Another Environmental Homer

Let’s review the ‘categories’ of environmentally friendly advertising products we discussed last entry. They will either be

1) recyclable, reusable or biodegradable

2) renewable, sustainable, organic or somehow do no (or less) harm to the environment when manufactured, or

3) made from recycled materials.

I love using the baseball metaphor for ranking the environmental friendliness of a product. If a product falls into one of the categories, it is a single. If it meets two, it is a double. Products that fall into all three of the categories we will call triples, AND if it is on special, then it is a home run. As in baseball, we have a lot of singles in our database, fewer doubles and even fewer triples. Home runs are few and far between. Here is another

This is the Eco’brella from Four Seasons. Both the canopy and the frame are made from recycled materials, the fabric is certified to not contain any harmful substances, the handle is bamboo which is both renewable and biodegradable, and it is on sale through 09/01/10. The sale price for 50 or more of these environmentally responsible umbrellas is $19.98 each and we will even throw in free setup, saving our customers another $50. Another one out of the park!

We can’t always hit homers, though. We will talk about some triples next time.

Steve

www.raggo.com

Hitting Environmental Home Runs

Well...so much for resolutions, eh? I resolved at the beginning of this year not to let this blog thing go unattended for long stretches of time. For those of you who are counting, it has indeed been about 4 months without an entry. Time flies, doesn't it? I suppose that all new habits need refocusing and readjusting occasionally. Thank you to Jim, the web guy extraordinaire in my Wednesday Leadshare Group, for holding me accountable and reminding me that blogging is an everyday (or at least an every week) thing.

Perhaps I would have an easier time blogging if I focused on products instead of me. We will try that.

Nowadays, many consumers are thinking about the ways that their buying choices effect the environment. Businesses are no different, but in the business world it becomes more of an economic issue rather than a political one. In this time of tightening budgets, for instance, most businesses are taking steps to reduce expenses. These can be as simple as replacing old light bulbs with new, energy efficient ones. (Available with your imprint). More proactive measures might include encouraging customers to bring their own shopping bags, or asking if they even need a bag, instituting a telework program or giving incentives to carpoolers. These are simple measures, but added together they can help to reduce costs on both the corporate wallet, and on the environment.

You might have taken steps in your own life to become environmentally-responsible even though you weren’t trying. After all, reducing waste and consuming fewer resources ought to have an economic benefit of some sort. Perhaps, in an attempt to lower your printing costs, you have begun to recycle ink jet or toner cartridges in your business. Maybe you chose energy efficient appliances, bought some of those colorful tote bags from the grocery store or you even replaced a few bulbs in your own house with those long-lasting ones.

Whether or not you are personally concerned with such things, many of your customers likely are. To address both your promotional need and their environmental sensibilities, advertising products are popping up everyday claiming the mantle of ‘environmental responsibility’. There are more than 36000 products from over 500 manufacturers in our database that claim to be environmentally friendly. Before we go any further, though, let’s take a look at the term “environmentally-responsible.” Loosely defined, environmentally-responsible people examine their habits and work toward living a life that creates less waste, consumes fewer natural resources and attempts to reduce any negative impact that their actions have on the environment. It would follow then that environmentally-responsible products either create less waste, consume fewer resources or are less environmentally destructive than their non-environmentally-responsible counterparts. Simply stated they are either

1) recyclable, reusable, biodegradable or somehow do not end up in a land fill or degrade quickly when they do,

2) sustainable, renewable, organic, or at least does no harm to the environment when produced, or they are

3) produced from recycled materials.

Some of the products we offer fit only one category. Some however fit into all three of the categories above. One that does fit all three is the wire-bound Ecomaxx monthly planner from Payne Publishers. It is made from 100% recycled paper, the cover is 100% recycled coverstock, 30% post consumer (PCW) fiber, the wire binding is 90% recycled wire, and it is 100% chlorine free (PCF). So, it is biodegradable (#1 above), does not use harsh chemicals (Chlorine) when produced (#2 above) and is made from recycled everything (#3 above). Additionally, there are ecological "green tips" each page and if you order before July 30, you get a 10% discount. All this AND your ad gets daily exposure. Sounds like a home run do me. A weekly version is also available if you prefer that format.

More 'home run' eco-friendly products next time.

Steve

Sn....oooooooh......no.....

