Making It Right

The June issue shared a distributor’s question about how best to handle a customer’s request to redo the order following a communication slip-up during the approval process. Advice from several of their fellow industry professionals was included in the magazine, and the question has continued to draw responses in the month since.

This is an easy one: redo it for free. Unfortunately, you put yourself in this situation by taking a shortcut, and one of the best and honorable ways to take care of this is to redo it for free. I am betting that the cost of a bad reputation is way more expensive than redoing the order. Plus, the experience you learned from this hiccup is worth more than the order as well. This isn’t and never was on the customer. Many customers cannot picture what their products will look like in real life; they aren’t as creative as you. Live and definitely learn.

John Lavelle
Marketing Coordinator
Katz Americas
Sanborn, New York
PPAI 113336

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

For Further Reading

The May 23 issue of PPB Newslink shared a short strategic foresight article on artificial intelligence, automation and how these developments are disrupting the American workforce and bringing new opportunities and challenges to workers.

I highly recommend the book AI Superpowers by Kai-Fu Lee. It offers excellent insights on understanding the history of AI and where we are now, what it can and cannot do, and suggests how humanity can use AI for good. Me? All I really want is a decent phone answering system that doesn’t make me want to kill somebody before I can get to a live human agent to talk to.

Bruce Schermerhorn
Connector In Chief
Doster Promotions
Plainwell, Michigan

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Leading By Example

PPAI President and CEO Paul Bellantone, CAE, frequently meets and connects with industry members and others, speaking on promotional products’ power and effectiveness, and advocating for all those who work in the field. 

PPAI’s president and CEO is a charismatic guy. He is clearly committed to growing our industry and improving our brand. Though we don’t always agree, there are very few people I admire more than Paul Bellantone. 

After my recent experience with the graduates at Rockford Middle School’s Career Day during Promotional Products Work! Week, I realized the important part he played in it. What I have learned from him over the years allowed me to relate more effectively to the kids and to hopefully be a better brand ambassador for our industry. 

I sometimes wonder if Paul realizes the impact he has on the people in our industry. My experience with those students at Rockford Middle School was better because of the lessons I learned from him.  It’s always tempting to focus on products, promotions and profit margins while forgetting that we are really in the people business. Thanks, Paul!

David J. Hawes, MAS+
Brand Architect
Geiger
Minnetonka, Minnesota
PPAI 105182

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

A Fan Letter

The PPB team appreciates it when a reader lets us know how they read the magazine and what they like about it. This kind of unsolicited feedback is invaluable in planning future articles and changes to the publication.

I love reading PPB. Ever since I started with this company a few months ago, I have picked up the magazine to read one article and have found myself reading all the articles. It’s great! Thank you for all the wonderful information. One of the articles in the June edition touches on a statistic we were talking about yesterday during our full team luncheon—pets and the pet industry. So, I’m looking forward to reading it [Market To Market, page 32].

My background is in marketing, but I have been a consumer of promo products. Now, being on this side, I’m having so much fun with the huge selection of items that are available. The reason I first picked up PPB was because of the “Creative Calendar” on the back page, which was key for me in those first few months in offering new ideas for my customer base. And, with it, I have been able to hit the ground running this summer with promotional products for several new groups in the fall.

Christy Young
Customer Service Representative 
Executive Data Control
Springfield, Missouri
PPAI 242230

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Send feedback on articles in PPB or opinions on industry issues to JamesK@ppai.org. James Khattak is news editor of PPB.