Paupers Selling Promos

Most people starting out in our industry have no experience selling promotional products. That’s understandable. Maybe they had previous experience selling other services like print or embroidery, or maybe they had some customer service experience. That’s all fine. But there’s a disturbing trend in our industry now that I would like to see ended as soon as possible. People who call themselves promotional distributors, who not only have no experience in our industry, but who also say they have no time and no money to learn it. I call them paupers selling promos.

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At the risk of sounding callous, I would just say that if you have no experience, and you have no time and no money to learn what to do before you get started, please… just stay out!

The last thing our industry needs is more paupers selling promos.

OK, I’m not going to get any prizes today for compassion, but I’ve got to tell you, this growing trend of inexperienced, dead-broke individuals calling themselves promotional distributors has got to stop.

In my career, I have likely trained more new promotional products distributors than anyone else on the planet, so I speak from a lot of experience here.

The people I work with, regardless of their level of experience coming in, are focused, motivated and determined to succeed. Like every industry professional, they’re busy. They have demands on their time from prospects, clients, friends and family. They start early and work late, but they manage to either find the time or make the time to do what’s necessary to learn their craft. They invest in themselves. They invest in their businesses. They invest in customer acquisition. And they do this regardless of whether or not they are flush with cash. They may not be investing much, but they’re investing something.

For many starting out, it’s a struggle. But instead of making excuses, they do what is necessary to succeed.

Obviously, these are not the people I’m talking about when I refer to paupers selling promos. Instead, I’m talking about individuals, who claim to be promotional products distributors, but who also seem to indicate that they don’t have two pennies to rub together.

They say they have no money to invest in training, no money to get to industry trade shows. They certainly have no money to hire help, and it makes me wonder… how it the world could they possibly ever pay a supplier in the unlikely event that they somehow managed to get an order?

But it gets worse. In addition to having no money, many “paupers selling promos” also say they just don’t have the time to learn. No time to attend even a free webinar training. They’re just too busy.

But doing what?

In business, you need time, you need money or ideally, both. You don’t have to have a ton of each. But you have to have something.

Success requires investment.

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “you get out of life what you put into it.” But I am constantly amazed at the number of people finding their way into our industry who think that they can literally invest nothing — no time, no money, no focused effort, no commitment to excellence or even competence — and still get something out. Let me assure you, it will not happen.

Success in business requires the ability to create value for people. And value creation requires time, focus, commitment and at least minimal levels of investment. First in yourself, then in your prospects and clients.

If you’ve been reading our newsletter, listening to our podcasts, learning from our training or benefiting from our memberships, then you probably already know that you can’t get anything out of our industry (or any other industry for that matter) without having something to contribute — without having the ability to put something, anything in.

So commit to focusing today on your contribution. What can you invest today in your prospects, your clients or your own training and education? What will you invest in terms of time, energy, ideas, resources, recommendations and enthusiasm?

The fact that you’re reading or listening to this indicates that you’re not a pauper selling promos. But if, by some chance you believe that you can get anything out of this industry without first putting something in — without first creating value for someone else, I would encourage you to either step up or step out.

If you’re new to the industry and need to get grounded in the essentials of promotional products sales, visit us online at topsecrets.com/gettingstarted. If you need to get clients now with no distractions and no excuses, visit topsecrets.com/tsca. Or, if you’re a smart, focused, independent distributor doing a reasonable volume of sales, join the AIM SmartEQP community today at SmartEQP.com that’s SmartEQP.com.