives like this program and ASI’s long-running education and PR outreach, we’re hopeful business-minded people and entrepreneurs – and especially more women, young people and minorities – will get interested enough in our industry to learn more. Maybe they’ll join as distributors, become account execs for a current distributor, or even start buying promo products to get the word out about their own business. The very closely focused test with the program is nearly complete, and we won’t be able to judge for several months if it was worth the investment – measured by people who respond for information, attend some follow-up online educational sessions and other metrics for these types of programs. In terms of the test, it’s been run in a few markets, airing weekends or late at night to a few thousand viewers, similar to a direct-mail campaign that any distributor, supplier or decorator might conduct. To put this test into perspective, we haven’t been airing the program during the Super Bowl to 100 million people. We deliberately chose to air it over specialized cable networks like CNBC and Fox News with visibility only to entrepreneurs and people looking for a career switch or a second career – people likely with business acumen that would add to our industry. We worked with outside experts to identify the couple of channels that would include entrepreneurial business types and specifically exclude general consumers. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, more than one person at the table of distributors in Vegas told me they got into this industry after learning about it through word of mouth, from a friend or through a distributor they met at places like church. Today, social media and video are the new word of mouth and the ways friends keep in touch and share new ideas. For over 60 years, ASI has worked hard to communicate the excitement we all feel about this business, scoring numerous positive stories in major national outlets like the Wall Street Journal and on networks like MSNBC. Equally as important, we’ve worked to protect the integrity of the industry by championing a strong business model that supports the success of both suppliers and distributors. We’re not about to change now. But everyone doing business in today’s world is facing new challenges and with them new opportunities. Now more than ever, we need to work together to keep the industry healthy and viable – and growing. Worries about possible competition should be outweighed by the need for a strong, diverse, growing work force. And more and more people understanding our $20.5 billion industry provides great ROI for invested marketing dollars. At the same time, it’s as important to us as it is to you that anyone joining the industry is interested in sourcing products for resale to prospects and customers. From time to time I hear from a current distributor that someone who isn’t qualified has joined ASI. Often, this is a bit of a story passed down the lane, with no direct information. But in other cases we’ve been provided hard contact information and always fully investigated the situation. Sometimes the rumor isn’t true. But in the few cases when it has been, we’ve kicked them out for misrepresentation. If you ever have any questions about someone’s true intentions, please let me know. We’ll investigate to make sure they meet ASI’s qualifications, which remain the same for new distributors no matter how or when they join – without exception. And we’ll let you know the outcome. During my chat in Vegas, the distributors also suggested ASI reach out to colleges and college students and introduce budding entrepreneurs and marketers to an industry they might not even know exists. Business students learn about buying and using TV, radio and Internet advertising, direct mail and everything else under the sun, but marketing programs rarely mention the power of promotional products and their incredible ROI. We’re already on this, but are looking to do even more. For two years, ASI has worked with Babson College to help business students and budding entrepreneurs gain work experience in the promotional products industry. (For more info on that program, click here). We’re now expanding that outreach to other schools, hoping to encourage other business colleges to join us in helping teach tomorrow’s entrepreneurs about this exciting, creative industry. If you have any ideas about other partnerships we can pursue, or schools we might contact, please let me know. Personal connections make these types of trials and introductions much more effective. As always, I do want to know what you think. So please email me here to further discuss these or any other issues. And certainly feel free to share your thoughts by posting a comment to this blog. 6 CommentsLeave a Comment |
The industry standard was to submit 10 invoices for over a hundred dollars sold to customers before being able to join. Not now. Just join and buy for yourself or friends or your company. I have MAS with PPAI that ASI doesn’t recognize. I had a florist and received solicitations to join ASI and to attend shows where I could have just bought for myself at cost. A printer friend showed up at a show in Memphis because he was solicited. I have worked hard to further my business. I worked hard to get into business. Then you recruit people to hop on the bandwagon to sell. The majority become order takers. By furthering my education I can offer so much more than taking an order. But they come in and cut prices to the core. .. offer no service. .. watched it happen. It is wrecking our industry that we have built.
May we see the infomercial? When will it appear again?
Grow or die, is, and should be, the mantra of every profit driven company. The path to change is different for every business and derived through unique experiences and diversified goals. When you are a leader in the industry, a vehicle of change and the backbone to so many small businesses, the burden of ensuring your choices lead the majority down the path resulting in the greater good is difficult to say the least. In my modest experience, I’ve found that gainng buy-in prior to implementation of any change of course, almost always results in positive support. Being an icon and influencing so many carries great responsibility. Knowing how to share the responsibility with all involved is a rare but effective and necessary process. Unfortunately, few can relinquish control from their ivory towers and therefore operate within the vacumm of their synthetic environments, manufacturing their own benefits of the greater good. If you move forward after careful consideration and understanding the full impact on the masses, then that is all anyone can ask.
Tim,
There have been several substantiated reports by IPU Affiliates regarding ASI Suppliers selling directly to non-member companies which IPU brought to ASI’s attention.
Perhaps before going out with public announcements that will ire the membership, it would be wise to survey ALL current ASI Distributors and not just a select few. These are the people who have supported ASI year after year for years which in turn pays for the salaries of ASI employees.
I ask that you hold your Suppliers accountable to adhere to protecting the interests of all Distributors and when they do not, they should be blackballed not only from ASI but that information should be shared with every other organization like PPAI, SAGE and the rest.
Give us a chance to voice our opinion.
Thanks for the email. I’m not familiar with anything from IPU in this regard, but the marketing policies of all suppliers are available in ESP. If a supplier sells through multiple channels — retail, through other distributor networks like incentive reps, or directly online — we make a note of that for your reference. No organization in the industry can direct a company’s marketing or business strategy, and many companies in the industry sell through multiple channels.
It’s not available online. We’re taking into account all comments and our own assessment of the program and have no plans to air it again. Thanks.