Do you deserve to be a millionaire? Why? If you said you deserve to be a millionaire because you work hard, long hours, you are wrong. Lots of people work long, hard hours and earn minimum wage. If you said you deserve to be a millionaire because you have been in this business 25 years…
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When a prospect finds your website, you have about five seconds to give them a reason to consider working with you. They arrived at your site because they are evaluating providers, so you want to be a strong contender. Therefore, your offering has to stand out in this important evaluation phase. This is when your value proposition comes into play…
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Ask the Accountant… Question: Recently, I had a question about what a balance sheet shows, so I thought I’d tackle income statements as well. Answer: The income statement is also known as a profit and loss statement, or a P&L. It shows what you have earned and what you have spent to produce a profit…
Read MoreAs a salesperson or distributor owner, you have a choice. Do you make a run at filling out the RFP when it could take weeks to complete, but at least have a chance at new business? Or do you walk away from the RFP in the hope that you will continue to obtain maverick spend from your core buyers?…
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Right now, your clients are undergoing major changes that are affecting their needs for promotional products. With events out of the equation, employees working from home and staff reductions, companies are using promotional products very differently. Understanding these changes will help you provide the right solutions for your clients…
Read MoreWhen I think of promotional products distributors, many of them are trying to convince their audience they are creative by telling them that they are. For example, if you have a “creative” idea to use a specific phone charger for Prospect X’s internal sales contest, how creative are you when your competition showed them the same product last week?…
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I am seeing lots of posts on social media about how much people look forward to saying “good riddance” to 2020 and getting started with the new year. These folks seem to think that all of the challenges of 2020 are going to magically disappear on New Year’s Day. Please let me encourage you to…
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Ask the Accountant… Question: My CPA always asks for a balance sheet, but I don’t know what that is exactly. Answer: A balance sheet is one of the two standard financial statements that describes the condition of your business. (The other is an income statement.) Your balance sheet is a snapshot of a particular day…
Read MoreCOVID-19 has only accelerated the growth of U.S. e-commerce, with online sales growing 54 percent in 2020 alone and projected even higher in 2021. With e-commerce sales sure to continue to grow in our industry, does that mean the traditional industry sales professional is on the way out?…
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Question: Do you have any suggestions for a good way to track orders? Answer: Our industry is complicated, and each order involves many steps and details. I used to track orders manually—step by step for each order. Today there are several automated solutions…
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