The only thing that most distributor sites offer is the fact that someone can search among 3 Million products!

The header of boring sites like these usually include the distributors name, phone number and omit the business address. Examine your site to make sure that you offer customers more than the ability to look for products, because there are millions of places where they can already do that.

Add detailed information about your company and focus on things that made you successful. Perhaps you have created several successful safety programs that saved your customers money and if so, include brief descriptions of them to demonstrate your savvy.

There are many things to add to your site that will make it appear professional and cause people to do more business with you.

Most experts agree that the best ways to grow your business is by networking. Meeting potential clients at events and meetings is a successful strategy as long as you go about it in the right way.

The inevitable big question that always comes up in every networking encounter is “What do you do?” Too many people in the promotional products industry have not developed an answer that will move the conversation along. They say something like, “I sell imprinted items.” A typical response is “Oh . . . nice,” which means that the person you are talking to has no idea where to go with the conversation.

If you want to be more effective at meeting and greeting new people, you need to develop an “elevator speech,” a short description of you, what you do best and want others remember about you. It should contain approximately 90 words and be delivered in 30 seconds!

This term is taken from the early days of the Internet, when web development companies were searching for capital. Finance firms were swamped with applications for money and the companies that won the cash were the ones with a simple pitch. The winners were those that could explain a business proposition to the occupants of an elevator in the time it took to ride to their floor.

A good elevator speech could describe and sell an idea in 30 seconds or less. Today it’s any kind of short speech that sells an idea, promotes your business or markets you as an individual.

Make sure that you never focus too much on large accounts that force you to keep your ‘eggs’ in one basket!

Many sales people get way too comfortable when they derive all their income from MEGA accounts. The approach works great as long as things are rosy, but the loss of one account can turn high expectations into disaster overnight.

Examine your customer list to make sure that it is diversified in the size and types of companies that you service. You should create most of your sales from numerous small and medium sized accounts, rather than just a few large ones.

I learned the lesson the hard way. Several years ago, more than 25% of my sales volume came from just one account–The Dallas Times Herald. Then in a single day it ended when I picked up a copy of that day’s paper and the headline read, “Herald sold to the Dallas Morning News.” I lost one-fourth of my business overnight and learned quickly that I needed to expand my market.

The loss of the Herald and the need to replace the sales volume associated with it, forced me to design a bounce-back mailer program that offered a free gift to anyone who returned the card. Fortunately, the idea worked and a year after its implementation, I earned back enough customers to replace the volume that was lost when the customer went out business.

The loss of my largest account taught me to never put my eggs in one basket!