Soooo....more snow. Good thing I sell snow shovels! We had something around 2 feet this past weekend and I guess another 12 inches of so is expected overnight and into tomorrow. The average snowfall for the DC area is around 21 inches each year, so we will get more than 150% of our annual expected snowfall in less than one week!

Wonderful.

Looking out of my dungeon/office window at the snow, I am reminded of the snow globes we did for a local church. They were looking for ways to raise money for a building project and we suggested the globes. We took a series of photos of the current building....

...sent them off to the manufacturer and got a pre-production proof back in about a month. After the appropriate approvals, we produced and delivered 500 of them (the minimum order) in about 3 months. Voila...

They can work from artists' drawings as well, so we can produce the domes with replicas of a building not yet built. Actually, any 3-Dimensional object, real OR imagined would be suitable. If you are interested in selling snow globes as a way of raising funds for your organization this year, now would be a good time to start - especially if a committee is involved. That way we can get them in time for the Holiday selling season.

Remember, now, there are only 318 shopping days left until Christmas! I wonder if I sell snow blowers...hmmm.

Steve
www.raggo.com

Save The Last Dance For Me

I need a break from shoveling snow! (Snow Totals) I haven't been this sore for a very long time.

One of my favorite customers forwarded me an email recently. The original email was from one of our online competitors (Yes, some of them are STILL in business!) and it offered the environmentally friendly, recycled cardboard ink pen with bamboo clip shown on the right at special pricing - $0.59 each plus set up and shipping for 200 or more pens.

It is a pretty good price. List for 200 is $0.66 ea, so it is a 10% discount.

Her 7 word message to me:

"Hi, Steve. Check this out. We're interested..."

She understands.

Her company has been doing business with us for almost as long as we have been open for business - 13 years this August. They know us. They know that our job - our only job - is to get them the right product at the right price and deliver it on time. I looked at the pen then looked through our sale sheets and sent her the following email.

"Thank you for thinking of us. We do have them...but they are less expensive. Here is the info

We can increase the pricing if you need us to. $0.59 each is fine with me ;^)

Let us know if you want us to proceed at $0.44 with no set up.

Steve"

By asking us, she saved 33% instead of 10%!

The concept that she and many of our long-time customers understand is that we are a full-line distributor. We are not bound by a certain set of manufacturers or by franchise or corporate agreements. When our suppliers - there are thousands of them - offer us sale pricing, we pass it along. We have multiple suppliers for most of the products we offer (9 different suppliers of the pen above) which means that they are competing for my attention and business while I am competing for yours. Since we have thousands of manufacturers with thousands of products on special at any one time, we cannot possibly list them all. Our Specials pages contain many of the sale items from our 'go-to' manufacturers, but it doesn't list all of them.

So, if you see something you want somewhere else, let us know. We understand...it's OK to look. Just be sure to contact us before you buy. Chances are very good that if one of our competitors has it on sale, we do too. But we will give you ALL of the discount instead of only part of it.

Steve
www.raggo.com

Being Remembered for Saying Thanks

I don't know if you belong to any leadshare, network marketing, BNI or other type of referral marketing groups. If you don't, you are missing out on not just the referrals that you might get, but advice and ideas from folks who have and are running businesses. Last year I had the opportunity to speak to one of the lead share groups I belong to. During that 10 minute presentation, I told them about my future blogging exploits and asked them to write on the back of their business cards, one or two topics that they would be interested reading here. In order to encourage participation, I promised to draw one card from all of the suggestions and give one of our chocolate-dipped 'Thank you' cookies to that person. Theresa, the real estate agent extraordinaire in our group, asked a really great question:

"How do I give something with my advertisement on it to someone and make them think it is a gift"

It's a great question because it gets to the heart of what we try to accomplish when we use ad specialties as business gifts. We want the giftee to think fondly of us as we give them the item and to remember us warmly whenever they use or look at the item in the future. Now, you can't expect to get that effect by handing them a pen or a mug and saying, "Here. Take this item with my logo on it." It won't matter if it is a $0.71 Bic Clic Stic or a $146 Waterman Carene.

Instead, we have to 'romance' it a bit. Put it in a gift box or basket. Better yet, put their name on it along with yours. When you give it to them, don't just say "Here." Tell they why you are giving it to them and what you want them to remember whenever they use the item. If you can't be there, add the sentiment to a card included with the gift. Make a big deal of it.

