Posts Tagged advertising specialties

That headline caught my eye on a recent issue of Folio, a magazine for publication professionals. While the related article focused on how publishers are cutting costs and mining for new business, that edgy header spoke to me of a profound opportunity our industry should not ignore. It reminded me that, in these dark times, our industry has perhaps its biggest chance to leap-frog ahead of other media and fill the bill for marketers who want to reach, impress, engage and create a memorable brand experience for their customers and potential customers. As bleak as times are, there may have never been a better time for promotional products.

Despite the doom and gloom, I recently talked with a guy who is not about to let these dark days rain on his parade. His name is Jacob Scoby and he sells for full-service distributor Custom Specialties, Inc. in Lenexa, Kansas. Last year Scoby hit nearly $600,000 in sales. But wait—he’s only 25 and just completed his first full year in sales. Scoby started at the firm fresh out of college with a degree in kinesiology from Kansas State University. When he didn’t get into med school, he joined his brother, Luke Scoby, at CSI in July 2007. He thought he’d give it a shot. Now he’s hooked on the business.

With no experience or formal training, he made those sales the hard way—by locking himself in a room with a list of prospects and making cold calls. “I failed miserably at first,” he says, “But I’m a competitive guy. I wanted to beat the top sales guy in the office.”

For Scoby, making a sales call is second nature—maybe because when he was about 10 years old, his dad would ask him to dial phone numbers and get people on the phone before his dad took the receiver.

Listening to Scoby talk, it’s easy to see why he’s so successful. “I’m not a traditional type of salesperson. If their business is on hold right now or they are doing business with their brother-in-law, I see where else I can help. I want them to think of me down the road. I want them to get to where they are trying to go whether it’s a sale for me or not. I want to be an overall resource.”

Scoby says the biggest mistake salespeople can make is sitting back and waiting for the orders to come in. And the second biggest mistake is to put all their eggs in one basket by having just one or two clients. He believes in diversifying along with being humble, not pushy, showing customers a warm personality and remembering that no matter how good you are, you can always do better.

“That’s where my competitive personality always kicks in,” he explains. “It’s hard for me to imagine being in a job that’s not totally dependent on how I perform. If I had the same paycheck coming in every two weeks, it would be hard for me to be motivated.”

Scoby readily admits he’s going to have to work harder this year to meet his goals. “Even if the economy was hunky dory, I’d say I’m going to work harder in 2009 than in 2008 because that’s just me,” he says, adding that he’s still optimistic about exceeding sales from 2008.

Scoby says 70 percent of his customers so far this year are new customers—won through all those phone calls and a liberal dose of super service. “I find my own customers. It’s not hard to find new people to call. I’m not afraid to pick up the phone and call a multi million-dollar company. The possibilities are endless. Everyone is a potential customer.”

His advice to all promotional products salespeople is simple: “Activity, activity, activity. You’ve got to keep enthusiasm up. Don’t get discouraged. It’s hard to not get down in the dumps when you don’t have a good day or week. Do it until you fail and then do it again. Don’t get stagnated in the fact that you don’t have customers coming in. The (salespeople) who are successful don’t see a limit—y