PPB June 2020

Protecting Yourself Against Online Scams In April, PPB Newslink shared a distributor’s experiences with a scam targeting buyers and sellers of personal protective equipment. Along with their account, the story shared best practices industry members can use to avoid fraudulent orders when doing business online. Use common sense. An order for an extraordinarily large quantity of products from someone you've never worked with just doesn't happen. You can do a Google search or use MailTester.com to see if an email address is legitimate or even exists. You can also call the bank associated with that credit card and speak to their fraud division to confirm. You can also say that you need to tack on some additional charges; doesn't matter what they are, which any legitimate customer would contest—if the person approves them without hesitation, it's fraudulent. Heck, in our current economy, you can even request to do a Zoom/Skype/Facetime call and flat-out tell the person that you're doing your due diligence to prevent fraud. No fraudsters hang around when they get a whiff of someone being on their trail! MIKE SCOTT Owner Innovative Imprints, LLC San Diego, California PPAI 733435, D1 Another red flag to look for when a potential customer wants to pay for a large order by credit card right away is if the shipping and billing match. This has saved my company many times. KRISTI BREKHUS Public Relations Officer CP Lab Safety Novato, California PPAI 770186, S1 PPB Honors Industry’s Best Multi-Line Reps April’s PPB spotlighted eight of the best multi-line reps in the business. The professionals recognized were nominated by PPAI members across the industry and perform vital sales and communications roles between suppliers and distributors. Bravo! This is a fabulous group of reps and the article does an exceptional job defining the role and life of multi-line reps. These reps work extremely hard, long hours and away from family all week. They are superheroes and haven’t been appreciated nearly enough for their contributions to this industry. From hiring them as a national sales director to becoming one, it is an honor to see this group and the profession recognized. TINA JAMESON Owner T. Jameson, Inc. Kernersville, North Carolina feedback Send feedback on articles in PPB or opinions on industry issues to JamesK@ppai.org . 8 | JUNE 2020 |