2005JUN | PPB Mag


How strongly is customer service stressed at your company?
It's the most important thing we do. It's fairly important. We don't focus much on it at all.

2005JUN

Apparel

Eye On Apparel
By: Lisa Horn Issue: 2005JUN
Executive men. You can find them from the small home office to the posh corner suite. As sole proprietors or CEOs of Fortune 1000 companies, they have one thing in common: they are executives...Full Article

Apparel 201

Ask The Experts
By: Lisa Horn Issue: 2005JUN
From tees and fleece to polos and jackets, apparel claims the largest slice—nearly 30 percent—of the promotional products sales pie...Full Article

Improve Your Whole Life--How Choosing The Right Decorator Can Impact You And Your Customers
By: Greg Edwards Issue: 2005JUN
Choosing a decorator to either screen print or embroiderer your clients’ goods is one of the most important decisions a promotional products distributor will make because your relationship with the client is on the line...Full Article

Making A Good Compression
By: Lisa Horn Issue: 2005JUN
Of all the thousands of garments in the promotional marketplace, none is more popular than the t-shirt. A rainbow of colors—and every shade in between—is available to match any promotion’s theme...Full Article

Indian Summer
By: Lisa Horn Issue: 2005JUN
“The air is perfectly quiescent and all is stillness, as if Nature, after her exertions during the Summer, were now at rest.” —John Bradbury, 1817 As summer transitions into autumn, nature’s color palette becomes softer…more subdued...Full Article

Are Brand Names Really That Important?
By: Lisa Horn Issue: 2005JUN
Brands. We’re surrounded by them—at the supermarket, drug store and shopping mall. Ads flood the TV, radio and internet, hyping the latest product introductions and solidifying a brand’s status in the consumer hierarchy...Full Article

Book Excerpt

Big Vision, Small Business—Four Keys To Success Without Growing Big
By: Audrey Davis Issue: 2005JUN
This book demonstrates that a company doesn’t have to be big to make a significant impact. According to author Jamie S. Walters, a new kind of business owner is emerging...Full Article

Chair's Letter

Hit The Ground Running
By: Danny Sirmon, MAS Issue: 2005JUN
The story goes that from the instant the rabbit wakes each day, he knows he must be quicker and smarter than the slowest bobcat or he will surely become that day’s dinner...Full Article

Closing Call

Technoverload, Or The Age Of Dot-Duh
By: Scott A. Nussinow, MAS Issue: 2005JUN
I often feel out of my element (and sometimes, just plain overwhelmed) with respect to the newest, latest and greatest “technology” marketing and communication tools...Full Article

Editor's Notes

Do The Math
By: Lisa Horn Issue: 2005JUN
For most of us, math probably wasn’t a favorite subject in school—it was difficult! Whether it was doing long division in fourth...Full Article

Features

Cyber-Stalkers Abound
By: Patricia S. Eyres Issue: 2005JUN
Dangers lurk in cyberspace. Every business, regardless of size or industry, should have an easily understood, consistently enforceable...Full Article

2004 Sales: Making Up Lost Ground
By: Alan D. Fletcher, Ph.D., Rick Ebel and Saritha Kuruvilla Issue: 2005JUN
In 2004, end buyers and promotional products distributors renewed their vows and went off on a second honeymoon. The PPAI Estimate...Full Article

Buy You A Drink?
By: Cherri Gann Issue: 2005JUN
At $898 million, according to last year’s PPAI’s annual Estimate of Distributor Sales, drinkware sales were no slouch. “With any...Full Article

Get Fit
By: Cherri Gann Issue: 2005JUN
How much did your company’s healthcare costs increase this year? Every business manager and owner greets this tough topic with a pained expression and a heavy sigh...Full Article

Frontlines

Frontlines
By: Cherri Gann Issue: 2005JUN
DIGITAL REVOLUTION It’s a visual revolution when hi-resolution Digital Color Graphics appear on writing instruments and pen lights...Full Article

Ideas

Ideas At A Glance
By: Cherri Gann Issue: 2005JUN
Can Gossiping On The Job Really Hurt You? Whether it’s complaining in the breakroom with a co-worker about the latest comp-time...Full Article

Inside PPAI

Inside PPAI
By: PPAI Issue: 2005JUN
PPAI HealthCare Solutions Because healthcare issues are of such universal importance, PPAI members have requested for years that the Association offer some assistance...Full Article

Management

The Price Of Security?
By: Sue-Ann Linnemann Issue: 2005JUN
Two years ago, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created to unify the United States’ agencies with responsibility for protecting our homeland...Full Article

Marketing

Why Customers Buy And Still Leave Shortly After
By: Sean D'Souza Issue: 2005JUN
You’re at Emile’s. This isn’t just any restaurant. It’s Emile’s. You’ve had reservations for months. You’ve read all the glowing reviews that say the food is exquisite and the vino is straight out of Wine-Spectator magazine’s award-winning wine list...Full Article

Money Matters

No ‘Float’ But Faster Funds Via Check 21
By: Mark E. Battersby Issue: 2005JUN
There is a new banking system that allows businesses to convert all checks received into electronic “substitute” checks. In addition to eliminating the need to physically deposit checks, this new procedure means funds are credited to accounts quicker...Full Article

Newsline

Newsline
By: Brittany Glenn Stanislaus Issue: 2005JUN
PPB Newslink: To provide readers with up-to-date and timely news stories, PPB also covers news in its weekly electronic newsletter, PPB Newslink, the official business weekly of Promotional Products Association International...Full Article

Readers' Mail

Readers' Mail
By: PPAI Issue: 2005JUN
MARKETING TO END USERS The March issue of Incentive Magazine featured a story titled “PPAI Rejoins Motivation Show,” in which PPAI...Full Article

Real People

‘My Dream Kept Me Going’
By: Anne Pechuls Issue: 2005JUN
For Debi Blasi, it took a group of floss-freak friends on a weekend boat trip to turn on her imagination for inventing a floss container her friends could keep on a key chain...Full Article

Sales

Corporate Awards Can Increase Sales
By: Sally Stewart Issue: 2005JUN
When my daughters were five and six, we spent many of the hot summer afternoons at our local swimming pool. On Saturday mornings, we’d walk down the dusty path to meet other moms and their giggling offspring for swim meets...Full Article

Technology

Get Your E-mail Flyers Noticed
By: Stephen Ghelerter Issue: 2005JUN
E-mail messages from suppliers are flooding distributors’ offices. Some days they may get more than 25 messages, and very few of them will be read...Full Article

Trends & News

Trends & News
By: Brittany Glenn Stanislaus Issue: 2005JUN
Promotional Product Ensures Film Is Armed And Fabulous A pretty-in-pink promotional product recently played a starring role in a major motion picture promotion...Full Article

Viewpoint

The Art Of Apology
By: Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D. Issue: 2005JUN
There are so many ways to apologize it’s a wonder why people so seldom use them. For some reason, certain individuals refuse to say they are sorry for anything...Full Article

Washington Report

Washington Report
By: John Satagaj, J.D. Issue: 2005JUN
John Satagaj, PPAI legal counsel, updates members on legislative issues each month. IRS RETIREMENT PLAN GUIDE The IRS has released...Full Article

WWYD?

What Would You Do?
By: Brittany Stanislaus Issue: 2005JUN
June Question Of The Month “A DISTRIBUTOR WRITES: I ordered 100 backpacks for one of my clients. The supplier had promised me (and my client) that a brand-name thermos would be included free-of-charge with the backpacks...Full Article