PPB July 2015

distributor sales meeting). The recipient will always

remember who gave them high-perceived-value

items.

Roark:

The client, of course, is always right.

Sometimes, however, they are more right than

others. You might remind someone who doesn’t

want to co-brand how thrilled their customers

were to receive a sleeve of Titleist Pro V1 golf

balls decorated with the client’s logo. The fact is,

there is a lot of merchandise in our industry that

has some type of branding on it—companies like

Samsonite have whole lines, specifically made to

be decorated and sold through the promotional

product channel, that have a higher perceived

value because they also carry the Samsonite

brand. You mention NorthFace—you see a lot of

folks on the Weather Channel and NBC with the

peacock logo on the right and the NorthFace logo

on the left. The brand appearing on brand-name

merchandise is a value add. Your client is associat-

ing their logo or message with a high-value name

brand, which I find most clients find attractive.

Usually, however, I don’t hear the co-branding

issue from end customers, but more often from

fellow PPAI distributors. What seems to more

often be true in my experience of this particular

objection is that the promotional product profes-

sional is the one who isn’t comfortable with the

dual branding. This is usually the result of cultural

assumptions that have been validated for years in

the promo marketplace but which fail to recognize

current trends.

The Experts Say:

Hendrickson:

Very often branded products

that offer imprinting require much smaller mini-

mums than in the promotional products world. It’s

also possible that your client might be interested

in the brand name product without an imprint. Or,

you may be able to sell an additional product to

provide the imprint opportunity (for instance, a

custom luggage tag added to a high-end bag).

Knollenberg:

Therein lies the beauty of incen-

tive programs and working with suppliers that

have a minimum order of one unit (unimprinted).

The majority of incentive awards (premiums) are

individually drop shipped to the award winner’s

home. That means that a single product is packed

in a remailer and sent via UPS, FedEx or USPS and

the charges for that service, called shipping and

handling, are added to the cost of the individual

product. The distributor is invoiced as each drop

shipment is made and the distributor subsequently

invoices the customer.

Landry:

Almost all brands selling into this

channel will overlook a minimum order require-

ment. Most can operate on a credit card payment

system. So you might not end up with an open

account, but you will end up with branded,

upscale products that will delight your clients—

and who doesn’t love a delighted client?

Mitchell:

You’ll be surprised. Many brands

have appointed national distribution partners (like

Indigo, a PPAI supplier member) to handle one-

piece orders. They are competitively priced and

do not approach end users. We have a very suc-

cessful relationship with Indigo and it is an expert

in the channel.

Piereth:

You can talk to your supplier. There

are some we’ve been dealing with that offer lower

quantities for new programs. They may be offering

more, so costs may be higher, but I feel the higher

cost outweighs the inventory risk. You are estab-

lishing a partnership with the supplier. Bring them

up to speed quickly by telling them who the client

is, what they are interested in, the budget, how

many items and categories of the items. Any infor-

mation is relevant. Ask about their top-selling

items in that category, too.

Roark:

This is very much promo-think. In the

name-brand industry, much of the delivery mecha-

nism revolves around single orders, to a degree

DEBUNKING THE MYTHS ABOUT SELLING PREMIUMS & INCENTIVES

IRST IN A TWO

PART SERIES

54 •

PPB

• JULY 2015

GROW

“ ”

What Distributors Believe:

MY QUANTITIES WON’T

MEET THE MINIMUM

ORDER REQUIREMENTS.