PPB October 2017

In his first two years working for The Vernon Company, Delgado’s sales qualified him for two incentive trips—an Alaska cruise and a trip to the Dominican Republic. In his first five years with The Vernon Company, he earned inclusion in the company’s Million Dollar Club. Today he still has the contracts with Johnson & Johnson. “I feel a passion for what I do,” he says. “I love promotional products to the extreme; my commercial printing sales now are only 10 percent of my total sales.” Describe the industry in Puerto Rico; in what ways is it different from that in the U.S. and Canada? The market in Puerto Rico is very different. One reason is that Latins often wait until the last minute to make their buying decisions, which means I often need to work with suppliers on the East Coast that offer a 24- to 48-hour delivery service. What types of clients do you work with? The industries I work with in Puerto Rico include advertising agencies, manufacturing plants, small businesses and the educationmarket. Most of my customers whom I’ve worked with since 1981 have retired. It has been a challenge to learn to work with Millennials and accommodate their preference for email and social media rather than visiting with themand establishing long- term relationships. Also, many of themdon’t work at a company more than four or five years, but I’m learning to adjust to themore frequent turnover. What do you still hope to accomplish for the promotional products industry? My next goal is to complete a book about the promotional products industry in Spanish. I think PPAI must offer more education, books and studies in languages other than English to reach potential markets in Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, and Europe. In what ways have you volunteered within the industry? In 1991 I was one of 15 promotional products distributors who founded the Puerto Rico Advertising Specialty Association (now Caribbean Advertising Specialty Association—CASA). I served two years as vice president, four years on the Education Committee, four years as newsletter editor, four years on the Show Committee and more than 10 years on the board of directors, until 2015. I’ve also given more than 10 industry presentations to various groups. I also served on the PPAI Education Committee for two years. Being on the committee was the incentive to pursue my industry designation. You say you are the first Puerto Rican to earn the Certified Advertising Specialist (CAS) andMaster Advertising Specialist (MAS). Why did you pursue it and what has it meant to your career? It was important to me because it gave me respect with my customers and peers. In those days [he earned his CAS in 1996 and his MAS in 1997] nobody in Puerto Rico knew about the designations, so I promoted them. I was also the first to do presentations in Spanish at The PPAI Expo in 2004 and then at the ASI show. In what other capacities have you served as a volunteer leader? For 10 years I served on the board for the Sales and Marketing Executives (SME) chapter in Puerto Rico, and I have been involved in a commercial printer association, and as a board member and fundraiser for my church and for another charitable Catholic institution. I also earned a master trainer designation in Neuro Linguistic Programming from INLPTA and am working on a master’s degree in theology to continue serving the church and eventually become a deacon. What’s your best advice for newdistributors? My advice to new distributors—and to all distributors—is to make sure you feel passion for this industry and learn everything you can about it. Pursue your industry designations to win respect with suppliers and with customers. To find out if you feel passion for what you do, check the books and magazines you have on your night table. If you have industry- related magazines and catalogs, and sales and motivation books, you are on the right track. Tina Berres Filipski is editor of PPB . Earn Your Industry Certification Certification is an investment in yourself and your career. As industry benchmarks, the designations establish your professional credibility with colleagues, clients, employers and peers. And PPAI offers a certification program for every career stage: Trained Advertising Specialist (TAS) certificate, Certified Advertising Specialist (CAS) certification, Master Advertising Specialist (MAS) certification and Master Advertising Specialist Plus (MAS+) certification. Check out the requirements and see how close you may be to earning your certification: www.ppai.org/ members/certification | OCTOBER 2017 | 91 CONNECT