A few years back I gave our best referral sources - the folks in each of the Leadshare groups I belong to who referred the biggest new customers that year - Waterman pens. At the next meeting, when the time for announcements came, I stood up and explained to the group about the award I was giving, showed them the pen (Waterman pens still get oohs and aahs) and asked the award winners to come and get their pens. I shook each person's hand and said so everyone could hear, "I want you to remember whenever you use this pen, that my job at Raggo Advertising Products is to help you write more business." and then I promised them that they would never run out of ink. All they had to do was call me and I would get them a refill.

I gave them a 'memory hook' and I made the hook personal. I hope that they still remember.

So, romance it up a bit. Put a bow on it or wrap it in gift wrap or buy a gift basket and add the item to it. Put their name on it if at all possible. Whatever you do, though, make it memorable and make it personal.

Thanks, Theresa

Steve

Fun and Clever Things!

I am aways amazed at the variety of our products and the variations in the ways that they can be used. A few years ago I had a client who was looking for pens that had a really big circumference, like the Bic WideBody Grip or the Big Kahuna from Gold Bond. These are over-sized pens with grips. They are appreciated by almost everyone (ie., they have a higher perceived value than smaller, but similarly priced pens). They are especially coveted by those folks getting up there in age, like me, as well as arthritis and other joint-pain sufferers. My customer's best prospects were people over 50, so it seemed like a good idea. Anyway, I entered 'large pens' into my database and got 1300+ listings. That was too many to quickly look through, so I changed terms to 'wide pens' and got about 500 selections. Finally, I entered 'giant pens' and out came 29.

Glancing through the list I clicked on the Giant Monster Pen from Great Big Stuff. Wow! 1.5 feet in length and it writes! Ha! That's longer than most people's forearms! "Too big for our use" I thought. "Who could I show this to?"

Fast forward a few years and I am sitting in one of the referral marketing groups I belong to. We had decided that, in order to increase the number of referrals we pass, we would reward the member who passed the most leads with a gift certificate to the restaurant we met at as well as a trophy which would be passed to subsequent referral leaders. Kind of like the Stanley Cup, but cheaper and without the blood and broken teeth. Something that conveys bragging rights. Linda, our group's new Secretary, said, "We should get something fun and clever!" As I was driving back to the office I thought "What do we give the person who writes a lot of leads? OH! Why not a giant ink pen. After all, it takes a lot of ink to write a lot of leads!"

After getting the requisite approvals, we ordered one in, took it over to Dave, the sign maker in our group, to be lettered and...wait for it...wait for it...TA DA! here is our Leadshare Group's Quarterly Referral Award Trophy

Clever and fun, right? Now if I could just find an efficient way to market them to all of the business networking, leadshare and referral marketing groups around the globe. Some medium that doesn't cost any money, but can be seen by everyone, everywhere searching for referral trophies. Hmmm...Any ideas?

Steve
www.raggo.com

Trial, Balloons

Ahhh....I have remembered one of the reasons I stopped making New Year's resolutions. It's the whole business of having to keep (or at least trying to keep) them. There is usually a pretty good reason why we needed to make the resolution in the first place - why we needed that extra 'prod' to our consciences that resolutions represent. It usually has something to do with liking the things that we resolve to give up or not liking the things we resolve to do. After spending a good number of hours this past week updating our Specials pages and repairing broken links on our web site, I found out on Friday that the repairs needed to be repaired again and some of the links that were working on our Specials pages no longer worked. I guess our vendors were working on their web page resolutions as well. Such a hard life I lead... (I know, I know, everyone is laughing)

So I have repaired the repairs and updates. Let me know if you find any of the hyperlinks on our web pages don't work. There is a sugar cookie dipped in dark chocolate in it for you!

I did notice something unusual this year while updating the Specials. For the first time in a very long time balloons are on sale - even the mylar ones. Balloons are one of those ad specialties that have never really needed to go on sale. They are quite inexpensive without the sale discount, and usually in fair demand. Think about it. Just about every event we celebrate can be celebrated with balloons. Open houses, anniversaries, Grand Openings, fairs, trade shows and award ceremonies almost always include balloons either falling from the ceiling or tied to sign posts or carried by kids of all ages. After all, if you are exhibiting at a trade show or expo or street fair of any kind, wouldn't you think it was great if everyone walked past your competitor's booth carrying one of your balloons!