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The Right Pricing Model Is
Only Part Of The Equation
In the article “Pricing In The
Promotional Products Industry” in the May
2015
PPB
, Aaron Moscoe, CEO of distrib-
utor TPS Promotions & Incentives, shared
his thoughts on various distributor pricing
models and approaches in the industry.
Moscoe’s article examined a number of dif-
ferent pricing models and their potential
strengths and weaknesses.
As someone who has been on all
sides of the promo business—distributor,
supplier and manufacturer rep—I see
these forces at work every day.
In my opinion, the biggest challenge
to our industry is how to get paid for
the value we bring to the table. I would
put a good promo rep up against any
salesperson from any other industry.
What we have to know in terms of
products, economics, suppliers, decora-
tion, logistics, importing/exporting, etc.,
exceeds the expectations of salespeople
in almost every other industry. And the
timelines we have to work with are
becoming more compressed every day.
The way we back up our service is sec-
ond to none. Yet that experience, knowl-
edge and service is vastly undervalued in
today’s market.
I have worked with distributors who
have put their heart and soul into a proj-
ect and then found it has gone out for
bids. I see distributors who invest in their
showrooms (which customers use for
ideas) and then put out to tender those
products. I have dropped off samples to
one distributor only to get a call from
another distributor a couple days later
asking for a quote on that item—and
8 •
PPB
• JUNE 2015
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