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Wednesday
January 18, 2012 Flying High In OrlandoFiled under: ASI Shows, Community, News About ASI
All this – and much, much more – at ASI Orlando this week. If that weren’t enough, Tuesday night we saluted Hub Pen as Supplier of the Year at the annual Counselor Distributor Choice Awards, along with more than 250 of the industry’s top-performing suppliers. We’ve still got a full exhibition day left, but I think it’s safe to say Orlando’s been a great success on all counts. Hub Pen, of Massachusetts, secured the industry’s most-valued supplier status across 56 categories. In a Counselor story on the company, we cited all the reasons why Hub Pen is an award-winning company, lauding the nearly 60 years distributors have relied on the supplier for great pricing, unparalleled service and a sterling reputation for the personal touch. The company was founded in 1954 by Frank Fleming, who once tirelessly assembled pens by hand. Congratulations to everyone at Hub for this much-deserved recognition. For a complete list of winners and photos from the awards ceremony, click here. For all the show news, photos, tweets and more, go to www.asicentral.com. And if you’re at the show, let me know what you think by posting a comment or e-mailing me here. I’m also on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Wednesday
January 11, 2012 Advice From A Master CommunicatorFiled under: Community ASI Radio conducted one of its best interviews ever with Biz Stone, and if you missed it, you really owe it to yourself to check out the archive. The Twitter co-founder was funnier than I thought he’d be, smarter than I thought possible and full of great advice – no surprises there. He thinks cultivating a fun work culture and keeping a healthy sense of humor in the workplace are vital. I couldn’t agree more. Stone talked with us in advance of a keynote he’s giving February 3 at the ASI show in Dallas titled “A New Landscape for Communicating and Doing Business.” We chose Stone as a keynoter because he’s advised numerous companies and organizations ranging from tiny startups and nonprofits to publicly traded international companies. Twitter now boasts over 300 million users, generating over 300 million tweets and handling over 1.6 billion search queries per day. I’m sure we’re all going to learn a lot from Stone. If you haven’t read his blog yet, you should. To listen to the entire radio interview, click here. To register for the show in Dallas and Stone’s keynote, click here. My favorite quote from the interview: “Humor is such a powerful mechanism for delivering truth. It’s a great leadership tool, a great way to break the ice, a great way to get people to tell you what they’re thinking about without it being scary or formal. Invariably, something true comes out of that.” Stone, named one of the Most Influential People in The World by TIME magazine and Nerd of the Year by GQ magazine, shared business tips and dished on a visit from a Russian president (who brought a security detail and dogs to the Twitter offices) and who would play him in a Twitter movie (we suggested James Spader and Ed Norton, but you’ll be surprised at his hilarious choice). Stone said he worked for years before Twitter on the idea of an open exchange of information having a positive impact. “I saw a rudimentary tool and thought, ‘I could build something on this. Instead of one to one, one to many.’ And that was the beginning.” His two biggest mistakes after co-founding Twitter with Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass and Evan Williams were not being ready enough for success and failing to communicate enough. “If you want to have relationships outside, with investors or anyone, communicate like crazy,” he told the ASI Radio audience. On corporate cultures, Stone says he likes it fun and team-oriented: “I like people to have autonomy. Be really creative. Be open to ideas. I don’t like people who say no right away. At Twitter we have a very fast-growing sales culture, but we’re also open to really new, crazy ideas. It’s an emergent phenomenon.” What do you think is the most interesting thing Stone said? Let me know by posting a comment or e-mailing me here. I’m also on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Wednesday
