PPB February 2016

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Nancy Pomerantz
Owner
Lasting Impressions Promotional Products,
Inc.
UPIC: L602909
Product responsibility has been a big
issue for us. We retained an expert con-
sultant in product responsibility and cor-
porate responsibility. This is a huge area
for a small business to manage, and retain-
ing the consultant has helped us
immensely. As far as what we have
learned, we implement policies and proce-
dures based on suggestions of the consult-
ant. For example, we will not source any
products from Bangladesh, as we know
there is a history of poor corporate
responsibility in that country. So [a con-
sultant] is helpful since some of our clients
require us to maintain corporate and prod-
uct responsibility policies and procedures.
Glen D. Eley
Owner
Eley Imprinted Products
UPIC: ELEYP001
From a guy who has learned sales,
product data and growing a company
from the very ground up for three
decades, I say all you need to do is join
PPAI today. All the answers to your ques-
tions can be found on the PPAI member
website regarding product safety. Another
simple way to approach it is to only sell
products with no (or minimal possible)
liability. These products are out there.
August Wittenberg
Chief Operating Officer
SayNoMore Promotions
UPIC: SNMP
Like anything, when you are over-
whelmed, take your big project and move it
into many little projects. I would start by
simply taking the required courses so you
at least have a big-picture understanding.
Once you have a basic education, make
sure you are aware of who your client’s tar-
get market is or if the item your client has
chosen can be considered a children’s item.
If you fall into this category, reach out to
PPAI; they have an amazing team. Work
with PPAI on a case-by-case basis as you
build your knowledge. Finally, make sure
you are communicating to your client how
you are working to protect them by mak-
ing sure anything they order is in compli-
ance with the new federal regulations.
Trying at least a little is going to be much
better than just closing your eyes and hop-
ing you don’t have any trouble.
Matt Kaspari, CAS
President
Kaspo Inc.
UPIC: Kaspo705
As a small distributor—or any dis-
tributor—you can’t afford not to wrap
your brain around product safety and
compliance. It is a daunting area that can
be simplified and understood if you
become Product Safety Aware. I require
my whole team to take the product safety
classes through PPAI. We have incorpo-
rated this information into the business in
a few ways. One way is communicating
our knowledge at the beginning of our
relationship with clients so they know
that we source responsibly. Another way is
taking compliance into account when
deciding what suppliers to work with.
Many suppliers are doing compliance very
well and make it easy for us smaller dis-
tributors to get the proper documentation
to provide to our clients. So do your
homework. In addition to product safety,
there are also social and environmental
compliance issues that you should make
sure the people you are buying from are
complying with. As distributors, we have
a responsibility to our clients and brands
we work with to do our due diligence to
ensure the products we are sourcing for
them are made responsibly.
Tom Goos, MAS
President
Image Source, Inc.
UPIC: IMAGESCE
Product safety and social responsibil-
ity is a big issue and an opportunity to
differentiate as a distributor. It is impos-
sible to know everything, but education
is the key. I would suggest looking to
PPAI and their webinar education to
gain some knowledge on what those
issues are so you can have knowledgeable
conversations with your suppliers and
customers. PPAI also offers a guidebook
that you can purchase which can help
you develop a program for yourself. This
can all be done at little to no cost and
you can put as much or as little time as
you want into it. You can do it in four
hours as a start, or dozens of hours if it
is important to you.
DO YOU HAVE THE ANSWER?
QA Distributor Asks:
As a Baby Boomer, how can I best engage with Millennial buy-
ers? What strategies have other distributors found to break in with
this generation?
What’s your answer? Email answers along with your name, title
and company name to by February 15 for pos-
sible inclusion in an upcoming issue of PPB magazine.
FEBRUARY 2016 • PPB • 19