Industry Mentoring Available

On a Monday evening, a new distributor was desperately trying to determine the right course of action. She had been asked by her employer to sign an agreement she’d never seen before. “Was it a standard industry requirement?” she wondered. Quickly, she e-mailed her mentor for advice. The next morning she had a sound recommendation based on 16 years’ experience from her mentor, a distributor business-owner.

For the new rep, having a seasoned professional act as a sounding board helped clarify the solution for the newcomer. For many, this voice of experience makes all the difference.

Mentoring, a practice that dates back as far as Socrates and Aristotle, has exploded into one of the most popular strategies for getting ahead in business today. Many of the biggest names in business credit their successes to relationships with mentors. By pairing an experienced professional with an inexperienced practitioner, there can be a substantial learning advantage on both sides.

The word “mentor” comes from the name of Odysseus’s friend and advisor, Mentor, with whom he entrusted his son while away, according to Greek mythology. Mentoring traditionally refers to an older person advising a younger one, but the act of passing experience on is limited only by the mentor’s willingness to share and the protégé’s readiness to listen.

In the promotional products industry, there is one organization dedicated to creating a mentoring community. Promotional Professionals Mentoring Network (PPMN) is a special-interest council of Promotional Products Association International (PPAI). Formed in 2004, PPMN is an informal program providing opportunities among peers to share knowledge and experience. The organization also offers networking opportunities, professional development, a job bulletin, scholarships, volunteer leadership opportunities and other benefits to its more than 550 members. Membership is open to all in the industry who pay nominal annual dues.

“The idea for forming PPMN grew from observing the changing needs of members in two former groups: Promotional Products Networking Association, which attracted new industry professionals; and the MAS/CAS Alumni Association, a group whose members had experience to mentor these new professionals,” says Pete Gleason, MAS, account executive for Zebra Marketing Corp. and PPMN’s first president. “Our industry had long needed a mentoring program, and we envisioned a format to provide one to an audience who needed it most.”

The basis for PPMN’s mentoring program is simple: Members with expertise — and a willingness to share it — volunteer to be mentors by indicating their interest on profile page on PPMN’s Web site at www.ppmn.com. Although there are no requirements for mentors, generally those who volunteer have at least five years of experience in the industry and many have earned their Certified Advertising Specialist (CAS) or Master Advertising Specialist (MAS) designation.

Those who want to tap into the experts’ knowledge use a Web-based search tool on the PPMN site to select up to three mentors from a database of more than 150. The search tool allows them to sort the list by name; member type (distributor, supplier, rep); location; and 14 areas of expertise, such as accounting, catalog development, manufacturing, sales and management. Then, the mentee is responsible for contacting mentors and carrying the relationship forward.

The program is a way to share one’s own fortune. “I am a mentor to give back to the industry that has given me so much,” shares Eric Johnson, MAS, vice president of sales for Halls & Co. in Brooklyn Park, Minn., and a PPMN past president. “I know it is a corny response, but it’s the truth. I feel that for an industry to be successful, it cannot keep doing what has always been done. If my experiences can be passed on to those who have not done it yet, then hopefully they can learn from my successes and failures.”

Johnson says most of his mentoring experiences have been short-term phone conversations based on solving specific issues due to the distances involved. “I would love to sit down with some people and really expand on what we have done,” he adds.

In most instances, distributors choose distributor mentors and suppliers choose suppliers, but sometimes it makes sense to seek opinions from the other side of the desk. Take Carol Kantor, MAS, for example. As owner of the distributor Business Builders in Cupertino, Calif., Kantor was somewhat surprised to be contacted by a new supplier. But the caller wanted her advice on a new product he was introducing. “It was a very common product,” she admits, “but he had an imprinting technique that made it different, and it gave him an advantage. I recommended a company that has a compatible item and suggested he ask the company to carry his line.”

Mentoring is no easy task, say those who have volunteered with PPMN. Good mentors should show patience, listen carefully, have solid industry knowledge and dissect problems with honest assessments. For some mentees, honesty can be the hardest pill to swallow.

Deborah Johnson, MAS, vice president of sales for On Target Promotional Products & Incentives Inc. in Riverside, Calif., recalls one relationship with an inexperienced distributor who was billing just a couple of thousand dollars a month. “He wanted to know how he could be successful in this business,” she recalls. “I asked him if he had a marketing plan. He didn’t know what that was. He said he thought this would be an easy business, but was finding it to be a huge challenge. I recommended he find someone to work for instead of trying to run his own company at this stage.”

Johnson ended the call by asking him to e-mail her a list of his company’s strengths and weaknesses. She never heard from him again. “He was very personable and could probably sell well, but he was too green to be on his own,” she says, adding that mentees need to be prepared to listen and accept advice — no matter how painful it may be.

Deborah Breidbart, owner of distributor Stitches N’ Screens in Redondo Beach, Calif., has been in the promotional products industry for four years, but often needs someone to answer questions. “Recently, I needed help with artwork so I could assist a customer with some basics,” she says. “I also occasionally need help finding products.” She turned to PPMN’s mentoring program for assistance. “Whenever I get stumped, I need somebody to lead me in the right direction. A PPMN mentor can be that quick resource.”

Mentors can also provide sustained support over long periods of time. Nan Hall of A Creative Solution in Metamora, Mich., says she talked with her mentor, Sales Manager John Andersen, CAS, with Admore Inc., approximately once a month. “Through our meetings, we found out we have a mutual acquaintance in an advertising agency,” Hall says. “Our conversations have been about sales calls, proposals, prospecting, MiPPA events, graduations, weddings and other personal stuff. We have a specific topic we agree to cover, but then we meander and brainstorm other issues.”

“Somewhere in between introductions and the end of our first meeting, the lines of mentor and mentee began to blur,” Andersen admits. “I learned as much from her as she did from me. It was mutually beneficial.”

Johnson agrees that mentoring offers advantages for the individuals on both sides of the table. “I would recommend mentoring to others because not only does it help the individual seeking the knowledge, but it helps to clarify your own thoughts and opinions.”

While most of today’s business tools help us tap into the impersonal world of high tech, mentoring connects us through the high-touch idea of person-to-person learning. n

Michele Jennrich, MAS, a 32-year industry professional, has been a sales representative for Howard Miller Clocks for the past 15 years. She is the 2008 president of PPMN, a past president and Hall of Fame member of Specialty Advertising Association of Greater New York (SAAGNY) and is the current secretary of the SAAGNY Foundation Board of Trustees. For more information about PPMN, visit www.ppmn.com or e-mail ppmn@ppa.org.