Achieving Success with Your Promotional Product Business
More often than not, promotional product distributors and salespeople feel the heavy burden of overseeing a variety of required tasks to run their business. Whether it’s managing orders and meeting vendors or handling financing and invoicing. At iPROMOTEu we know promotional product distributors need to focus on selling versus being tied down to business nuances.
The promotional products industry is all about building relationships and selling products, so businesses need to balance their time between nurturing those relationships and tackling all the administrative tasks needed to keep their businesses running. Hiring new employees to fill these roles isn’t always financially possible, especially because it may take two or three people to accomplish these tasks.
This is where promotional product distributors can partner with organizations to fill the gaps. Partners who can assist not only with back-office support, but also provide order financing, marketing and sales support, and e-commerce solutions can help a growing promotional product distributor take their business to the next level.
Partnering with a Promotional Products Distributor Organization
First and foremost, it’s important to identify your business needs and what you want in a partner. Once you understand what’s needed—or what you think is needed—many organizations offer a free business consultation to discuss your business goals and determine if the partnership would be a good fit. This would be your next step.
Once your partner has gained a full understanding of your business and needs, they are able to create a strategy to help you from start to finish – regardless of the type of support your business needs.
“No two affiliates run their business the same way, everybody does it differently,” said Gary Goodhart, Director of Affiliate Sales Development at iPROMOTEu. “Our job responsibility [as a promotional products distributor organization] is to help our affiliates grow in sales, whatever that means for them and whatever we can do to get them back on track.”
Increasing Sales with Your Promotional Products Business
At the end of the day, it’s all about increasing your sales while making informed decisions about your business growth. “Sales is a mindset. We have to make sure [our affiliates] have a good mindset and want to be motivated to go sell,” said Goodhart. “We’ve been where they’re at, so we understand where they want to go and what goals they want to achieve.”
Find a partner who also provides one-on-one support and personalized coaching to help affiliates not only sell, but sell better. If you’re a promotional products business taking on a lot of orders but not seeing a lucrative return, make sure your partner can help you get on track for a strong ROI. “At iPROMOTEu, we also help with profitability. We’re making sure they’re making money with what they’re selling and being able to make smart decisions when they price their products,” said Guy Dupuis, Director of Affiliate Sales Development at iPROMOTEu.
Growing your business is all about long-term success, especially when the industry must face supply chain challenges and other unexpected roadblocks that may come in the way.
Being Agile in the Promotional Products Industry
As small businesses were impacted by the pandemic, it’s important to adapt and react to help affiliates with their business models and the services they offer. “During the pandemic, we became experts in fulfillment and built relationships and partnerships around that,” said Goodhart.
The promotional products industry also experiences shifts in industry trends and consumer behaviors, which could impact how affiliates do business with their customers. With this need to be agile in the industry, it’s crucial to support affiliates every step of the way. “It’s about reinforcing the services we offer and making sure our affiliates take advantage of it and that they use those tools,” said Dupuis.
Taking Action to Improve Your Promotional Products Business
At iPROMOTEu, we pride ourselves on offering a personalized, customized approach that focuses on building partnerships with our affiliates.
“[Our affiliates] are still independent business owners, but they join iPROMOTEu for all the back-office services we can offer to a small company,” shared Guy Dupuis, director of affiliate sales development at iPROMOTEu. “They don’t have to focus on the back-office support; they focus on selling and putting orders in the system.”
If you’re a promotional product distributor needing assistance with your business, we’re here to help! Connect with iPROMOTEu today to learn more or become an affiliate.