PPB June 2017

to truly focus on the training and

development of those employees

whom I have had the privilege to

lead. I believe that people want

to learn and they want to be led

by good leaders. I believe that it’s

critical to the success of a great

organization. I guess what I am

proudest of is the people I have

worked with over the years and

have maintained long-lasting

relationships with—even going

back tomy first boss at Seagram’s.

Who are your mentors

and what have they

taught you?

I’ve had the great pleasure of

havingmanymentors throughout

my career. Not necessarily formal

mentors, but either people whom

I reported to in a job or people I

could call on the phone and have

meaningful conversations with on

key business topics. But if I had to

pick one, I would have to saymy

father. My dad was a product of the

Depression; he was a veteran of

two wars (WWII and Korea), and

he quit high school when he was

16 years old to enlist in the Navy.

He celebrated his 17th birthday in

basic training before being shipped

off to the South Pacific. After the

war, he went back and finished high

school and received his diploma.

Both he andmymother were always

there for us. With eight kids, they

figured out how tomake it work. I

still look back in amazement. My

dad unfortunately passed away back

in 2002 andmymom just turned 87

and is doing well.

What promotional

product do you wish

you had invented?

There are somany unique

products that stand out, it’s hard

to point to one. I guess I would

have liked to have invented the

silk screen. It’s amazing how

that apparatus transformed the

clothing industry. Prior to that,

everything was done by stitching

cloth numbers or letters to a shirt.

Nomatter how the industry has

evolved, and especially with all

the technology gadgets that have

been developed, the logoed t-shirt

is still perhaps the most ubiquitous

product in the promotional

products industry, and it all started

with the silk screen.

If you wrote a book

about your life, what

would the title be

and why?

Show Up and Play Loose

. I

think somuch of life is showing up.

Throughout my career, whenever

I have hired a new employee

(salespeople in particular), the

one piece of advice that I would

always offer was for them to “show

up”. What I mean by that is show

up, be prepared to accomplish

something and to achieve success

each and every day. The other

piece of advice, “play loose.” Life

can be very hectic and you can

choose to come at it one of two

ways. You can either be extremely

uptight and stressed, or you can

play loose. It’s the difference

between an organization that is

very uptight because the person

at the top is that way—so the

rest of the organization starts to

take on that same persona and

people spend toomuch time

ruminating about things that may

or may not ever happen versus

the organization with a leader

who exudes confidence and

that confidence trickles down

through the organization. It’s the

difference between the sales rep

whomeets with a customer and is

so concerned with closing the deal

that it eventually falls apart versus

the sales rep who shows up and

plays loose. They are confident,

they are not pushy, they’re not

selling, they are advocating on

the customer’s behalf. They know

that if a customer says no, it may

just mean not now. For good

salepeople, hearing a “no” really

means they’re just one step closer

to hearing a “yes!”

What are your plans

for Hospitality Mints

in 2017?

As a company, we do business

in three separate channels—

promotional products, foodservice

and retail. We have positioned

HospitalityMints to grow in all

three of these channels. Given

the sheer size of the promotional

products industry and the fact that

the channel continues to flourish,

we believe there are accelerated

growth opportunities for Hospitality

Mints. We have put in place some

great initiatives in 2017 that will

increaseHospitalityMints’ brand

awareness andmost effectively

communicate our value proposition,

including amore robustmedia

and product-sampling plan and

enhanced packaging that allows our

customers to leverage technology

through the use of mints. We can

now fit aQR code on ourmint

wrappers, allowing a customermake

it an edible business card or piece

of POS. Using custommintsmay

be one of themostmeaningful and

yet cost-effectiveways tomarket

your company, yourmessage and

your overall value proposition, not

tomention that the product inside

thewrapper is the highest of quality,

made in theUSA and, we believe, the

bestmint in the industry.

Julie Richie is an Austin,

Texas-based writer

and former associate editor for

PPB

“I have made it

a point to truly

focus on the

training and

development of

those employees

that I have had

the privilege to

lead. I believe

that people want

to learn and they

want to be led by

good leaders. I

believe that it’s

critical to the

success of a great

organization.”

JUNE 2017

CONNECT