10 Things You Need to Know To Become a Promotional Professional
By Paul Kiewiet, MAS, CIP, CPC
1. All major sports teams have coaches. If you want to play in the major league, get coaching. Our industry has several good ones.
2. If you want to be good, hang around those who already are. Your regional association is where the really good hang out. Get involved, volunteer, serve. You?ll meet the best in the industry. You?ll find your mentor.
3. Customers remember only a few of your words. They never forget the essence of who you are. Work on who you are, more than what you say.
4. Don?t rush to make a sale. Clients forgive a lot of the things that can go wrong with an order. A bad recommendation, a promotion that makes them look bad is forever.
5. Everything you ever wanted to know about promotional products can be learned at your regional and international associations. Read the publications from cover to cover. Attend every workshop, seminar and presentation that you can. You are lucky to be in an industry with the breadth of free education and professional development it offers.
6. This is a crazy business, but that doesn't mean that you need to go crazy. Don't go bonkers if someone drops the ball sometimes. It?s going to happen. I know of no long-term calamities befalling mankind because of a screwed up order. Yes, it is the end of the world, until you let go. Take the lessons from it and move on.
7. Never compete on price. No one wins.
8. Don't try to do it all. Everything you learn from reps, from PPAI, from ASI, from your regionals and from your reps shouldn't be everything you know. Take only what fits for you, your style, your market, and leave the rest behind.
9. Have a passion for what you do. It will help you get through those missed deadlines, lost packages, bad artwork, unrealistic clients, unreliable resources and those days when the entire universe conspires against you.
10. Have fun. If you are not enjoying what you are doing, why do it?
Paul Kiewiet.Coach, Speaker, Facilitator
Paul, a former chairman of the Promotional Products Association International, is an international speaker, writer, coach and facilitator. He earned the Master Advertising Specialist from PPAI and the Certified Incentive Professional designation from the Association of Incentive Marketing.
Paul is also a Certified Life Coach from Fowler Wainwright International Institute of Professional Coaching. He's the winner of six Golden Pyramid Awards from PPAI for creativity and results and has received two ASI Spirit Awards including Marketer of the Year.
Paul will be the Keynote Speaker at the AzPPA Expo Professional Development lunch on August 26. More details and a registration link will be available soon.
Corporate Sales Manager at our headquarters in Peoria, Arizona. Candidates will need to have a strong knowledge of the promotional products industry and advertising specialty distributors. Candidates will also be expected to develop a strong relationship with internal and external sales representatives and customers. Manager will need to have exceptional communication skills and an ability to interact with sales teams and customers. Also, be able to develop new business opportunities and brand awareness for Antigua products and services.