December 28, 2011 Business Grab BagFiled under: Community, Industry Initiatives, Research, Using Ad Specialties How many of you gave gifts to clients and prospects this year? According to a recent gift-giving survey from ASI, average spending on such gifts was up 13.9% to about $30 per gift this year. Our executive director of research, Larry Basinait, found clients aren’t the only ones benefiting from corporate beneficence. Employers who answered our survey say they spent an average $42.52 per employee “thank you” gift this year, up 19.6% from 2010. Like last year, our survey shows gift cards and cash remain the most popular employee gifts, with 38% of respondents planning to give gift cards to employees. Cash bonuses are second, but fell by 8 percentage points to 24% since 2010. Does gift-giving work? Nearly a quarter of respondents say giving gifts to clients and prospects results in sales and leads, with over one-quarter (27%) of those surveyed saying the gift resulted in a referral and 24% reporting generating a lead or a sale. Other survey highlights include:
Over at “The Joe Show,” Joe Haley demonstrated a number of the year’s hottest business gifts, including: Coffee table books, from National Geographic Society, asi/73383. Beautiful books from National Geographic not only include incredible photography, but they can also be customized and personalized. iPad keyboard, from Pingline, asi/78137. High-tech products and accessories like the Bluetooth-activated keyboard – which makes typing a whole lot easier – are on everyone’s wish list. Outdoor jacket, from Trimark Sportswear Group Inc., asi/92122. Jackets are essential and appreciated, come in men’s and women’s styles and are perfect for people who work and play outdoors in the winter months. Leather wrapped thermos, from Sweda Co. LLC, asi/90305. Practical and elegant, it’s just the thing for the sales rep on the go. Customized wine and spirits, from A Plus Wine Designs, asi/30223. Make a strong showing with a giveaway that’s perfect for holiday parties and to leave with clients on visits. Leather Nook cover, from Royce Leather, asi/52390. Sure to give the iPad a run for its money, the new Nook tablet is a best-seller this year, and accessories will show thoughtfulness. Throw blanket, from KTP Design Co., asi/63773. Winter months bring images of snuggling up in front of a warm fire. Enhance that experience with a custom woven afghan that companies can imprint with any image or logo. Ogio bag, from SanMar, asi/84863. Duffel bags are perfect for travel and going to the gym. This bag has flexible spines, allowing it to stand or bend at will. Ornaments, from Faro USA, asi/53697 & Marbex Inc., asi/68708. A finely-crafted holiday ornament doesn’t have to be expensive or elaborate. Most can be easily mailed, hung from a company’s tree or given out to visitors. What was your favorite gift to give this year? Let me know by posting a comment or e-mailing me here. I’m also on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Thursday
December 22, 2011 Happy Holidays from ASIFiled under: Community, News About ASI As everyone gets ready to head home for the holidays – or at least leave the office for a couple of days – I want to wish each of you my very best. Despite the economic uncertainties here, there and everywhere, I was heartened this week to read about the so-called Layaway Angels, the mostly anonymous strangers who are paying off layaway balances for people struggling to make their final payments in time to put those presents under the tree. To date, these angels have paid off about $420,000 worth of toys and clothes in big box stores all over the country – without expecting so much as a “thank you.” I don’t know about you, but when I read about generosity like that, it makes my heart swell to three times its size, just like the Grinch’s in the classic cartoon. Everyone celebrates this time of year in different ways. Here at ASI, employees knocked themselves out with Ugly Sweater and cubicle decorating contests. And you can’t walk two feet without finding a big tin of delicious cookies just waiting to sweeten your day. More important, employees opened their wallets and donated a record amount during our annual Adopt-A-Family drive, money that went toward gifts for 53 area children and 16 parents receiving assistance from our local homeless shelter. Throughout the company, you’ll also see gifts and greetings from numerous ASI members – some so creative and so classy they really knock your socks off. The myriad of ways companies find to proudly display their logos always serves to remind me just how imaginative this industry truly is. Like many of you, ASI held its annual holiday party last week, choosing to celebrate with a Western roundup theme. That meant lots of Texas-sized cowboy hats, checkered shirts, spiked lemonade – and even mechanical bull rides. No, I didn’t dare climb aboard myself – but plenty of employees did. We captured a few of the rides on video, so if you’re in need of a laugh as you hustle to finish out the week, click here, here, here and here. Enjoy!
