Practice What You Preach

There’s a very clear irony in the way many of us run our businesses every day. Though we sell, promote and share ideas with our customers and hope that they’ll purchase our promotional products, we salespeople forget how important it is to give away self-promos. Funny paradigm, isn’t it?

How many times can you tout the value of your wares to your clients and prospects without realizing that they are equally effective for your own organization? Through the years, I have increased my business by using what we ask our customers to purchase from us every day. Simply put, if you give it away, they will come and buy more.

Keep in mind, as with any promotion, you must have a plan, and it’s important to think well in advance when developing your personal promotional calendar. If you fail to plan ahead, your approach cannot be implemented in a timely manner. To be successful, you need the right mailing lists; the correct catalogs for your potential or current clientele; and, most important, self-promos that they will use, keep and talk about.

A well-developed plan will shape good decisions with your customers. When you target the proper decision makers, the combination of having the right self-promos and the correct prospect list will lead to increased sales.

In my office, I always keep a handful of self-promos with catchy tag lines that sell product. They are sure to keep my name current in clients’ minds and may even prompt them to want a similar promotion for their businesses. Here are a few of my favorites:

Highlighters — “Highlight your business, call ...”

Emergency flashlights — “When your need is urgent, call ...”

Pocket mirrors — “We make you look good. Call ...”

Mints — “To add excitemint to your promotion, call ...”

Sharpie pens — “For sharp ideas on your next marketing project, call ...”

We know that promotional products work. So why wouldn’t you use them yourself? Many suppliers will even