Gold Bond Wins Supplier of the Year Award
At a ceremony last night during The ASI Show in Orlando, Top 40 supplier Gold Bond (asi/57653) was named the Supplier of the Year. Based on votes from distributors and supplier ratings from distributors, Gold Bond took home the night's top prize, while dozens of other suppliers won awards within the 50 different product categories of the Counselor Distributor Choice Awards.

Click here to see the full list of Distributor Choice Award winners. And click here to see photos from the event last night. Plus, click here to check out video interviews with attendees at the event.

At ASI Orlando this morning, Mark Godsey, president of Gold Bond, went on the “Hot Seat with Tim Andrews" to share some of his Supplier of the Year service secrets. Godsey talked about how his family-owned business continued to serve distributors during the difficult 2009 economy. He said the company hires people who really want to put the customer first, focuses on innovatively expanding its golf and drinkware offerings, and does its best to make sure there is sufficient inventory to fill orders. Godsey's family has owned the company since the 1970s, and transitioned ownership last year from his father, Don, to Mark last fall.

Click here to see the comprehensive ASI Show Update video, which includes an interview with Godsey last night after he accepted the Supplier of the Year award.

Introducing The ASI Show Update
Counselor's editors are all over the scene at The ASI Show in Orlando, and for 2010 we're providing a new inside video look into the goings-on at the show. In this first installment of The ASI Show Update, Counselor Staff Writer Dave Vagnoni hosts a news show about the whole event and editors on the scene file field video reports from education sessions, the show floor, and the party scene.

Click here to watch the premier episode of The ASI Show Update – including interviews with Education Day speakers and other show VIPs.

Breaking In: Keys To Success For Newbies
Hundreds of attendees packed the room on Education Day for the New Distributor Success Track, a day-long slate of courses meant to get new distributors up to speed quickly on everything from selling tactics to client retention strategies. Some of the key points attendees took from the action-packed sessions include:

• Research your best prospects. In a session led by instructor Rosalie Marcus, attendees discussed all of the ways they should learn about a prospect before making the first cold call, including researching the client's Web site and Googling newspaper articles. “Then, you can call the prospect and say, 'I've been reading about the name change your company is going through, and I have a wonderful idea I want to share with you to help promote the change,'" Marcus said.
• Don't call yourself a promotional products salesperson. “Come up with some terms that really differentiate yourself," instructor David Blaise told audience members. “One of the worst things you can say when you meet a prospect is, ‘Did you know that there are thousands of promotional products distributors in the country, and I am one of them?'" Instead, Blaise says, call yourself an “advertising counselor," an “advertising advocate," or even a “professional worrier," to differentiate yourself from the pack.

Planning For A Big 2010
Looking to get a jump on the New Year, hundreds of distributors attended early-morning Education Day sessions, including a panel discussion titled: “Money-Making Strategies For 2010." The four panelists – Ross Silverstein, president of iPROMOTEu (asi/232119), Fred Parker, CEO of Bluegrass Promotional Marketing (asi/141964), Brian Beam, owner of Geiger affiliate, The P.O.P. Shop (asi/202900) and Mike Beckman, owner of Proforma BPM (asi/300094) – spoke on a variety of topics, ranging from product safety to social networking to strategies for hiring salespeople. “This will be another great year to hire," said Silverstein. “When I call a candidate, I want to judge their professionalism."

The panelists also addressed the best markets to target for sales in 2010. “Education is certainly at the top of the list," Beam said. “Online colleges and universities are good possibilities." Added Beckman: “You need to offer solutions to clients, not products. You want to help a prospect grow their business."

Distributors To Suppliers: Improve Inventory And Service
In the "What Distributors Want" panel, moderated by Supplier Global Resource editor Michele Bell, four top distributors -- Dan Jellinek, vice president of Counselor's Fastest Growing Distributor Touchstone (asi/345631); Burke Buchanan, district manager for Top 40 distributor The Vernon Company (asi/351700); Mercy Crespo, an account executive with Top 40 distributor HALO/Lee Wayne (asi/356000); and Joey George, an account executive with Top 40 distributor American Solutions for Business (asi/120075) -- spoke to nearly 150 suppliers about what it takes to get and keep their business.

The most crucial things suppliers can do? Firm up their inventory, offer personalized service in the form of live customer service people answering calls, provide an array of case histories on suppliers' Web sites that distributors can use when selling to their clients and do regular, consistent self-promotion campaigns. "I am much more likely to sell a supplier's products if they've recently sent me a self-promotion piece that included a sample and some usable ideas because they're top of mind."

