Exclusive distributor educational training videos: Healthcare, Event Marketing & Restaurant Uniforms

Healthcare Markets for Promotional Product Sales This educational @promotionsman webinar will help you sell to #Healthcare markets by understanding better who the wide variety of clients are in this group, what their challenges are and how you can help them find solutions using #promotionalproducts.
Healthcare is a very viable and important market. We need to take advantage of its rapid growth and be involved with the nation’s most prolific sector.

• Top job growth is in Healthcare & Government
• Every 7.5 seconds, a Boomer turns 60
• Highly competitive Elder Care Market – It is not uncommon to have 25-50 nursing homes in a 15-20 mile radius that are targeted as facility competitors. It is important that a facility become the first thought to enter a consumer or referral sources mind when needing a nursing home, whether for long or short-term care.

• As new PhRMA codes on Interactions for Healthcare Professionals take effect, Ad Specialties Distributors are finding it necessary to be more creative with their sales to the Medical industry.

 

Exclusive distributor educational training videos on becoming an expert in Healthcare, Event Marketing & Restaurant Uniforms promotional sales.

Real Promotional Products are in Pink! Special Distributor Pricing on Awareness Marketing Products.

Samples of Success on Your Next Sales Campaign

We’re Not Your Grandmother’s Apron: For decades, the apron was associated with the 1950’s symbol of the happy American housewife. (Think high heels and pearl necklace as well and you get the image.) In the decades that followed, the apron fell under the radar thanks to changing tastes and a transition into the women’s liberation movement.

Today, the apron is back and better than ever. The two most popular types – the bib apron (which covers the chest and lower half of the body) and the waist apron (which covers only the lower half) – have continued to evolve. Order your FREE Sample Apron to see our new styles, colors & uniform / promotional features that fit any industry apparel branding option.

http://www.apronsetc.com/free-samples/apron-samples-free

Rethink Aprons…We’re Not Your Grandmother’s Fashion Accessory!

Aprons Etc.’s 2013 Virtual Catalogs online – Event Marketing Displays & Service Industry Uniforms

Medical Scrub Uniform Closeouts – Tops, Pants & Sets

Scrub Closeouts
$2.50 net per pcs. – $4 net per set –   All Sizes
Tops: #NG6241      Pants:  #NG1152
Min. order:  24 pcs. or 12 sets Choose from the following color options to order as sets or mix and match tops and bottoms – Ceil Blue, Purple, Teal, Royal & Navy Inquire for stock and ordering details: 800-467-1996 info@apronsetc.com

Same Branding Impact @ 70% Saving…Try Budget Disposables

Aprons, Aprons, and more Aprons…the creative advertising billboard

Aprons, Aprons, and more Aprons…We sell Aprons! Does that come as a surprise to you? Of course it doesn’t. You read the name of the company. You see the title of this blog entry. But, really, we sell lots of aprons: Twill, Polyester, Non-woven disposable. Aprons that tie in the back, under the arm (these are officially called Cobbler Smocks), and aprons with no-ties. Velcro your way to comfort. No kidding.

Who can you sell these to, you wonder? The imprints we see are all over the place. Nascar. Really. We had a re-order with the Nascar official imprint for years. Corporations which have no connection to cooking. Small businesses. Of course, we do get the Wine and Food imprints – that makes sense. But just because your customer doesn’t focus on eating or drinking doesn’t mean they might not have an interest in an apron promotion. Can’t hurt to find out.

Aprons can make a terrific promotion because people do get weary of t-shirts. Plus, if you have a substantial following by women, they may actually wear the apron while they are home working. In the kitchen. In the yard. In the… well, you get my idea.

If you’re of the old-fashioned thinking that aprons are only for food or wine imprints, shake your mindset out of the past. Literally, shake your head hard. Take out your note pad. Now. Start writing down ideas of your customer base who could use aprons. Who have a promotion in which they want a wearable but they want something a little different. Then gander through our catalog. Call your Sales Advisor, and ask them what kinds of different prints we have done that might make an interesting yet different apron.

For starters, we have a checkerboard pattern fabric that can used with any of our items. Bib apron, waist apron, colored print on top of the checkerboard. Imagine it, and we will create an E-proof for you to see with your idea. At no charge. We also have a cowprint stock pattern with which you can do the same thing. Get creative on your end and let us help you create. Once you make that list of customers, give us a call and lets see what kind of idea book we can create. Call Pam Pennington 800-467-1996 x127, our National Sales Manager. She will help you to come up with innovative ideas.

