Record Breaking Month!

In November of 2005, Distributors’ Extreme Makeover contestants Weekend Warrior, of Pittsburgh PA achieved a record-breaking sales month.

Up 237% from November of 2004 (year over year) Ed and Maura Burgess rang up nearly $20,000 in sales. Makeover consultant David Blaise is not surprised.

"Maura and Ed have done an excellent job of defining themselves in their market," said Blaise. "They've attracted a lot of new business by positioning themselves as real ROI providers and they've been able to use the tools they've received from ASI to their competitive advantage."

Ed Burgess recently shared a few thoughts about how they achieved their recent success

Q: Tell us a little about why November was your best sales month ever? 

A: We started a new approach to sales with the Distributors’ Extreme Makeover contest. The consistent messaging and marketing of that approach resulted in a lot of orders coming through in November. The best news for us is that most of the business was from new clients. If all goes to plan, they will be using us in the coming year as well.

Q: What do you do to set yourself apart from the competition? 

A: We focus on a main theme of "Promotions that Drive Profits---7 Days a Week" and that drives just about everything we do.  Our emphasis is on B2B and selling to organizations that actually care about their Return on Investment (ROI) and don't treat our industry as just a necessary evil. 

We spend a good amount of time with prospects in our initial meeting to understand their marketing direction and needs. This initial meeting, coupled with some pre-meeting research, helps us better qualify the prospect and lets them see that our thought process is different than most companies in our industry. 

Honestly, if they see no difference, then they must have a good vendor, and we might want to move on to the next one.  However, as ASI surveys support, 85 % of our competition NEVER discusses ROI, so most of the time, once we are in front of the right people, we score! 

Q: How has the Distributors’ Extreme Makeover given you an edge?  

ESP Online is now a way of life for us. It enables us to work quickly, accurately and efficiently; especially when we send Client Projects back and forth between us. This new feature seems to have been custom-built for our business model!

Also, our LogoMall website; created, supported and hosted by ASI, makes us look much bigger than we are and gives us instant credibility.  If our competitor's website is "thrown together" or hasn't been updated in ages, we have a big advantage. Right from the start, I want prospects to be using my site, and raise the bar for all other competitors to match.

ASItransact has been a big help for Maura who handles our back-end finance and order processing. She loves the accountability and audit trail of this system.  Most of the vendors we used are ASItransact-enabled, and we have used this as a tie-breaker between suppliers with equal product lines.  Suppliers that use ASItransact indicate automatically to us that they are forward-thinking and progressive---just like us.

Q: How did ESP Online factor into your best sales month ever?   A: It was paramount in that we rely on ESP Online as a project manager for every deal we do!  I don't know how distributors that don’t use it keep all the balls in the air at once.  We save time on vendor selection, idea creation, sourcing, pricing, etc… ACE is also a tremendous help, especially when we want to email the catalog page and/or price every item on a page. It’s especially helpful when a customer is undecided on the exact item they want (they may have an idea, but they aren't 100% sure).

For margin management, a key for our business, ESP Online is just fantastic!  Our clients don't focus on the price of ‘one item versus another that’s exactly the same’; they focus on which promotional item works best with the message they are trying to communicate.  With 750,000 or more products available at a moment’s notice, we can keep our margins up without significant discussions on price. 

Q: What do you think of the new LogoMall shopping engine?  

A: It’s awesome and has actually changed our sales process a bit!  I sent out an email announcing the change to my customer and prospect base and will be using it on sales calls now, since it is so easy to use. 

We’re also using LogoMall’s ‘My Account’ feature as a sales tool. I recently set up a secure account for a prospect, selected a few items for him, and saved them to his wish list. I then was able to send him an exclusive login to review the items at his convenience.

Q: How have ASI catalogs helped your business?  

A: Not everyone likes to look at items on their computer. Having something tangible to hold and see is good. I also believe that they provide credibility in establishing us in the community.  We can meet any request we get for a catalog. They have come in handy for tradeshows and for general marketing activities. 

Q: What other factors have contributed to your success  

A: Technologo and Affinity have played parts in our success as well.  We have come to think of them as extensions of our regular business offerings.  Technologo enables our customers to visualize our ideas BEFORE they buy; and Affinity helps us bring those ideas to life!  Also, the amount of time saved by using Affinity for artwork more than pays for itself. 

Q: What advice do you have for other distributors?   

A: Move aside and let us through?  Actually, for those NOT directly in competition with us, they should take a look at their website, marketing materials, etc. and ask themselves if those materials deliver the message that they want to deliver, in the manner that they want to deliver it.  

They should also look at their processes and procedures and determine if they match their marketing approach.  If not, there is a disconnect and they should probably get help from David Blaise and ASI as soon as possible.