{"id":2553,"date":"2014-01-31T16:25:50","date_gmt":"2014-01-31T20:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/?p=2553"},"modified":"2014-01-31T16:25:50","modified_gmt":"2014-01-31T20:25:50","slug":"distributor-sales-hit-record-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/2014\/01\/31\/distributor-sales-hit-record-high\/","title":{"rendered":"Distributor Sales Hit Record High"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. economy is on track to enjoy its best performance since the dark days of the 2008 recession and, I\u2019m happy to report, the promotional products industry is doing even better. ASI just released its latest distributor sales report showing 2013 is going down in the books as the biggest sales year ever, surpassing $20 billion for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>Coming off 16 straight quarters of growth, this news is cause for celebration. It also presents a prime opportunity. Take advantage of the latest technology to save time and boost efficiency. Hire more sales reps (especially those who reflect our increasingly diverse country). Attend conferences to learn the latest sales strategies.<\/p>\n<p>And, if you\u2019re moving into new global markets, learn the lingo \u2013 or hire someone who does \u2013 and check out PromoAlliance, an international alliance between ASI, <a title=\"Sourcing City\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sourcingcity.co.uk\/sitecontent\/index\/our_brands\" target=\"_blank\">Sourcing City<\/a> and <a title=\"PSI\" href=\"http:\/\/www.psi-network.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">PSI<\/a> that identifies and introduce best practices and market development concepts benefiting the U.S., U.K. and European markets.\u00a0<a title=\"Info on PromoAlliance\" href=\"http:\/\/www.promoalliance.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> for more info.<\/p>\n<p>The best entrepreneurs are like sharks \u2013 they need to keep moving ever forward, or their businesses will shrivel and die.<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"right\" src=\"http:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/2013sales.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The U.S. GDP expanded 3.1% in 2013\u2019s fourth quarter. ASI\u2019s data shows distributors grew sales by nearly twice that rate, or 5.7%. Meanwhile, the <em>Counselor<\/em> Confidence Index \u2013 a tool that measures distributor health and optimism \u2013 improved to 113.2 in the fourth quarter, reaching its highest point since being introduced a year ago.<\/p>\n<p>Other highlights from ASI\u2019s latest sales report include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In 2013, 86% of larger distributors (more than $5 million in annual revenues) reported an increase in sales.<\/li>\n<li>68% of all firms \u2013 regardless of size \u2013 reported gains.<\/li>\n<li>In Q4, 54% of surveyed distributors improved revenues over the same period in 2012, with larger firms again making the biggest sales jump.<\/li>\n<li>The 5.7% Q4 increase is the best quarterly sales gain since Q1 of 2013 as firms closed the year strong.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Economists are betting the momentum from the second half of 2013 will continue through 2014. According to a recent <a title=\"Counselor Promogram\" href=\"http:\/\/www.asicentral.com\/asp\/open\/news\/promogram\/index.aspx\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Counselor <\/em>Promogram<\/a> report, distributors also have high expectations. ASI data shows 74% of distributors anticipate an increase in sales this year, while only 4.5% of distributor firms are expecting a drop in revenues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur overall experience is that we saw growth greater than the industry average,\u201d Jo-an Lantz, executive vice president of Top 40 distributor Geiger (asi\/202900), told <em>Counselor<\/em>. \u201cWe anticipate another great sales year in 2014. The industry will have another growth year, and we are expecting the same.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>How did your company fare in 2013 \u2013 and what\u2019s your outlook for 2014? Let me know by posting a comment or e-mailing me <a href=\"mailto:tim.andrews@asicentral.com\">here<\/a>. I\u2019m also on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/Tim_Andrews_ASI\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/timothymandrews\" target=\"_blank\">LinkedIn<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/timasitv\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. economy is on track to enjoy its best performance since the dark days of the 2008 recession and, I\u2019m happy to report, the promotional products industry is doing even better. ASI just released its latest distributor sales report showing 2013 is going down in the books as the biggest sales year ever, surpassing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-members","category-news-about-asi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2553"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2556,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2553\/revisions\/2556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}