For further ideas, you can print the bottom half of the apron. Or the bottom right side. Or the whole thing. The options are out there for you to make this seemingly standard item an eye-catching promotion. Take a look at this one. Brown apron on the bottom left. Nice, huh? More importantly, eye-catching and creative.

Want some samples to play with ? Email us and ask for 2-3 of our best styles – with your freight number, its free – info@apronsetc.com. Your job is to sell – ours is to make you look good. Let’s create.

Our New Look – The Idea Book featuring (9) Industry Lifestyle sections

Our New Look – The Idea Book
Scott went on a trip. He went to a meeting. There, he spoke with and listened to many of the top distributor CEO’s and officers. They had ideas. They discussed these ideas. How could suppliers be more creative with their salespeople? It is the ongoing conundrum of this industry. How could the marketing material (reads catalog) reflect more of the options which would help distributors – and ultimately the end user – to create a 3-way partnership? Supplier (us) – Distributor (you) – End User (need/sale/profit). Yeah, I changed analogies in the middle of that. But it is a 3-way partnership, isn’t it?

Ultimately, what Scott discovered is that the distributors wanted more creativity from their suppliers. They wanted (so the CEO’s said) more ideas that they could convert to sales to their customers. They wanted a stronger partnership. Scott thought long and hard about that. He returned to Aprons, Etc. with his thinking cap on. And he made notes, researched other catalogs, thought, looked, made more notes, and ultimately arrived at the 2011 Aprons, Etc. IdeaBook. It’s different. Really. Here you will find ideas for your marketplace. He was looking for different. Creative. Not the standard product listings only. What he arrived at was a more cohesive way of looking at our product line. Scott knew that our lines fit into certain markets much more clearly and effectively than they do other markets.

In the 2011 catalog, take a look at the table of contents. Find your customer market area and take a stroll there. From our product line to your customer. American made products important to your customer? Healthcare organizations a big portion of your customer base (or you would like for it to be)? Tailgating promotions with your college customer? Hospitality venues and restaurants need your ideas? Event Marketing a big opportunity for you? Schools and universities need ideas from you for their promotions? Onsite Marketing and sampling? Budget-minded (cheap) promotions for 1-time uses? Environmentally responsible ideas important to your customer? The market areas are here for you to discover. For you to begin your own creative process in offerings to your customers.

This is a lot to absorb. Tomorrow, I will elaborate on the products in one category. But you get the idea. Or you can, if you open the catalog or head to the website.

Scott’s idea was that we create the IdeaBook that would enable you – the distributor – to become more creative in your own sales process and to know once you take a look which products will fit your customer. Try it. I think you’ll find it a great tool in your sales this year.

Let us know what you think. This is different – not a standard product catalog but an IdeaBook for you.

Keeping up with the “no’s”

Superb (Customer) Service About: Keeping up with the “no’s”

Do you know what your customer service department is saying “no” to? Do you have any idea of lost sales opportunities because of these “no’s”? Do you want those opportunities? 

These questions are designed to make you think. How do you identify trends? Here’s a thought-provoking question – how often have you thought something like this – “Our company should have offered that (fill in the blank) long ago.” Or “that was a simple idea – why didn’t I think of it?” Do you brainstorm with your employees – in particular your customer service and sales people – to see what the trends are? How can you predict those trends? Are you in touch with your competitors? Seeing exactly where they are headed? What they are offering that is now completely different from what they offered a year ago? Are they following you?

Here’s a suggestion. Plan a regular brain-storming session with your customer service department. Let them talk out loud (very loud) about what they do that works. Everyone has a particular way of doing something. It may be in their greeting to the customer. It may be in their ending line in emails. It may be in their timing on quotes and follow-ups. Let them talk. Then ask them to suggest. This means you put your ego aside. You don’t talk. You ask questions and listen and take notes. Let me say that again. You don’t talk. You take notes.

I believe that lots of American innovation stops right at the door to our businesses. We don’t take into account – and listen VERY CLOSELY – to what our employees have to say. If anything, we shut them down. We tell them all the reasons why we can’t do – whatever their suggestion may be. There could be valid reasons not to make changes. The ideas are too expensive, we don’t have the manpower, we aren’t currently technologically savvy enough – there are always good reasons to shut down creativity. Stop doing that. I’m going to say that again. Stop shutting down creativity. Find a way to enhance and encourage and applaud creative problem solving ideas. Make your customer service department a huge part of your problem solving committee. Create inclusive creative responses from your team by applauding them with their ideas, having sessions (with food) in which to listen to them. Use what you can, and offer recognition when you do.

This is all a part of keeping up with the “no’s”. And using your employees as your strongest trend-identifiers. And problem solvers. With a brain storming session. Try it, and let me know how it goes.