Monday
December 12, 2011 Marching Toward Success with ASIFiled under: Community, Industry Initiatives, Member Benefits, Members, News About ASI ASI’s ongoing commitment to advanced technology is moving two giant steps forward with the launch of two new initiatives: ASI SmartSales for distributors and ASI SalesPro for suppliers. Designed specifically for this industry – in cooperation with tech giant Oracle – ASI SmartSales and ASI SalesPro represent the next generation of sales tools for industry professionals. We spent a year on R&D, and millions of dollars, to ensure our members possess the most technologically advanced sales arsenal available. Now, it’s your time. Using ASI SmartSales, distributors will have a complete contact and lead management system to help them close more business and provide accurate forecasting. Every individual salesperson in an organization will be able to easily send out personalized e-mail campaigns with tracking and analytics. Managers will be able to track the sales pipeline and forecasts. But don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what user Lisa Marks, president of On Your Marks, had to say: “Organizing customer contact information is key to a profitable distributorship. SmartSales is helping me organize my marketing and my time for the first time in many years. The fact that it’s cloud-based means our entire team has access day or night. I’ve looked for a perfect solution to help me manage all our communication for a long time, and this is the best. I’m so grateful to ASI for teaming up with Oracle to provide this very powerful, cost-effective tool.” ASI SalesPro offers suppliers a sophisticated sales tool dedicated to sales management, marketing campaigns and revenue-generating capabilities. With SalesPro, every single salesperson becomes a marketing machine, with the added bonus of superior tracking and analytics. The plug-and-play business platforms integrate Oracle’s cloud-based technologies with the appropriate ASI products to create a unique, highly secure platform consisting of a hybrid implementation of cloud and locally hosted software and databases. Distributors with ESP who are interested in ASI SmartSales should e-mail asismartsales@asicentral.com or click here (Password: Own The Customer). Members who want to sign up for ESP and ASI SmartSales should call their ASI account executive at 800-546-1350. Suppliers interested in subscribing to ASI SalesPro should e-mail salespro@asicentral.com or call 800-546-1226. For a video demo, click here. These new tools are intelligent, powerful, efficient – and easy to use, since we build everything at ASI with one person in mind: you. If you have any questions, please call your sales rep today. And let me know what you think by posting a comment or e-mailing me here.
Thursday
November 10, 2011 The Industry RespondsFiled under: Community, Media Coverage, Members, News About ASI I received immediate feedback to my letter to members concerning President Obama’s call for cuts in federal government spending on ad specialties. I appreciate everyone who responded and applaud your passion – no matter where you stand on this particular issue. The executive order titled “Promoting Efficient Spending” was posted Wednesday and made me feel less anxious about its overall impact on our industry. Section 7, Extraneous Promotional Items, reads: “Agencies should limit the purchase of promotional items (e.g., plaques, clothing, and commemorative items), in particular where they are not cost-effective.” Can we live with that? Many of you who wrote think we should, for the overall good of the country. Others think Obama’s stance is anti-business and that his views on economic recovery are misguided. One point I’d like to stress is that ASI is not partisan in any way. As an organization, we advocate on behalf of this industry – and not for or against any particular politician or political party. Below is a sampling of some of your comments – with names removed. They represent what many of you are thinking:
There have also been a number of articles written about this issue, including one that ran on the Politico blog, which quoted me. As it turns out, even Politico was unable to find any agencies that have paperweights, stress balls or coffee mugs. In addition, I also spoke to a Washington Post reporter on the issue and was happy to continue to hammer home the cost-effectiveness of ad specialties – and how using them often actually saves the government money when compared to other forms of advertising. That’s a point all of us should be making – no matter which color state we live in. To read the Washington Post article, click here. Stay tuned for more as this issue continues to develop. And keep writing, by posting a comment or e-mailing me here. I’m also on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Wednesday
November 9, 2011 Obama Attacks Fed Promo Product SpendFiled under: Community, News About ASI As you may have already seen, President Obama has announced a mandate to cut 20% from federal agency spending on “plaques, clothing, and other unnecessary promotional items.” The cuts are designed to trim the government’s “wasteful spending.” We are undertaking an aggressive PR campaign to immediately educate the media and others to help the general public, as well as political leaders, understand the importance of our industry: job creation, promotional products’ incredible ROI and why our industry’s output and value shouldn’t be called “wasteful spending.” We’re calling on everyone to reach out to their senators and congressmen – they need to hear from each of us, collectively and individually. I am sending a letter directly to President Obama. Below are talking points you might consider in a letter to the editor of your local paper and to your senator or your representative.
You can find your senators here. Click here to find and write your U.S. representative. We’ll provide additional information and guidance in coming days as we continue to learn more and evaluate ways to effectively respond. Let me know what action you’re taking and if you have any other suggestions by posting a comment or e-mailing me here. |
Bill O’Reilly and James Carville tearing it up onstage during one of our most exciting SRO keynotes ever. A male ballerina in glorious pink flying across the stage during the Sell It Now keynote. Tons of fun at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Record-breaking education. 
