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QUESTION
Eric E. Ekstrand, MAS+
Regional Vice President Mid-Atlantic
HALO Branded Solutions
Aurora, Ohio
UPIC: HBS
This is a perfect example where you
needed to step into a consultant sales
model. Was this even the correct product
to reach your customer’s objective, audi-
ence and budget? Was it from a QCA-
member supplier that you trusted? Could
you have suggested a product you had
used in the past and therefore knew the
quality of? Did you ask the basic ques-
tion: Why did you choose this particular
item? Moving to a promotional product
consultant can be hard as all sales people
want the sale, but your customer will
value you for future projects when you
help them spend their budget wisely.
Ted Polish
President
TNM Promotions
Winnipeg, Manitoba
UPIC: tnmpromo
To safeguard yourself
always
get a
sample for client approval. If there is no
Q
A Distributor Asks:
Here’s a situation I haven’t seen addressed in this column before.
My client is not happy with the product she received. The
imprint is fine but we did not examine a product beforehand.
She simply showed me a photo of the product in a catalog and
told me she wanted to order it. The supplier is not willing to
help in any way. I’m uncertain how to deal with this now. Also,
how can I avoid this problem in the future?
SAMPLE SAVVY
SEPTEMBER 2015 •
PPB
• 19
INNOVATE