Top Sellers Share Secrets
Million-dollar salespeople enthusiastically networked with their colleagues at the “Million-Dollar Sales Summit" yesterday. The summit, led by Dale Denham, senior vice president for ASI, and Nicole Rollender, Stitches editor and director of ASI Education, gathered top industry salespeople to share best selling practices and approaches. Some of their top strategies:

1. Create and use a standout elevator pitch. “I tell prospects that I'm a promotional doctor," Anita Brooks, owner of ASB Marketing, a Geiger affiliate (asi/202900), told the group. “Then I say, ‘I diagnose your marketing problem and I cure it.'" Use promo products as a prospecting tool. “We talked to one distributor who calls prospects and says, ‘Wait, you're not interested? I have $75 worth of promo products to send you right now,'" Rollender said.
2. 3. Contact clients the way they want to be contacted. “If you're not texting clients, you have to start," Denham said. “Ask your clients how they want to be contacted – in person, on the phone, by e-mail, text or tweet – and then do it."

Get Fresh Leads Now
Here's a compelling statistic. While referrals are considered to be the single most effective way to get new business, less than 30% of all salespeople ask for referrals. So says Joanne Black, author of No More Cold Calling, who taught an education day course on how to generate more leads. “You have a choice as to how you can spend your time as a salesperson," Black told audience members. “You can hang on the phone cold calling all day long and hope to get one prospect. That's dismal. Or, you can call a bunch of referrals who are already ‘pre-sold' on you. Isn't that a much better way to spend your time?

To start a referral program, Black says distributors should first outline what the ideal referral for them would be. “Create a picture of the type of client you're looking for, and ask everybody around you to help you find those kind of people," she said. Next, create a written referral sales plan that includes weekly referral goals, and methods to track and measure your referral success.

The bottom line: Distributors need to put a disciplined plan in place for referral success, Black says, rather than make referrals an afterthought. “Referrals should be part of your sales process every single day," she said. “If they are, you'll see an immediate growth in your client base."

Self-Promo Tips From The Pros
Covering the finer points of creative self-promotion, Counselor senior editor Michele Bell moderated a panel discussion for over 250 distributors that featured Greg Muzzillo, founder and co-CEO of Proforma (asi/300094); Leo Eisner, a top sales executive for HALO/Lee Wayne (asi/356000); and Jake Krolick, ASI marketing manager for its online products and services. Muzzillo, whose company has won awards for its self-promotion campaigns, emphasized the importance of doing staggered, targeted mailings to clients and noted that sales increased by a quarter million dollars at his company after a recent four-piece mailer centered around the four elements of nature. "There's no doubt that using self-promotion increases sales," he said.

Eisner, who utilizes basic forms of self-promotion like dining cards and chocolate mailers for clients, stressed that self-promotion need not be expensive nor time-consuming. "A majority of the business I've gotten over the years has been directly because of self-promotion."

Sell More Wearables In 2010
Top wearables salespeople shared their selling secrets with attendees on Education Day in Wearables University session “Secrets From Million-Dollar Apparel Sellers," moderated by Nicole Rollender, Stitches editor and director of ASI Education. A few of their top tips:

1. Don't overwhelm your clients with too many choices on a sales call. “If you show a client nine shirts, you're sunk," said Mike Beckman, owner of Proforma-BPM (asi/300094). “You should show your client three shirts at most, in a good, better, best scenario and allow them to upsell themselves."
   
2. Offer your clients special wearables program expertise, such as in building and stocking company stores. “You can start your clients off with six to eight apparel items, and then build from there," said Neal Munn, owner of Rhino Marketing Specialties Inc., a Geiger (asi/202900) affiliate. “Every season add new items, such as jackets and windbreakers."
   
3. Wow your clients with decoration. “Show your clients amazing samples," Beckman said. “Laser engrave a whole jacket back or embroider cool designs down the shirt's sleeves."

Joe Show Day One
Counselor Managing Editor Joe Haley went on the trade show floor this morning looking for some of the hottest items to hit the industry in 2010. Wondering about the latest and greatest items to offer clients this year? The Joe Show is here for you.

Click here to watch the day-one episode of The Joe Show.

Fashion Finds Day One
Looking to show off the newest fashions in industry apparel to your customers? Stitches editor Nicole Rollender is patrolling the trade show floor at ASI Orlando looking for the latest hottest apparel available.

Trade Show Floor Opens
With much fanfare this morning, The ASI Show Orlando exhibit floor opened to an excited group of eager distributors. Counselor's cameras caught up with distributors as they made their way onto the show floor for the first industry trade show of the year.

Click here to watch the video.